Game Jam
Ongoing coverage on Game Jam.
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'Vibe your way to $50K': Epic is challenging devs to build a game in 4 days with AI — and gamers are in…
Epic Games has announced an 'AI MegaJam' competition where developers have four days to create a game using AI tools, with a $50,000 prize pool. The event, which encourages the use of AI for asset generation and coding, has been met with significant backlash from gamers who view AI as detrimental to creativity and the game market.
Epic announces game jam where you have to use AI
Epic Games is hosting its AI MegaJam in November, challenging participants to create games using AI tools with thousands of dollars in prizes. The event, themed around AI-driven development, contrasts with other contests that ban AI, reflecting Epic's stance on embracing the technology. CEO Tim Sweeney expressed strong optimism about AI's role in accelerating game development and creative work.
Epic wants to pay you $50,000 to vibe code an AI slop game
Epic Games is hosting the 2026 AI MegaJam, challenging participants to create games using AI tools with Unreal Engine or UEFN. The event offers cash prizes and grants, including up to $50,000 for standout projects, aiming to encourage AI integration in game development. However, the initiative faces significant backlash from developers and the gaming community due to ongoing concerns about AI's impact on the industry.
Sometimes the thing you need is a wonderfully ethereal physics platformer jam game where you are a little round guy with very stretchy arms called Big Stretch
Big Stretch is a free, physics-based platformer game jam title where players control a spherical creature with stretchy arms to climb a challenging tower. Developed in 72 hours, the game emphasizes 'Vibe' and mystery over complex assets, offering a unique experience available for download on itch.io.
Former PlayStation indie boss Shuhei Yoshida and the founder of TIGSource are throwing a Game Poem jam that "challenges traditional boundaries between art forms"
Former PlayStation indie boss Shuhei Yoshida and TIGSource founder Jordan Magnuson are judging a new game jam hosted by the National Film & Television School, focused on creating 'videogame poems.' The jam challenges participants to blend poetry and game design, with submissions needing to be playable in a browser.
Double Fine's famous game jam returns with 26 new ideas and a promise to make Brutal Legend 2, if its Kickstarter…
Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight game jam has returned, launching a Kickstarter campaign that has already surpassed its $400,000 goal. The event allows developers to pitch and prototype new game ideas over two weeks, with the top four finalists being built into playable demos for public voting. A stretch goal of $100 million could potentially fund Brutal Legend 2.
Double Fine adds Brutal Legend 2 to its Amnesia Fortnight Kickstarter as a $100M stretch goal
Double Fine Productions has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its Amnesia Fortnight 2026 game jam, with an ambitious $100 million stretch goal to develop Brutal Legend 2. The campaign is currently seeking $400,000 for the game jam projects, and has already surpassed $330,000. The article also notes the recent passing of actor Tim Curry, who voiced a character in the original Brutal Legend.
Double Fine Productions regains ownership of IP and publishing rights following independence from Xbox
Double Fine Productions has regained ownership of its intellectual property and publishing rights following its separation from Xbox. The studio also announced its fifth Amnesia Fortnight event, a game jam where employees create prototypes, with this year's iteration launching on August 31 and featuring a Kickstarter campaign for one of the developed ideas. This move comes after Double Fine and Compulsion Games were spun out of Xbox Game Studios amidst recent layoffs.
The Sandbox Sets October Studio Debut After Engine v14 Rollout
The Sandbox is targeting October for the public release of its Studio game creation toolkit, following the August 12 debut of Studio Beta and Engine v14. Engine v14 introduces a unified SceneNode system for organizing game elements and promotes prefabs to first-class building blocks. A Game Jam with a $7,500 prize pool, judged by Larry Hryb, is also underway with submissions due September 11.
MapleStory Universe Kicks Off Vibe Camp Season 2 With $15,000 NXPC Prize Pool
MapleStory Universe has launched Season 2 of its worldwide game jam, MapleStory Vibe Camp, running from August 18 to September 15, 2026. Developers are challenged to create short arcade titles using MapleStory IP, with a $15,000 prize pool in NXPC tokens. This season introduces an AI brainstorming tool to aid in concept development and focuses on player retention and replayability.
Idle Tactics: Ascension takes top prize in YGG’s debut VibeBlitz game jam
Idle Tactics: Ascension, an idle auto-battler, won the inaugural VibeBlitz game jam hosted by vibecode.game and Minds by Animoca Brands. The four-week virtual event saw over 250 participants submit 72 games, with community voting and a judging panel selecting the top five. The jam focused on utilizing AI-powered design tools to streamline game development.
Issues and Activism
The 'Juntos' game jam is being organized to raise funds for Venezuela earthquake relief efforts. This event aims to bring developers together to create games for a charitable cause.
Diptera Protocol - Free Online Browser Game
Diptera Protocol is a free-to-play arcade browser game developed in three days for a game jam. Players pilot a combat jet to fight mutated flies in a contaminated zone, featuring fast-paced top-down combat and colony-based enemy behavior.
The Sandbox Studio Draws More Than 12,000 Applicants to Its AI Alpha
The Sandbox Studio's AI-powered game development environment has received over 12,000 applications for its alpha program, with only 30 creators selected so far. The company is prioritizing rapid feedback and iterative development by keeping the initial group small. Weekly admissions will continue, alongside a closed alpha Game Jam to test the production workflow.
Morning Gatherings and Events
Global Game Jam and World Food Program USA have partnered to host an online game jam event. The initiative aims to raise funds and support relief efforts for those affected by the recent earthquake in Venezuela.
YGG teams with Animoca’s Minds for $5,000 VibeBlitz Game Jam, starting today
YGG has launched its first VibeBlitz game jam in collaboration with Minds by Animoca Brands, running from July 13 to August 10. The event focuses on AI-assisted game creation, with participants competing for a $5,000 prize pool and potential entry into the Minds Investment Programme. Games must fit within a 32x32 plot, be browser-playable, and utilize the Game Designer Mind AI for at least 50% of development.
The Sandbox Hosts $5,000 AI Game Jam
The Sandbox is hosting its first Game Jam for Alpha Creators, an event focused on AI-led game development tools, running until July 31. Participants can win a share of $5,000 in prizes, with the first-place winner receiving $2,500. The event includes workshops and Q&A sessions with The Sandbox team to support creators.
Oblivion's persuasion wheel has spawned another wacky gamejam, cue sentient cheese struggling to three-point turn gracefully past dancing French rats
A game jam called Wheeljam 2 has been inspired by The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's persuasion wheel and lockpicking minigames. Participants created over 40 entries, incorporating these mechanics into various game concepts, including one where players roll a giant cheese wheel past dancing French rats.
Elder Scrolls 6 is a ways off, but who needs it? The world's most specific game jam is back with 40 playable entries all based off Oblivion's wonderful/awful persuade-o-wheel
A game jam inspired by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's persuasion wheel system has resulted in 40 playable entries, with voting currently underway. While The Elder Scrolls VI is still a long way off, this event celebrates a unique and often-criticized mechanic from Oblivion. Many of the jam's entries are playable directly in a web browser.
Pyre Lookout is a Disco Elysium-esque tale of bureaucratic incompetence, red tape, and frogs
Pyre Lookout is a short, Disco Elysium-inspired flash game developed by Outstar and titos2k that satirizes bureaucratic incompetence and red tape. Players navigate a series of pointless rules and forms while a fire rages in their lookout tower, highlighting the absurdity of corporate HR language and outdated procedures. The game, created for a game jam, uses dice rolls for interactions and features witty dialogue that captures the frustrating yet humorous nature of excessive bureaucracy.
