What is the theme?

  Equivalent Exchange

The theme must influence how the game works, not just how it looks. Visual or narrative-only interpretations will receive significantly less weight. 

Which assets can I use?

The only restrictions on the usage of assets are below:

• No NSFW assets (ie. Background/images/musics/SFX/sprites/textures etc)
• No assets that goes against the terms of services of itch.io
• No copyrighted materials

Apart from these, you are free to use any assets.

Which platform do I need to use?

We have no restrictions on game engines or platforms. Use what feels natural to you if you are a beginner, and what you are used to if you are not a beginner. 

There are many good game engines like Unity, Godot, Unreal etc and drawing libraries like p5.js, opengl and pygames. Use whichever you are comfortable with or make something from scratch if you want.

What kind of games can I make?

Make games for PCs that can be played by Keyboard and Mouse. Do not build a game for phones, VR or any console or emulator. Do not build anything that would need additional softwares to be playable. The game must be playable on windows (or web browsers).  

What will be the judging criteria?

The games will be judged based on 4 criteria :

• Theme  |  How well the theme was adopted  |  25%
• Gameplay  |  How interesting the gameplay features are  |  30%
• Design  |  How fun & challenging the gameplay is  |  30%
• Visual & Audio  |  How well the game looks and sounds  |  15%

How do I submit my game to the game jam?

In the following steps, we assume that you have an itch.io account. Only one member of each team needs an itch.io account in order to submit the game.

First, join the game jam and then click “Submit your project.” You will be prompted to either submit an existing project that you have already uploaded to itch.io or upload a new game.

In both cases, you must provide some additional information about your game during the submission process. A detailed explanation of these requirements is provided in the next section.

After entering all required information, make sure that your game has been successfully submitted by checking the “Submissions” tab on the game jam page.

Once the submission is complete, download your game yourself and test it to confirm that the upload worked correctly. In some cases, game files can become corrupted during upload. We cannot judge games that cannot be downloaded or run properly.

If your game does not appear in the submissions list, the most likely reason is that it is not set to public. To fix this, go to “Edit game” and enable the “Public” option under “Visibility and Access.”

Do not submit a game that has already been published on another platform, such as Steam or the Play Store. You may publish your game elsewhere after the onsite round has concluded.

A link to a youtube tutorial can be found here

What additional information do I need to provide?

When editing the details of your game in the game page, make sure to add:

• Your team name (Mandatory)
• The name of the members of the team (Mandatory)
• Engine or Framework used in the game (Mandatory)
• The Github link to your project (The repository should be empty when the game jam starts and should not be changed after the online round has ended) (Mandatory)
• Installation instruction (Mandatory)
• A short written description of the game (Mandatory)
• A how-to-play section
• Any other information vital for playing the game (must not include downloading additional software as mentioned in “What kind of games can I make?” section)

These are the mandatory details you need to provide in your project page.

Fields for the additional information will be available when you will go to upload your submission in itch.io

Do I need to provide the source code?

Yes, you need to provide the Github link of your project repo.

• The repository should be empty when the game jam starts
• No modifications should be made after the online round ends.
• The repository must be public

The code will not carry any weight in the judging process. 

When do I submit my game to the game jam?

Anytime between the start and end time of the game jam. You can update your submitted project in this duration too. The judgment will be carried out on the final submission.

What about the onsite round?

The top 20 teams based on the final ranking of the online round will be eligible to participate in the onsite round at BUET ECE Building. Here they will showcase what game they built. The score they gained during the online round will not be counted in the judgment of the onsite round.

• You don’t have to create a new game for the onsite round. The game you build in the online round will be judged
• With that in mind, make sure to save your project file until the results of the online round have been published.

About the video submission

We want to showcase the submission from our participants. Therefore the participants will need to create a video highlighting the game features and explain how the game aligns with the theme.

You don’t have to give implementation details in the video.

• Create the video
• Upload it on youtube
• Include “BUETCSEFEST2026” on the title of your video
• In the description, add the hashtag #BUETCSEFEST2026_GAMEJAM

The video must be submitted before 27 Jan, 2026, 2pm

(We are giving you some extra time after the online round so that you can focus the full time on making games. Edit your game page and add the video url in the description)

The video is optional. It will only be used for showcasing and helping the judges of the online round to understand the game (just in case if they miss some features). The video will not carry any weight in the scoring process. 

Who are the judges?

For the online round, the organizers will conduct a sanity check on all submissions to ensure eligibility and basic functionality.

The main judging and scoring will be handled by a panel of industry professionals both for online and onsite rounds.

FAQ

Criteria for winning BUET rising team award: All members must be from BUET22,  23 and 24 batch. The top team from BUET that is not 1st, 2nd or 3rd and satisfies the previous criteria will get the prize. If there is no such team, then there will be no winner for this prize.

Are web games allowed?: Yes, but give instructions on how to play.

Is there any registration fee? : No

I already registered my team. Can I add a new member? : Yes, We enabled the edit your response  option of the registration form. You can add additional members if you want.

I missed the deadline: Late submission is not allowed, and you can't change your submission after the online round has ended. Judgment in onsite round will also be on the version of the game you published on the itch.io

My game exceeds itch.io's size limit: Itch.io has a size limit of 1GB. Usually Gamejam games does not exceed that limit. If however your game is bigger upload it to drive or somewhere else, give it public access and share the link on the itch.io's project that you will submit. Also note that you are not allowed to modify your upload after the submission deadline.

The online round is over, now what? : After the submission period ends, we will play and score your games. It may take us 3-4 days depending on the number of submissions. The scores and ranks will be visible in itch.io after the judging period is over. We will also announce the top 20 teams and contact them via email with further details. 

Final words

If you encounter any problems during the game jam, let us know about it in the Discord channel [discord] or email us at gamejam@buetcsefest2026.com. Also note that the organizers reserve the right to change the event details at any time. 

Happy game making!