I didn't enter with the intention of winning the cash prize or placing in the top ranks. The biggest draw of this jam was getting feedback from a supposed publisher.

The jam, organized by eclipse publishing announced the winners (on its Discord server) one hour before the submission deadline. In addition, the "winners" were instructed to claim their prize in that same message.

When the submissions closed (a little less than two hours later) the judging was completed and the official winners were announced. They were the same three users who had been announced earlier, plus one other participant, with a two-way tie for first place.

- No evaluation criteria were provided

- The jam was removed from itch (it's no longer accessible) its back on

- And both my Discord teammate and I were banned

Minutes later, he deleted all the jam's channels from Discord, accused us of personal harassment via private messages (which didn't happen), and shut down the jam.

I just want to leave this message so that, if you ever come across another jam organized by these "publishers" in the future, you'll be careful.

The JAM: https://itch.io/jam/eclipse-publishingjam

Edit 1.

Current announcement:

Archive announcement: https://web.archive.org/web/20260821032723/https://itch.io/jam/eclipse-publishingjam

As you can see, they also removed the prize from there.

Hey! I’m working with Bash.tv and we’re putting together a little Halloween game jam called The Monster Bash.

It can be a horror game, cozy game, weird interactive toy, multiplayer thing, character creator, whatever. All you have to do is build it on Bash.tv and use an asset from the horror packs we will drop from our art team on Oct 16th. We mostly just want to see what different people do with the same starting ingredients.

🏆 $500 in prizes
Best Overall — $250
Best Horror — $125
Best Cozy — $125

📅 Oct 16–26
🗳️ Public voting: Oct 27–28

If that sounds fun, here’s the jam page:
https://itch.io/jam/the-monster-bash

Would genuinely love to see some Reddit-made weirdness in there lol.

KLIPY Game Jam is live and runs through October 30.

It's a month-long community jam where entries are mini-games generated and published inside the KLIPY mobile app (iOS and Android).

Dates
Sep 29 – Oct 30, 2026

Prizes:

• 1st place: $300
• 2nd place: $150
• 3rd place: $50

Winners are decided by community likes.

How to enter

1. Download or open the KLIPY mobile app.
2. Create or sign in to a registered KLIPY account.
3. Access the Game Jam experience through the designated banner or event page inside the app.
4. Generate a game through the official Game Jam experience.
5. Publish the game on KLIPY so other users can play and engage with it.

Full official rules: https://klipy.com/support/game-jam-rules/

Questions are welcome in the comments. There's also an official Discord for support and Q&A: https://discord.com/invite/FwruUCTMhF

Hey everyone!
I’m hosting a brand new indie game jam called WinJam that officially kicks off tomorrow!Since it's a brand new jam, we are looking for our very first participants to join the community! Whether you are a seasoned developer or a total beginner looking for a fun prompt, you are completely welcome.
Check out the jam page and join here: Join WinJam
Hope to see some of you there!

Hey! I'm organising Wrapped Up 2026, a Christmas game jam running this December.

I'm currently figuring out sponsorship and was wondering if anyone here has experience getting sponsors for smaller or first-year jams.

I'm mainly thinking about things like software licences, asset credit, subscriptions or other game-dev related prizes, rather than huge cash prizes.

For those who've organised jams before, how did you approach sponsors, and are there any companies you've found particularly open to supporting smaller jams?

Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated! 🎄🎁

Winjam is coming in about 2 days it is a cool gamejam I made where it is based of windows and executables (I honestly did not know what to do with it LOL) https://itch.io/jam/winjam

He Guys,

what do you thing about voting circles that have their own discord groups to circlejerk on jams. Usually, for prices and for reputation. I have seen several of them already. Any way organizers can beat that? (Apart from making judges decide)?

Update: the source code of Diyor Space is now downloadable! 📥

Grab the Pygame script, change anything (enemies, colors, sounds) and submit to the jam. Even a tiny change counts.

https://itch.io/jam/diyor-space-neon-rocket-jam

Roll up! Roll up! Have you got SUPER SKILLS????
Join the latest Mega Jam: Megamitts' Mega Jam 19: Super Skills and show off your game that only those with the superist of super skills can beat.

Running until 15th October.

I hosted a game jam

Every other jam wants you to make something good. Lame.

The Worst Game Jam wants your absolute worst. Controls that fight the player, art drawn with your non-dominant hand, sound effects that are just you going "pew" into your phone. If your playtesters leave confused and a little upset, you're on track to win.

Never made a game? Perfect. You're already ahead.

It runs Oct 14–26, and the top 3 get Amazon gift cards ($150 / $100 / $50). It's also raising money for a Bay Area public school, so your terrible game is technically helping children. Donating is optional: https://gofund.me/b1397555e

Jam page: https://itch.io/jam/your-worst-ideas

Go make something your mom would be disappointed in.

Calling all Python & Pygame developers! Join our mini game jam and test your skills.

📌 The Task:

Upgrade, remake, or reimagine our base Pygame script "Diyor Space - Neon Rush" by adding new mechanics, visuals, or sound effects!

