vrchat-jams

[dark glade]

If I registered the world id for the world I'm submitting on September 28th 2024, but the world was not made public until October 13th. is that acceptable for submission?

[spiral fulcrum]

Yes, that's fine. Entries are visited by judges only after submissions close.

[dark glade]

It was more to this specific stipulation in the guidelines: "Your content must have been uploaded after submissions have opened (October 1st)."

But thank you for clarifying that 🙂 Shall submit now.

[gentle cedar]

I was thinking why your new world not has spookality tag on it.
I got point now.

[regal flume]

The mobile requirement is actually kinda rough.
My game is not super fast, but still needs to navigate 3D spaces in not so well lit rooms 🤔

[lapis kayak]

Less than 24 hours to submit to Spookality!
https://vrchat.com/home/jams

Submissions close 12am PDT tonight

[fathom maple]

i was wondering. when i submit the world am i able to keep updating it? since im prety close to finish my map but i se i wont get it compleate by the deadline. ^^

[median latch]

if i remember correctly from the last jam, you can techincally keep updating it, but after the deadline they start reviewing the entries. You won't neccesarily know when they get to yours, and whenever they do, the state it's in at the time is what it's judged on

[fathom maple]

ok thx^^

[narrow escarp]

Lol would have to catch that for next year... oof

[lapis kayak]

just to confirm, Sunshine is correct!

[south vine]

Hey guys, spookality comes out at 2 am est right?

[patent trench]

iirc the deadline is at 3am est? It probably wont "come out" until after judging. Not sure how long judging takes

[patent trench]

You should log into vrcs website and click on jams. There's a countdown timer for submissions. But no idea when the avatars will be available for the public

[south vine]

What abt the world showcase?

[patent trench]

Same likely

[south vine]

I was deadass hoping they’d drop tn w everything else

[patent trench]

Thats unreasonable lol

That was a rough 2 weeks tho. Whew just submitted mine. There's so much more I wanted to do, but I'm happt with my lil magic man. This his one was really hard for me.

Good luck to everyone in the final stretch!!!! 1.5 hrs left you got this

[patent trench]

Today is the deadline for submissions. Last jam, judging took a few days i think? But glad ur excited tho! I cant wait to see everyone elses stuff.

[tawny shore]

I'll need it x.x

00 : 01 : 25 : 42 remains

[patent trench]

https://tenor.com/view/move-marketmove-mm-love-cool-gif-25255661

Time for super focus mode

[stiff sundial]

I'm actually so excited for this, this is the first time I ever participated in one of these Jams

[past elbow]

<t:1728975600:R> <t:1728975600:f>

[tawny shore]

It's buildinggg
It's live :D

[zealous otter]

Light baking is gonna cut this quite close ha ha haaaaa

[regal flume]

That's unfortunate

You could still try submitting

(if you have a prior version already at least)

[zealous otter]

I just submitted! Light baking always goes faster than it says :P

[regal flume]

Well that's good

I keep remembering stuff I should do 😓

[dark glade]

Put down your pencils

[abstract island]

I love this. Yeah this is my 3rd time in a row doing Spookality because it's such a fun jam !

Now that submissions are closed - if anyone would like to share their Spookality worlds/avatars in here... please do!

Ide loove to see them

[lapis kayak]

World and Avatar showcases should go live Oct 21! We need a week to review all the entries

[median latch]

Ooh yes I would love to see the submissions! I don't want to miss out on seeing some cool avatars lol

https://vrchat.com/home/avatar/avtr_e9ab68ee-2d5e-454e-b863-19cd835e643c

Here's my submission :3

[stiff sundial]

https://vrchat.com/home/avatar/avtr_1e370202-fcd1-41bd-baca-82b8c390cc88 wanted to go for creepy but not too creepy

[gentle cedar]

will c

[patent trench]

https://vrchat.com/home/avatar/avtr_693c6469-537f-4871-9bdd-96eb42ed9711

Heres mine

[craggy kiln]

oh my

https://vrchat.com/home/avatar/avtr_669161ba-d082-4379-b871-0f4682dd8fec Was much closer to the deadline than I woulda liked but managed to get em in there

[dark glade]

This was mine.
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_0dc353e6-a641-48f6-bc64-7426a37206f7

[narrow scaffold]

Fr really love what you made, legit is really cool and fun

[zealous otter]

Here's mine! it was fun trying to get as much possible done in two weeks https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_d5658267-c965-4dbf-b58f-6f50104e9f24

and congrats to everyone who submitted for the jam!!

[tawny shore]

I'm pretty happy I got this one done c:
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_e3708472-f5e6-41ca-a2ea-19a6498cd445

[gentle cedar]

oh!? 3!!!!!

[tawny shore]

:D

[spare otter]

Q and I worked on this one! We plan to keep updating it well past the jam. Make sure to ping me for any comments! (currently desktop mode in game UI isn't working but it's not needed really) https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_b98ac30a-fc8c-4ff2-89ff-f6d5422f9b44

[gentle cedar]

you need good world description to start I would say.
(as I don't get what this world is when I see page)

[spare otter]

yeah, I wasn't the uploader and that was the number 1 thing I noticed and Q is asleep :P

[foggy gyro]

I decided to not make anything for the Spookality World Jam due to the short amount of time between the announcement and the submission deadline. I barely finished the Lazy Lizard Water Park for the Summer World Jam, and we had twice as long for that one. Please give us at least a month for these things so we have time to make higher quality stuff!

[stiff sundial]

To my fellow Avatar creators, did any of you have any issues when using blend shapes for the height scaling?

[tropic stump]

agree

[plucky carbon]

I tried making a world but couldn't finish it in time, but I learned a lot of cool stuff in the process so I got something out of it!!

[cunning oriole]

doesn't seem like enough time especially considering it's a gameplay Focus Jam

[patent trench]

Absolutely lol. Figured it out eventually to work good enough tho

it was mostly hard keeping track of all the moving morphing parts on the blendshapes....

... and avoiding textures stretching on 2 Totally different shapped meshes

Gotta say, I agree with yall. 2 weeks with a unique theme is super tight. Hard to make anything worthwhile in that time. Personally, I had a miserable crunch week in order to meet the deadline.

I learned a bunch tho, now that it's over, I'm glad I participated :)

[past elbow]

Congrats to everyone who submitted to the jam! I wanted to make a cool game world for the jam too but alas college has taken a lot of my time 😭.

[stiff sundial]

Just fix a bug on my avatar that friends just now pointed out to me...Hopefully no one noticed 👀

https://tenor.com/view/haruisu-haruharu-haru-cram-cram-pain-gif-15320685032719244798

[median latch]

yeah tbh i think the worlds should get more time than the avatars

they typically take longer to make, especially if it's something like this jam where there's a theme that pretty much requires you to create a game

i guess how long it takes also depends on your familiarity with the programs used, vrchat, and making avatars/models in general

so it's not super beginner-friendly just because of the length of the time limit

what an experienced creator could make in a day, might take a week for someone newer to avatar or world creation, so they wouldn't have a fully finished product by the end of the jam

[lapis kayak]

valuable feedback about the timeline, thank you! We tried to give at least 3 weeks, but i wonder if that was too short...

[past elbow]

For the new beta content that was given and the shortness of the jam itself i do feel that one week could have helped quite a bit. Like there were new sdk features dropped right as spookality started and creators need time to learn the new stuff/examples.

[tropic stump]

providing a longer time frame gives us the time to plan things out and get them implemented. this would give vrc better QOL and substance to the jam events, rather than a race to throw stuff together for the sake of throwing stuff together.

[narrow scaffold]

Def could use more time especially for mobile compatibility in the shattered realms category. Its really new in terms of work flow so debugging/testing it is weird atm. Like if the 3 weeks thing is dead set, maybe like a 2 month notice of the requirements for the game jam without the theme. Just time to get the multiplayer/mobile stuff worked out first

[narrow scaffold]

Also are we able to update our worlds post-submitting due date without it messing with the submission itself? Like bug fixes and jazz

[abstract island]

You can! But FYI - #vrchat-jams message

[narrow scaffold]

Ty!!!!

[median latch]

I would just upload to a different ID while testing in case it breaks something while your world is being judged

Then once you know everything is working upload to the original id

[regal flume]

Honestly, I would disagree that the worlds needed more time.
Just my opinion. But I'm using other game jams as a reference here, where it's usually not an actual competition but more of a challenge for yourself to see what you can do or come up with in a short amount of time.

[narrow scaffold]

Oh ye this is 100% fair. Just a lot of new stuff/requirements added to the jam/sdk this year so it a lil extra time consuming

[median latch]

That's a fair take, I understand the perspective, and I think my perspective is probably skewed because I barely know anything about world creation, vs avatar creation where I was able to crunch in like a week total of working on the avi, since that's something much more familiar to me

[regal flume]

Yeah, I also notice that the Halloween season is treated a bit more differently in VRChat. Just the sentiment I get from people. Seems like people have higher expectations and try harder.

[regal flume]

Kudos to you for doing both lol

[median latch]

Oh no no I didn't do both, I just mean that I understand less about world creation so my perspective on how long someone might need is a little skewed

It would be awesome to do both, but I'd need much more experience with udon especially. Maybe next year!

I get the whole thing about trying harder for Halloween, I love Halloween and my whole life my family and neighborhood has taken it very seriously lol

[regal flume]

Ahh, that makes sense. Yeah learning something new takes a lot more time. I know udon, but I did a few new things during this jam and barely was able to submit, but with less stuff than I wanted to. It can be hard to accept that you weren't able to finish everything you wanted, but I believe doing it anyways is good exercise overall.

[velvet shuttle]

Doing both is hard I tried doing both for the last jam(summer one)

[eager owl]

Did judging start yet? I had to fix something on mine. (I realized I named something "visemes" instead of "viseme")

[velvet shuttle]

So how many people submissions?

[abstract island]

Looks like it has! - #vrchat-jams message

Fix it quick quick quick lol

[eager owl]

I managed to I think! Luckily it wasn't anythinig too messed up

[patent trench]

Woah man, has anyone ever won both? That sounds incredible

[lapis kayak]

We have about 150 world submissions total and a little over 60 avatar submissions this year. Still going through them right now 🙏

the hardest part, frankly, is that we only have a limited amount of time to judge a world. Some of these horror maps are long!

[narrow scaffold]

Can see why you guys wanted to have the game jam be 3 weeks now lol, would take a gross amount of time to get through them all

[patent trench]

woww, I had no idea! That's so many. Makes sense why judging takes a minute

[lapis kayak]

We need to do some last minute judging over the weekend it's gonna be close!

[median latch]

I'm excited to see the results!

[wispy notch]

aosjuhdoashd just realized the GloomImps viseme did not work 😭 its fixed now

[stiff sundial]

When everything looks fine till a friend points out one bug you missed on the model

[wispy notch]

fr!! 😭

[median latch]

Yeah I had a few small issues with my submission, luckily I was able to fix all of them within a day, except for one issue, but it's not huge. Basically the visemes stop working after wearing the avatar for a while, I've only noticed it like 20+ mins of wearing the avatar, but I'm thinking there's some sort of issue either with write defaults or an animation that accidentally has key frames for the viseme blendshapes. I have the viseme animation layer (it's using custom animation for the visemes) at the bottom of the FX layer, no mixed WD within any of the controllers, and checking the debug menu in-game shows that the states are being transitioned to.. but the animations themselves have no effect. I checked a bunch of anims and none of them had incorrect keyframes.. Just weird..

Even removing the other custom playable layers did not fix it, which makes me think it's an issue in the FX layer, but I checked all the anims in that layer. Also hard to test if it's fixed since I don't know what's causing it, if it's a time based thing, inconsistencies in certain behaviors, or some specific animation states trigger it.. if I can't find the cause and it's not immediately apparent, I can't investigate lol

Resetting the avatar always fixes it

[wanton halo]

Congrats to all participants! So many good submissions this year, both worlds and avatars

[craggy kiln]

removed some redundant menu items oops

[subtle talon]

When do we learn who the winners are?

