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Josei Jam 2026 | HappeNow

This jam runs parallel with Otome Jam.

(Read the French translation of this pagehere (https://itch.io/jam/josei-jam-2025/topic/4610383/josei-jam-guidelines-french)| For Portuguese, gohere (https://itch.io/jam/josei-jam-2025/topic/4881933/josei-jam-guidelines-portuguese-portugus))

Welcome to the Josei Jam, a sister game jam to**Otome Jam (https://itch.io/jam/otome-jam-2026)**that focuses on a wider range of games that are meant for women. Josei is a Japanese term used to describe media targeted at adult women.While Otome Jam is focused on romance games that include a female lead and male love interest(s), Josei Jam allows:

romance games like boys or girls love
non-romance games

Basically, if your game is intended to be for a female audience, then your game fits!

Image 2: Taisho Romance Theater by Sweetsome Studio (https://sweetsomestudio.itch.io/taisho-romance-theater)

Set in 1920s Taisho era Tokyo, the amnesiac actor Kotori picks up the pieces of his forgotten past as he gets accused of a murder and slips deeper into a dark conspiracy.

Check out these Josei Jam submissions from the previous years:When it Rains Red (https://liminace.itch.io/when-it-rains-red)(2025),Wake up Magical Girl (https://miseri-accordion.itch.io/wake-up-magical-girl)(2024),Grand-Nya (https://sad-ghost-studios.itch.io/grandnya)(2023)

If you're looking for a team or team members, be sure to join the Jam Meet and Greets inAprilon theOtome Development Server (https://discord.gg/V3NukSJ)[12th April, 8AM EST] andDevtalk Discord Server (https://discord.gg/VzM6DeQ)[18th April, 2PM EST]. Devtalk is a community we collaborated with previous years and welcomes indie visual novel developers and people wanting to work on visual novels!

What is accepted? (Short Version)

18+ games
Commercial and free games
Games with romance and games without romance
Visual novels, RPGs, point-and-click games, and more
Games previously started on and new projects just for the jam

What isn't accepted?

Games that aren't targeted at female audiences
Games that aren't tagged asjosei (https://itch.io/games/tag-josei)
Games that do not have screenshots on the page
Games that were 95% complete before the jam started
Any project using AI tools where the sourced materials were scraped without consent

What is accepted? (Extended Version)

1.Use of Free to use, Public Domain and Creative Commons Licence resources are allowedand encouraged. You can always update the game later on with updated materials and a new team.**AI generated content is not allowed.**Grammar correction, game AI for NPC movements, Vocaloid/SynthV for example are not considered genAI!

2.**Previously started on games are allowed to be worked on and submitted as entries as long a considerable portion of the final game is developed during the jam.**Demos and unfinished projects are also allowed to be submitted as long as they’re in a playable state with reasonable playtime. Any finished games with no significant content updates that get released before the jam will be removed.We will check the upload date of the latest update.

3.**18+ Projects are allowed,**but must adhere to site rules and be marked properly as such. Any unmarked NSFW and 18+ content may be removed from the submissions. Please tag and label your game properly for any content not appropriate for minors as well as any content & trigger warnings for sensitive topics. This applies to both SFW and NSFW submissions.

Any type of game, from visual novel to RPG to FPS and more,are all allowed! If the intended audience is majority female, it's allowed.

5.Feel free to use the logo in your game to brand it as a product for the game jam (Right Click + Save As) and credit the logo artist. Additionally, you should credit your team in the game or on the game’s page. If you use resources, do check if they require credits or not to prevent license issues from happening.

An email will be sent out a few days before the jam ends as a reminder to make sure your game adheres to the above rules and has all the submission requirements fulfilled. Please check your emails regularly, as some content we will only share via email and on our Discord server.
You can make your entry pay what you want or commercial later on as long as you provide a demo. We discourage using volunteers working for free or rev-share on a commercial project – pay your team if the product will be a paid game.

Josei Jam runs concurrently with Otome Jam (https://itch.io/jam/otome-jam-2026) for people who enjoy Otome Jam but want to make projects for a broader scope of otome-esque games. Check outlast year's entries here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

PLEASE READ BEFORE ASKING!

Q: Can I get started early?

A: Yes, but we don't allow previously finished games in the jam – you need to work on your game at least partially (not just a few days) during the jam.

Q: What engines can I use?

A: Any engine you'd like.

Q: Will there be ratings? Is this ranked?

A: No and no.

Q: Can I make an 18+ game?

A: Yes.

Q: Can I use generative AI assets (such as assets made with Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, etc.) in my game?

A: No.

Q: Can I submit a demo or WIP game?

A: Yes.

Q: Can I make something that isn't anime-style?

A: Yes.

Q: Does the game need to have romance or relationships?

A: No, as mentioned, this is jam for anything fem audience related. Romance is not a requirement, and neither are any relationships. You're allowed to submit any romantic content and regardless of the protagonist's gender, as long a female majority enjoys that type of game.

Q: Why do I have to include screenshots of my game on the itch.io page?

A: We do this because it's the bare minimum for us to see if it's a real game or not. Players are also wary of games that don't have any screenshots as they could be viruses. You've spent three weeks making an entire game, you can spend 2 minutes taking and uploading screenshots. We recommend setting up a page early to avoid rush towards the deadline.

Q. Where can I find teammates?

A: You can make a post in the community section here, join the Otome Development Discord or join the DevTalk Visual Novel Development Discord.

Q: Does the game have to be in English?

A: No, we welcome and support all indie developers of any language. But we can only provide help and support in English for any questions, and majority of players commonly know English.

List of Resources (https://itch.io/jam/josei-jam-2025/topic/4568316/visual-novel-development-resources)

Developer Communities

Discord Servers

Otome Development (https://discord.gg/V3NukSJ)- The Host Server

DevTalk (https://discord.gg/VzM6DeQ)- A general visual novel development server

Boys Love Development (https://discord.gg/8nKKGTw)- Our sister server for games that include a male protagonist and male love interests

Amare Dev Server (https://discord.gg/GwKYA6SxQR)- The Western term for inclusive relationships and individuals in games and visual novels

Forum

VN Dev Wiki (https://vndev.wiki/index.php/Main_Page)- An ongoing wiki project that has a wide collection of resources, guides, and more specifically for visual novel development

Lemmasoft Forums (https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/)- A Forum filled with indie VN developers and enthusiasts. Big source of coding and assets.