Hosted by Akua Kourin and Crystal Game Works, this year’s Otome Jam ran from May 1st to July 1st. In this annual two month-long game jam, participants are to create otome games — a specific genre of games that involve a female-identifying playable character pursuing a romantic ending with one or one of the male-identifying love interests.
What’s different from previous iterations this time around is that Otome Jam has a brand new sister jam: Josei Jam. The scope of Josei Jam is wider as it focuses on josei games — games targeted at adult women. These can range from Boys’ Love and Girls’ Love to non-romance titles.
This year, Otome Jam received a total of 73 submissions while Josei Jam received 72 submissions. It is of note that the two game jams’ submissions have several overlaps since plenty of Otome Jam entries were marked for Josei Jam as well.
Nevertheless, it is always a joy to see more indie otome and josei visual novels being created! Some of the submissions that caught our eye include:
- Candied Hearts (demo) by HusbandoGoddess — the protagonist finds herself transported into the world of her favourite candy-themed gacha game.
You can check our article on it here.
- Heart Cage (demo) by ricelovecoffee — you are a detective who has just moved to a new town, working on a serial killer case.
You can check our article on it here.
- Poetry in Purgatory by Tymedust Games — Isobel Salvie seems to have everything; youth, beauty, wealth… but it all ends when she dies. Arriving in Heaven, Isobel is greeted by God herself. All seems well… or does it?
You can check our article on it here.
If you would like to check out the full list of submissions for yourself, you can find Otome Jam 2023’s here and Josei Jam 2023’s here.
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Thumbnail from the official itch.io page.