[patent trench]

Flare mentioned the showcases will go live (and winners revealed) on the 21st (it's a pinned comment).

IIRC it's based on PDT timezone (the deadline was midnight PDT), I'd expect the announcement to be sometime in the morning/afternoon tmr? My guess is anywhere from 10 to 17 hrs from now.

[patent trench]

^

just my guess

[mint tendon]

i hope ours wasnt too hard to judge, it is a little in depth at first glance, please enjoy our hard work! https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_55968d91-07ea-4ce5-aa3e-6ee5b3da2350

[lapis kayak]

We'll be announcing later today, most likely afternoon or evening PDT! There's some last minute work that needs to be done

We only had four work days last week because of Canadian Thanksgiving so we lost some time to judge and set up

[subtle talon]

Fair enough, excited to see the winners!

[lapis kayak]

Me too!! Really excited about a lot of these entries

[lapis kayak]

Setting up the world updates and world rows now! Aiming for 1pm PDT release, no promises if we're a bit late though.

[tiny vapor]

👀 👀

[lapis kayak]

blog post is ready, we're just waiting on the home world updates and world row right now!

[lapis kayak]

World rows going live... just waiting on the home world update before we push the blog post!

[lapis kayak]

Home world update is live!

Blog post is now live; congrats to all the winners!
https://hello.vrchat.com/blog/spookality-2024-winners

[gentle cedar]

Congret all.

[lapis kayak]

Congrats all!!!

I'm doing a couple of other things and then I'll be sending out emails from [e-mail] through Mailchimp to coordinate how winners want their VRC+ and Spookality pins.

[weary ore]

GGs to the winners!! Sadly didn't make it this year but it was so much fun to do. Love these jams!

[craggy kiln]

grats everyone

[zealous otter]

Congrats to everyone who participated and also to those who won!!

[mint tendon]

congrats to everyone as well! I plan to use this listing as a motivation to TRY and make patient pending quest compatible...@_@

[lapis kayak]

We had a blast playtesting that one! I think it would have made a really strong contender for Fractured Realm if you had been able to make it cross-platform, personally.

Fax kicked my butt as the doctor

[mint tendon]

😊

[median latch]

congrats to everyone that won! I wish there was some way to get a little bit of feedback, but i'll try again next year :]

[lapis kayak]

I'm thinking of opening up my DMs to give feedback to those who request it, but between 150 worlds and 60 avatars... that's too many to give feedback for this year I think x.x

If people feel very strongly about feedback, we can incorporate it for the next jam though!

[median latch]

yeah that's totally fair, i was just wondering if maybe the scale theming for my avatar wasn't as noticable as it was on the other submissions.. I had a few ideas for it, but maybe it was just that I didn't exaggerate the effects enough

[lapis kayak]

As a note, one of the blockers (?) for feedback was that Mailchimp had a character count limit so we were limited on how much we could send out.

[patent trench]

Congrats to the winners!

[weary ore]

Mine was just a small chill world called Phantom Lounge. Built to be simplistic and not laggy but of course halloween themed.. Perhaps too simplistic I am thinking though. Still was really fun to make for the jam

[lapis kayak]

congrats on making it to the top 25!

[patent trench]

oh? there's runner ups? I didn't see

[lapis kayak]

I'm really glad you had fun!
I think there were a lot of lounge worlds submitted

[lapis kayak]

if you check VRChat, by the size adjustment area (to the right of the default home world), you can see all 25 avatars that made the top 25. Only the top 10 will receive prizes

I apologize if that's confusing!

[patent trench]

ooh thanks! yeah I see it written here now

[lapis kayak]

I was in LOVE with the Frog entry... you'll know it when you see it.

[patent trench]

I know I'm a runner up, but I'm with @median latch that feedback would still be incredibly helpful.

If there's resources for those that want it to reach out;

[lapis kayak]

Currently I think I'll just respond to people 1:1 for feedback unless like... all 200+ of you want feedback. Then I might need to formalize something.

[urban yew]

Congrats to all the winners and runner-ups! I can't believe mine finally made it! The jam this year has been fun!

[lapis kayak]

Congrats!!

Also I'm very keen to hear feedback (the good, the bad, the ugly...) in general. This is my second time hosting a jam, and the first time hosting a bigger jam like Spookality, so we tried to incorporate learnings from Summer Music Fest Jam.

[patent trench]

kk sounds good. Thx in advance :)

Thank you for all your hard work, and all the devs hard work to run/promote this event. @lapis kayak

[lapis kayak]

It took a village! I don't want to out/ping everyone who worked on it externally, but I was helped by many engineers, artists, Community Team members and especially Fax!

[zealous otter]

Quick thing in the home world - is there suppose to be a collider around the featured portals? it kinda prevents people from being able to enter them 😅

[lapis kayak]

That doesn't sound intentional. Will follow up

[abstract island]

Aw, my avatar didnt get selected this year! Hey - I still had a soo much fun and look forward to the Spookality jam next year 👻

Congrats to all the winners!!!

[west solar]

I put way too much time and stress into this jam 😔

[lapis kayak]

noooooo don't do that!

this is supposed to be fun :(

please take care of yourself!

[patent trench]

I absolutely feel this. Won't lie I'm slightly devastated at how much effort I put into this. Definitely burned me out for a while

[lapis kayak]

sounds like we patched this now!

[patent trench]

I think next jam I need to budget time better, and if my idea takes longer than the jam has, I have to make better boundaries and not participate

still excited to check out the winners! From what I've seen there's a ton of cool stuff everyone made

[lapis kayak]

I think part of this was our fault too. We only gave 3 weeks to make something!

[zealous otter]

Woo!
As for a bit of feedback, I absolutely loved the addition of a subtheme/ other theme category alongside the general spookality category. I participate in a yearly 48 hour game jam that announces their theme the moment the jam starts and this reminded me a lot of that! Personally I was fine with the time constraint given, but then again I'm also use to some time crunch with projects 😅
Hope to see the subtheme w/ prizes return in future jams!

[west solar]

Yeah, 3 weeks was a rough deadline. I wish there was also a distinction between pre-existing content that was updated for Spookality and brand new stuff that was made just for this year's event.

[mint tendon]

i absolutely did not take care of myself, but we also still had a ton of fun making it. @_@ ♥

[lapis kayak]

I believe Fractured Realm (ie the category with prizes) needed to be uploaded during the jam period

for the Spookality Showcase, it's a little more general, but we accepted submissions as long as they were uploaded after Oct 1

[lapis kayak]

please take care of yourself!! that's the most important part!

[patent trench]

this is true, honestly I spent Oct 1st to the 5th brainstorming, and Didn't work on it after the 14th. So I worked abt 12 hrs a day for like 9 days straight? I don't count the 14th to the 21st because it was supposed to be submitted.

Although my health is my responsibility, I didn't HAVE to participate, but it's difficult to resist lol 😅

glad I didn't put even more work into it after the deadline I suppose

[lapis kayak]

well i hope everyone had fun, even if it was a little stressful. Is there anything you think we should have done differently?
More time, for example?

[west solar]

My feedback is more time and maybe different categories for updated worlds vs newly created ones. Feels bad to see a long existing world get updated and shove out a chance for someone that worked hard to make something special within the short deadline. And a more interesting non-contest theme. "Spooky" was sort of a given and I personally was hoping for a little more direction. Like "ghostly" or "aliens".

[lapis kayak]

I'm seeing a lot of feedback that people want new worlds and some fresh faces. I think this year's Fractured Realm had a number of new people in it, fwiw!
I didn't recognize some of the Showcase entrants either, which was nice.

[subtle talon]

Flare, might wanna check the avatar listing's, at least on the Android build.

[lapis kayak]

ah that indeed looks broken. Forwarding to the right teams!

[subtle talon]

Oh, just while I can pass it on directly, discovered avatar scaling isn't applied to animations on load. If you have something animated based on EyeHeightAsMeters, your a avatar loads looking like it's default 1.67m height animation for other players at whatever size it actually is.

Eg; My submissions was a growing plant monster, it should be in a mug at initial 0.2m height. If I fiddle the height a little and swap away and back, it looks like a teeny "full-grown" version instead.

[lapis kayak]

i think blueasis pointed this out as well, when the jam was starting out...

[subtle talon]

Ooof. Not one to normally call out bugs in a venue like this, just thought it pertinent due to scaling being a core part of this jam.

[lapis kayak]

Can one of you make a Canny about this? I fear I wouldn't capture it accurately enough for our engineers if I made it.

[subtle talon]

I already did, do you want the link to forward it on?

[craggy kiln]

I think I know where my shortcomings were, just couldnt put the time in I wanted to get the most out of the scaling feature and ran into a couple roadblocks for ideas on it. I still like her and I'm humbled she was liked well enough to be top25. Hoping I can fix some of the problems with her over time and she's at least gonna be in my roster for public avatar variants in the future.

[dark glade]

I mostly just want to know who got the highest time on Fiendish Frenzy and what it was lol. And I hope it wasn't too rage inducing 😅

[spare otter]

a new and an update split category would actually be great! mostly because I do love to see old worlds updated!

[regal flume]

I got one thing: What about listing all submissions in the category instead of just the top ones? You can still order them by rank. This way, creators get some recognition and players get to see all the new stuff in one place.

I'm talking about worlds here, especially the ones created specifically for the jam.

[subtle talon]

Bitt of general feedback; Honestly the avatar showcase in the Home world is not great. It's well out of the way to the point you need a sign (that's not very visible to begin with) to direct players to it. Whatever happened to that amazing Movie Theater showcase area from last year's Spookality?

[subtle talon]

Just to differentiate them, I'd suggest maybe Spookality "winners" and "participants" categories, perhaps?

[tropic stump]

or maybe a “halloween” tag listing and themed worlds could still be added. this is my holiday man and i want to see them all! we could then visit the spookality winners and then go see everything else. some holidays are bigger than a contest

[regal flume]

Either way is fine. I just think displaying everything is overall a better thing for everyone involved.

[lapis kayak]

the movie theater home world was great, but took a lot of Art resources... with our reduced workforce and coming right off Summer Music Fest Jam, we had less time than usual to come up with something. I don't disagree, I think it's a little bit of a hike just to see the avatars compared to last year.

[lapis kayak]

meaning you want to see all 150 worlds submitted, even if they didn't place?
A number of entries would have to be disqualified in general (IP issues, inappropriate for VRChat, etc) but if there's enough interest in just having it be a "you submit, you get featured" we might be able to accommodate for next year. We'll see!

[subtle talon]

So what's stopping it being reused?

[regal flume]

Yep. As you can see, there plenty of people like Deavial above who would love that.

[lapis kayak]

i guess we didn't think about reusing it! Good feedback for next year.

[waxen frost]

Despite the issues and learning moments, I appreciate organized events meant to draw out talent and showcase fun creations. It's a nice change of pace from my routine of the same handful of places and avatars I'm used to.

Thanks for the work on this.

Community engagement can be hard, especially after a resource crunch/reduction. Community is what makes VRC work. I'm not someone who can create on a competitive level, but seeing things like this shows me what's possible. That's both the VRC team and the community helping folks like me see more of what can be done here, and I value that. Thanks again.

[lapis kayak]

Emails to winners have been sent out! I'll be asking for which accounts you want the year of VRChat Plus added to, as well as your codes for the Makeship Spookality pins.

[abstract island]

Echoing what Maximillian said - thank you Flare and the rest of the VRChat team for organizing another awesome Spookality jam! Its one of my favorite jams to participate in, and Im already looking forward to next year!

Now I need the weekend to come so I can check all the cool worlds/avatars that people made

[plucky carbon]

congrats to the winners

[spare otter]

I don’t know how many submissions they got for each category, but they actually used to make a world with every submission as a portal in it. The winners were near the front on display, everyone else was in fields of portals. Avatars were on pedestals in catacombs in one of the years maps

[spare otter]

Honestly if all submission also used the tag “spookality2024” people could make their own world menu bars for it. Without it being in the rule it’s way too late now though

Could still search “spookality” and order by recent update

[spare otter]

How many of the 150 were fractured realms?

