Welcome to the College Game Jam, a week-long, 100% virtual event for the collegiate game developer community! Register now to meet other student devs, check out educational workshops with industry professionals, and earn awesome prizes when you submit your game!

The jam will run from March 29th (1:00 PM Pacific Time) to April 4th (11:59 PM Pacific Time). There will be an optional theme for those who want to use one. 

This jam will feature workshops, office hours, and guest judging by professional game developers. The full event schedule is available below (click here for all event links).

Contact: collegegamejam@gmail.com / Twitter

How do I participate? Register via this Google Form + click the “Join Jam”  button on this page! Work on your game during the week + submit before 11:59 PM on Sunday, 4/4. (If you must submit late, contact a jam organizer on Discord!)

Who can participate? Anyone currently enrolled in a degree program as either a full-time or part-time student. When you fill out the CGJ registration form, you will be asked to provide an .edu email address for all members of your team. 1 to 5 people per team! Team members do not have to be from the same school/program. If you're looking for teammates, visit our looking-for-team thread or the #looking-for-team channel in our Discord.

Are there prizes? Yep! The top three winning teams will get detailed, written feedback on their game from game dev professionals, plus some other cool stuff. Scroll down for info on who our guest judges are + full prizing details! 

Who are the guest judges/workshop teachers/office hour hosts? Our special guests are all professionals at game development companies who have generously volunteered their time for the jam! They are listed below.

• Alfredo Barraza, Riot Games - Supervisor, Gameplay Capture
  • Guest judge
• Audrey Cheng (Twitter), Blizzard Entertainment - Associate UX Researcher
• Guest judge
• Alvin Liu (LinkedIn), Riot Games - Personalization & Metagame Systems UX Lead
• Guest judge
• Greg Niemeyer, UC Berkeley - Professor of Media Innovation and Director of the Art Practice Graduate Program
  • Keynote speaker and guest judge
• Jeremy Ernst (website), Riot Games - Senior Principal Technical Artist
  • Guest judge, workshop teacher, and office hour host
• Megan Zhu, Riot Games - Software Engineer
• Guest judge and office hour host
• Richard Hough, Riot Games - Senior Design Manager
  • Office hour host
• Stone Librande (website), Riot Games - Lead Game Designer
  • Workshop teacher

What is the optional theme? Connection! The optional theme was announced at our Kickoff on Twitch. 

What assets can I use? The vast majority of your game’s code (with the exception of certain asset packages; read full guidelines for explanation) must be written during the jam period.  Use of assets that were not created by members of your team is allowed, but your game must have mostly original art in order to be eligible for 1st-3rd place prizing. Original assets of all kinds (ex. music) will also factor into judging! Read our full submission guidelines for information. ALL submitted games will receive a numerical score from student judges, regardless of asset origin.

How are the games ranked? Our student judges will numerically score all the games based on Creativity, Fun, Presentation, and Mood, then send the top 3 games to our panel of guest judges. Guest judges will write comments for those 3 games and decide the overall ranking to declare a winner! Results will be revealed on Sunday, 4/11 at 12 PM PT on Twitch.

Sponsored by CORSAIR and Cal Esports. Your game must have mostly original art in order to be eligible for 1st-3rd place prizing. 

🥇 1st prize:  Detailed feedback from guest judges | CORSAIR K55 + HARPOON RGB Keyboard and Mouse Combo (1 Combo/team member)

🥈 2nd prize: Detailed feedback from guest judges | $25 Amazon Gift Card (1 card/team member)

🥉 3rd prize: Detailed feedback from guest judges 

*CORSAIR prizing ships to US & Canada only. If the first-place team (or any team member) is not located in North America, prizing will be adjusted. Please be advised that we do not guarantee an equivalent replacement!

Games will be judged by the following criteria. There will be 10 points per category, for a maximum score of 40 points. Final results will be announced on Sunday, 4/11 at 12 PM PT on Twitch (one week after the jam ends)! 

• Creativity — How novel is the game, in gameplay, story, or style? Does the combination of certain elements create something new and exciting? Does this game break any boundaries?
• Fun — How much do you enjoy playing the game? Does time fly? Do you want to play more?
• Presentation — How effective is the visual style and accompaniment? Is there great original artwork? A head-bopping soundtrack?
• Mood — What feeling do you get while playing the game? How effectively conveyed is that feeling? The atmosphere, worldbuilding, storytelling, and vibe of the game all come into play here.

Anything you make during the College Game Jam is your property. CGJ claims no rights or ownership of your game.

The College Game Jam is hosted by Julia and Patrick Visan, two seniors at UC Berkeley. Thanks for reading this far, we're excited to see what you create! 🥰