Welcome
Are you a game creator with a vision but held back by complex engines, steep learning curves amd overwhelmed by cryptic code? Yahaha Studio understands your needs and is dedicated to creating a low-barrier, code-free ? Yahaha Studio is here to change that. We offer a code-free, highly efficient game creation process that minimizes the learning curve and lowers the barrier to entry. With a focus on horror themes, we provide exciting game templates and a vast asset library filled with ready-to-use horror mechanics, so you can skip redesigning and dive straight into creation. Let your creativity soar in the ocean of game development.
What are you waiting for? Join us on this thrilling journey through the shadows of creativity. Craft your horror game, and let it send shivers down the spines of players everywhere. Submit your game to our event, and who knows, you might just be the next horror game sensation!
We're excited to share updates to the Yahaha Game Creation Event:
- Event Timing: Our 7-day challenge is now a 21-day challenge.
- Increased Rewards: We've boosted the prize pool for the Horror Hatch event to incentivize participation and creativity. Details on the rewards can be found below.
- New Criterion: We've added "Game Duration" to our scoring, encouraging games over 20 minutes for a richer player experience.
- Flexibility for Veterans: Despite the extended timeline, you maintain the freedom to create as you wish.
Let's embrace these updates and continue to push the boundaries of game creation together!
Theme
Fortune’s Shadow
Background
This theme explores the eerie and unsettling world of divination, where the line between prediction and reality begins to blur. The player, desperate for answers, has sought the help of a mysterious fortune-telling device, whether it's an ancient tarot deck, a scrying mirror, or a mystical set of runes. Each reading seems to predict a grim future, but the more the player relies on the divination tool, the more they realize that their fate may be in the hands of something far darker. As the game progresses, the predictions begin to come to life, and players must decide whether to embrace their predicted fate or fight to break free from the ominous predictions.
Key Features
- Interactive Divination Mechanics: Incorporate an interactive fortune-telling system (e.g., tarot cards, runes, or crystal ball readings) that influences gameplay and narrative outcomes.
- Fate vs. Free Will: Challenge the player with moral dilemmas, where each choice could either fulfill a dark prophecy or change their destiny.
- Atmosphere of Tension: Build a creeping sense of unease with eerie sound effects, unsettling visuals, and a mysterious voice or spirit guiding (or manipulating) the player’s fortune.
- Evolving Storyline: As players continue to consult the divination tool, they uncover more about its origin, its dark power, and the fate of previous users who tried to break free.
Hints
- Unreliable Prophecies: Introduce moments where the predictions change or become increasingly cryptic, making players question the reliability of the fortune-teller.
- Player Choices Matter: The outcome of each divination could open up different paths, forcing the player to reflect on their decisions—will they follow the prophecy or fight against it?
- Psychological Horror: The more the player relies on the divination tool, the more they begin to doubt their own judgment, wondering if they are being manipulated by an unseen force.
- Creeping Dread: Use the fortune-telling tool to reveal glimpses of potential threats, but delay their full revelation—this creates a sense of impending doom that keeps the player on edge.
Will you succumb to the dark predictions that have been foretold, or will you challenge the hand that fate has dealt with you? The choice is yours—but remember, sometimes the shadows know more than we think.
Special Task
1. We have prepared a tutorial on how to replace Lever Puzzle, and now we invite you to try replacing it in your own game!
2. Take a screenshot or record a video of the Lever Puzzle in your game and put it on your game itch submission page.
3. We will give you additonal 10 points to your game if you do 1&2!
4. Looking forward to seeing your puzzle!
Awards
1st place * 1 - 200USD$
2nd place * 1 - 150USD$
3rd place * 1 - 100USD$
Participation Prize * n - 30USD$
Best Decoration * 1 - 50USD$
Rising Star Award * n - 10-50USD$
The Rising Star Award is designed to help and motivate game creators to increase the attention of their games and promote the feedback and communication among game enthusiasts.
The awarding rule is that if the number of downloads exceeds 100, we will give an additional reward corresponding to 10% of the number of downloads. Each 100 downloads is counted as a level interval. For example, if the number of downloads reaches 100, we will offer a reward of 10USD$; If it reaches 200, we will offer a reward of 20USD$. The upper limit of the bonus is 50USD$. We will conduct data statistics according to the download data within 7 days after the end of each Game jam.
Based on our experience, we suggest that everyone carry out more game promotion activities outside the website and carefully decorate their own game pages.