[lapis kayak]

Less than 25!

[spare otter]

Huh I see

[lapis kayak]

but some were duplicates from the Showcase category. ie, someone just submitted to both categories and it wasn't really applicable to Fractured Realm

[spare otter]

It was a much harder of a category that’s for sure

My suggestion for the future is have a rule that all worlds at least be tagged “spookality2025”

Of course doesn’t stop people from adding that to any world

[lapis kayak]

I'm seeing some feedback on socials that people want community-votes and access to all the worlds submitted (disqualifying any that might not be appropriate for VRChat as a platform, or have issues with IP of course).

I think I'd be okay with bringing back all of the worlds submitted so people can world hop, personally. Will be forwarding this along. Spookality has been smaller than in previous years, so we haven't been able to make a unique world for it.

I'm adverse to community votes on a personal note though. I fear that popular creators would automatically have an advantage with a larger fanbase to vote for them.

[spare otter]

im not a fan of community votes because it's just a popularity contest at that point. duno

[median latch]

I think community votes could work if the creator was obscured, I'm sure some people's work would be recognized though

in any case it's hard to trust people to be honest with their votes. judging the submissions for what they are rather than who made them

[cunning oriole]

not going to work because of credit text at the spawn points of Worlds would give away who it is

[spare otter]

also it would expect world creators to do 0 promoting of their world, not worth it for a community vote. world creators would rather release not part of spookality then obscure their world so long

[narrow scaffold]

I would say if the goal is to build a roster for the soon-to-be mobile population through game jam stuffs, I'd say providing an in-unity tester like client sim for mobile would be very welcome for future jams. Though for future game jams, it might be a nice heads up to receive a roughly 1-2 month notice of what technical requirements would be required for submissions. Like for this game jam, a 1-2 months notice for mobile phone development plus a multiplayer focused theme would be nice. Then at the 3 weeks mark, you could announce the jam in full. Basically the extra time allows for everyone to figure out their multiplayer syncing/how to even test mobile vrchat worlds, then 3 weeks to focus on making the actual game

[spare otter]

if the prizes are going to be simple like this, I would love to see a holiday jam start the day after USA thanks giving!

or the week before. just would be nice to see some new holiday worlds coming up!

would love if there was a game jam with it too similarly to the fractured realm

[patent trench]

I imagine it's too late for a holiday jam this year unless they already planned it? not sure

I wanted to chime in real quick somethin that's been bugging me. Staff keeps saying we had 3 weeks, but from announcement to deadline was 2. (3 weeks of work time would have been much better) The week after the deadline should not count. If you wanna give us a month of working time, the announcement needs to be 4 weeks before the deadline.

While it's convenient and forgiving of VRC to allow us to re-upload/edit after the deadline, that's not time we should expect to spend/count towards our allotted available time.

also just a heads up, @lapis kayak I tried to DM you to get feedback on my submission, but discord won't let me

[lapis kayak]

ah i was counting from Sept 23 to Oct 14! which should be three weeks

the announcement was Sept 23

[lapis kayak]

no more jams planned for this year, our next event is New Year's Eve!

[patent trench]

Oh how embarrassing. I must be confused, i thought the announcement was on Oct 1st. My mistake

[lapis kayak]

it's okay! Neverthless, from what i'm hearing from people, even if we can announce some of the technical requirements before the subtheme, that would be much appreciated to give people more time to prepare

[subtle talon]

Out of curiosity, is there a clean version of the Spookality 2024 logo available anywhere for us to use? I was hoping to decorate my now award-winning avatar with it in my toy store world.

[lapis kayak]

sure thing! Here you go

wow okay what happened to my svg

[lapis kayak]

Cross-posting it here, but our video editor Elim did a really amazing job putting together a world showcase (with some brief avatar cameos!) of this year's Spookality: https://youtu.be/PVF7QW2Orfw

[stiff sundial]

https://tenor.com/view/miira-miikun-happy-cheer-praised-gif-11223818

Me seeing my avatar in a vid for the first time even if it was just a second, happiest moment of my life

[subtle talon]

Cheers!

My various Spookality avatars are in my toy store world as B-grade monster movie collector boxes.

[lapis kayak]

this looks amazing!!

[lapis kayak]

i haven't visited your toy store world in a couple of years, you've made a lot of stuff!

[lapis kayak]

Unrelated to Spookality BUT related to Summer Music Fest Jam:
I'm going to start reaching out to creators about uploading avatars to iOS! So if you see a friend request from me, I most likely couldn't reach out to you any other way :C

[lapis kayak]

Just wanted to share that we used Count Viola in our newest Halloween Stickers quick menu banner! @craggy kiln

[craggy kiln]

aaa :D i was so surprised! tysm!

[harsh crow]

👋

[vernal ravine]

#announcements message
Where do we submit this?

[lapis kayak]

forms open at 1pm pt today! so in about 4 hours

[vernal ravine]

Oh okey. I'm too early :P

[lapis kayak]

yes thank you for the reminder! i should be back by then...

[willow token]

For the New Years video submissions, should I remove credits and logos? If no credits, can i show logos? Like the name of the show the video is from, or the studio that makes it?

[pine folio]

Really hop mine made it

[gentle cedar]

good luck

[pine folio]

I need it

[crystal nebula]

@lapis kayak Tony told me to ask you here, hello flare. So is there a way to like re-submit a finalize poster for the nye world? Because the friend that submitted the poster for our group may have been too hasty.

[lapis kayak]

next time you can just DM me! we try to take the latest entries if we see duplicates from the same email, so just use the same email to submit and submit again!

[crystal nebula]

gotcha

[gentle cedar]

https://fxtwitter.com/i/status/1864739477664477280/

[patent trench]

WHO dang, I almost missed it. Barely got some posters done in time 🤞

[gentle cedar]

hope you manage

[lapis kayak]

i got to tease the next jam in today's Dev Update!

tl;dr We have a World Jam coming up in February

[floral lotus]

Hello @lapis kayak ! I got redirected here from tickets.

Does VRChat going to disclose if our poster and video submissions will be displayed in the VRCNYE event this year? I believe last year we have access to that info prior to that event.

Thank you!

[lapis kayak]

is jams really the most appropriate channel haha

we'll be sending out emails to all posters/logos/video submitters accepted as we get closer to NYE!

[gentle cedar]

(We don't have other channel than which suit to ask or/and centralize those to....)

[lapis kayak]

maybe next time i make an NYE channel so people can share their submissions and talk about their plans

[gentle cedar]

maybe

[floral lotus]

Thanks for the response!

Yeaaa the reason I asked is because if our poster and video submission is accepted, we want to probably plan something around it. So having that information available as early as conveniently possible will be very helpful and appreciated. But no presh!

[terse trellis]

Anyone know if there is an update on this? (Acceptance list for the NYE poster and video submissions) I havent received an email yet, but im not sure if its because my video submission didnt get accepted 😭 or maybe it simply is just isint out yet
Thank you!

[lapis kayak]

no emails sent out yet!

[floral lotus]

I can confirmed I have received an email. Thank you so much!

[idle vale]

just got a email i just realized that i put the wrong contributors is it able to be changed?

[gentle cedar]

worth try DM Flare

[idle vale]

okai

i didnt know that the contributors were gunna show

this is the first time i submitted for nye

[gentle cedar]

https://vxtwitter.com/i/status/1872659056525209672/

[runic hollow]

I guess i wasn't chosen then. 😦

[lapis kayak]

maybe next year!

[gentle cedar]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRZtXskagMPAWZ-Riq1suoy5k3-GfY4SRRb8suUgHgdq2gde4UKRdwcqpScM8G_lXez0AkuFMwfarRn/pubhtml?gid=141108332&single=true
wow....501 video.....lol

[runic hollow]

And now seeing how there are partially the same peoples banners shown as last year (or even the year before), i wonder why its not done in a way that first timers get priority. But i guess VRC has their reasons.

[merry perch]

Slightly offtopic, but I finally was able to fix my 2024 Summer Jam avatar submission (I was gifted a new phone for christmas so now I can actually test stuff!). Apparently the default Unity project settings on Linux break normal maps for the Android clients.

Shorkobot is finally ready... for winter... 🥹

[lapis kayak]

wahoo!!! congrats!!!

[merry perch]

Thanks

[old jolt]

Will the entertainment network video downloads be announced in the announcement channel? Or have they quietly gone up elsewhere?

[lapis kayak]

they'll be announced in #announcements

[lapis kayak]

posted! see #announcements

[lapis kayak]

while our next official Jam is in February, we might host something casual and fun on our socials on Monday for music composers! Keep an eye out!

[ember jetty]

So... New jam soon

[lapis kayak]

Just Worlds this time, no Avatars, so that should give World Creators some time to prepare ideas

[ember jetty]

There won't be more info until 24th feb i guess

But im down for world jams

[lapis kayak]

it seems people have already guessed the next Jam, so you can start building ahead of time if you'd like...

[zealous otter]

Looking forward to the next jam!! 👀

[zealous otter]

oh?

[ember jetty]

I haven't

[lapis kayak]

We're trying to give more time than usual for the Jam, so no worries if you all just wait until Feb 24. I believe we're aiming for the submission period to be more than 4 weeks for once

It's more fun when you make it during the period anyways!

[zealous otter]

Definitely gonna wait until the start line but excited to see what the theme is gonna be this time around

[lapis kayak]

just to be clear, I prefer if people wait until the announcement!

[tiny vapor]

Can't wait to see what you cook up!

[viscid acorn]

What if I want marmalade instead?

[tiny vapor]

Make a canny post 👍

[narrow escarp]

Ye

[manic perch]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV6Lalg3XOQ&list=RDBV6Lalg3XOQ&start_radio=1

[night pike]

Wow

[lapis kayak]

it's actually the same copy as the Jan 16 Dev Update

we just wanted to remind people!

[onyx topaz]

What exactly is a VRChat Jam? Trying to decide if it's for me.

[abstract island]

Sounds like well know more details specific to this jam come February, but heres a link to a previous jam they organized last year! Hopefully this helps

https://hello.vrchat.com/blog/summer-music-jam

[old sapphire]

basically just thing where vrc sets a topic for an avatar or world (depends on the type of jam it is) and lets people go wild to make the best thing they can before the times up

like a hackathon, but instead of a hackathon its making worlds and stuff

[onyx topaz]

Oh wow, nice!

[lapis kayak]

carbonated piss (what a name...) explained it pretty well already, but yes it's a "hackathon" or "game jam" meant to encourage people to try to make something in a certain timeframe with a given theme. Often prizes are given out to some of the top entries, but the focus of the jam is more on the personal growth of the creator rather than winning, imo.

The next jam coming up is a "World Jam" which means it'll only involve World Creation for VRChat. Sometimes there are jams that include Avatars

[old sapphire]

you can call me piss :3

[lapis kayak]

i think it's a fun little thing to contribute to, and we try to showcase as many of the submissions we can, so it's a nice way to get featured

[lapis kayak]

piss it is

[onyx topaz]

Good info, thank you

[cunning onyx]

pis........

[cunning onyx]

wrong chat sory

[trim swift]

Ok, so I just caught wind of this "World-Jam" deal. Any collaborators want to help me? I'd like to enter into this, but I have nothing.

[unique mural]

I can't wait for the next Avatar Jam!

[balmy stratus]

Same uwu

[cyan pollen]

This sounds fun, but no shot can I work on a timeframe.

[wanton halo]

Do you prefer working on things for a longer period of time?

[cyan pollen]

I just cant work on a timeline if there's a way to procrastinate i will probably find it. Also im fairly inexperienced so everything just takes longer for me.

Maybe when i get better

[dapper storm]

Having a couple weeks to create a world I felt was a very comfortable timeframe

[lapis kayak]

this channel is for our Game Jams, which are like hackathons if you're familiar with that! Not music jams!

[white lake]

Um hey I got a question

So there’s this avatar it’s a bardock it’s called sol bardock and it’s wearing a leather jacket and fingerless gloves

Can y’all get it banned because anytime I wear it glitches me out of the map and I can’t get back

[hushed cairn]

First off this is vrchat jams not moderation reports
Second off just dont wear it?

