GOTY 2016: Game Jam Edition

2016 was a stunning year for the game jam culture: Over 7.000 Ludum Dare entries were created overall, hundreds of smaller and bigger other jams were running, we could ramble on and on. To celebrate this wonderful gaming scene, we initiated the first Games Of The Year list ever that focuses on jam games only! So please enjoy this list of forty jam submissions made in 2016 we really loved.

The GOTY list is sorted by eight categories: Concept, Gameplay, Puzzle and Level Design, Audiovisual Representation, Storytelling, Atmosphere, Unconventionality and Nostalgia.


Concept:


GIF of "windowframe"

“windowframe” by Daniel Linssen​.


“Strolling” by Beavl Games (Nico Saraintaris), Nicolás Recabarren & Fernando Martinez Ruppel.


GIF of "The Maitre D"

“The Maitre D” by Barney Cumming, Dave Lloyd, Jonathan Murphy, Louis D. Meyer, Adrian Vaughan & Paul Dal Pozzo.


“Dead Man’s Crossing” by Adam Findlay, Kevin Carthew, Dan FosterOli Wood, David Rogers, Jack Tanner & Maxime Bonin.


GIF of "Moveless Chess"

“Moveless Chess” by Beavl Games (Nico Saraintaris & José Díaz).


Gameplay:


“Polydrone” by Graeme Borland, Amy GerardyMichał Korniewicz.


GIF of "Splitter Critters"

“Splitter Critters” by RAC7 Games (Jesse Ringrose & Jason Ennis).


GIF of "Trappy Climb"

“Trappy Climb” by rogueNoodle.


GIF of "Wobble Yoga"

“Wobble Yoga” by Jenny Jiao Hsia.


“Prince Charmless” by Pietro Ferrantelli & Donat Watine.


Puzzle and Level Design:


“Canveus” by Malcolm Brown.


GIF of "Empty"

“Empty” by Dustyroom (Max Dzitsiuk & Volodymyr Dzitsiuk).


“Aquadrata” by Four Quarters team (Dmitry Karimov, Alexander Goryeslavets, Alexander Vartazaryan & Dmitry Lagutov).


GIF of "Theseus"

“Theseus” by Daniel Harris.


“I Have Brig Plans” by Michael Pauley.


Audiovisual Representation:


“Zen and the Art of Transhumanism” by Deconstructeam (Jordi de Paco, Marina González & Fingerspit).


GIF of "Through the Playground"

“Through the Playground” by Sergei Ryzhov, Victor Komarov, Boris Scherbinkin & Vasily Kashnikov.


GIF of "Party at the Knightclub"

“Party at the Knightclub” by Bruno de Chazelles, Nicolas Gauthier, Elisée Maurer, Romain Schlienger, Craig Barnes & Alexis de Chazelles.


GIF of "Behind The Wallpaper"

“Behind The Wallpaper” by Stefan Srb.


“pipe” by tak & MC Hepher.


Storytelling:


“Venti Mesi” by We Are Müesli (Claudia Molinari & Matteo Pozzi), Germano Lanzoni & Francesco Fontana.


GIF of "A Normal Lost Phone"

“A Normal Lost Phone” by Diane Landais, Elizabeth Maler, Simon Bachelier, Rafael Martinez Jausoro, Estelle Charrié & Victoria Guillon.


Screenshot of "Ananke"

“Ananke” by Oddly Shaped Pixels (Renaud Despinois) & Jonathan Romero Ruiz.


GIF of "Look at your Feet"

“Look at your Feet” by Edu Verzinsky, Beatriz R-C. & sergeeo.


“Nothing Can Stop Us” by Daniele Giardini & Benjamin Burnes.


Atmosphere:


“SHE” by Younès RabiiSloan Chochinov, Shadetrap, Benny, John Len & Neoboss.


GIF of "Wood for the Trees"

“Wood for the Trees” by Friedrich Hanisch, Johannes-Paul Hanisch & Ludwig Hanisch.


“SUNWARD” by Graeme Borland.


Screenshot of "Exposure"

“Exposure” by Christoph Frey.


“Where there once was sand” by Oddly Shaped Pixels (Renaud Despinois).


Unconventionality:


GIF of "Black Gold"

“Black Gold” by Conor MccannChris Schlarb & Devin O’Brien.


“105.2fm” by Edu Verzinsky, Mohammed Bakir Khawam, Beícoli & Pablo Martín Atanes.


Screenshot of "god is a ghost"

“god is a ghost” by Owen Roberts.


“Forever Someday” by Joarez C. Santini.


GIF of "Proc Skater 2016"

“Proc Skater 2016” by Joseph Parker, Ryan JonesOscar Morante.


Nostalgia:


GIF of "Sub Dragon"

“Sub Dragon” by Sébastien Bénard.


GIF of "Wizard Prototype"

“Wizard Prototype” by Joel Sinclair.


“Shuriken” by rxi.


Screenshot of "Retro YouTube Simulator"

“Retro YouTube Simulator” by Robyn Lovett & Albert Ivanov.


GIF of "T H E YV"

“T H E YV” by Thana Orchard.


29 of the 40 featured games can be found in our itch.io GOTY 2016 collection.