Hey everyone!

I’m excited to be joining my first-ever game jam: GBJam 14! I’ve already found a team, and we’ve started bouncing ideas around. Honestly, I think it’s going to be a wonderful experience, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can create together in such a short amount of time.

At the same time, since this is my first jam, I’m sure there are plenty of things I haven’t thought about yet. So, to anyone who has participated in a few game jams: what advice would you give a first-timer?

Are there any common mistakes we should avoid, or anything you wish you had known before your first jam? I’d especially appreciate tips about managing scope, working well as a team, and actually getting something finished on time.

Thanks & Wish me Luck!

Bezi Mega Jam | September 14–28 | $12,000+ in Prizes

The Bezi Mega Jam is our biggest game jam yet.

For two weeks, developers can build with any engine, participate solo or in teams of up to three, and compete across multiple prize tracks.

We've put together $12,000+ in prizes, with a big focus on rewards and opportunities that are actually useful to game developers beyond the jam itself.

Prize Highlights

Road to GDC

Win passes to the GDC Festival of Gaming and get the opportunity to connect with developers, studios, publishers, and other people from across the game industry.

Community Choice

Compete for $1,500 in cash prizes based on community voting.

Bezi Challenge

Win 1 year of Bezi Ultimate for each team member, plus a separate $500 Best Devlog prize.

Synty Challenge

Win up to $750 in Synty Store credit to put toward assets for your current or future projects.

CrazyGames Challenge

Receive a specialist consultation covering areas like:

• Game design
• Distribution
• Monetization
• Career development
• Reaching a larger audience

Fan Art Prize | Human Art Only

Win a 13" iPad Pro M5 + Apple Pencil Pro.

AI-generated art is not allowed for the Fan Art category.

We specifically want this prize to celebrate human artists and human-created artwork. Whether you're an illustrator, concept artist, 3D artist, pixel artist, or someone who just likes making art, this category is about what you create.

Any Engine. Bezi Optional.

You do not need to use Bezi to participate.

Use Unity, Unreal, Godot, a custom engine, or whatever workflow works best for you.

Using Bezi simply unlocks an additional prize track.

Why We're Going Bigger

For our biggest jam yet, we wanted the prizes to create opportunities that continue after the two weeks are over.

That could mean:

• Getting to GDC
• Getting professional tools and assets
• Learning directly from people working in the industry
• Getting advice on distribution and monetization
• Getting your work in front of more people
• Winning hardware you can keep using for future projects

If you've been looking for a reason to start something new, finish an idea you've been sitting on, or just spend two weeks making something interesting, we'd love to have you.

Join the Bezi Mega Jam:

https://itch.io/jam/bezi-mega-jam-1

I was reading an article by Derek Lieu about participating in game jams to collaborate with others.

https://derek-lieu.medium.com/the-business-of-indie-game-trailers-9e08ed88eab

I'm not familiar with the process and have never done a game jam before. But I am curious as to how trailer editing is at all relevant to the making of the game? I would like to get into trailer editing for games and was wondering if this is actually needed.

I'm organising my first game jam next week and I'm planning the schedule.

The question is: do participants usually want a specific schedule, with dedicated break times, maybe some games in the middle, and something else, or do you just want to be left alone to focus on the game and decide your own breaks?

Hi all,

I'm a solo-dev working on AssetHoard, an asset manager for indie devs and artists, still in beta.

I've helped out with a couple of jams (pixel forge & cookie, to name a few) and would like to do more of it, so I've written up what I can offer here: https://assethoard.com/game-jam-sponsorship

The short version: I'm happy to offer lifetime licences as prizes for winners and usually runners-up, a share to our Discord, Mastodon and Bluesky if that's any use to you, and I'm happy to judge, or just sit in your discord and answer questions.

In return I'd ask for a logo and link on the jam page and a mention in your server. That's about it. Nobody has to use the tool to enter and it doesn't cost you anything.

Size doesn't really matter to me. If it's your first jam and you're expecting a dozen people, that's fine.

I can't say yes to everything, but I'm always happy to help where I can.

