The DevelUP Game Jam 2026 is the first annual public game jam hosted by DevelUP, the premier game development organization of the University of the Philippines - Diliman, wherein individuals and teams of all skill levels try to make a game based off of a theme in a short time period.

Important Links

Registration form: https://bit.ly/DVUP2026JamRegistration  
Completing the registration form will give you access to our official Discord Game Jam server where all our communications will be happening during the event.

General Mechanics

Theme: Pasalubong

Who can join?

• The Game Jam is a free, online-focused game jam that's open to everyone, everywhere, of any skill level and any number.
• That means there's no team size limits!
• Anyone, anywhere can join (although a face-to-face showcase day held in the UPD campus is planned, attendance is optional)

How will the jam work?

• Like other game jams, the participants have 72 hours (starting from July 31, 8:00am PHT/GMT+8) to August 2, 11:59pm PHT/GMT+8
• Immediately after, a rating period of one week, from August 2 up to August 9, 11:59pm PHT will commence, with the results will be announced soon after.

How will voting and awards work?

We have three main awards:

• Judges Choice (rated by our judges)
• Popular Choice (rated by the participants and the public)

Each group decides one (1) game as their overall winner. Judges will also decide the top game for each of the following criteria:

• Art Direction
• Game Design
• Narrative and Dialogue
• Sound Design and Music
• Interpretation of Theme
  We will be sending out links and forms for these after the event.

Game Compatibility and Submissions

• Your game must be a digital game that you can upload to itch.io, and should be playable by someone with a Windows PC, and nothing more than a keyboard and mouse.
• You may support controllers and peripherals, but keyboard and mouse are still required.
• You may upload versions for other platforms (Mac, Linux, Android, etc) so long as a Windows or browser version works.
• Please bundle all necessary files to play your game in the download. Refrain from having users require to download files from other sources.

Content and AI Policies

• Please make your game suitable for a general audience (i.e. an ESRB T Rating or a PG-13). Refrain from strong language, excessive violence, nudity and hateful language. If it is thematically necessary, put an easily visible content warning in your game page.
• Submissions found to contain AI generated visual and audio assets in the final build will immediately be disqualified from judging. In general, we discourage the use of generative AI technologies. Please try to form teams and approach people, or learn it yourself! Game jams are a great way to try out new things!