“…and it was a singular, terrible thought, which burrowed itself into your mind like an engorged maggot. This was not a man nor a monster. This was a concept, an ideology, a terrible myth, which had personified itself to stand before you now.
You were, to put it simply, screwed.”
Attollo is a cyber-noir thriller set in a walled city off the coast of the Atlantic that’s been a victim of a nuclear disaster.
After several years of radio silence, you receive a message from your younger sibling that carries a strange sense of urgency to it. Either out of familial concern or boredom, you embark on a journey from your residence to your sibling’s apartment in New Hampshire to see what’s going on and, hopefully, be home before the weekend.
Too bad it’s never so simple.
Choose your gender, sexuality, and career choice
Search for your missing sibling in an unpredictable world
Deal with cults, corrupt governments, and superpowered criminals
Commit a bit of light B&E with your local maximum security facility
Get a good nights sleep (the most unrealistic part of this game)
Or, you know, joy ride a Bugatti
Pariah [NB] - Your local elusive vigilante who hides behind a mask and a set of sickles. Between spending their nights perched on rooftops, they do enjoy an odd B&E now and then. They also seem to enjoy throwing you into the fray on more than one occasion, much to your chagrin. (Pariah is a canon asexual character, which should be remembered if chosen to romance)
Vasilisa Solovieva [F] - The detective who honestly just wants people to stop fighting. When she isn’t solving cold cases, she’s trying to make sure you don’t die, although the city and its inhabitants seem to be making that quite the task for her.
Operator [M] - The enigmatic city worker who lives among the decaying buildings of the Under City. Between keeping an eye on all of the cameras and maintaining Attollo’s tentative peace agreements, he has his work cut out for him, although he does make efforts to keep you alive as well.
Dreamwalker [M] - The Midnight Man, Mr. Vertigo—he goes by many names, but one thing is the same: he isn’t someone you want to cross. As the leader of an ominous organization with a wicked set of powers on top of it all, Dreamwalker seems adamant about Attollo’s ruin—and your presence may be creating a bump in his plans.
Sysba/‘Ymnar [F, M, or NB] - A disgraced eldritch god with a questionable dietary preference, Sysba has nothing but resentment for the humans they’ve been trapped with. Despite their allegiance to Ovo, they seem to do just about anything to create chaos. They also seem to know more about what’s going on than they care to admit, a fact that may prove deadly down the line.
Suha Sobhi [F] - A government operative with a stern sense of justice, Suha oversees the legal aspects of Attollo, and her position in the infamous Crowes Court has her as being nearly untouchable in terms of power. Having her assist in finding your sibling may be the break you need—or it could just make things even worse.
Please enjoy Attollo, and remember: whatever you do, don’t touch the slime.
(Current word count is approximately 530, 680 with Chapters 3/10 complete). Chapter 4 is at 148k/ est. 240k. Pariah, Operator, and Sysba are complete.
Honestly, I love it when characters relapse. When someone who’s gotten over their anger issues falls into a situation so out of their depth they fall back on their old habits. When someone who’s learned to open up becomes a recluse again in order to cope with something outside their control.
There’s just something so horrible, so toxic, about watching a character grow and then slip back into their old selves in order to cope, bc you know they still care, that they’re the same inside, but watching them hurt so hard they don’t know what else to do brings a sense of catharsis.
This is a month-long game jam that will run from January 10 - February 20th, 2025. The goal of this jam is to create more interactive fiction games about queer vampires, focusing both on queer relationships and queer experiences as told through a vampiric narrative.
Your project must focus on queer characters and vampires. Queer relationships, romantic or platonic, as well as other queer experiences, whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, ace, aro, trans and nonbinary - this is an inclusive jam.
You can write from a human or vampire perspective (or both!)
This jam will accept any medium, so long as the work is an Interactive Fiction.
This jam will accept adult content as well as games covering heavy & uncomfortable topics, but please be sure to properly list trigger warnings either in-game or on the game page.
Entries that promote any kind of bigotry will not be accepted.
Games should not include any AI generated content.
You can submit as many entries as you’d like.
There is no language requirement; we will accept games in any language.
You are allowed to start working on your project early! That’s why I’m announcing it now. This jam is unranked and it’s not a contest, this is just for fun.
Submissions open midnight, January 10th EST. They’ll close February 20th at 11:59pmEST.
Additional questions we got asked frequently last year, for clarification:
Do Visual Novels count?
Yes!
What is Interactive Fiction?
Personally, I find interactive fiction hard to define, and I’m not interested in policing it, so as long as it’s recognizably interactive fiction - ie, the game has a narrative focus primarily with text, and the player can interact (whether that be with direct choices, clicking through links, or allowing the player to choose how to move around and interact with the world/the game like in bitsy) then it counts.
Parsers, visual novels, choose-your-own-adventures are some of the popular examples of IF, but there are plenty that don’t fall within any category. Check out the IF tag on itch.io and you can see just how varied it is.
Hello Ames! I hope everything is going great for you! I wanted to wish you an enjoyable year ahead and thank you for all the amazing things you share with us. Take care and stay healthy!
Ahhh thank you!!! ❤️ I hope the coming year is enjoyable for you, as well!
Sorry but i have been playing the demo and im a bit confused, attollo is basically a country in itself due to the extreme isolation from the outside world that the barrier provides, no? Then is pariah italian by bloodline/heritage or...? I mean they seemed to barely know what america is so im curious abt it, sorry if i come off as rude that is not the interntion^^
Not rude at all! Totally understandable about the confusion :) Pariah’s family immigrated to the area from Italy, so their background is Italian, but they’re a first gen American. So you’re correct that it’s by heritage!
