LOVE is in the air! LOVE is BRIEFS!
Before we get all lovely, here's some information regarding the call ...
WHAT’S BRIEFS? Briefs is a micro-publishing initiative that gives out small grants for small digital games. Think jam-sized. Think € 1500 for that effort. You will find a link to submit a project at the bottom of this page, but do read carefully what is required beforehand. Application form below!
BASIC SPECS We want to see games done fast, rather than games that can be played fast. It’s up to you whether to make an infinitely replayable game with questionable presentation or a two-second game with almost AAA production. We recommend spending no more than 40 hours on development in total. What you make with it is up to you. We are looking for a digital game playable on a Windows PC. Other platforms and OS are up to you. We’re not accepting analogue or tabletop games. Georg loves web builds; Zhenia prefers executables, so take your pick. The game shouldn’t have any unintentional game-breaking bugs upon delivery. The game needs to be completed by October 2026.
Let’s enjoy this 5th BRIEFS edition with a theme most wonderful! LOVE! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
So long has our medium treated love as just a transaction of variables, a list of companions to romance, and pets to pet. As a reward. As an offering to the player. What a loving medium we are, treating our player as a princess worthy of all our gifts.
This year, this summer, imagine love differently. Challenge yourself to explore love in the medium of transactions and violence. I’m afraid we here at Briefs can’t offer much guidance as the curator writing it fixates on creating multiple romantic interests that will all reject the player as revenge for Catwoman getting shit for saying no to Batman.
Of course, one might say, the state of love in video games perfectly reflects the state of love in our world. An absurd spec of joy runs through the cash register of society, believing we’re chimps and bonobos don’t exist. Society fosters and exploits love. Love between consenting adults, parents’ love for their child, society’s love of its members. Governments do tend to claim love from their constituents for no reason other than it must be done. Preferably by consenting corpses.
We do not claim that love is some perfect concept. It drives people nuts, it destroys its own subject, it poisons friendships, and it devastates families. Wrong aim, wrong desire, wrong place, wrong time, wrong tenacity – if any little thing goes wrong and love becomes a toxic nightmare that will destroy everything it touches.
Lastly – for crying out loud – can we get a game about longing for love? About loving your partner while they’re still alive and not kidnapped by a villain? Can we have a goddamn romcom?
APPLY!!!
We might have some lovely money with your name on it. Applications are open until 16th of June!
https://forms.gle/L5RJgeyDwgy6bVXv6
FAQs
There are always questions left we've collected and answered them for you: BRIEFS FAQs
