Welcome to the Annual Atari Lynx Game Jam! Atari Lynx Vault, in association with K-Retro Gaming, Argon, and ZeroPage Homebrew are bringing the 2025 edition of this jam to a Lynx near you!

Theme

This year's theme is "Let's do it in Monochrome". We'll take the already limited Atari Lynx colour palette and make it even more limited! What can you do with a handful of shades? Participants will be provided with a tile set that must be incorporated into your game and you must use only the colours defined in the rules section. Apart from that there aren't any other restrictions on genres or types of games that can be made.

The tile set to use for this year's jam is available here - https://piiixl.itch.io/island (direct link to PNG)

Rules

We're not restricting you to any genres and you can make a port of a game from another system (or a homage to one), as long as the below listed rules are satisfied. All submitted games will be put on a physical 'multi-cart'. Every participant who submits a valid entry will be sent a free copy of this cart.

You must

• Have fun ☺️.
• Submit ROMs in the following formats: LNX and BLL O file (the LNX ROM must run in an emulator as well as on real Lynx hardware).
• Not violate any copyrights or trademarks.
• Submit a rating for other entries in the jam once the jam has concluded

Your game must

• Use the provided tile set - you may manipulate the image data and add your own content; you don't need to use the entire tile set but it must be obvious that the provided tile set has been used.
• Only use up to four of the following colours in your game (HTML format, use the provided palgen.html to convert to  a Lynx palette). 
  • #000000
  • #FFFFFF
  • #9DDD20
  • #1F5C05
• Limit all your graphics assets to 2-bit colour depth
• Not access or load extra data from cart, practically this means it has to be less than ~50KB.
• Not use EEPROM or SD card for saving.
• Reference "LynxJam 2025" in your game's title/loading screen.
• Be playable i.e. demos or broken submissions will be disqualified.

Get creative with the tile set, it's only just the foundation for you to build on. Think outside the box and apply these graphics in a novel way!

How to submit

Once the game jam starts, there will be a link at the top of this page to submit your entry. Please be sure to include the following in your entry:

• LNX, and O BLL ROM files
• README file that states your game's name, description, how to play rules, and team members
• Screenshots of your game

Discussion

Join our Discord #lynx-game-dev channel for discussion about programming games on the Atari Lynx.

Lynx Game CC65 Code Template

To make it easier to get started, we'll be providing a code template for a simple Lynx game. The template is based on the v2.19 version of CC65 (a C compiler for 6502 based systems). Please do not ask for support for the latest source version of CC65 as that breaks several features on the Lynx target.

You will also need sprpck (https://github.com/42Bastian/sprpck).

The support scripts assume either macOS or Linux as your OS, but you should be able to adapt to Windows fairly easily.

You will be able to take this template and modify it to your needs to submit your mini-game. This template will be able to create both an LNX and an O file needed for a submission to this game jam. It will also include a sample README file as required for the submission.

Here's the link to the template: ag-lnx-game-template.zip

Alternatively you can get the ZIP file with the tile set and the palette generator HTML helper tool over at Discord here - https://discord.com/channels/811011477301362749/811012053443543071/1441394855522...

GameBoy palette. "Island" tiles set, 8x8px. sprite sheet.  By piiixl.

Lynx Game Programming Resources

We've documented a great deal of programming resources to help you get started with Atari Lynx coding. Whether you want to dip into 6502 assembly or write your game in C, we've got your back! If you're new to the Lynx, make sure to read the original documentation before you get started on other materials.

The Atari Lynx Dev Wiki has all the developer resources to get you started.

What are you waiting for? Get coding and get Lynxing!

Make your Game Playable in the Web Browser

To make your game playable directly in itch.io via a web browser, follow these easy steps...

Set your game as a HTML project...

Then generate the zip file with your ROM in the EmulatorJS code editor, and upload the file, setting it as playable in the web browser (make sure you select the Lynx core)...

Change the embed options to the use 640x496 px size...

And you're done!

Previous Game Jams

• LynxJam 2024 - Maximum Destruction
• LynxJam 2023 - Same, but different
• LynxJam 2022 - Millennial Games
• LynxJam 2021 - Let's Make Something Scary
• LynXmas 2020
• Lynx Programming Competition 2020

Sponsors

Terms and Conditions

1. You give Atari Lynx Vault and game jam organisers permission to publish your game on their website(s) in digital form and make use of screenshots, story and other content for promotional purposes (this is not automatically extended to making individual physical copies of your game for profit).
2. You give Atari Lynx Vault and game jam organisers permission to have your game published on a physical 'multicart' which will include all submitted 'competition' ROMs for this game jam as long as this cart is sold 'at cost', with an appropriate amount allowed to be added on top for any labour involved in producing the cart.
3. Game Jam organisers can enter the game jam as contestants.
4. Any tools or assets can be used to create your game, and either C or Assembly is acceptable, you don't need to provide source code.
5. Atari Lynx Vault and game jam organisers reserve the right to change this game jam's rules and terms and conditions at any moment. Participants will be notified if/when there are any changes.