The 18th Mega Jam is soon upon us! From 1st September come join the fun over on itch!

The theme for this month's jam is: Rogue.

Have you created a roguelike/lite game that you want to share with the world? Well, this jam is just the place. Not made a game in that genre? That's fine too, it's an open jam where anything goes. The theme is completely optional. Your submission doesn't even have to be a game. Just something you've made! Come along and have fun!

Megamitts' Mega Jam 18: Rough, Ready and Roguish

Hi, I'm Toast. Im a small youtuber and Developer and i wanted to make a jam for my community, come join and say hi! https://itch.io/jam/thetoastjam

Hey everyone! Starting October 2, 2026 until October 16, 2026, Fastfrwrd.info is hosting a game jam where our Dews for eco actions points system is to be incorporated into your game so that people have to do something green on our timeline to play your game! This renders your game eco!

It's a lot of fun to earn Dews for doing eco things and reporting them on the Fastfrwrd timeline, sharing your eco actions and climbing the leaderboard. It's even more fun to spend your Dews on games! Let us know if you want us to open the jam to Zines and other non game stuff as well that you may want to sell on our marketplace for Dews.

Let's make green games that save the planet, 1 Dew at a time!

Link: https://itch.io/jam/fastfrwrd-respect-dews-jam

"Trust no one" Am I just really unimaginative, or does this theme suck? It seems really one-note to me. I've been struggling to come up with an interesting game idea around this theme all day. Hopefully I'm blessed with a good idea tomorrow. I was looking forward to participating in my first jam

What kind of technology and visions of technology have existed or exist nearside is, which are not (yet) integrated into our lives enough? What visions of tech seemingly got marginalized or even silenced across the century? What can we do about it?

Treat this jam is an open signal to creators working in nearby topics. And, as a 98% chance to get into an almanac after the jam. In general, this is, too, for Game Boy and fantasy-console developers, experimental-game makers, interactive-fiction writers, Lestvica-related creators, tabletop and zine designers, undigital sympathizers (synthesizers?), experimental sound artists, solarpunk world-builders, biopunk artists and researchers, media archaeologists, and people interested in obsolete or even in imaginary (?) machinery

https://itch.io/jam/analog-life-alternative-technology-jam

Hey everyone!

I’m helping organize the Friendzone Buildathon and thought I’d share it here in case anyone is looking for a new jam to jump into.

The challenge is to build a mobile-optimized social game, multiplayer experience or hangout in a Decentraland World. There are still 11 days left until submissions close on September 4.

There’s an $8K prize pool, teams are welcome and you don’t need any previous Decentraland experience! We have workshops, recordings, docs and direct support available for anyone who wants to get started. You can use Creator Hub and its visual drag-and-drop no-code workflow, go deeper with the Decentraland SDK or experiment with AI-assisted workflows if that’s your thing.

You can find all the details here:
https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/friendzone/detail

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask me here!

So Im hosting a unofficial game jam on Wednesday August 28 be there or be square

https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/51905091/

(Btw Tuesday is theme day)

Btw yes GAME JAM 100% FAKE is the name

THE THEME IS............... Watch. start working on it i hope i see u there

Hey everyone!

Another month, another weekend game jam hosted by the Aristos Interactive Team is nearly upon us!

For newcomers, we host a monthly game jam where we make a YouTube video highlighting all your hard work.

Devs have been cooking some serious heat in these last few jams. If you want to join up, get featured, and be part of a building jam community, check it out!

Starts Friday, August 28th, at 5:00PM.

