The last few years have brought us a handful of brilliant detective games, but we're always left wanting more! That's why we're announcing The Case of the Thinky Game Jam, a 2 week jam to encourage new and creative ideas for detective games.
Running from December 1-17, the jam will kick off with a design talk from Andrejs and Ernests Kļaviņš, creators of IGF award-winning The Case of the Golden Idol (guess where we got the jam name from). They'll undoubtedly give us many great insights into how they created Golden Idol and the design of detective games in general. Click "notify me" on the below video to be notified when it begins.
So what do we mean by detective games? Specifically, we're thinking of games that engage the player in the detective case-solving process as they untangle a web of clues, unravel a mystery, or figure out who dunnit. They don't even need to be detective themed — they just make you feel like a detective! Games like Return of the Obra Dinn, The Case of the Golden Idol, and Outer Wilds really capture that experience, and we'd love to see more of it. Check out the jam page for many more examples and some other helpful resources.
The jam will be very relaxed — there's no voting or prizes, no strict rules, and it's more than 2 weeks long so you don't have to crunch! We welcome anyone to join, no matter your background or experience, or the role you'd like to play in creating a detective game. If you're looking for a team, we'll encourage that on our Discord closer to the time!
If this sounds exciting and you'd like to have a go at making an intriguing detective experience, don't forget to hit the "Join jam" button on the jam page, where there are many more details. If you'd like to discuss ideas, head over to our Thinky Games Discord server. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Disclaimer: Thinky Games is part of the Carina Initiatives and may have professional relationships with individuals and businesses related to the subject of this article. Please see our Editorial Policy for details.
