Alright, so you've had a blast playing in your last megagame and now you can't stop thinking about them. You have a list of inspirations in your notes app, sketched out mechanics on the back of a napkin, left yourself a voice memo when you woke up in the middle of the night, etc.. Well, now's the time to finally commit! Dust off your WIP, take your laptop to the coffee shop, and maybe look around for a few friends to bounce ideas off all because IT'S TIME!
The Megagame Game Jam is a unranked, friendly session that last from August 17th till October 26th. The goal is to encourage each other to make a push to either make some serious ground in developing or finish a rough draft of a megagame you want to make. While you could work alone, that's a lot of work. Maybe reach out to the greater community to find a working partner, get feedback, or just some general encouragement to keep you going! Check out the Discord for either The Megagame Coalition or OMEGA to find others!
Speaking of them, it should be known that The Megagame Coalition is accepting pitches in December for their 2027 Gen Con roster and that the pitch window for OMEGA's Play-by-Email (PBEM) 2027 spring games will be in the next few months. Perfect motivation to finish up your pitch document for either organization!
To submit an entry (unfinished works encouraged), you will have to put it up as either “Pay What You Want”, Free, or provide community copies. Unless the designers/authors specify otherwise, megagames submitted to this jam do NOT give anyone else permission to run these games themselves. They are meant to be read, inspire, and discussed. Lastly, if applicable, don't forget to properly credit artist in your works, such as using art that fall under a Creative Commons license.
Definitions vary widely. To put it simply, an typical in-person or online megagame is a game that takes 2-8 hours to play, 20-100 players, and a small dedicated staff (2-20 people) to manage the event during play. They often have players assigned specific roles/characters to play, a focus on social interactions between players, and emphasize emergent narrative.
A PBEM megagame are similar to in-person/online, but takes place over the course of 5-8 weeks and largely through emails. They also serve a much smaller player base, closer to 20.
Don’t know if your submission would count as a “megagame”? Just ask!
Come by the Megagame Coalition Discord and chat with us before, during, and after the jam! https://discord.gg/z8upbrAsr2
If you're writing for an online or PBEM megagame, then stop by OMEGA Discord! https://discord.gg/gVxGUERQTq
During the jam, there will be two days where a voice chat will be hosted for the community to hop on to talk about their projects, discuss problems that have come up during writing, and just be social.
Session time is optional and just a nice way to hear a friendly voice talk about their cool megagame. Exact time still pending and dates may change to better suit the current participants availability. More dates may also be added.
