Homebrew competitions, like GekiHEN, tend to boost the homebrew library of hacked game consoles and as a result, people’s interest in said hacked console. Now, the PSVita has just received another competition which is called PSVita Game Jam 2019 and it focuses on creating prototypes of games that could potentially be pursued to completion later on!

What is REVita’s PSVita Game Jam 2019?

REVita’s competition for the PSVita was apparently initiated sometime yesterday on Twitter with the creation of their @REPSP2 account and a tweet announcing the competition.

Unfortunately, information about this game jam isn’t centralised in one place as the people behind it didn’t create a website but the following important information could be condensed from a series of tweets/replies:

• All entries must be submitted until April 23rd
  • While this sounds short, it is important to note that game jams are meant to be short as the point behind them is to entice developers to come up with original ideas and develop a prototype for them in a short amount of time.
  • Sometimes, prototypes that win competitions are later developed into full games
• Entries must be original games
  • Initially, ports and engine re-implementations were allowed but the person(s) behind REVita decided to bar them some time after the competition was announced
• Multiple entries per person are allowed although only one can win a prize
• Existing projects can’t be submitted although if they receive substantial updates, they can be
• Prizes can be won by people from any country and entries can make use of virtually any software they wish such as Lua Player Plus (excellent way to start coding if you have no or limited programming experience and it requires very little setting up!), GameMaker (through G*Maker), Unity, VitaSDK and RPGMaker

What can I win? How does one win? Has anybody submitted an entry yet?

Through REVita’s PSVita Game Jam, you can place in 3 positions (1st/2nd/3rd), all of which come with a monetary prize. For first place, the prize is $250; for second, it’s $150 and for third, it’s $100 although it’s not clear how the prizes will be paid out (I assume that a service similar to PayPal will be used). In order for participants to win prizes, REVita has stated that people in the PSVita homebrew community will be deciding winners through voting; this means that everybody can vote for their favourite entry! No information has been given on the voting mechanism as of right now and it’s unlikely to be done on Twitter (like some of their polls) since Twitter only allows up to 4 entries.

As of right now, two developers have shown interest in this Game Jam namely SilicaAndPina with a Sci-Fi/parody game that’s currently called “Hello World(); 3.80 WEN ETA” which will probably have to do with some form of hacking and Fanta Hourglass with his-previously mentioned SpeedrunVita game. Hopefully, there will be more entries in the near future and perhaps we’ll see something from VitaHEX as he’s released a couple of interesting titles over the months with Fallen Knights being the latest one!

Conclusion

If this competition goes well and there’s ample interest, REVita has stated that more competitions with other themes will created which may expand the PSVita’s homebrew library even more! For more information, check out the REVita’s Twitter account and maybe get coding 😉

REVita’s Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/REPSP2/