[zealous pelican]

All Admins Assemble

https://tenor.com/view/dokkan-dokkan-battle-dbz-dragon-ball-z-str-lr-super-saiyan-goku-gif-2903250110049041208

[proud yoke]

Hey

[cyan pollen]

Obsception

[lapis kayak]

next world jam starts on the 24th!!!! aaaaa

[tiny vapor]

👀 👀 👀

[austere sparrow]

📀

[dark glade]

Tomorrow 👀

[lapis kayak]

praying we get everything done in time

i'm aiming to announce around 2pm EST! That's <t:1740423600:F>

[long pebble]

https://tenor.com/view/povjisoo-cat-tiktok-dancing-cat-dancing-gif-952096540468710844

[dapper storm]

woe, jam be apon ye

[unique mural]

when is the next avatar jam i wonder? spookality for sure?

😮

[lapis kayak]

here's my current plan for jams this year:

Feb - Apr: World Jam
June - July: World & Avatar Jam
Aug - Sept: ??? Jam
Sept - Oct (Spookality): World & Avatar Jam

the August jam is still cooking, we'll see if we can pull it off

[unique mural]

Awesome!!!

[lapis kayak]

IM WORKING ON IT!!!!!!!!

i know i'm late

https://hello.vrchat.com/blog/space-jam-2025

[slate agate]

holy shit my friends were joking that it was gonna be Space Jam 2 LOL

[dapper storm]

So the "Sustainable Space" category is meant for educational submissions and "New Horizions" is for general space themed worlds?

[lapis kayak]

Not sure if "Educational" is the right word, i'll copy from the blog to be more specific:

These worlds should focus on environments that support people living, working, and thriving in sustainable communities beyond the Earth. They must also be new (uploaded after February 24, 2025).

it doesn't have to be an educational world!

[dapper storm]

You're right educational wasn't the best word choice, what I'm asking is if the "new horizons" is for space themed world that don't have to fit a criteria

[fossil sparrow]

i assume it's like how spookality has a themed category to encourage submissions made within the jam and an unthemed category for all halloween entries

[slate agate]

those people who did make educational worlds last year were so cool and everyone should give them a dollar

[lapis kayak]

that's correct!

New Horizons, Shared Futures is also accepting older world submissions, so ones made before the jam

Any entries that don't win in the Sustainable Space category will be placed in the New Horizons category
That way everyone gets featured
(i heard you about Spookality!)

[ember jetty]

Oh god

Space jam again

[dapper storm]

That's perfect 👌

[lapis kayak]

i will note that we may need to remove certain worlds from being featured (IP/copyright concerns, low quality submissions - i'm talking like "it's a cube with a video player in it")

[hot knoll]

If you enter a world under "Sustainable Space" and it doesn't win, could it still win under the "Shared Futures" category?

[lapis kayak]

i'll have to double check with @main totem on that one. my gut is no, because it wasn't originally intended for that row

[mental shale]

Hi! I’m back in here because I’m hoping to contribute to this world jam. Is it OK if I mention what my submission is about?

[lapis kayak]

sure thing! you're welcome to be as open as you'd like about your submission, whether it's here or online

[mental shale]

Thanks! I’m drafting an idea called “Museums of Earth History”, which takes place across every other planet in our solar system, sometime in the future. Players can travel between planets via three different methods, talk to fellow humans/NPCs, and enjoy scenic planetary environments - all while learning about Earth, its history, technology, culture and science (even beyond the present day) in futuristic institutions. I’m drafting a lore for it as well!

[slate agate]

sounds p. neat

if Venus is one the visitable planets I can get you some papers to read

[mental shale]

Venus will be visitable, and according to the lore, was the first planet to be settled by space-traveling humans, or eco-colonized, as the lore describes.

And the order of Museums is not in planetary order! It starts with Venus, then Mars, followed by Mercury, and finally the others in order.

[slate agate]

actually might be easier to check out my group's submission from last year lol
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_1bfeca10-06ae-4e6c-95f0-3de83d269fd8/info

there's a bibliography at the beginning, and a little Venus museum where you can find some useful info

[long pebble]

https://tenor.com/view/shocked-surprised-gasp-what-cat-shock-gif-635629308990545194

[main nymph]

Does the player necessarily have to be thriving. asking for clarification if I wanted to go for a slight more horror or spooky direction?

[main totem]

If you want to paint it as the players trying to get through some adversity that might work.

[main totem]

The shared futures category is more to ensure that the remaining entries that don't fit the theme and older worlds still get a chance to be featured.

So for instance if you submit for the main theme but don't get in the top submissions you'll still probably be showcased in the shared futures category.

Best way to look at it is that sustainable space would be the top row with the top entries aligned with the theme, and then the shared futures would be the bottom row with the top entries that are either old worlds or not aligned with the theme.

Saves us from having one giant world row like last year.

But in general anyone that submits to a working standard will be spotlighted in the bottom row.

[main totem]

Mars water is a good example

[main totem]

We are making a hub world that will feature the past space jam entries btw, will have that up in the world row.

[ember jetty]

please show us when its ready

[hot knoll]

Would worlds submitted under the main theme be eligible for the shared futures prize if they don't get picked for the main theme prize? It's ok if not, I was just curious

I have an idea but I'm not really sure if it would fit with sustainability. I wanna try and marry the two concepts though

[main totem]

Take a look at the mission on the form, should be at the bottom of blog post.

Tried to keep it rather broad.

I'll update the form to be a bit more specific on things, but in general the shared futures prize was made with older worlds in mind.

I'll make it clear on the form that you have to choose one or the other.

[hot knoll]

Fair enough, thank you for the clarification. I can definitely think of some older worlds deserving of that prize. The Japanese community made a whole space museum in VRchat, it's incredible
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_b5ed19cb-cf04-481c-833a-9833138ff668/info

[main totem]

Totally! Visited the world a couple times. Hoping that having JGC as a partner will attract more Japanese entries.

Context JGC is a massive company in Japan, they actually submitted a world last year as well.

[hot knoll]

It's really cool how big VRchat is in Japan, especially considering how Western stuff has a tendency to not do as well in Japan (e.g. PC gaming and Xboxes)

[slate agate]

the Japanese worlds are just always so awesome, even if I can't read half of it lol

[long pebble]

booth avis on top too

[main totem]

Going to update the form, but just checked with VRChat. Anyone apart from the team who came 1st last year is able to submit again.

As in do a new entry if you'd like, or submit your old one for the Shared Futures row.

[cyan pollen]

Someone should make a brutal survival game based off the Martian. (RTG included)

[slate agate]

a playable The Martian experience would be kinda wild

[cyan pollen]

You light a match and the entire hab just explodes

I’ll keep my eyes open, one day I’m gonna do a world jam. I just need to wait for the perfect topic.

[junior elm]

I genuinely think that this was one of the coolest and detailed submissions last year, I hope this will be continued and polished, really looking forward to it 🙂

[subtle talon]

Can we make a separate submission for both categories (ie; Offer an existing world for the "New Horizons, Shadred Futures" Category as well as make a new one for "Sustainable SPace, Resilient Earth"), or is it just the one entry permitted for the Jam?

[main totem]

So I don't contradict what I said before, you can submit for both but just don't use the same world.

@subtle talon

As in same world for each entry, if you want to both make a new world and submit and old one go for it.

[subtle talon]

Yes, as in separate worlds for each.

[main totem]

Yep all good, I'll add a section so you don't have to submit the form twice.

Thanks for submitting last year

Keen to see the updates

[slate agate]

glad to hear it :)
We will understandably not be reiterating on Experience Venus, as I..... pretty much gathered all possible research in the field, and based on that research I'm not expecting much "new" info within the past year.
We've already got some bigger, cooler stuff cookin' tho, you'll see

[main totem]

Alrighty form has been updated to include all the context we discussed: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeB-KQAgH7mozkg3bIqi3t-Ptd0_97iMZY0C7hqpGvnkdBq0A/viewform

Should be much more clear about what the categories are and how things fit in.

Also congrats to our first submission!

[lapis kayak]

excited to see it!

[main totem]

Won't speak for the VRChat team but we already have an appetite for another.

I agree, will shake things up each year.

[tawny shore]

I was just in the process of doing a remaster of my last year's submission of Reverie Serenade
So this news took me by surprise

Now I gotta make two maps Dx

[main totem]

Surprise!

[main totem]

Looking forward to seeing the updates, was an awesome map.

Thank you for including our trophy into it.

[fossil sparrow]

if i may offer some constructive criticism for future years, i've been talking with friends and fellow creators about the last 2 space jam themes and we've come to the conclusion that the way the themes are presented are a little too heavy on the expectation of what a final product should be. if that makes sense.

like, the title "Sustainable Space, Resilient Earth" could be a really cool and thought-provoking prompt in a vacuum, and would allow for us to interpret that however we want, appealing to any creator regardless of their interests, be it chill hangout worlds, game worlds, walking sims, etc.
but the moment the theme starts to elaborate on itself continuously in the blog post and submission form, this sort of falls apart. instead of a jumping off point for exploring ideas under a shared inspiration, it feels more like we're being tasked to start with a draft of an idea and try our best to expand it without stepping over the boundaries of the criteria offered.
GMTK's game jams do this very well, judging submissions based on how interestingly they manage to fit a single catchy title like "Roles Reversed" or "Joined Together" regardless of how its interpreted, rather than how well a submission manages to meet an expectation.

the magic of participating in a jam dissipates a little when you have think to yourself "i like this idea we came up with a lot but i don't think we can do it for this/i don't think we can win because it doesn't align perfectly with the provided expectations" while brainstorming.

i hope that helps offer some perspective that can be taken into consideration for the future, (even vrchat's own jams too, i suppose.) especially if others here vibe with what i'm getting at. i just want these jams to be as fun as possible for people to participate in. i'm also still happy to participate in this one, to be clear. i just think that if this is going to be a yearly thing it could be done in a way that's a little more......sustainable :]

[main totem]

You know what, we agree.

We'd actually like to take onboard the feedback right now before we are too deep into the jam.

We have gone ahead and updated the form.

But hopefully this makes things more fun for everyone.

"For your mission this year, we have themes/categories we’d like you to interpret and turn into VR worlds.

The first and main theme of the jam is "Sustainable Space, Resilient Earth," which just so happens to be the theme of this year’s International Astronautical Congress, hosted in Australia!

The second theme is "New Horizons, Shared Futures." This one’s for those looking to work with a broader scope or for creators who’ve published worlds before and want to be recognized.

At the end of the day, we want to see your interpretation of these themes. Focus on what you and your team are passionate about and show us what you’ve got.

Looking forward to seeing what you cook up!"

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeB-KQAgH7mozkg3bIqi3t-Ptd0_97iMZY0C7hqpGvnkdBq0A/viewform

What you mentioned is what we originally planned, but our worry was that people would get lost in the sauce of interpretation.

But that's what we actually want, and is fun so enjoy!

[fossil sparrow]

oh, that works too i suppose lol.
though to be clear, i think there's definitely a middleground where you /can/ elaborate on the prompt a little bit, it just felt like it was being elaborated on so much that it felt very specific. like i found 4 different paragraphs in the vrc blog post and the submission form that were synonyms of "you can ultimately do what you want but this is what we're looking for" if that makes sense

but yeah, awesome! i hope people resonate with this

[main totem]

All good, we do want to ensure that we had a similar level of diversity as last year when it comes to the worlds. So the above is what we see as our good middle ground, without hindering anyone who has already gotten started.

[fossil sparrow]

it might be a good idea to have vrc's blog post edited to reflect this direction, i wouldn't want there to be confusion about what the restrictions are

i wouldnt be surprised if most people don't open the submission form until they're ready to submit

[main totem]

All good, on it. Thanks again for the feedback.

[fossil sparrow]

no prob

[main totem]

Was a good wake up call that we were going a direction we were trying to avoid initially.

