Get 2026 off to a flying start by finally finishing that game you've been working on for years.  Welcome to Finally Finish Something 2026!

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Finally Finish Something is a new year's resolution game jam, running for the whole of January.  It's designed to help you finally finish a project you've been working on or thinking about for a long time, and the rules are very relaxed. This is the 9th annual Finally Finish Something, following on from the original in 2017, and the follow ups in 2018,  2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024. We are back after a break last year, hoping to give everyone some motivation to finish their games off.  The small community has been positive and helpful in the previous jams, so if you want  to know more, read the extended description below, or say hello on the community tab.

Anyone who has been trying to make games for even a few months will have a project like this - a game you just can't seem to get over the finish line. Maybe you're stuck on that one stubborn programming issue? It could be you've got 75% of the idea but can't bring it all together? Have you practically finished a game and you're waiting for a reason to share it? Perhaps you go back to this project every 6 months, realise how much better you could make it and start again from scratch? You may even be new to game dev, and you need a reason to finish that very first game!

Did you just miss out on submitting a Ludum Dare game or other jam entry?  This jam is a great place to finish and submit another jam game that you couldn't get done for the original deadline.  

Whatever the reason, the Finally Finish Something jam is here to help you. The jam will run throughout January 2026, giving the whole first month of the New Year to get this thing done (plus a little bit extra). Get your year off to a great start, tick something big off your to do list and make a great game! Use the hashtag #FFSjam on Twitter to share your progress.

Rules This jam is all about giving you a reason to finish those stubborn projects, so the rules are very relaxed:

• Submit any type of game by the end of January 2026, just get that game finished.
• In fact, your project doesn't even need to be a game. Tools, screensavers and printable board games are all welcome
• Use any tools you want, there are no restrictions and nothing stopping you
• It doesn't matter how much work you've already put into the project, use this as the motivation for that final push
• Work alone or in teams, get help from whoever you need
• Use any assets that you're legally allowed to use, there are plenty of resources out there if you're struggling for graphics or music

There's  only 1 thing that's not really in the spirit of the jam - submitting a fully completed game.  If you finished a long-running game in December, then that's OK , but if you completed something 6 months ago and just want to use this as promotion, then that's not really why we're here.  Ultimately we probably won't stop you, we're not going to spoil things by enforcing rules.  If you can still look yourself in the mirror and sleep at night then go for it!

Questions! If you have any questions feel free to ask on the community tab of the game jam, we'll do our best to answer them. Some common questions might be:

• Q: Will there be a ratings phase?
  • A: Yes - Even though there may be many different games with different levels of effort, skill and resources , we think that after finally getting your game finished it will be nice to hear what people think.
• Q: Did you decide to run this game jam just as an excuse to finish all your old games?
  • A: Yes absolutely!
• Q: Can I really submit a game that I've been working on for a year?
  • A: Yes, we're looking forward to playing it.
• Q: Are there any legitimate reasons why I shouldn't enter this game jam?
  • A: None whatsoever.
• Q: What about AI?
  • A: See the AI section.
    

NOTES ON AI USAGE

Obviously a difficult topic with many different viewpoints, and a pretty nuanced set of arguments and considerations - I don't think it's possible to say it's 100% good or 100% bad, especially as "AI" as a catch-all term is not accurate or helpful (for the purpoes of this jam I will break it down into categories below). My overall thoughts are that using AI as something that helps or enhances your creativity is fine, but using it to generate everything from scratch with no effort is something that makes me uncomfortable, and will also likely result in something pretty bad anyway.  If you want to make a game with 100% AI generated assets then prepare for people to be very unhappy about it.  Ultimately nothing will be enforced and nobody can stop you, but these are my thoughts for the jam:

AI as a Productivity Tool
This covers using an LLM/Chatbot for help organising projects, debugging code, writing code. This is something a lot of people are doing and is not always that far away from copying code from Stack Overflow or Google searching, and code snippets and auto-complete have been around for years.  I think this is broadly fine but feel free to declare it if you want.

Built-In Generative AI Tools in Existing applications?
This is fine, because it's hard to avoid if your IDE or photoshop has built-in tools that use some kind of AI behind the scenes.  Applications have had procedural tools and automation for years without anybody even commenting on it.

Generative AI for Graphical assets
Officially the rule is that you can use it, but you should declare it so everyone has the facts.  This is where things start to get a bit murky, and I am personally not a fan of using GenAI to create graphics from scratch, especially when the results are not great. There are also already so many good and free human-made assets on itch. However this is a game jam, and many solo and first time devs may find it useful for prototyping and testing, I would still recommend you grab a free asset pack for this and support a human creator.

Generative AI for Sound Effects & Music
We have all been generating SFX with procedural tool for a long time with tools like BFXR, a tool that was recommended to any Ludum Dare game jam participant, and it was never an issue.  To suddenly be against now that AI exists seems very hypocritical. I think creating SFX is fine, but again you can find many good free assets here on itch.
Music is slightly different, I feel generating complete pieces of music with AI is not great, but procedural generation of music has been for a while now, long before AI.  This is up to you, I think if you make the music fully with AI you should declare it so everyone has the facts.