Hosted by Game Design and Development at Berkeley
Welcome to Bear Jams Spring 2026, where creativity, collaboration, and chaos collide!
This jam is open to everyone - students, alumni, indie devs, and anyone ready to create something awesome in just 2 days.
THEME: TBA
Details
Dates: April 10 - 12, 2026
Theme Reveal: April 10 (during kickoff!)
Format: Hybrid - online via Discord and optional in-person kickoff on the UC Berkeley campus.
You’ll have 48 hours to make a game inspired by our surprise theme, then watch your creations come to life during Stream Week as we play through every submission live on Twitch!
Schedule (PST)
Main Jam: April 10 - 12
- April 10 (8 PM PST) - Kickoff Event
- Livestream + in-person meetup
- Theme reveal
- Brainstorm, form teams, and start creating!
- April 11 - Work Day
- Make your game
- Ask questions in Discord
- Get support from GDD staff
- April 12 - Submission Deadline
- Submit your game by 8 PM PST.
- Voting and judging begin right after!
Stream Week: April 13 - 16
We’ll stream all eligible submitted games live on Twitch! Our volunteer hosts (and guest streamers!) will play your games and share feedback with the audience. Note: hosts won’t stream their own games.
Finale: May 4
Closing Stream & Awards Ceremony
- Announce winners
- Showcase top games
- Celebrate another successful Bear Jams!
Rules
- We recommend a max team size of ~5. Splitting physical prizes might become trickier the more people are on your team, and we don't recommend teams much larger because it may become hard to effectively work with too many people!
- Any premade or external assets used must be credited! This can be in the itch description or in an external document that lists all the sources. As noted below, heavy usage of premade assets is discouraged and will likely affect your judging score.
AI Policy
WE DO NOT CONDONE THE USE OF GENERATIVE AI!
Bear Jams is all about creating a game hands on with a human team, not AI. Therefore we disallow the use of generative AI. This means no ChatGPT, Github Copilot, Dall-E, or any other type of AI tool that automates anything for you and undermines creative integrity.
You will be forfeit placing if you use any of the above, so please don’t do it in the spirit of the jam!
Scoring
Games will be judged by our GDD staff panel in the following 5 categories:
- Fun: How enjoyable is the gameplay/game design
- Theme: How unique/creatively the game interprets the theme
- Art: All visuals, color scheme, cohesion
- Sound: Any SFX, music, or other audio
- Judge: A final category for judges to give their overall opinion on the game, considering it as a whole
We only judge based on the assets made by the team. Using assets from other sources is okay, but they MUST be credited. Any game with uncredited work will be disqualified. Heavy reuse of assets made before the event is highly discouraged and may affect judging scores.
Everyone will be free to submit their own ratings of the submitted games during Stream Week, but audience-submitted ratings will not have any effect on the final judging.
We will NOT be releasing our raw scores. However, feel free to ask judges for feedback on your game!
Prizes
We’re giving away premium gaming gear worth ~$1000 in total!
- 1st place: $50
- 2nd place: $30
- 3rd place: $20
Winners will be announced during the Finale Stream on May 4.
NOTE: A form will be sent out to ask how you would like your prizes sent (example: Gift Card, Berkeley Bucks.)
Please reach out on our Discord regarding any concerns about the prizes.
Submission
- Submit your build by Sunday, April 12 at 8 PM PST.
- Acceptable formats:
- WebGL (preferred)
- Windows build
- Mac build
Please ensure your game runs smoothly and is uploaded on your itch.io page.
Resources & Rules
- All of the event Rules and Guidelines can be found here: Rules and Guidelines
- All participants MUST follow the Code of Conduct: Code of Conduct
All participants must follow our code of conduct to ensure a respectful and inclusive community.
Stay Connected
Discord: https://discord.gg/yaFYJxc Twitch: https://twitch.tv/GDDBerkeley
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!! 🥳👾