About the jam

The Astro 52 Jam is an annual game jam where game designers, writers, composers, programmers and other creatives from all over the world spend the month of August creating a multicart game from scratch. 

An Astro 52 multicart game is a game that's been both designed and stylized to look like a '90s 8-bit multicart game; a bizarre game that looks and feels like it could've been bundled alongside 50 other games on a cheap, unlicensed game cartridge. 

Emphasis is placed on having fun, and it's up to you how you'd prefer to interpret the theme, and whether to express it through game design, aesthetics or otherwise. For inspiration, feel free to do some YouTube research. There are a lot of good videos out there! 

Submission details

When you submit your game, there'll be the option to opt into having your game bundled inside a web-based multicart game simulator. This means that your game could be playable inside a web browser, as part of a web-based multicart. 

Time

The jam begins on Aug 1 at 00:10 UTC (July 31st at 8:10 PM EST). 

About the organizers

The game jam is arranged by Astrojone - a game design studio and community that promotes retro game design. The purpose of this game jam is to encourage more people to try to create retro-styled games. We also run the annual Lost Cartridge Jam, which is similar in nature but is a little bit more competitive. 

Rules and information

Ultimately this is a pretty relaxed jam. It's all about practicing game design, having fun and getting to know other game designers. That said, there are a few rules that are good to keep track of. The rules along with more information and details are available on the official jam website. 

Interested in joining? Click on "Join jam" at the top of the page.