[sage bear]

ive never participated in a world jam for vrc before but im super excited with this one tbh - love the idea of showcasing a possible future that humans could get to! ive got a whole linear story world concept im going to make but im excited to see what other people create

[subtle talon]

Question about the form; I'm seeing the option for "Both Categories" but it doesn't seem to change the form at all. How do I correctly submit a world for New Horizons, Shared Futures now but still be able to submit one for the Sustainable Space category later?

[main totem]

Submit twice, the both categories option is more for if you are ready to go with details for each of them. But if you want to submit your New Horizons, Shared Futures early because you have all the details ready go for it.

I elaborated on the note I've got in there if you'd like to know how to format it if you are submitting both at the same time, they are long form answers so should have enough space.

[subtle talon]

Ahh, gotcha.

[lapis kayak]

updated the blog post to change this line to be more open:

*What that looks like is up to you! We encourage you to design futuristic environments with a focus on sustainability, but ultimately, you can interpret the theme however you’d like. *

[fossil sparrow]

sweeet

[tiny vapor]

My vision of mars habitation is we send our finest astronauts, only to drug them back a few evolution cycles before landing and start from scratch as cavemen. Second time's the charm

[long pebble]

https://tenor.com/view/cat-cat-meme-cat-stare-cat-shocked-stare-gif-1398922735574533156

[slate agate]

the cavemen of Earth had a pretty big advantage in the fact that they could breath their planet's atmosphere

[idle kelp]

Qeastion I am making a star wars world would that work for VR chat jam

[main totem]

That's definitely a new horizon

[lapis kayak]

When you upload content to VRChat, you are agreeing that you own the rights to publish that content. I would suggest only uploading content that you have the rights to own for the jam.

A Star Wars-INSPIRED World would be fine though!

[feral wave]

Hello Flare, I would like some clarification on the jam rules, because it's unclear for me.

The announcement states: "These worlds should focus on environments that support people living, working, and thriving in sustainable communities beyond the Earth."

However, the evaluation criteria mention: "Present unique VR concepts that explore space exploration through historical context, futuristic visions, or a combination of both."

These seem to be addressing different subjects. Could you clarify what the main focus should be ? Thanks. 😁

[main totem]

Going to jump in and address this for you, first off I would focus on the "your mission" section of the Space Jam 2 entry form if you want a concrete idea of what we are looking for.

As for the criteria, it's just saying that we want you to be unique and you can do that through any lens, whether it be a creative take on historical events in the space industry or your own completely original experience.

The main theme this year is Sustainable Space, Resilient Earth and the interpretation of that is entirely up to you.

[lapis kayak]

(For anyone wondering, Gregs is from the NSSA, the people judging and administering the jam!)

[feral wave]

Got it now, thanks a lot :D

[long pebble]

https://tenor.com/view/cat-scared-gif-27466237

[main totem]

Just because I am terrible with surprises, I figured I’d let you know the organizations that our judges are from this year.

NASA, Blue Origin, International Astronautical Federation, ICON (actual lunar construction company), JGC, NSW Space Research Network and Isaac Arthur.

Plus, our winners from last year Tajasuka, Niko and Garret2727.

Will have all the names and titles of who from those organizations in the form hopefully by mid next week.

I made sure to bring in people who are on the cutting edge of their field, so if you can inspire them in some way, who knows what could happen?

[lapis kayak]

super exciting to hear!

[inner zealot]

I have a question about if my submission would count. Last year I attempted the Space Jam(2024), due to unfortunate timing and unity exploding, I submitted a mostly broken world but I couldn't fix for a while. A week after that I took it off of public because it was too broken to play, and it was never mentioned in the Jam or shared on the world page. I would like to use much of my old work, and revamp it for this jam. Would it still work for the "Sustainable Space, Resilient Earth" category?

[lapis kayak]

submissions for SSRE need to have been uploaded after the start date, but i think as long as its a new world id and it's mostly work you've done for this period, that's fine

what we'd want to discourage is people submitting works from years ago as-is (that's what the other category is for!)

Gregs can correct me if he feels differently

[main totem]

I agree with Flare. If you’re using learnings from last year to build a new world, that’s fine. However, to ensure fairness especially since there’s real money at stake I’d emphasize that the world should be noticeably different and that the majority of the work must be done during the Jam period. If not, it could be at a disadvantage, similar to a world that overly relies on prefabs. The goal is to reward fresh, substantial effort.

@inner zealot

[inner zealot]

Got it, I'll try my best!

[tawny shore]

Oh cool this answers my question as well, can’t wait to finish mine up!

[lapis kayak]

Very pleased to announce that we translated the Space Jam blog into Japanese! Hoping to see more JP entries this year:
https://x.com/VRChat_JP/status/1896751052579651777

VRChat 日本語公式 (@VRChat_JP) on X

宇宙テーマのワールドジャムイベント「Space Jam 2」が開催しました！

NSSA（オーストラリア国家宇宙協会）の提供で、総額90万円を超える豪華賞金もあります！

開催日やカテゴリー、参加方法などの重要な情報はこちらのブログポストに詳しくまとめています：https://t.co/4GBo2DWP4I

X · Mar 4, 2025, 2:34 AM

(you have to scroll to the bottom to see the JP section)

[gentle cedar]

[ember jetty]

I see than NSS and Blue Origin are both advocate for O'Neil Cylinder wouldn't that create bias?

[main totem]

You know if you were looking at last years winners and had that thought I wouldn't blame you, we even pointed that out at the end to ourselves.

I wouldn't worry about bias though. Internally and historically, we've been split on the best methods of space settlement all the way back to the founding of the organization, and we like it that way. If you do some digging, you'll see we all come from different companies and backgrounds, especially on our board and executive team.

Keep in mind, this isn't our Space Settlement Contest—it's a Jam. We’re not judging based on feasibility or business cases. We just want to see creativity and originality, mixed with some relevance to the theme, and ultimately, something the community will enjoy.

In short airships in Venus are on the table and I'm sure @slate agate would share my sentiment that they are indeed cool.

[ember jetty]

ofc i think its cool i did Venus last year too

[slate agate]

The O'Neil Cylinders got a bit stale last year, but I don't blame people for making them because it was in the blog post of an example of what you could do
But c'mon there's way cooler ideas. The entire reason we even did the Venus world was because I stumbled upon the paper that detailed the Venusian airships and thought "this is something more people need to know about"
But I'd say the best thing to do would come up with your own ideas, maybe inspire a scientist with something original. One of the rovers featured in our Venus museum was a completely original idea by one of our team members, as well as I think the prefab modular buildings inside of the airship
In my opinion I think that's the most impressive stuff to me. And there wasn't actually a lot of that last year

[ember jetty]

I agree that it is stale and knowing NSS they are probably people who would think inside "I know more than you" (not in a negative way) especially knowing their history as merger of L5 society and more I wouldn't be surprised of O'Neil Cylinder is rough to enter and rough to judge.

[main totem]

Honestly, as one of the younger members of the NSS board, I’ve seen that mentality fading as the old guard of space ages out. Many of the new space companies are much more open, not just because it’s nice, but because they have to be. With the shift toward awarding contracts to commercial companies, openness has become a necessity for staying competitive.

Keep in mind as well the NSS is one out of 10 votes this year.

[ember jetty]

Ok that gives me some confidence haha

not that im making o'neill

I mean I did some research on NSS history and I even watched Jeff Bezos BO presentation so I was quite idk how to describe it but it makes me raise eyebrows

[main totem]

Haha fair, but apart from seeing O'Neil Cylinders as an aspirational goal. Think you'll find the actual content at our events varies widely.

Plus another detail is this is run by the Aussie chapter.

But if you would like a rabbit hole to research for inspiration. Check out the yet to be well know names in the judges.

Such as ICON and Branch Technology.

We've kind of gone a little over board with the judges this year, but mostly because of how good the entrances were last year.

Currently our list is NASA, Blue Origin, International Astronautical Federation (IAF), ICON, Branch Technology, JGC, NSW Space Research Network, Deloitte and Isaac Arthur.

[slate agate]

do you have a website for Deloitte?
actually, may be useful for everyone if we had a website link for all of the different organizations

[main totem]

I'll put links in the form once I got the reps confirmed from each.

[tropic kiln]

can we add alien plants and beings in our world?

or does it have to be theoretically realistic?

[lapis kayak]

go for it!

[ember jetty]

If anyone working on Saturn I have bad news for you that they just discovered 128 more moons

Wikipedia editors are fast

[lapis kayak]

holy moly

[eternal swift]

thats so much more cheese...

[clear delta]

If I have time

[hot knoll]

This might be a stupid question but I wanna ask it anyway, if I wanted to use some movie posters (1970s era) as decorations (hanging them on a wall) in my Space Jam entry, would that break the "no IP infringement" rule? I ask cause I really wanna do it and it's just posters

[eternal swift]

I mean you could always make parody posters with similiar vibes, instead of james bond u could do Names Dond with a spy

[hot knoll]

So, yes?

[eternal swift]

https://publicdomainmovie.net/

[hot knoll]

Thanks

[hot knoll]

I was still hoping to get an official answer from VRchat staff if it isn't too much trouble

[lapis kayak]

so you should never use content you don't own the rights to. I would highly suggest @eternal swift 's suggestion on making a parody poster OR recreating it on your own. If you redraw or re-render the poster, i believe that falls under paraody.

[hot knoll]

Sounds good. I could probably also AI generate some posters, that'd be the easy way around this, but I would very much prefer not to for several reasons. Parodying the posters would be fun but would also take a really long time.

My current plan is to dig through that public domain collection, I saw "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" in there (best known for being on Mystery Science Theater 3000) and I'm hoping to find some more MST3K movies like that, or at least some nice-looking posters. Seeing pretty much nothing from the 70s but thankfully posters from the 20s til the 70s look mostly the same.

Thanks for the response!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/visions-of-the-future/

Found these, looks like they're free to use

Unless otherwise noted, images and video on JPL public web sites (public sites ending with a jpl.nasa.gov address) may be used for any purpose without prior permission, subject to the special cases noted below. Publishers who wish to have authorization may print this page and retain it for their records; JPL does not issue image permissions on an image by image basis.
These will be perfect

[hot knoll]

I think I misread the response initially, so using stuff from other sources would be frowned upon even if it's public domain or free use? Just asking for clarification

[lapis kayak]

if it's public domain or free use that's fine. those give you permission to use it!

[hot knoll]

Sweet, thanks!

[lapis kayak]

good luck, have fun!

[tropic kiln]

Not that surprising tbh. Atleast I'm working on just one of the moons (titan)

[clear delta]

just 273 to go

[tropic kiln]

Don't do dat 2 me 😭

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/space-core-portal2-portal-spacecore-gif-8264616

[eternal swift]

https://tenor.com/view/space-kitten-galaxy-cat-spinning-gif-4189462356090573795

I feel like I'm back in college doing all this research and notation

[tropic kiln]

I'm still in college

[clear delta]

just make all the planets flat

[eternal swift]

You make it sound as if they arent already

[clear delta]

You right i forgot

[tropic kiln]

ive reached the stage where my pc is lagging to just move

[eternal swift]

as in like game mode in unity?

have you baked your occlusion rendering or anything?

[tropic kiln]

no, blender

im still in blender

need to retopo

[eternal swift]

im going for hyper realistic aliens feel free to critique

[lapis kayak]

WHOA

[clear delta]

where can I get one

[cyan pollen]

Earth is cooked if these guys decide to invade

[slate agate]

2 weeks to go ◑﹏◐
how's everybody doin'

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/sweating-nervous-gif-21041319

[slate agate]

https://tenor.com/bvDIV.gif

[clear delta]

im working hard i swear!

[cedar lotus]

Hi

[lapis kayak]

Just two weeks left!!!!!!

hope everyone is having a good time

[eternal swift]

https://tenor.com/view/pooti-pootikat-pooticoin-gif-5961807292594278612

[clear delta]

anyone else finish their submissions?

