The original Open World Jam, hosted by TheWaether on itch.io and Glorious Trainwrecks, ran from March 11th 2022 to September 30th 2025. It amassed 109 entries and proved at least part of the core thesis of the original jam: open world games can be made on a $0 budget.

The original jam was unranked. This jam is inspired by, and aspires to continue that tradition. We just want to see some great open world games emerge from this side of the internet! From the original jam:

what defines an open-world game? well it's very loosely defined. but here's some things - large map with lots of points of interest - back of the game box would describe it as "vast" or "a massive game world" or such - a continuous space with no load times (YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS PART IF YOU DON'T WANT) - lots of "collectables" and "items"

see how much of the player's time you can fill with as little effort as possible. maybe some procedurally generated content? maybe some large, sparse expanses?

Use any game engine (or programming language) you want. The perspective need not be first-person or even 3D. Heck, it can be a text adventure game! The map need not span hundreds of square kilometers. The game need not be finished in the mainstream sense of the word. Just make an open world game with a world (and story perhaps) that you care about. We don't need another GTA VI – Yume Nikki and Pokemon Gold are also open world games in their own ways.

Please make sure there is a Windows/Linux/web build that is free to download. Credit all contributors, including any public domain assets you have used. This is a community-driven event; please play and comment on other entries besides submitting your own.

Feel free to join the official Discord server for this jam using this invite link: https://discord.com/invite/XPxM8rBfnG.

Note. Open World Jam 2 is an independent continuation of the spirit of the original Open World Jam, with the express blessing of TheWaether. This new jam is not a replacement for the original, but an attempt to keep its central idea alive: that anyone can make an open-world game, regardless of budget, experience, or scope.

P.S. For those wondering, the map in the image is from GTA III which, somewhat ironically, is the only 3D GTA game to never have an in-game minimap.