The moment you have all been waiting for! with just over a week to go before the jam begins, we are delighted to bring you the GGJ 2020 Diversifiers!
We hope that they will start you thinking of ideas you could apply to your GGJ games.
We could not have come up with this awesome list without your submissions along with our diversifier committee, and we want to say a big thanks to the following people for helping to make this possible: Alex Camilleri, Eddy Léja-Six, Giselle Rosman, Ian Hamilton, Nomi, Richard Bartle, Sarah Cole and Victor Breum.
Diversifiers are a great way to add a little more fun or challenge to your jam weekend. Sometimes they can be very helpful to limit your scope or refine your ideas. They are totally optional constraints you can choose to add to your GGJ20 game alongside the main focus of the theme. It can help your game stand out from the crowd, and you can choose up to 4 when you submit!
This year's diversifiers will also be available in other languages, which will be linked to this post as soon as they are ready.
Arabic, български Burmese, Català, Filipino, Français, Deutsch, Greek, עברית, bahasa Indonesia, Italiano 日本語, 한국어 Latviešu valoda, فارسی, Polski, Português, Română, русский, српски, 简体中文, Español, 繁體中文, Türkçe, українська мова, Urdu.
Sponsored
Party Maker (Sponsored by AirConsole) - Use AirConsole to make a computer game that uses smartphones as controllers (learn how to do this here).
Family gaming (sponsored) - Create a family-oriented mobile-based game, following these rules.
A kind of cooperation (sponsored by Sony Interactive Entertainment) - Create a co-operative multiplayer game that encourages collaboration and kindness.
Language-Independence (Sponsored by Valve Software) - Create a game that can be understood regardless of which language the player speaks.
“Level Up!” (Sponsored by Microsoft) - Create a levelling system that promotes player behavior to include others in your game using Azure PlayFab. Help everyone play and level up together!
Accessibility
De-squintify - Text size can be changed by players, or is at least 28px height by default.
Assist Mode - The game makes use of a third party accessibility plugin for your engine.
Nothing about us without us - You’ve used the #GGJaccess twitter hashtag to get input or feedback on your game from disabled gamers.
Remembering Kenji Eno - The game can be played by blind gamers through sound design, text to speech, or both.
Art
Paparazzi - All art assets used in the game must be created from photos taken (with consent!) during the jam.
III - There must never be more than three items visible on the screen at a time.
Dead artists society - Make a game where the dead players can affect the visuals but not the gameplay directly.
The Roaring 20s - The visuals are in art deco style.
Getting Emojinal - All the graphics in the game must be emojis.
Audio
Native Sound - Your game has to use sounds, music, or musical instruments specific to the country or region that you are jamming in.
Hi, Rez! - Your game does not have predefined music, instead the player's actions generate the soundtrack.
Preaching to the Choir - Gather at least 10 jammers to sing a song and use it in the soundtrack of your game.
Code
Seriously, who are you? - Use the player name as a seed to randomize part of the play experience.
Mod-ifiable - Make it possible for players to be able to mod your game, without them needing to rebuild the game executable from your source code.
And Now, The Weather - Gameplay is somehow affected by the actual weather.
!Coding - Don't write a single line of text to create your game. Only use game engine built-in features and visual scripting.
Design
Feel your breath - make a game where the player must become out of breath from intense physical activity.
Excellence - Your game is played in a spreadsheet.
Fish Eye - Changing the focal length of the camera is a central feature of your game.
We have cookies - Your game is designed to be playable next to a pool of edible rewards. The game tells the player when they may eat one.
Narrative
Don’t touch my Dice - some of the story path of the game must be decided by entering the results from rolling a number of a real life D20s.
Eco Action - Taking inspiration from UN sustainable development goal 13, make a game that explores and/or inspires people to learn about and take environmental action about the climate.
Unsung heroines - Your game is based on a less well known woman or group of women who shaped history.
Conlang - Your game features a made-up language from another work of fiction.
Meta
GGJ20 - Your Game takes exactly 20 seconds to play.
Protip - All members of your game jam team get 8 hours of sleep, 10 minutes of exercise and eats a meal that includes vegetables each day of the game jam event. Upload a brief development diary along with your game upload to document these actions.
Mi Casa es tu Casa - the game world is the same as the one from another game made by a neighbor team.
Is there anybody out there? - You think you’re playing with others, but really it’s just you.