Welcome to the 2023 UNC Collegiate Game Jam!

Dear everyone uploading games to itch.io.... I have an 8 am tomorrow and I need to shower, so I just extended the jam for one more hour so those of you who need to submit late can do so while I shower :)

This is a game jam hosted by college students, for college students. It seeks to encourage new and upcoming  game devs to get started on their quest to make great games! This jam is open to any students currently enrolled in collegiate education, worldwide.

The theme is: 

The game jam will start on March 11th at 10:00 AM EST. with the announcement of the theme. Then students will have 9 days to create a unique game from scratch! Submissions are due on March 19th at 11:59 PM EST. We chose this timing because we're all busy college students — this way even the busiest of us will still have four full days to work on weekends, and everyone will have more time to think/plan. (Contact us if you miss the submission deadline/must submit late, we accept late submissions!)

Voting ends one week after the jam ends, on April 10th at 11:59 PM EST. Please vote and play other games! Playing and voting on other submissions will boost your game in itch.io's algorithm, which means more people will see and play your game.

If your game is significantly broken or unplayable, we will allow you to upload a fixed version. 

Most people participating in this game jam will be new to game development! So it is not just okay to follow YouTube tutorials, it is encouraged! But one thing is important: the majority of the content of your game must be made by you/your team, and during the 9 day jam. 

After the jam ends, play other submissions and rate them! Additionally, leave comments on each submissions! We want to foster a positive, constructive community for this game jam.

You can either participate solo in the game jam, or with other students.

Games will be judged by the community based on the following four categories:

• Fun — How much fun is the gameplay/story? How memorable is the game?
• Visuals — How aesthetically pleasing is the game? Does it have an interesting visual style?
• Audio — How groovy is the game's music? Are the sound effects satisfying?
• Theme — How well does the game relate to the theme? 

Participants can rate any games! People who aren't included as a submitter on a project are required to rate 3 random entries first before they are allowed to rate specific games.

Expect the results to come out no later than two weeks after the end of the jam. Play games and rate them after submitting!

We may potentially have prizes, stay tuned for more info! (if prizes do happen, they will only be available to students enrolled at UNC Chapel Hill. Sorry!!)

Oh, and of course: anything that you make during the game jam is 100% your intellectual property to own.

The 2022 UNC Collegiate Game Jam is hosted by the UNC Game Development Club. 

Join our Discord here! https://discord.gg/bMHxVPk

Contact for any questions: lukedias@email.unc.edu, or DrDrub#7272 on discord.