Congrats to the entrants of this small Storytelling-themed event!

The jam results are out, making me realize in the process that I shoud have advertised the voting phase more: due to a lack of ratings, only 2 of the games ended in the final rankings ( @bradur 's only had 1 vote).

Anyway, if you want to join a bigger, more competitive event, now is the right time to book the 23-25 week-end, on which the 2nd Alakajam will take place at last! More details to be announced tomorrow…

The 3rd Kajam focused on storytelling just reached its end, yielding 4 new games for all to discover!

For the next week, everyone will be able to rate the games, so that everyone can get enough ratings for interesting results. Go explore them, and please leave feedback on the games you play!

Note: since this is a relaxed competition, we're leaving the game submissions open for any late entrant (I'm looking at you @toasty!)

Because games don't always have to be about shooting things, the first 2018 Kajam is about telling Stories! Explore how to tell a nice and engaging story to your players, maybe by focusing on developing interesting choices, or on the attachment to the characters, or simply use this excuse to finally try and tell a story for your first time!

While every single type of video game can be greatly affected by its storytelling, here are cheap ways you could exercise your talents:

• Interactive fictions, with an engine like Twine or even from scratch (web or console) ;
• Role-playing games based on RPG Maker or its free clone RPG Boss ;
• Walking simulators, either in 2D or 3D.

Schedule

• Jan. 1st - Jan. 28th: The jam. Make a small game while focusing on its story elements. Either over an evening or spanning the whole 3/4 weeks, either solo or as a team, there's little to no rules, just a chance to practice. If you're curious though, feel free to check the event rules.
• Jan. 28th - Feb. 4th: The rating phase. For one week, all entrants will rate the storytelling of the other games. Like on the first event: no Overall ratings, it's all about how much you liked the stories.
• Feb. 4th: Results are released!

Don't forget to share tips & progress reports with the community throughout the month. Have fun!

Resources

• Story - What is it good for? by Thomas Grip
• Telling tales: The art of narrative in games by Craig Chapple
• Developing Meaningful Player Character Arcs in Branching Narrative by Alexander M. Freed
• Storytelling Tips: How To Plan Big Plot Twists in 4 Steps by Guy Hasson
• Play me a story: How video game storytelling has evolved by Seamus Byrne
• A brief history of the “walking simulator,” gaming’s most detested genre by Nicole Clark
• Exploring Telltale Games’ master plan to evolve modern storytelling by Adam Rosenberg
• The Future of Video Game storytelling by Neil Druckmann

If you have a link to add, please share it in the comments.