Submissions open from 2024-07-15 09:00:00 to 2024-07-21 20:00:00
Starts in
years
months
days
hours
minutes
seconds

Join the GoedWare Game Jam ZERO UI Edition, a 7-day coding challenge open to all! Where you can learn, enjoy, and share game development experiences. This special edition focuses on creating games without any traditional user interface elements. Use any game development framework, and submit your game on itch.io. Games are rated in categories like zero ui, gameplay/ui , visual/audio & theme by both participants and a special jury panel. Prizes include gift cards and sponsored items for the winners. The theme will be announced at the start. Have fun, learn, share your creations and you might just win!

This is the 1st ZERO UI Edition Game Jam organized by GoedWare ( LinkedIn | Website | Discord ).  Our goal is to let you practice coding, create and finish a game in around 7 days and also learn from the experience, expand your skills and above all have fun and enjoy making your own game and playing other participants' games.

*(Link to our previous (main) Jams #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12)

The theme will be announced at the start of the Game Jam:  

""


  • Anyone, regardless of experience, is welcome to participate!
  • An itch.io account to be able to join the jam and submit your entry.
  • You can use any engine or framework you like! For example: Unity, Godot, Unreal, Gamemaker etc. You can even make your own if you want. But some of our prizes are Assets for the Unity Engine (you can choose a gift card instead).
  • You can not edit your submission after the deadline! So be wise and submit your game a few hours before the deadline to be able to tackle any last minute issues.
  • Teams are allowed, but we recommend keeping the teams up to 4 members, after that it becomes hard to manage a team in 7 days for a game. (Prizes are only for the whole team, not the individual members)
  • If you have the time and can manage it, multiple entries for the Game Jam are allowed.
  • Music must be royalty / copyright free and properly credited. 
  • You can use fonts from the internet, as long as you have the correct license for it.
  • You can use assets you own. For example assets from the Unity Asset Store or Unreal Marketplace.
  • Please only use assets you have permission to use, and avoid infringing upon any copyright or trademark.
  • No NSFW games.  Games must not contain nudity, or hateful language or visuals.
  • Participants who try to manipulate voting will be removed.

All entries will be judged by other participants of the jam, so that includes you (hopefully)!

The categories the games are rated in are:

  • ZERO UI:  How effectively the game conveys information and mechanics without the traditional user interface elements.
  • Gameplay / Fun: Basically, how easy and how much fun it is to play the game.
  • Visuals / Audio: The combined impact of the game's visuals and audio. How well they work together to create an immersive experience and enhance the theme.
  • Theme: Does the game fit into the theme.

There will also be a Judge/Jury Ranking: a rating by our own panel of judges. They will make a separate ranking from the participating games based on their own tastes, preferences and gaming enjoyment as to who will receive a prize. They will take into account any double or unfair voting in the normal rating. To balance uneven or unfair votes.

The theme will be announced when the jam starts.

After the jam ends, a 1 week rating period starts, in which people can play and rate all of the submitted games.

Don't forget to leave feedback on any game you rate! It's more helpful than just a number, and it helps them find your game 😊.

Note: You need at least 10 ratings to be considered for winning in any of the categories. So make sure you play a lot of games so your game will have a higher chance of getting rated!

*The voting is open, but we reserve the right to take any submissions down that are clearly vote brigaded.

** The number of needed ratings to be considered a winning will be adjusted according to the number of participants.

Yes, this Game Jam will have prizes for the winners 😊. These prizes are made available by our sponsor and organizer GoedWare.

Let's start by saying that if you press that join button and upload a game before the deadline, you are already a winner!  Having fun while creating and finishing your game project is an achievement in itself!  That experience is more valuable than money, but we do have some real prizes for the winners also 😉.

We have a public vote with prizes and we also have a jury ranking (see these prizes under the public vote) with prizes.

#Overall winner

The overall winner will receive a $100 gift card!* + Eternal Glory of winning the Game Jam😁! 

* Participants will receive an Amazon gift card for the Amazon website that applies to their country. 

** For the record for Brazilians. Unfortunately, no gift cards are possible for amazon.com.br and we will give out gift cards for amazon.com online shop.

#Runner-up 

The runner-up will get a $25 gift card.

#ZERO UI

The runner-up will get a $25 gift card.

#Gameplay & Fun

The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Visuals & Audio

The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Theme

The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Jury ranking

#1:  The winner will get a $200 gift card!!

#2:  The runner-up will get a $100 gift card.

#3:  Third place will get a $25 gift card.

#ZERO UI: The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Gameplay & Fun: The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Visuals & Audio: The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Theme : The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

*Jury ranking prizes will stack with the public prizes.

Discord

All the winners get a fancy Discord server role 😁.

* Because the organizers already know the theme in advance, we will merely be participators. If one of us gets voted to be winner of a category or the overall winner, prizes will be awarded to the next person instead.

** The prizes may change a little bit before the Game Jam starts, but will mostly contain the content as it is shown now. Once the Game Jam has started the prizes will not change anymore!

In my experience, here is what you need to do if you want to win one of the top spots:

  • Make your game easy to understand for new players. This is a super common trap a lot of game jam games fall into.  Start thinking about your tutorial or how you want to teach your mechanics right from the beginning!
  • Usually it's a good idea to make your game not too hard to win. People spend roughly five to fifteen minutes on each game. In most cases they won't have enough time to reach a super high level of mastery. Keep that in mind when balancing the difficulty.
  • Quality over quantity. Keep your game super simple! This is important in this jam but every bit of extra polish can really make your game stand out in a short jam like this.
  • Take risk. The winning games are usually those who were brave enough to try something completely new and crazy (while also following the other three tips above). 

Obviously there are exceptions to all rules but still, I hope it helps. 😊

Some resources to help you started.

Question: What is the theme? 
Answer: The theme will be announced when the jam begins.

Question: Does my game have to be a certain format?
Answer: No, but remember that not all users have Windows/Mac/Linux devices. Browser based is a good idea to get as many people playing your game as possible and try to make at least a Windows version.

Question: What assets can I use? 
Answer: The vast majority of code must be written during the jam, but you can use whatever art and audio assets you have the legal right to use.

Question: Can I submit a game that I already started on?  
Answer: No, it is required that all participants make the entirety of the game in the time provided.

Question: Is there a Discord I can join? 
Answer: Yes, click here to join.

  • Anything you make during the GoedWare Game Jam is your property. GoedWare claims no rights or ownership of your game. 
  • Any game submitted to the GoedWare  Game Jam may show up in a GoedWare YouTube video, Social Media or website without your express permission.