Some tips for increasing the number of downloads：
1. Detailed game introductions
2. A more exquisite display page
3. High-quality video presentation
4. Actively spread on various major social networking platforms
NOTE: We encourage everyone to share the game with external groups. But to ensure the fairness of award distribution, we will check the authenticity of the download data. We reserve the final right of interpretation for this activity.
Horror Game Kit 1.5
Horror Game Kit 1.5 is a comprehensive template that empowers you to craft spine-tingling horror games with minimal to no code. The newest version 1.5 brings exciting updates, including a new package system, enhanced prefabs, and upgraded smart assets. This all-in-one solution includes a robust template packed with essential features, a curated selection of assets and tools, pre-built systems to streamline development, and a demo game to spark inspiration. Plus, with the new SDK framework as the foundation, you'll soon be able to take the fear to the next level with multiplayer horror games.
To see the difference between HGK 1.0 and HGK 1.5 →Horror Game Kit Overview
How to Join
Official Jam
1. Sign up for the challenge by joining the jam on this page.
2. Submit your game project on this itch.io page.
3. Record the most exciting part of your game (less than one minute) or capture some exciting moments during your development process and upload it to YouTube as a short video. Make sure to mention us by @yahahastudios to submit the video, and use the hashtags #fortune’s shadow and #horrorgaming. (Please make it public, or we cannot receive your video).
Rules
To be a valid submission, please follow these requirements:
1. Create and publish an original project. (AI tools, including the YAHAHA AI scene generator and 3D model generation, are allowed and not prohibited at any stage of the creation process.)
2. Your submitted games should be made with the Horror Game Kit within YAHAHA Studio.
3. Get a score over 60 and submit all the required materials (project + video) to qualify for the participation prize.
4. When editing the itch page, enter "yahaha" "horror" in the tag field.
5. Send the co-author to HorrorHatch (https://horror-hatch.itch.io/) before uploading.
Rating Rules
| Criteria | Definition | Score | |
| Gameplay mechanics | Plot | Coherent and thematic game story, with multiple triggers and guidance methods to ensure that players do not feel monotonous. | 20 |
| Highlight | You have fully showcased the game idea that you most want to highlight in this game | 20 | |
| Duration | Game duration is over or equal to 20 minutes. Any submission falling short of the 20-minute mark will receive a score of zero for this criterion. | 10 | |
| Audiovisual game elements | Game art | Includes all visual elements in a game, such as landscapes, animals, animations, special effects, and user interfaces. | 15 |
| Game music & Sound effects | Game music refers to background music that plays continuously and loops throughout the game, typically unrelated to player actions or game state. Game sound effects are triggered based on specific scenarios or actions and only play when the triggering conditions are met. | 15 | |
| External Display | Youtube Video | Record a Video, upload it to YouTube and mention us by@yahahastudios and use the hashtags #fortune’s shadow #horrorgaming. Please add the itch link of the game in the video description. | 10 |
| Itch Page Decoration | Enhance your itch page to fully express your game. To help you get started with the decoration process, you can refer to this document. We recommend carefully crafting your cover image! | 10 | |
How to Submit Your Game to Itch
What is YAHAHA
Using YAHAHA Studio empowers creators with little or no coding experience to bring their imaginative game ideas to life. YAHAHA has significantly reduced the barrier to 3D game creation through this exceptionally user-friendly creator tool, designed with all the principles of the Unity development environment. This tool could be your gateway to a new life as a creator in the metaverse. Accessible through the YAHAHA App, it provides an opportunity to reach an audience of thousands of players worldwide every day.
NOTE: We'd love to hear your opinions and any suggestions you might have for enhancing our future game jams. If you wish to provide feedback, please send an email to creatorservice@yahahastudios.com and use the subject line "GameJam." If you use any other subject line, we may not catch it!
YAHAHA does not claim ownership of Entries, however, except where prohibited, by participating in the Campaign, Entrant grants Yahaha and its agents an irrevocable right and license in perpetuity to publish, use, edit, adapt, and/or modify any or all of the content in an Entry that was created or contributed to by Entrant without the need for further approval, in whole or in part, in any way, in any and all media throughout the world, and to associate the Entry with Entrant’s name, likeness, and biographical information, without limitation and without compensation for the purposes of annoucing winners, showcase and marketing promotion associated to the Campaign. Entrant agrees that Released Parties (as defined below) are not responsible for any unauthorized use of Entries by third parties.