The Night Is Calling
The veil is thin and the nights are long. Night Shadows is a 13-night monster jam to summon your darkest, weirdest, most wonderful creatures of the night — a warm-up howl before Halloween, still five months away.
Vampires, ghouls, eldritch things in the dark, friendly slimes, or whatever crawls out of your imagination — build a game around monsters and the shadows they live in. Almost anything goes.
The Theme
Your game should embrace monsters and the night. Lean into shadow, moonlight, fog, and fear — or subvert all of it.
Make us scream. Make us laugh. Make us want to pet the monster. The interpretation is entirely yours — the only thing we ask is that something monstrous lives at its heart.
Need a Spark?
A few seeds to plant in the dark — steal them, twist them, or ignore them entirely.
A lonely villager who befriends the monster under their bed.
A vampire managing their crumbling estate before sunrise.
Survive the night as the shadows slowly close in around you.
Play as the monster — terrorize a sleepy little town.
A foggy forest where the trees quietly watch you back.
A cozy midnight shop run entirely by friendly creatures.
A flashlight, a dark house, and something breathing nearby.
A full-moon transformation you can't quite control.
The Witching Hours
Conjure
Settle on your creature, your mood, and your one core mechanic. Sketch the nightmare before you build it.
Summon
Build the playable thing. Get it running first — make it pretty later. A small finished game beats a huge unfinished one.
Haunt
Add sound, atmosphere, a menu, an ending, and the little details. Then upload before the clock strikes zero.
Make Anything
Any genre, any engine, any art style. If it can be played, it counts.
Genres
Engines & Tools
Art Styles
The Rules
Almost everything is allowed. Two things are not negotiable:
No NSFW Content
Keep it safe for everyone. Frights, gore, and the macabre are welcome — explicit sexual content is not.
Start Fresh
Your game must be made during the jam, beginning when it opens. No pre-built games — they start the moment the gates do.
- Solo or teams are both welcome — bring a coven or fly alone.
- Use any engine or tool you like. There are no engine restrictions.
- Free & AI-assisted assets are allowed — credit your sources and make sure the final game is yours and playable.
- Brainstorming ideas, learning, and your own reusable libraries beforehand are perfectly fine.
- No stolen content. Don't ship work that isn't yours to ship.
- Be kind. No hate, harassment, or bigotry of any kind.
- Above all — have fun in the dark.
How to Submit
Submit your game from the jam page before the clock hits zero on June 15. On your game's page, make it easy to start and easy to love — and tell players:
- What your game is about
- How to play it (the controls)
- The engine and tools you used
- Whether you flew solo or with a team
- The assets you used — with credit
- Any known bugs lurking in the code
How It's Judged
Night Shadows is a ranked jam — entries are scored and ranked by our panel of judges across five categories:
Monster
How memorable, creative, or terrifying is the creature you've conjured?
Atmosphere
Mood, sound, visuals — how strongly does it make us feel the night?
Fun
Beyond the dread — how good is it to actually play?
Creativity
Originality of the idea and the boldness of its execution.
Polish
How finished, clear, and complete the whole thing feels.
Join the Coven
Share your progress, your screenshots, and your screams. Tag your posts so we can find your creatures:
#NightShadowsJam
Light a candle, lock the door, and make something that goes bump in the night.
We can't wait to meet your monsters.
Sweet nightmares — The Night Shadows Team