So much blood Xb

A few that stood out to me:

• A new magic system (Yes please! A Jam is the perfect time to put a bunch of minds on solving the typical mana/potion trope)
• One small speck in a vast universe
• The day the sun was gone
• Welcome to the arcade
• Sci-fi without space travel
• Papa can you hear me (Terrible theme. Didn't vote for it. But I laughed my rear off!)
• Mr. President, we seem to have a problem
• Digital board game

I tried to vote for ones that gave a direction for art and/or mechanics without being too narrow. Themes like Something must change were.. how to put it nicely... way too open ended? You might not be making games correctly if literally NOTHING in your game changes. That is called a screensaver...

There were also a lot of You are the enemy/boss/level/world/gun/obstacle/etc.... So I appreciated the humor of whoever put in You are the Player 🙂

I was rather picky this time. My criteria seemed to boil down to whether after rating fifty games it would still be fun and interesting to see everybody's interpretation.

Some of my favorites were: * If the state of florida had a baby * Inconvenient Superpower * Reverse Character Arc * Too Many Ducks * One Overpowered Ability * 1st World Problems * An Ant, a Pig, and a Dragon * Social Samurai * A new sport * Words Have Power

I down-voted every theme that seemed to advocate basic functions, like "The camera follows the player" or "Something changes", which are part of almost every game.

As far as voting on 3000+ themes is concerned...

I think rather than having every person vote on every theme, a playoff bracket might work better. X participants are grouped together and assigned X percentage of random themes to vote on, and then groups are reassigned and the winning themes go head to head, etc, etc...

Cool! Theme slaughter is finally here! I can't wait to... h-H-h-H-O-L-Y COW!

6000+ themes!?!

I don't think the themes are what's getting slaughtered this go round...

Insert Brain Tears

My Favorites

• No Land
• No weapon fight
• Shovel
• Myths/Legends/Folklore
• Make A New Genre
• We need more water
• Why won't it stop?
• Rhymes with: Cat
• Just a Little Guy
• small, Medium, LARGE
• [NO_THEME] / [insert theme here]
• Frog-like

Would be fun to see what people make

• Groovy
• Extremely Aggressive Locals
• Mission Failed Successfully
• Oh No! The consequences of my own actions?!
• Niche Internet Subculture
• Can't kill you but wishes it could
• Edgar Allan POW!
• Worst friend
• Useless
• The critters are coming!
• We don't talk about that one
• That was awful... Lets do it again
• Stupid achievements
• Bart
• In a Tin Can
• Bad Roommates

Fun for 1 but not 100

• Pumping Iron
• Drop the bass
• Lofi Vibes
• Creepy Cats
• Axe before questions
• Downpour
• The cake is a lie!
• 1950s B-Grade Science Fiction
• Ducks are psycho
• Bath tub

Had to look it up, but sounds interesting

• Onomatopoeia
• Kessler Syndrome

I appreciate the sentiment... But no.

• Kittens building a snowmen on the floating island
• You are the player
• Levitating Landmasses
• Game Grumps
• Game Grumps 2
• Never gonna give you up
• Never gonna let you down
• Sacrifices must NOT be made
• Table cloth shenanigans
• Bibiddi Bobiddi Boo
• Guns & Math
• Ghost of Ludum Dare 56's Past
• Theme
• Insert insightful contradiction here
• The slope of eggshells
• Rodent Of Unusual Size
• The Hopelessly Sad Story of the Hideous End of the World
• The Weirdest Gameshow

Generic things that every game should have anyways

• Multiple Possibilities
• Risk vs Reward
• Things Have Changed
• A Hard Choice
• Options
• Two ways to win
• Unintended effects
• Choice that changes everything

Now you’re just being masochistic...

• Wall of text
• Unusual Controls
• You can't play it
• One button control / One Action
• Sticky Keys
• Random physics
• Convoluted process
• 1 Hit
• Waiting in Line
• Begin at the end
• Unbeatable
• Zero players
• No keyboard allowed
• Disorganize
• Game within a Game
• Shake
• Only 40 Buttons

The ‘Everywhere I see his face’ Awards

- Themes that play on light and dark - Themes about chains (for some reason...) - Themes about having to go fast or not being able to slow down - Themes where time stands still or is manipulated - Rome (and yes, NOW I think about it daily, thank you for that...) - Themes where time is currency, life, etc... - Themes where something is behind you and/or you cant look back - Themes where up is down, and gravity is backwards, and left is right, etc…

Bad, but would make development easier.

(Also the emotional stages of making a jam game)

• No sound
• No text
• No words
• Completely unnecessary features
• Cutting corners
• Cram it in
• Broken rules
• Cheating is the only way
• Don't use logic
• The bug is a feature
• Nothing makes sense
• Contratulations, you lose!
• You're not supposed to win
• Lol idk
• Faking
• Everything is on fire
• Chronic Insanity
• We're doomed
• How to make a profitable game