Submissions open from 2024-08-16 17:00:00 to 2024-08-20 17:00:00
Starts in
years
months
days
hours
minutes
seconds

Welcome!

The GMTK Game Jam is an annual game making marathon, where individuals and teams try to make a game that fits a theme, in just four days.

Thousands of games are submitted as designers improve their skills, flex their creative muscles, and try to get their game featured on Game Maker’s Toolkit. You can see (and play!) the past winners here. 


GMTK Game Jam submissions are sometimes developed further and expanded into full, award-winning games! You can see the full list here. 

This Year's Theme

The GMTK Game Jam 2024 theme will be revealed when the jam begins. Previous themes include Roles Reversed, Roll of the Dice, Joined Together, and Out of Control.

It's up to you how you interpret the theme, and you will be given a chance to explain how your game fits the theme when you submit. You will not be disqualified from the jam if your game doesn't adequately fit the theme.  

Quick Links


Discord Team Finder Twitter YouTube

Rules

Eligibility

The GMTK Game Jam is an online game jam, so it's open to anyone, from anywhere, of any age. You can work alone or in teams.

More details

If you're under the age of 13, a parent or guardian should upload the game

There is no limit on the number of people per team, and people can be in multiple teams. You can submit more than one game.

Only one person needs to join itch.io and submit the game. However, if others on the team also join itch.io, they can be tagged as contributors. (On your game's itch page, pick "Edit", "More", "Admins", and follow the instructions). 

Your Game

You must make a digital game that is playable by someone using a Windows PC, with nothing more than a keyboard or mouse. It should not require additional hardware or software to run.

The game should be suitable for a general audience, so please avoid strong language and excessive gore. And your game should not contain nudity, or hateful language or visuals.

More details

You may use any game engine, as long as you can export a file that can be uploaded to itch. We recommend Unity, Godot, and Game Maker.

You can support controllers and other peripherals, as long as keyboard or mouse also works. And you can upload builds for Mac, Linux, Android, etc, as long as you also have a Windows or browser version.

You should not require the user to download additional software from external sources. If your game requires additional files (like DLLs) they should be included in the download and not require separate installation. 

The itch file limit is 1GB. You can compress your game as a ZIP, RAR, or 7Zip file (ZIP is preferred).

You can have online features like multiplayer servers and leaderboards - but files hosted outside of itch.io must not be modified or updated during the jam period - with the only exception being to ensure compliance with itch.io rules (i.e. removing a rulebreaking leaderboard name).

Tools and Assets

You may use pre-existing code and can use whatever art and audio assets you have the legal right to use, but you shouldn't make stuff ahead of time that is specifically for this jam.

We ask that you do not use generative AI (such as Midjourney, ChatGPT, or Github Copilot) to create any assets or code.

More details

You can use pre-existing code, libraries, and functions. And make use of generic code for things like menus or input. You can also create things like a blank Unity project, a Github page, or your itch.io profile in advance to save time.

You can use pre-existing sprites, textures, fonts, models, shaders, animations, sound effects, and music - including public domain assets, assets you have purchased, assets you have made yourself, or assets that are (legally-acceptable) derivative works of existing media. 

You should credit all external art and audio in your game description. 

Voting and Winners

When the jam finishes, everyone is invited to play the games and rate them against three criteria: enjoyment, creativity, and presentation. These add up to your overall rating, which will be revealed at the end of the voting period.

After the jam, host Mark Brown will play the top 100-rated games in the overall category, and make a video for Game Maker's Toolkit. Here's last year's video.

More details

When the jam ends, there's a five-day rating period (details below) where you must not change your game. Uploads to the jam will be locked, meaning you can no longer provide bug fixes, additional versions, or extra levels. 

Also, please do not put links to other builds (such as "Game jam upload has a bug! Please play this one!”) in your description or comments. This may see you being disqualified from the jam. Whatever you upload before the jam closes is what people will play and judge.

If you delete your game during this period, we will not be able to help you and you will be disqualified from the jam.

You can change your game's page during this time though, including the thumbnail, description text, screenshots, and page design. You'll want to do this as fast as possible though, as the majority of the ratings happen at the very start of the rating period.

Once the rating period is over, you're free to update your game however you please, charge for it, release it on other platforms - the game is yours, do what you wish with it. 

Useful Stuff

Tools and assets

Here are some places where you can find art, fonts, music, and sound effects for your games.

Many of the assets are eligible for use in the jam but check the license before using and provide credit in your game’s description!

Art

Fonts

Audio

Tools

GMTK branding

Click here to get logos, which you may wish to add to your project.

The legal bit

- Anything you make during the GMTK Game Jam is your property. GMTK claims no rights or ownership of your game. 

- Any game submitted to the GMTK Game Jam may show up in a GMTK YouTube video without your express permission.