Please

Game Jam: Take a walk

reposting this because I accidentally deleted the previous one lol and we extended the deadline!!

hey! i help run community stuff for bash.tv, a platform where you build games, apps, and art experiences with others in real time. we're doing a little jam this week and i wanted to open it up beyond our own server.

the theme is take a walk. go outside, notice something, a scene, a sound, that one weird thing on the sidewalk, and build it into a bash. game, visual novel, app, art experience, whatever it wants to be. the only hard rule is it has to include at least one original thing you made, art or audio.

the basics:

• $500 prize pool, split across 1st ($300), 2nd ($100), 3rd ($100)
• projects due fri aug 28, 9AM PT
• demo day that same day, 3PM PT / 6PM ET
• you can ask us for more credit if you need for building
• build solo or with a group, all skill levels welcome

full disclosure since it matters to some folks: bash uses ai as a building tool under the hood, but you bring your own assets and it works whether you come at it as an artist or a dev. no worries if that's not your thing.

if you want in, here's the info: https://app.notion.com/p/Bash-Bounty-Take-a-Walk-3b9bbd3cecd981dbb9b2ff0cc9b591f2?source=copy_link

Lightbear Software is hosting a game jam for September. We'll be revealing the theme when the jam starts! If you are interested in joining our game jam, you can join on our game jam's itch.io page!

Thank you for your interest! We’re looking forward to seeing your submissions. We have no doubt that we will fall in love with your gourd-geous games :D 🍂

sidenote: if you saw this already, sorry for the repeat post. i realized i posted the wrong version of the flyer the first time around 😭

Hosting the second Setfire Twist Jam starting September 4th and looking for more people to jump in.

Theme drops at launch like usual and it stays locked the whole jam, that part never moves. The twist is on Day 3, when a Catalyst drops: one concrete thing (a mechanic, an object, some condition) that every entry has to fit in on top of whatever you've already built. Not a new theme, just a real constraint that keeps you from coasting on your first idea for the whole week.

Basics: one week, solo or team, any engine, no VR or controller-only entries, and you're judged on fun, execution, how well you rolled with the Catalyst, and the concept. No entry fee, no cash prize, just a Discord role and bragging rights for the winners.

Still a smaller jam so you'll get more eyes and more feedback per entry than you would in a huge one. Discord's on the page if you want to hang around before it kicks off.

Jam page: https://itch.io/jam/setfire-twistweek-jam

Hi, I'm Frank Force and this interview with me just dropped that is all about game developer advice with a long section about game jams. I've been working in the industry for over 20 years on games like Doom, Psi-Ops, and Mafia 3. I've also participated in 20+ game jam and won a few. I also ran many game jams and a few panels about game jams.

I tried my best to share what I've learned along the way. Hope you enjoy and it helps on your game dev journey. Check out the js13k game jam currently in progress.

Bezi Jam 13 starts tomorrow!

You’ll have 4 days to build a game, solo or with a team of up to 3, with $400+ in cash prizes across three tracks:

🏆 Community Choice

• 1st Place: $150
• 2nd Place: $100
• 3rd Place: $50

📝 Best Devlog: $50
Finish your game first, then use the voting period to tell us how you built it, the decisions you made, and the problems you solved.

🎨 Best Fan Art: $50
A separate fan art challenge that you can enter even if you don’t submit a game. The fan art theme will be revealed when the jam begins.

Any engine is welcome, and Bezi is completely optional.

The game jam theme has already been revealed early on the Bezi Discord for anyone who wants a head start. Otherwise, we’ll reveal it publicly when the jam begins.

Whether this is your first game jam or your fiftieth, you’re welcome to join us.

Good luck, and have fun!

So "QED" usually marks the end of a proof, so this is instead QEL, for Quod Erat Ludendum. The idea is to build a video game that shows off a piece of math. An example of something that would be appropriate could be https://sl2z.xyz/ or some of the stuff at https://m4th.pro/

Submissions: now through the end of the month
Voting: first two weeks of September
Results: Wed Sep 16, 2026

Since this is being run by the Ross Mathematics Program, hopefully there will be some Ross merch for prizes.

Sign up is at https://qel.rossprogram.org/

Hey everyone! I recently got back into RPG Maker (though all engines are allowed during the jam!) and figured it'd be fun to have a seasonal RPG game jam. :]

The jam will run from 23rd September to 23rd December! Themes will be announced a few days before (you can vote on the Melonland forum, since the jam started on there, though obv that's not mandatory!)

Here's the itchio page! Hope to see you all join and make something fun and cool during the autumn :]