FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE: A David Lynch Game Jam

Hi, I'm Jellyfishlines, my pronouns are he/him, and I make weird little TTRPGs and weird art. I have a love affair with the uncanny, the odd, and strange. I thought my work was unable to be made or sold in a traditional market, that my work was too strange for others. Since entering the TTRPG industry, I often wondered if I should keep creating.

Then David Lynch, the creator of Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and Twin Peaks, as well as the short film Rabbits, and many others, passed away. I watched Eraserhead the night the world found out and was so deeply moved that I created David Lynch game jam and a game for the jam just 48 hours after that. (Then I made another.)

"I told them to fix their hearts or die" is a quote by David Lynch that is possibly the most loving line I've ever heard. Said to a trans character in Twin Peaks (a show I've never seen), David comforts her and says the famous line. These words to me are words of care, love, and words to live by. Not only care and love to the trans woman character on the show, the best advice to ever give to people that hate you for no reason other than for your existence. "FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE" means to be better, to get better, be be kind to one another and love each other. David loved and cared for other people. It's not only fitting, but I, a trans person, am compelled to name this jam after that quote.

The jam started on David's birthday, January 20th, and runs until Twin Peaks day (February 24th at Midnight). The David Lynch game jam has game designers of all sorts (both TTRPG, video games, and visual novels), authors and writers (like my friend Briar Ripley Page), and maybe even include poetry and art. This jam is open to beautiful and radical acts of creation, just make it with your wild, tender, loving, and weird heart.

If you'd like to join the David Lynch Game Jam or just keep track on the submissions and jam progress, click here. I've also posted an outline of the jam below:

"With the news of the passing of David Lynch, I want to take the moment and honor his legacy by holding a game jam. 

David was a person that showed us what film as art could be. Wild, strange, and odd, sometimes to the point of little understanding. He understood that the things we can make can be vast and weird and that people that understood what you were trying to say would get it. And those that didn't but tried were the ones to keep with you.

This jam is to honor him and you, the person reading this, as well. Create beyond your wild heart. The strange and weird. The surreal, unlikely yet beautiful thing that is your heart.

For this jam, let us bring the uncanny, the surreal, the strange, and beyond to our creations. Meet our heart where it lies at the crossroads of what we create and how. Make something that makes the wide universe of you mind and body sing with delight.  

And then sing louder.

Disturb the complacent and mystify the disquieted. 
Love one another.

RULES:
Before you even ask, NO GenAI is allowed. Don't even try.
FREE PALESTINE. NO "IF's", "AND'S", OR "BUT'S"!
Influences from David's work should be listed in the game (or writing) Inspirations page. You may also take inspiration from David's unwillingness to ever compromise his art. (AKA make something REAL weird)..."

Thank you for reading. Remember, your love is powerful yet tender. Keep you and those you love close to it.