[tawny shore]

Yep done and set :3

[forest crow]

cool

[clear delta]

Im just CRAMING ngl

trying to test some optimizations on draw calls to see if it affects anything as im getting closer to optimization phase

[clear delta]

ah peak performance

[hot knoll]

So i'm like super behind on my entry, does it need to be 100% done before submission? Like no changes allowed after April 5?

I can get it in a state that's like mostly how the final version will look, but wouldn't have that final layer of polish

I can get it in that final polish state by results time most likely

I don't care about winning, I was just hoping to be included in the lineup

It's cool if the answer's no, and I plan on finishing the world regardless, but I was just curious. Been busy with IRL crap.

[austere sparrow]

Yep! You can update the world after submitting it.
But judging will begin sometime after the submission deadline.

[hot knoll]

When would this judging period be?

[austere sparrow]

The worlds will be showcased starting from the 12th afaik. So, sometime between the 5th and then!

[lapis kayak]

i believe the official judging period is (Australian hours) Apr 7-11

i would recommend getting it in a good state for Apr 5 and then maybe another version by April 7 but after that point your entry may be judged

[mental shale]

Yep. Shame I never got my concept off the ground - I was swamped with a lot of other world projects and events, along with my IRL job. But it’s fine - it was probably too much for one person to do anyway.

[eternal swift]

you never know until you try! all my projects are solo, you just have to get it off the ground before you know your limitations.

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/dbz-goku-sj3-gif-26647080

[past elbow]

Hoping this gets fixed asap since I haven't been able to test my jam world the whole weekend (need multiplayer & stations) 😓
https://feedback.vrchat.com/udon/p/vrc-object-sync-vrc-object-pool-does-not-synchronize
https://feedback.vrchat.com/bug-reports/p/avatar-loading-always-fails-in-build-test-clients

[lapis kayak]

i believe fax escalated this interally!!!!

[subtle talon]

Confirming for upload; If we have worlds in both categories, we submit with the third open and denote which is which in the description field of the form? (Like "This world is my submission for Sustainable Earth, etc, etc...")

Also is there a specifc tag/tags we should use for submission worlds?

[slate agate]

most people just add "space_jam" or something as a tag, but tags will be added automatically to your world if it gets in the featured row

[lapis kayak]

nope, we'll tag your world depending on which world row you'll end up in

[lapis kayak]

and yes there's the "Both Categories" selection that you should enter!

[past elbow]

I do not believe I can finish my project in time for the space jam, however, I still want to finish it eventually as I have a second reason for making it anyways. College has been a time killer. I've basically only had 1 week so far to implement things. 😓

[slate agate]

that's how it be sometimes

[past elbow]

That's how it was last year, tho I didn't even get a time to start anything for that space jam. Hoping this one will be different, but it's looking similar.

[slate agate]

knowing you I'm sure it's cool and worth seeing. You could wrap it like a demo and post it anyway maybe?
....that's what I'm doing at least.... this last week in a half has only been "ok what can I cut to get this in some sort of 'finished' state"

[past elbow]

I have considered cutting content tho not sure how well I could make it for the story.

Maybe a showcase that just teases/inspires those with the jam theme.

What I do know is I want to get this project out eventually. Was designed to be a 2 week project that takes all the collective skills I've learned to practice. Short but sweet story.

Some other stuff happening in my life has taken a bit of a mental toll on myself as well...

[slate agate]

I feel that. stay strong brother
worst case scenario, we got more jams rolling in later this year, and another space jam next year

[subtle talon]

Cool, thanks. I've gotten it submitted that way.

[exotic flare]

Hello,

I would like to know what time the application period ends on April 5.

[slate agate]

the deadline is <t:1743911940:F>

[exotic flare]

Thank you very much for your reply

[plucky carbon]

got my world in

https://tenor.com/view/kopa22-anime-highschool-dx-d-highschool-dxd-new-dxd-gif-22142813

[eternal swift]

https://tenor.com/view/press-the-button-press-now-tom-tom-hanks-gif-7033143425013922727

[main totem]

For those still submitting

https://youtu.be/tYzMYcUty6s?si=htUhoPiSqMGvqQJX

We may have prize money attached, but at the end of the day it is a Jam.

The likelihood is that whether it's work in progress or a polished world, you'll still be showcased.

So remember to have fun, and again we are just here because this community is amazingly talented and we love seeing what you make.

[clear delta]

Im almost there! I wont give up! I havent slept in over 12 hours I will get it in!

[clear delta]

was so close to having the finishing touches on this but unity decided to nuke my folder i made called udon

https://tenor.com/view/ghostedvpn-hacker-cat-bongo-cat-keyboard-cat-hacker-gif-4373606555250453292

writing so much graphs as quickly as i can^

[inner zealot]

oof, same similar thing happened to me last year. i'm also racing to finish. good luck!

[clear delta]

best of luck to you too!

and yeah i finally recovered thank god one drive saved me but i have to fix and red to a bunch of small things.

[storm oak]

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/82/fa/6b/82fa6b73d34b060a877f18074c930b61.jpg

Quick question regarding copyright: if I have a youtube link set to autoplay on a video player, is there any concern with that being royalty-free? I assume not since it's not content uploaded with the world itself, but asking to check

[lapis kayak]

so the video is playing royalty free music? that should be ok

if you were playing any kind of music EMBEDDED in the world you'd need to make sure you're allowed to use it (royalty free should be ok!)

i'm less concerned about what's on a video player because people can change that content

[storm oak]

Sorry I'm asking if I should set it to royalty free music, or if it's fine to put whatever on it. But yea user can change it freely

[lapis kayak]

less than 4 hours left to get entries in!
reminder that you need to submit your world id's before the form closes but you can still stealth push fixes to your world before judging starts on Apr 7

[lapis kayak]

hmm i would prefer royalty free so there's no question about it!

[clear delta]

I can bake only so fast!

[lapis kayak]

gogohoohohohohohohohohohoogogogogo

cheering for all of you who are submitting last minute!

[heavy ingot]

Alongside stealth updates, can we keep our world private until the 7th?

[lapis kayak]

i believe as long as the link works that's okay!

[heavy ingot]

Nice!

[lapis kayak]

also make sure it's published AFTER the start of the jam of course

[ember jetty]

help ive been on my IDE coding for 12 hours crunching this

its 4AM i havent sleep

[inner zealot]

submitted

[subtle talon]

Is there supposed to be an automated confirmation or anything for the submission form? Didn't get anything in my inbox after submitting and paranoid I did it wrong or something.

[tawny shore]

I don't think I received one either or from last years

[eternal swift]

Lmao I always have that paranoia as well

[clear delta]

i got my submission in x.x"

[slate agate]

I think I've got my final stealth build done ◑﹏◐ can't wait to tour everyone else's submissions

[main totem]

I'll see if we can get a confirmation email sent out soon.

[clear delta]

Purple grass! I love it 😄

[ember jetty]

that is not Venus isnt it?

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/pooti-pootikat-pooticoin-gif-5961807292594278612

having to fix a world crushing bug last min

[slate agate]

https://tenor.com/view/hotel-mario-mario-cdi-no-refusal-gif-3231775313720996150

[lapis kayak]

happy Monday everyone! Judging begins today so hopefully everyone got their submissions in!

[lapis kayak]

for those of you with public world submissions, i'd love to see them!!

[heavy ingot]

Good luck everyone!

[slate agate]

https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_f4078386-23c4-473d-b666-61d6f454667a/info

Here's my team's world

[heavy ingot]

https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_8f9cb4e1-b897-4df4-904e-9c21409ee207/info
This is what @viral summit and I cobbled together.

[clear delta]

https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_3994bc37-1a47-4ad6-89ee-6c17e4e71c81/info

Solo build, P.S. I want sleep

[eternal swift]

https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_f466aba0-b900-41a2-b42f-79603abb4efc

also a solo build

[subtle talon]

https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_0a2e285c-bbc8-4e3b-958c-5e5779f13fdc/info Solo build, mostly my own modelling and udon work from scratch,. Save for the climbing system and the plant models for the crops and trees.

[main totem]

Confirmation email has been sent out! Might get filtered to spam since we did it in bulk.

51 submissions this year!

So keen to jump in and see them.

If you did not get an email, feel free to dm me and I'll sort it out for you.

[tawny shore]

Nice having some peace of mind, thank you :3

[subtle talon]

For future reference, I believe there should be an option somewhere for a Google Form to send an auto-reply to the submitter with a copy of the submitted form. I noticed VKet's recent photo submission one did it.

[arctic anvil]

Warp Speeeeeed!

https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_b4b86ea0-4ac0-4974-9206-ff728b31fdae/info

[tawny shore]

Woah I feel like I've done this before :3
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_59e01ed5-b58c-49c1-9fef-91c16ae86342/info

[main totem]

Alrighty, I have some juicy news when it comes to the judging line up for this year.

We have representatives from NASA, Rolls-Royce, JGC, SRN, ICON Build, Branch Technology, Blue Origin, Deloitte and Isaac Arthur.

I'll put their official titles on the form hopefully by tonight.

[main totem]

Actually I'll drop it here as well.

Ryan McClelland, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Research Engineer
David Goodloe, Branch Technology, Program Development Manager, Advanced Concepts Team
Geraldine Baca Triveno, Deloitte, Director of Space Systems
Alex Goldberg, Blue Origin, Sr. Technical Product Manager - Spatial Computing
Takaya Yokoyama, JGC, Space Development Planner, Lunar Plant Unit
Andrew Rothgaber, ICON, Senior Director of Public Sector Business Development
Dr David EA Baker, Rolls-Royce, Digital Capability Engineer – Lunar and Terrestrial
Kym Kraljevic, NSW Space Research Network, Chief Operating Officer
Issac Arthur, National Space Society, President

So excited to walk them through the worlds!

[plucky carbon]

https://tenor.com/view/miia-monster-musume-anime-blush-sweating-gif-16376896788511626760

no pressure heheh

[main totem]

Nah, majority are already VRChat users.

[plucky carbon]

Oh cool! One of us!!

[main totem]

The experience ranges from they just got a quest all the way to full body.

[plucky carbon]

thats good! diversity of experiences 🙏

[clear delta]

NASA judges rolling up like

John Madden

[eternal swift]

I really wanna see them just slow bunny hopping through worlds to check them out

https://tenor.com/view/astronaut-moon-gif-9315006

[clear delta]

I so wanted to throw in some moonbase alpha refrences in my world but it was a feature that never made it in like a few other details 😭

[arctic anvil]

D'oh! forgot to make the quest build of the world.

[main totem]

Alrighty, the preliminary judging round had closed!

If I can speak for @celest hull @junior elm and @raw sorrel for a moment, that was not an easy job! The quality of the submissions this year is awesome, and I'm happy to say we will be aiming to give feedback to every submission this time round.

As of this moment the final round of judging has begun, so do not make any further hot fixes or tweaks.

[eternal swift]

https://tenor.com/view/nervous-gulp-nervous-glup-nervous-cat-cat-nervous-cat-gulp-gif-17492267992575590303

[main totem]

I'll let you know when we are done judging ASAP, so if you find any bugs you'll have time to make some changes before everyone gets showcased.

[junior elm]

It was not easy, there were a lot of good work and creative thought put into these submissions, I think I have more grey hairs than when we started. All in all the VRChat community is a force to be reckoned with, full of amazing artists and developers, great respect for all of you

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/oh-no-jojo-jjba-shocked-jojos-bizarre-adventure-gif-14599427

[hushed sierra]

https://tenor.com/view/girl-spinning-waiting-bored-chair-gif-12572632970262008618

[lapis kayak]

if all things go smoothly we should be able to announce the winners today!

if we need more time, it may need to be pushed to tomorrow; I think it's getting really late for Greg

[heavy ingot]

12AM in Australia

[hushed sierra]

?

[eternal swift]

this is a jam sponsored in part by the Australian NSAA team, they are some of the judges

[hushed sierra]

no, i was just wandering why he said 12 am in australia ? Today ? Tomorrow ? Where did u get the information ? ^^

[tawny shore]

That's what time it was now

[eternal swift]

I believe they were saying what time it is in australia and why the judges are tired

[heavy ingot]

At the time it was still 12ish

[main totem]

https://tenor.com/view/star-wars-we-did-it-poe-dameron-star-wars-we-did-it-mission-accomplished-gif-18219743

A bit late but should have the announcement soon.

