The Ukie Student Game Jam is an exciting and creative opportunity for you, our Ukie Students members, to flex your game-making muscles. We’re challenging you to create an original video game in 32 hours over 13 & 14 March 2025.

The Ukie Student Game Jam 2025 is proud to be in partnership with Playground Games, Scan Computers, Barclays, Discord and Epic Games. 

The Ukie Student Game Jam 2025 theme is: CONTRAST 

AWARDS

Our award winners will be announced online on Friday 28 March. The awards are:

• Winner
• Technical Achievement
• Outstanding Design

JUDGING CRITERIA 

Your submitted game will be judged by the following criteria.
Concept. Does the game match the theme?
Creativity. Is the game creative and unique?
Playability. Is it fun and compelling to play?
Polish. Does it feel like a finished game demo?
Visuals. Does the art style suit the game?
Sound. Does the audio suit the game? 

Technical Achievement will be awarded to an innovative or technically ambitious game that is delivered to a high level of quality and polish. 

Outstanding Design will be awarded to a game that stands out for its mechanics, flow, aesthetics, or progression systems.

PRIZES 

Winner

• Opportunity to exhibit your submitted game demo at the Barclays Games Frenzy in London on Thursday 15 May
• Over £450 worth of Discord merchandise for each team member, including a mechanical keyboard, Wumpus collectible, plushie and hat, plus more
• Gaming accessory from Scan Computers for each team member
• 1 year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for each team member
• Goodie bag for each team member 

Technical Achievement & Outstanding Design 

• Opportunity to exhibit your submitted game demo at the Barclays Games Frenzy in London on Thursday 15 May
• Over £140 worth of Discord merchandise for each team member
• Goodie bag for each team member 

All participating teams will get a Deliveroo voucher to fuel you through the Jam, plus written feedback on your submitted game will be available after the Jam upon request.

JUDGES 

Ukie Shortlist Selection Panel
All submitted game demos will be played by the Ukie Shortlist Selection Panel, who will decide on a shortlist of up to 10 games, based on the judging criteria. 

The Ukie team members on this panel are Colm Seeley, Daniele Schmidt-Fischer, Gareth Jandrell, Isabell Becker-Ebert, Logie MacDonald, Meerah Nakaayi, Sam Collins, Siân Mayhall-Purvis, Tom Goodman and Yiren Ye.

Judging Panel
Our panel of industry judges will play through the shortlisted game demos and select the award winners. 

Vince Finlayson, Associate Chief Engineer, Playground Games
Nigel Norman, Senior Level Designer, Playground Games
Juan Martinez, Lead Technical Game Designer, Discord
James Butcher, Education Development Manager, Epic Games
Katherine Bidwell, Founder, State of Play Games
Nina Adams, Studio Director, Auroch Digital
Siân Mayhall-Purvis, Senior Education Programme Officer, Ukie
Yiren Ye, Events Officer, Ukie

RULES 

Making your game 

• Your submitted game must have been created within the duration of the Game Jam, between 09:00 on Thursday 13 March and 17:00 on Friday 14 March 2025.
• Your submitted game must be playable on Windows.
• You can use the game engine and tools of your choice to create the game.
• You can use free open-source content in your game, but you must reference where you got it from in the description on your submission page.
• You are permitted to use generative AI to create some components of your game. We strongly encourage you to create your own original work, as we’d love to see what you can make. However, we understand that you may not have the skills across your team to create all elements of the game you’d like to make, and that generative AI can be used as a tool to support your creativity. If you do make use of generative AI in your work, please detail how and why in the description on your submission page.
• Your submitted game must not infringe on any copyrighted works. 

Submission  

• You must submit your game demo via this itch.io page by 17:00 on Friday 14 March.
• Please title your submission 'Game Title – Team Name’.
• Please include a short blurb for your game and why you created it on your submission page.
• Optional but encouraged:
  Please upload a video of up to three minutes of gameplay to YouTube and link this in your submission page. Please include ‘created for the Ukie Student Game Jam 2025’ in your video description. If you choose, this link can be private and can be taken down from 28 March 2025.
  Please upload 1-3 screenshots or images from your game.

After the Game Jam  

• Your team members own the game that you submit to the Ukie Student Game Jam. It is yours to work on, develop and even fully publish, if you wish.
• If you continue working on your submitted game after the Game Jam, this cannot be submitted for judging. Exceptions might be granted for any submissions with issues that cause the demo to be unplayable. This will be assessed by the Ukie team case by case.
• The award-winning teams are welcome to add further polish and detail to their submitted demo in preparation for exhibiting at the Barclays Games Frenzy, if this does not meaningfully change the game. The deadline for this will be shared with the winning teams.
• If an award-winning team is based outside of London, students can claim reimbursement of up to £60 each for travel expenses to facilitate their attendance at the Barclays Games Frenzy. Proof of purchase will be required to claim expenses.
• If you have any questions or issues, please contact Siân on sian@ukie.org.uk.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact Siân on sian@ukie.org.uk.

The Ukie Student Game Jam 2025 is proud to be in partnership with Playground Games, Scan Computers, Barclays, Discord and Epic Games.