Submissions open from 2026-05-25 16:00:00 to 2026-06-01 16:00:00
Starts in
years
months
days
hours
minutes
seconds

One Game A Week Jam #3

One Game A Week Jam is a weekly game jam built around making small, finished games quickly. Each week gives you four challenge categories:

  • Genre
  • Theme
  • Wildcard
  • Ingredient

The goal is to make a game in one week that fits as many of those four prompts as possible. You are encouraged to hit all four, but you are still welcome to submit if your game only uses some of them (or none!). The point is to make something, finish it, learn from it, and keep moving.

This Week's Challenge


You may interpret the prompts creatively. A tiny finished game is better than a huge unfinished one. Scope is part of the challenge!

Rules

  • Start fresh: Your submitted game must be started during the jam period.
  • No completed games: Do not submit a game that was already finished before the jam began.
  • Premade tools are allowed: You may use existing code, templates, plugins, asset packs, fonts, music, sound effects, or other tools, as long as you have the right to use them.
  • Credit your assets: Credit third-party assets where required.
  • No NSFW content: Keep submissions safe for a general audience.
  • No hateful or harassing content: Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, or other discriminatory content is not allowed.
  • No stolen content: Do not use copyrighted material you do not have permission to use.
  • AI tools are allowed: If you use AI in a meaningful way, disclose it on your submission page.
  • Label sensitive content: Please warn players about flashing lights, loud sounds, disturbing imagery, or other accessibility-sensitive material.
  • The host may remove submissions: Entries that violate the rules may be removed from the jam.

What You Can Submit

Submit a playable game, prototype, interactive toy, narrative experiment, or small game-like experience made during the jam. Browser builds are encouraged, but downloads are welcome too.

Your game does not need to be perfect. It does need to be playable enough that someone else can understand what you made.

Rating Categories

Ratings use a 1 to 5 star scale.

Challenge Fit

How well does the game use the weekly engine, genre, theme, and limitation?

  • 1 star: Barely follows the challenge.
  • 2 stars: Uses one challenge element.
  • 3 stars: Uses two challenge elements.
  • 4 stars: Uses three challenge elements.
  • 5 stars: Uses all four challenge elements meaningfully.

Polish / Completeness

How finished and playable does the game feel for a one-week project?

Creativity

How interesting, surprising, or clever is the idea or execution?

Fun / Engagement

How enjoyable, compelling, atmospheric, funny, tense, or memorable is the experience?

Submission Checklist

  • The game was started during the jam period.
  • The game is playable.
  • The controls are listed clearly.
  • Third-party assets are credited.
  • AI use is disclosed, if applicable.
  • Any content or accessibility warnings are included.
  • The submission explains how it uses the weekly engine, genre, theme, and limitation.

Spirit of the Jam

This jam is about momentum. Make small things. Finish them. Try weird ideas. Learn by shipping. Some weeks will produce something good. Some weeks will produce a haunted pile of mechanics wearing a menu screen. Both are useful.

Be kind when rating and commenting. Judge games in the context of a one-week jam, not as if they were commercial releases built by a studio with producers, money, and the tragic optimism of a roadmap.

About me

Hello, I am Jazhikho, the host of One Game a Week Jam. I am a graduate student in the Game Design program at Lindenwood University (projected to graduate in August 2026). I am using this Jam as a way to force myself to create small games, and as a way to encourage others to do the same. I believe that you will learn more by pushing out these small games than you will pushing out one great masterpiece.

If you're here, I assume you want to have some fun and learn along the way. If you submit ANYTHING to this jam, finished or not, pat yourself on the back - you've done the hardest part. I will personally be reviewing the games that are submitted to the jams and will provide my own feedback and thoughts on ways to improve your game. I encourage you to share your development process in your submissions as much as possible, and I will give notes on ways to help with that as well! And I encourage you to do the same for others - give constructive comments that will help the dev get better. Don't just say "teh music sucked lol" - what about the music was bad for the UX? Did it clash with the theme presented in the game? Was the music too loud or not loud enough? How would the dev go about fixing the issue?

Future Challenges

If you are finding that you don't like the limitations that I am currently giving, I am open to change. Please leave comments in the community as suggestions, and I will incorporate the best ones into future jams!