Talk about a wild ride! You all are crazy talented.

[eternal swift]

thank you guys for putting in the work, we all appreciate you!

[clear delta]

Lets Go I hope you get sleep soon though!

[heavy ingot]

🫡

Thank you for y’all’s hard work

[lapis kayak]

putting together the final touches for the list of winners...

[subtle talon]

https://tenor.com/view/stressed-out-suspense-eating-popcorn-waiting-to-see-what-happens-gif-14120143

[lapis kayak]

i have to leave for a talk soon so this is getting really close

as a reminder, winners are being announced today and the world rows go live tomorrow!

[lapis kayak]

https://ask.vrchat.com/t/space-jam-2-winners/42804

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sour mortar]

Well, I'm appalled. Well, I'm not the only one. There are six of us standing here in Asteroid Field World, and we're stunned that this world didn't win. Not even among the top six. Honestly, how could this happen? This is a scandal!!!

[tawny shore]

It looks like it was submitted to the second category in which it is the first one listed. So technically, Asteroid Field would be first in that row

[slate agate]

it's because Asteroid Field was not made during the jam timeframe, it would not be eligible for entry in the main row
he had a year head start, probably contributed to how cool it was 😅
https://bsky.app/profile/tontondemon.bsky.social/post/3lm3ems242c26

TontonDemon (@tontondemon.bsky.social)

Hey everyone After more than a year of development... My new Asteroid Field world is finally ready ☄️☄️☄️

JOIN US AT 9:30PM (CET) TO DISCOVER THE WORLD IN VRCHAT...

#VRChat #VRChat_world紹 #HexalabImmersive #spacejam2

▶ Play video

Bluesky · Apr 5, 2025, 4:39 PM

[eternal swift]

well what about reverie serenade? is that not a remaster of a world from last year, and it was runner up?

[slate agate]

I'm not a judge, but any jam I remember only requires that the Published date is sometime after the jam had started

[eternal swift]

not trying to throw any creators under the bus just genuinely curious what would make a world disqualified for being out of time frame

[slate agate]

there isn't really any specific rule against using older stuff

Reverie Serenade Remastered is a new upload, so it qualifies based on the rules

[eternal swift]

https://tenor.com/view/futurama-technically-correct-technically-correct-best-kind-gif-1003665987735080676

[viral summit]

congrats to the winners!! :D has anyone here played through "Bee-Sustainable Company" yet? I keep getting stuck at the centrifuge part and I feel like I'm doing something wrong 🥲

[cunning oriole]

I also got stuck at the centrifuge because it was easy to accidentally toss the DNA vial out of the map

[viral summit]

the problem for me is that it just keeps spinning haha

[cunning oriole]

Bee-Sustainable Company honestly had a lot of oh dear this wasn't duct taped together terribly well when I was wondering around it as far as the modular assets being connected together properly

[viral summit]

I thought there might be a button or something im missing, so thats why im asking because i cant find it lol

I think the assets are pretty good, I just wanna see what the game is ;~;

[clear delta]

Bee sustainable has a few bugs that break it sequencing, but its beautifully done honestly should be 1st imo. The detail, the work, animations, 10/10

not being biased to bee's

[viral summit]

it definitely looks really good, but I think the current first place is pretty well deserved. It also looks very pretty, but it feels more coherent and has less bugs

[clear delta]

Ive fallen out of the map, stuck at spawn cause the lever only works one way. I couldnt find a way to reset it to get back up. without having to rejoin the world

[viral summit]

that happened to me as well, there's a button on the side of the elevator to call it back, it's kinda hidden because of the darkness

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/nouns-nounish-nounsdao-glasses-noggles-gif-15620862556343473955

[cunning oriole]

well yeah it's going to have less bugs when it's just a chill bedroom with a very pretty Skybox

[viral summit]

for sure

[clear delta]

https://tenor.com/view/sorprendido-cara-surprised-shocked-face-wow-oh-god-gif-15759918

[viral summit]

I think the main thing is that they executed their goal to their completion so it felt like the most complete experience, which is very difficult in a world jam.

[cunning oriole]

certainly a lot less ambitious than last year's rotational habitats that actually tried the circular Gravity the player can walk on

[viral summit]

those were very cool but that is a prefab to be fair

at least the gravity part

[cunning oriole]

honestly I feel like they didn't tackle the sustainability aspect in the slightest like million-dollar mcmansion is not exactly sustainable on a rotating habitat

[viral summit]

they could've highlighted that area of judging better, but the other judging criteria make up for that I suppose. I still think they did a good job in that area though, they put an emphasis on plant life in the world for sure. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it makes sense to me that it's first. I'd have to check out the others worlds as well to be sure, but in the end i'm not a judge :p I will say it might've been nice to see more game worlds nominated, but I'm happy for the worlds that got the nominations, they all look pretty good 😄

i can see how the judges had a difficult time

[cunning oriole]

I honestly didn't see any focus on plant life in Stellarya

Like a suburban backyard is not the same thing as like a focus on plants

Like why not show off the farms on a rotating habitat to feed the folks instead of a suburban House

[viral summit]

I think it's more than a backyard amount of plants, but i think the main thing is that they got the idea of living sustainably in space across very well. again not perfect, but considering the time crunch it accomplishes that pretty well

[sour mortar]

It doesn't work for us.There are still some bugs

[viral summit]

oof

[cunning oriole]

rich guy Suburban house with a personal car does not doesn't really read as sustainable to me in the slightest like that would suggest a a good chunk of the rotating habitats of space is wasted on lawns

[slate agate]

any judging process for something like this is gonna have a give and take when it comes to judging the end result and deciding a score.
The judging criteria wasn't just "sticking to the theme" alone; there were other factors that were judged to determine a rating.
So if a world didn't quite follow the theme, but scored significantly in other areas, it could end up at a higher rating despite falling in that one category.
Similar contention happened last year. It gets even more complicated that there's multiple judges with varying opinions on what is good or not, which is a natural, unavoidable aspect of human nature.
There will be plenty of other worlds, I'm sure, that will be featured tomorrow that you may even enjoy better than the finalists, much in the same way that others will agree with the final results. All the more reason to tour all of the worlds that get featured

[viral summit]

heh it was all a scheme to get players to check out all of the worlds... >:)

[slate agate]

hey, not gonna lie, I am a bit bummed my entry didn't get featured. But we can't win 'em all. I'm just happy we got more space worlds lol

[viral summit]

true

[lapis kayak]

i want to note that there were more SSRE submissions (new worlds) than NHSF (old worlds) which was unexpected!

also on the remaster note, this was something the NSSA and we deliberated on. Ultimately we talked to the creator and worked out that not only was it a new upload, but the work was done during the jam period. Much like how Just B Club 3.0 and 4.0 deserve to be considered separate worlds, the remaster had enough significant work to stand on its own.

[eternal swift]

One day little trophy I will make u mine

[lapis kayak]

im not sure why it says Republished with no changes actually, i'm pretty sure there was work done to it?

[slate agate]

that's a screenshot of the original world

[eternal swift]

Yah

[lapis kayak]

ah ok i got confuzzled

i highly encourage everyone to check out both world rows, there's nearly 50 entries total, mostly new worlds! that's a lot of work!

world rows go live tomorrow around 10am est, waiting on assets

[heavy ingot]

I hate that my upload period was spent fighting an unexpected problem with Persistence.

That is really my only complaint I had

Well, there was another bug, but it has to do with Odin corrupting prefabs outta nowhere

But before I now publish my cannys, is it normal for a Persistent script marked with “BehaviorSyncMode.Manual” to not only be limited to ~200B sync flat, but also act like a Continuous syncer?

Like it had a htz rate and everything

I was punching air for a solid 3 hours trying to figure that out

[exotic flare]

Hey @sour mortar

I started developing my Asteroid Field world on March 3, 2024. So it wouldn't have been fair to put me in the first category, given that I've been working on it for quite some time, while most of the other worlds were created during SpaceJam.

So I chose the second category, which I feel is more suited to my project.

And well done to all the other creators for their worlds, there were some really great ideas!

[exotic flare]

that's exactly it

[subtle talon]

Meanwhile I'm now Whadda-"Two Trophies"-Geek, lol (Good luck in the next one though, seriously)

[sharp depot]

Hey Flare! Catmelt the lead designer on the winners row graphic and menu assets for Space Jam 2025 here~ sent you a DM to get those finals pushed over.

[lapis kayak]

wahoo!

[arctic shadow]

I did not even know that this channel existed for the jam 😦

Just found out through the winners announcement

Would it be appropriate to ask for advice for future jam world development here? Or over in the World Dev channel?

[lapis kayak]

if it's related to jams, here is best!

but if it's general world dev advice, go to the World Dev channel!

The Space Jam world rows will go live at <t:1744466400:F>!

... and will come down at <t:1747058400:F>!

[subtle talon]

Any chance the winners/special mentions/entrants in general could get a clean version of the "Space Jam 2" text just for in-jam-world decorations?

[subtle talon]

Uhh, my world's missing from the Sustainable Space row.

So is Station G88.

[slate agate]

eh? swore I saw at least one of them a minute ago

[lapis kayak]

i'm investigating some technical issues with the world rows, some worlds are missing

i see two missing from SSRE and like 10 missing from NHSF

sorry for the hold up everyone! Classic "it was working fine yesterday"

[subtle talon]

All good Flare, just so long as it's know and being worked on!

[lapis kayak]

also the banner image is broken

yes of course

[subtle talon]

Lol

[lapis kayak]

no rest for us

[slate agate]

art team has done a wonderful job!

[lapis kayak]

STOP

ok i should have fixed the two missing from SSRE, i think i know what the problem is for NHSF

some people didn't publish their worlds to public

[subtle talon]

If it's okay to ask, what was the bug? I'm just curious in general.

[lapis kayak]

whadda i think i retagged your world, it was in the other category for some reason. human error

[subtle talon]

Ahh, all good.

[lapis kayak]

i might have to reorder yours.... our internal system is a little picky

im not sure where it goes when i order it

[subtle talon]

Re-order it in what way? Tags?

[lapis kayak]

you don't have to do anything, this is a "Me" problem

[subtle talon]

I figured, was just generally curious.

[lapis kayak]

i'll walk you through it for funsies;
so you can tell that worlds sent to the world row are designated by tag, right?

[subtle talon]

You've put the Zero-Gym in the Sustainable row, it should be the Zero-Grove there

[lapis kayak]

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[subtle talon]

https://tenor.com/view/hadeel928-يوسف-العماري-موسى-الخنيزي-gif-1019745061637303674

[lapis kayak]

i should have taken a closer look! let me fix

anyways you should notice that Zero GYM is currently in the MIDDLE of the world row

that's because it's unordered

i need to manually go in and reorder it

[subtle talon]

Ahhhhh, in the row listing, gotcha.

[lapis kayak]

when i mass tag worlds they generally don't keep the order

so last night i was carefully matching lists up to the world row order

but we still messed up... sorry all!

[subtle talon]

It's okay, there's a LOT of worlds to go through and tag.

[lapis kayak]

so Zero Gym - Delta Station SHOULD have been in NHSF

and Zero Grove goes in SSRE

[subtle talon]

Yes

[lapis kayak]

i think i got it

but yes it looks like all the missing worlds from the world rows are not public

so please excuse me for a few minutes as i go through the entire list and push them all public

[subtle talon]

Confirmed, both my worlds are in their correct tabs now. Thanks Flare!

Now I gotta plan where to put the trophies in-world...

