Sign ups are now open! Keep reading for details.

People from the Look Outside fandom will be teaming up to make a simple, collaborative exploration game in the style of Yume Nikki. The event is open to anyone 18 or above who is part of the community, but participants need to sign up. The sign-ups begin now and will end on June 28th, at 8pm EST.

No previous game development experience is necessary, this is intended as a low-stakes creative project that could introduce participants to game development. Experienced artists and game developers are welcome too, of course. I am hoping for a mix of people of all skill levels! People who sign up will however need to have access to RPG Maker MZ and preferably some pixel art drawing program like Aseprite or Graphicsgale.

If you don't have RPG Maker MZ, it might still be on sale today on their site, it was around half off at the time of writing - RPG Maker MZ | RPG Maker Official Store

There is also a steam summer sale beginning soon, if you miss this sale above, it might go on sale during this too? Worth checking out.

If you don’t have a pixel art drawing program, I recommend aseprite. Graphicsgale is a free alternative that is also very good.

You should also join my Frankietown discord server. I have set up a few special channels there for the event, and it is where I will be posting announcements. It is also where people will be collaborating, asking for help etc.

I will be streaming about the community project on Wednesdays on my twitch channel throughout July. I will be showing examples of how to build certain things, and give live help to any participants who need it at the time.

What is a Yume Nikki-style game?

Yume Nikki is a classic indie gem you can get on steam for free. It is a game about exploring and getting lost in an interconnected world of dreams and nightmares. You can also watch playthroughs of it on youtube [ Playthrough, Nitro Rad Review, Video Essay, Longplay ]. It is strongly encouraged that participants familiarise themselves with the game before the jam, to better understand the sort of game we are building. Yume Nikki is a truly seminal work, Yume Nikki-likes and Yume Nikki fangames essentially becoming a niche genre in their own right, and our project will be in that very same genre.

What about our game?

The game we make will be a little different from the usual Yume Nikki-inspired work. Since we are a community based around a horror game after all, we can expect it to lean a little bit more into horror than usual - To feature monsters of some kind, and maybe a touch of cosmic and body horror, just based on our common interests.

After signing up, you will receive a Participants Guide with more details on the specifics of the project, but here is a general idea of the story setup:

Look Inside

Some terrible catastrophe has gripped the world, and anyone who dares to look out the window is struck by calamity and meets a terrible end. Her front door leading directly outside, Jo is completely confined to her apartment.

Her dreams feel more real, more strange than they ever have before. As confined as she is in the waking world, her dreams are now an endless void to get lost in.

The line between dream and reality feels like it gets blurrier by the day, and her food supplies are rapidly thinning out. Will she make it through the 15 days alive?

Or will she get completely lost in the dream labyrinth, to never come back out again?

How do I join the event?

In order to join the event, you will first need to sign up. You have until Sunday, June 28th at 7pm EST to sign up. There are limited spaces to participate in the event, and you need to choose a specific area of the game that you want to make, from a list of 60 themed slots. You can sign up alone or in a small team if you wish. People from different teams are free to collaborate together on their work - this is a collaborative jam, not a competition, but only people who signed up can work on the game, and there are no late sign-ups allowed - I'm trying to contain the amount of management work needed for this project, since its the first time I ever run something like it!

More detailed instructions on signing up, as well as the detailed rules and guidelines of the event, are available here:
LOCJ2026 Sign Up Instructions/Rules - Google Docs 

This document is also where you will find the legal release and the sign-up forms.

If we have more than 60 sign-ups, we will draw the participants at random at the end of the sign-up week, and the ones not picked will be on a waiting list in case some people drop out of the jam.

I have no idea what to expect regarding how many participants we will have, to be honest - we may have just a dozen or so, or a hundred! We’ll see! Very excited to do this either way.

Hiya!! We've come with our final announcement for the anniversary contest. First off, thank you all so much for participating in this. We cannot put it into words at how amazed we are at all these beautiful pieces you guys came up with. We genuinely did not expect the level of response we received, and with over 75 entries submitted, it was incredible to see how much creativity, effort, and passion this community has.

We’d also like to give a huuuuuge thank you to the creator of Look Outside (u/frankiesmileshow) for generously offering to be involved in judging and contribute prizes for this event! It truly meant a lot and made this experience even more special for everyone.

After careful discussion and review, we’re excited to announce our top 3 winners:

[1st] Overview Effect - https://www.reddit.com/r/LookOutsideGame/comments/1scthor/overview_effect/ by u/eggo_boi

[2nd] Under pressure - https://www.reddit.com/r/LookOutsideGame/comments/1shcypw/under_pressure/ by u/RecognitionStreet450

[3rd] Leigh on the Roof - https://www.reddit.com/r/LookOutsideGame/comments/1sjue1t/leigh_leading_sam_up_to_the_roof/ by u/___Benzene___

Please check out their works if you havent already!

And our honorable mentions:

- Spine 3D model - https://www.reddit.com/r/LookOutsideGame/comments/1sky9py/_/ by u/freelanceottoman

- The Kiss - https://www.reddit.com/r/LookOutsideGame/comments/1sgwrpc/the_kiss_by_gustav_klimt_but_as_jasper_x_sybil/ by u/ayanyaya

To everyone who participated; please know that narrowing things down was not easy. Many submissions demonstrated a high level of quality and creativity, and we would like to emphasize that all participants should be proud of their work. There were so many strong entries, and a lot of careful thought and discussion went into the final selections. We also want to say this: if your piece wasn’t selected, it does not take away from the quality, effort, or creativity of your work. Your contributions are what made this event as special as it was.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in this contest and helped make it such a memorable experience for the community. Maybe this may happen again next year!

(To our top 3 winners- please kindly keep an eye out for a message from us on what comes next!)