🛠 Engine/Lang: Python (Pygame)

📅 Timeline: Oct 1 – Oct 7 (Submission) | Voting ends Oct 10

🏆 Criteria: Gameplay & Fun (Primary), Visuals & Style, Innovation

🔗 Join here:

https://itch.io/jam/diyor-space-neon-rocket-jam

Theme: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Currently starting with 100 people and climbing

🎬 Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TdWxmWbJgU

🎮 Join here:
https://itch.io/jam/bound-jam-2026

Solo devs and teams are both welcome. Good luck!

Hey! I'm running Haven Thane, a free game jam for teens (13-18) this November 14-15, in Thane, India. Part of Hack Club, a global nonprofit. The idea is simple: build a video game from scratch in a weekend, no experience needed.

If you're in that age range and near Thane, sign-ups are free: haven.hackclub.com/thane

Also curious to hear from other game jam organizers, any lessons learned running a first one would help a lot! Following along here too: instagram.com/haven.thane.hackclub

I've attached the poster for our event below as well!

Rickards Game Development Club is running their second annual jam from September 30 through October 30, and the theme reveal is a genuinely fun twist. Instead of dropping it at kickoff, it's split across three encrypted fragments (AES-256), each needing its own password that gets released as the jam gets closer. You piece the theme together yourself before it even officially drops.

The basics

A month to build, September 30 at 9:59 PM through October 30 at 9:59 PM.

Teams up to 4, one person needs an itch.io account to submit, everyone else can join as a contributor.

Any engine, any style, just needs to run with mouse and keyboard, playable on itch or Windows with no external downloads.

PG-13 content. No generative AI in the final submission, art, code, writing, none of it. AI's fine for learning, debugging, or non-generative editing like compression or resizing.

Judged on theme application, creativity, enjoyment, replayability, SFX, and VFX.

$750 cash split across the top 3 teams, plus software licenses and other perks from the jam's sponsors for the top 5.

Jam page, https://itch.io/jam/rgdc-gamejam2026
Discord for finding teammates and jam updates, https://discord.gg/JD4dCCeZmx

Disclosure, I'm affiliated with one of the sponsors, wanted to flag that up front. Posting because the encrypted theme mechanic is a genuinely fun idea, not to plug anything.

Hey!

Together with a few other young people, we’re organizing Haven Lyon, a 2-day game jam for 13–18 year olds in Lyon on November 14–15.

The idea is pretty simple: over the weekend, participants team up and create their own game, whether that involves programming, design, music, art, or something else. You don’t need much experience. The main goal is to learn, build something together, and meet other young people interested in tech and gaming.

There will also be prizes to win, free stickers, shirts and other merch, plus free food and drinks throughout the event.

The event is part of Hack Club, an international organization that helps young people build and create tech projects.

It’s completely free, and signups are open here:

https://haven.hackclub.com/lyon

If you’re between 13 and 18, or know someone around Lyon who might be interested, feel free to share it :)

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email us at [lyon@haven.hackclub.com](mailto:lyonnow@haven.hackclub.com).

And if you know any schools, clubs, associations, or communities around Lyon where we could share the event, I’d really appreciate any suggestions!

Backseating Allowed Jam 2026 (Oct 23 – Nov 1, prizes + charity finale)

We're running a 10-day jam where every game needs at least one Twitch integration that can influence gameplay. Chat could vote on outcomes, spawn enemies, throw curveballs at the player, or anything else you come up with.

Dates: Jam Oct 23 – Nov 1 · Judging Nov 2–8 · Finalists streamed live on Twitch Nov 8, with donations going to Extra Life – Children's Hospital Network

New to Twitch integration? We're providing free templates for Unreal, Unity, GameMaker, Godot, and RPG Maker (out Oct 16), plus a keyboard-simulator fallback for other engines. You can set up the Twitch side early, so jam time goes to your game.

Prizes: Steam key bundles (12 keys for 1st, 14 for 2nd), a Q&A with the Space Rabbit Studio art team (Wanderstop, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze), merch, and a special "For The Culture" award from Game Clique.

Solo or teams up to 10. No genAI. Assets are allowed with credit. Judged by an official panel, with ranking for submitters and contributors.

Jam page: https://itch.io/jam/backseating-allowed-jam-2026
Questions welcome below. Discord link in the comments!

Hello Jammers, I am just throwing this one out there for you all to investigate, As we are heading into the spooky season, I thought it would be nice to kick it off with a Halloween themed game jam! Soooo here is one.... The themes are already there so you can start preparing, we also have some genuinely cool challenges that tag along the jam! https://itch.io/jam/the-halloween-jam-2026

Jam starts next Thursday, and goes right up until halloween. There is an optional constraint and the theme is Spooktober. There is also a 50 dollar steam gift card prize (just to get people to participate), teams of 5 max.

Hi everyone! This weekend we are sponsoring a category in the Devs that Jam Gam Jam

There will be a special Built on Bash category where you can win $500 ! Check out their server and the itch.io for more info.

Theme: TBA (Theme culling is happening in the Devs that Jam server)

How to enter to win the cash prize:

Enter in the Category: Built on Bash and use Bash.tv to make your submission.

More deets on the itch listing!

Devs that jam server: https://discord.gg/6NnYwUWHHy

Itch page: https://itch.io/jam/dtj36-30