[lapis kayak]

ok flipped a bunch of worlds to public, and three are still missing
I will be investigating with an engineer why they're not showing up in the world row despite being public

for anyone who wants to do a complete world hop while the NHSF row is missing some, here are thre three that are missing:

https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_9129d16c-c5ee-4733-b51c-d866a3911580/info
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_f84a8488-0997-4100-932f-253395d7b7d1/info
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_e64688d3-515e-4348-9111-4f846044a414/info

Space Jam banner is now formatted correctly o7

going to investigate these three worlds which aren't showing up in the world row for some reason

OH I SEE THEM NOW??????????????

but i didn't do anything-

thank you to everyone for your patience while i worked this out! Go enjoy the world rows!

[hollow blade]

I love that the world that uses AI art and prefabs get's first place but worlds like Asteroid Field get "mentioned", hell 2nd and 3rd place had more effort put into them than "Stellarya"

[subtle talon]

Nah, first place is on-theme and looks amazing. I don't like the AI art either, but it's filler background decorations so it's not really egregious. By that metric though, I don't understand the third place selection. THAT one is entirely Unity Store assets, a minute long with 5 minutes of padding, and a cutscene where you don't actually get to ride in the mass driver launch.

Asteroid Field has also come up up-thread, it was made pre-jam so it's ineligible.

[heavy ingot]

I think there was a lot of questionable choices

But I say we should hold off till our scores come through

[subtle talon]

Agreed.

[heavy ingot]

No need to attack each other

[hollow blade]

We aren't attacking each other

[heavy ingot]

I really liked LEGOS world and was sad to not see it in the mentioned runner ups for example

There was a lot of thought in those scripts

[slate agate]

what's done is done and everyone will have their differing opinions on it, I'm sure
I think we're only going to get the scores of our own worlds, but I too am curious how the other entries were rated

[slate agate]

thanks, it means a lot to me 😅 yours is on my list to look at

[subtle talon]

I believe we get feedback in an email to us, I don't know if that's for winners or all entrants though.

[heavy ingot]

All entrances

It’ll take time though

[hollow blade]

The second one at least should be first. The first place one you have AI art at the entrance and the the rest of the world is a generic prefab "chill house" that would fit in any generic chill world scenery. The second world at least felt like it had more effort

[main totem]

Feedback will be for all worlds

[main totem]

Also Asteroid Field did get 1st, in the category they entered in. If you scroll up you can see the creator talking about it.

[heavy ingot]

If I can make a counterpoint, the second one had problems with their story, not allowing you to complete the game, and suffered problems where it was inaccessible for 2 days past the deadline. I trust that the judges made their choices properly.

[hollow blade]

I did see that for the second category afterwards

[hollow blade]

I can see that, I'm not saying that they were perfect and that the judges didn't make their choices properly, but the first world just feels way to generic and forgettable. Like after this it'll just be sort of forgotten as another one of those sorta neat chill worlds that no one visits.

[heavy ingot]

That seems to be what they cared about sadly

I really didn’t understand that coming in, and now I suffer the fate of working really hard on a system, to realize that I should have let my friend go crazy on comfy things.

[hollow blade]

I guess I'm just tired of seeing "chill" worlds. Like the second place entry is broken and I get that, but it at least has something more than "house with game prefabs number 7161"

[heavy ingot]

But if you think about it, that is really what VRChat is, am I right?

The number 1 world right now, has no games at all.

[slate agate]

people like hangout worlds ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[heavy ingot]

It’s the sad but true

The playerbase needs a simple play loop, or your game gets forgotten.

[hollow blade]

There's already enough lmao, like I don't mind hangout worlds but that category of worlds is way too oversarurated

With way too little of those worlds actually being used every day

[heavy ingot]

I don’t hate that, most of the time it is the limits of what that player knows how to make

I know so many world artists, and they all suffer from one issue.

They don’t know Udon.

Like the most they can do is make triggers

But then they really shine with architecture

[hollow blade]

The person who got first place only uploads chill worlds with the occasional "car driving" world

[heavy ingot]

I mean… I wouldn’t look at my uploads….

I am only commissioned, or my big projects are still cooking

[subtle talon]

There's nothing wrong with some using some prefabs outside of your skillset. 90% of the modelling and UDON in my worlds are by my own hand, but the trees, produce, and climbing system are all Unity assets and the HnF Climbing System, respectively.

[hollow blade]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong using prefabs at all no, I get that. It just feels too generic to me as a 1st place winner

[heavy ingot]

But all that matters is that they won, and you can take two things from it. Be upset that a chill world won, or learn from that and understand that next year (if there is one) we need to focus more on the visual fidelity and chillness over a gameplay loop.

I was really bummed out as I spent a few days balance my gameplay loop to make mine an engaging comeback to play game.

My artist went really stylized with our stuff.

All of our assets were make from scratch

We learned so much

We planned on open-sourcing if we got top 6

But it is really hard to compete with the relaxed tone that VRChat requires.

[hollow blade]

Like I was looking at yours and yeah, it is another idle game, but at least that's more effort than a chill world and it's a cool concept of studying and growing crops to "send back home"

[subtle talon]

Yours was the titan farming one? I tried that one, I wasn't a fan of the head-riding intrusive overlay or the massive grab sphere on the tablet on your waist getting in the way of everything.

[subtle talon]

Glad you enjoyed the Zero-Grove! I'm going to be adding more to it, I just had to go pencils-down for the submission.

[hollow blade]

Looking at all the entries, I really do feel like there needs to be a re-vote

[heavy ingot]

The massive sphere was a bug

Reset your avatar or change and it goes away

For some reason the OnAvatarEyeHeightChanged was not firing on first load

The UI was a just in time addition after getting stuck with a no booting world thanks to Odin prefab corruption

It was only supposed to be there until after you pulled out the tablet first time

Then the explanation was bound to the tablet

And then before that it was to be a hologram npc, but I had too little time to make a character.

[subtle talon]

Iiirc, it won't, because your avatar's eye height hasn't technically changed on initial load. The best current way is to just infrequently poll for the avatar eye height every few seconds, save it as a value, and access that for anything that needs it per-frame.

[heavy ingot]

It was actually because it is a player object

It comes in just a smidge too late

I have the fix now

I just was waiting for permission to update since we were not allowed

[subtle talon]

Ahh, fair.

If you need consistent avatar scaling there's also a much better way;

• Make an AudioListener
• Track the scale of its transform. It will be the scale of the player.

[heavy ingot]

Yeah, I remember doing that back then

[cunning oriole]

Something that would probably affect the space jam compared to other jams is most of the judges aren't VRchat players so they probably don't have chill bedroom fatigue so first place would probably look more novel to them than to the rest of the player base

[past elbow]

tbf, consistent isn't the word to use now. more so "accurate to IPD" is what it would be. the avatar change and avatar eye height change events are always consistent and work for remote players. Only thing necessary is polling the eye height in start for anything not existing/active in the build (ie instantiated or pooled).

[past elbow]

was a range of people who just got their headset and those with full body tracking

[heavy ingot]

Yeah, supposedly it was a stepping stone up in how much time they had in game

[subtle talon]

Eye height change is not consistent. Eye height is based on vertical position, not relative to standing, so if you're sitting down it'll take that as the current eye height.

Here's a quick example while I have it open for anyone wanting a leg up for doing avatar scale tracking.

[past elbow]

that is just? wrong..? it's based on the difference of the uploaded avatar scale and the current avatar scale (distance from t-pose eyes to eye root)

[plucky carbon]

If you are burnt out with the chill vibe many VRChat worlds have. Be the change you want to see 🌹

[heavy ingot]

AvatarEyeHeight is based on the distance from 0 to the eye look position when in t pose

[subtle talon]

Except it isn't, because I ran into this issue when working on my portal doors.

Changing avatars while sitting in full-body, made it waist-height.

[heavy ingot]

? That isn’t how it worked for me

It straight up takes the value in the circular menu

[past elbow]

that's likely a bug you should report if you can reproduce. but i haven't heard of any of those issues outside when it was in beta

[cunning oriole]

I try to just slightly demotivating when a bedroom map glued on top of a rotating habitat skybox it gets first place

[plucky carbon]

Anyways this is from someone who makes all 3D assets and textures. Prefabs aren’t the villain majority of the time, especially in a time frame such as a jam

[past elbow]

for anything relating to visual elements that are dependent on the IPD, yes it's not going to work for that :P
It just gives you a general consistent "scale" reference to work with for things dependent on the standing height of a player

[heavy ingot]

As Boby said to me, “we should be happy we got anything uploaded at all, that alone is a feat”

[plucky carbon]

Yeah it is sad, but keep in mind popularity != good (even though there are some good popular worlds). But there are so many worlds nowadays where you can find just about any style

[plucky carbon]

Even happy to have tried too, I couldn’t get something in for Halloween but the things I learned helped me get the world for this jam out

[heavy ingot]

Yeah

Imma publish some fixes to my world that should improve the experience in VR, then close it forever. But the things I learned really excite me for what I can cook in the future

Like how to recover from Odin destroying your prefabs.

Or that there may be a bug in Persistence

:3

Jokes aside, my artist cooked

[plucky carbon]

https://tenor.com/view/cook-chef-wok-saute-cooking-food-gif-16993886

[heavy ingot]

Some of the tech he used for better performance is amazing

[plucky carbon]

This is still one of my fav gifs

Yeah I was impressed with the code I made because I barely know any programming

[heavy ingot]

I love the jarring liveleak logo staring at me.

[plucky carbon]

Yeah it terrifies me lmao

[heavy ingot]

What did he do? He cooked!

[plucky carbon]

Just PTSD from childhood IYKYK…

[heavy ingot]

Yeah

IK too well

[cunning oriole]

Of course just slightly awkward when cash prizes are also involved as far as it's ending the message of making something bland is financially incentivized

[tiny vapor]

the floor gives way and he gets swallowed into the depths of hell 0.0001ms after this gif ends 😔

[heavy ingot]

This is so sad

Alexa, play de-

[plucky carbon]

That is true unfortunately

[tiny vapor]

I mean the concept isn't original but it had good execution

[plucky carbon]

I just take it as “it is what it is” and move on

It’s all I can do anyways

[heavy ingot]

Yup yup

[cunning oriole]

Pretty easy to have good execution when basically the only thing on top of making a chill bedroom they have to do is set up the rotating habitat skybox

[tiny vapor]

It still takes skill, given it appears to be a solo project and as far as I can tell it isn't just a kitbash they achieved a lot in the time frame given

[heavy ingot]

You have 30 days to make, paint, bake, and light a place. Not that easy at all.

/srs btw

I think of it as art over function

I am very function over art

[plucky carbon]

I’m too art over function teehee

[tiny vapor]

I think having separate visuals / function categories would be nice but I can see it'd get a bit confusing having 4 categories for a jam

[slate agate]

most care more about the visuals than the function anyway

[cunning oriole]

Honestly the 30 day time frame is kind of a bit too short. To have anything interesting gameplay wise pop out

[slate agate]

well that's the fun challenge of it being a jam

30 days to still make something cool

if we wanted fully-featured, fully finished worlds, the jam should be a year XD

[plucky carbon]

True, but stylistic choices don’t always connect

[cunning oriole]

Something that's kind of awkward with VR chat jams compared to regular game jams is like the visual expectations of quality for the short time frame seem to be much higher

[heavy ingot]

Yeah, I made a game in 3 days, it wasn’t great, but that is how game jams are.

You suffer from the fact that things must look amazing to score high

[cunning oriole]

Like in a game jam something looking like placeholder art Doodles with a fun gameplay mechanic can work out but not here

[heavy ingot]

Even if they abuse substance painter, or are just a kitbash

Using Bee Sus for example, the game part was broken, but since it looked amazing in VR, it got praised more

[cunning oriole]

Yeah like myself I found the big house in the middle of the rotating habitat to just be very silly because that's a very inefficient use of land

[cunning oriole]

Visually that one's kind of held together with glue when you get in between rooms

Like the connecting the airport to the spaceship has one sided geometry for the hallway that's very obvious from the spaceship side

[heavy ingot]

Yeah…

I noticed

[plucky carbon]

Me too lmao

[heavy ingot]

It’s all about that entrance

[cunning oriole]

And like the shops sign menus had Lauren ipsum text all over it

[heavy ingot]

Lmfao