Hello all, as we get to the final hours of the jam, everyone is feeling the pressure to wrap up their projects and get those last minute fixes and polish in. Some are joining last minute and trying to get something in with the little time they have! Others have been scraping hours up as they are able amid busy lives.

I spoke with the team and we decided to extend the deadline an additional week. The new deadline is now Monday, June 29th 11:59pm EST/8:59 PST.

Spend that extra time working on your game, polishing stuff up, and fixing things! We've enjoyed seeing the progress of those who have shared and are looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing.

I like to tell the story of how the Speedgame Challenge is among one of the few, longest running game jams in the world.

Started in 2006 in the now defunct Christian Devs or CDEVS website, and picked up by the CGDC around 2015 or so, the Speedgame Challenge hits 20 years in 2026. I only joined the challenge myself in 2014 when I submitted a rough Action-RPG game with the working title of Warrior, but that experience not only set me on a path to experience and enjoy game jams, but also grow as a game dev. It also connected me with other Christian developers and put me directly in touch with a niche but growing industry. A lot has happened since then, and this side of the industry has been growing steadily, with more and more Christian developers joining groups such as the CGDC and Imladris, among other smaller groups.

So, what other jams have been running for close to 20 years if not more?

• SpeedHack ran from 1999-2015. less than 20 years, but 16 years is a good number!
  
• Ludum Dare has been running since 2002.
• 7DRL (Seven Day Roguelike Challenge) has been running since 2005.
• Global Game Jam has been running since 2009, getting close to 20!
• Nordic Game Jam has been running since 2006, another 20 year old jam!

These are some of the ones that I discovered while exploring how many game jams have been running continuously for 20 years. So, we should be proud that although niche, we've been able to keep doing these for so long. It's thanks to you, and all those who took up the responsibility to plan these each year, that we've lasted this long. And I'm hoping we last 20 more, if not more!

In celebration of these 20 years, I want to encourage you all who are participating that if you've been in any of the previous Speedgames, and are looking for ideas, maybe try revisiting one of your old ideas and give it a new spin? And maybe include at least one of the old verses you used for that project, while including the new ones for this year. That way we celebrate our legacy while also looking forward.

In addition to this, I'm going to try throughout the next year to get ahold of all the old games through the wayback machine and create a Speedgame itchio profile to upload all those games and have it serve as a playable archive for current and future generations. The games will be uploaded as is. Where they aren't playable, I will try to get in contact with the developers and see how we can make them so. Maybe even make them browser playable. And where unfinished, perhaps they can be brought to a complete state even if it is still rough. Stay tuned for more info on that!

Happy devving these next few weeks, looking forward to what you all make!

All the best,

Raul

I think it would be great if veterans of the Speedgame Challenges revisit one of their older games and try to reimagine it or rework it with the new verses. Extra kudos if you keep an old verse and also add one of the current verses!

Please see here for your prize! Email For Contestants - CGDC Speedgame: Hardmode 2026 community - itch.io

Please see here for your prize! Email For Contestants - CGDC Speedgame: Hardmode 2026 community - itch.io

Please see here for payout of your prize and reward! Email For Contestants - CGDC Speedgame: Hardmode 2026 community - itch.io

Please see here for payout of your prize and reward! Email For Contestants - CGDC Speedgame: Hardmode 2026 community - itch.io

Please see here for payout of your prize and reward! Email For Contestants - CGDC Speedgame: Hardmode 2026 community - itch.io

We are needing everyone who submitted a game to provide an email address so that we can reach out regarding prizes and awards, as well as any information we want to share. Please comment and drop your email!

Yes, you can make page edits.

You can use any kind of engine or framework you want. But make sure it will have all the libraries it needs to work for other folks without them having to track down how to play your game.

Hello! Here's the link to the CGDC Discord. Once you get through the Welcome and introduce yourself, the rest of the server will open up to you. There's a series of channels for Speedgame talk, you could post there!

https://discord.gg/vQ7WFTHV

The Farclip team should be posting a Discord link soon to their own channel for anything related to that or just general conversation!

We have no prizes this year as we couldn't come to an agreement on what to have. However, if there's 3 competing team members and one non-competing, that should be fine. Perhaps you could be like a coach for the three, and then enter yourself as a separate jammer? That way you still get to participate.

Hi there! While I'm happy to hear that there's excitement to participate in this jam, we've had a rule that team sizes should not exceed more than three people! Hopefully your extra person can help with someone else potentially looking for a teammate? Or maybe they can form their own team? We're open to revisiting the rules for the next Classic, but we'd like to keep things as they are for the time being.

Hello to all those participating in this year's Speedgame: Classic!

This is a jam that has been running for the better part of 18 years or so, and only recently has moved to itch.io. With the themes presented, your task is to distill the essence, experience, or teaching of the verse themes into your game in some way. And if you want to use more than one verse theme, you can!

I'd like to ask participants to also share their development experience through a development log or devlog in the community message board throughout the next two weeks. We do this so others can learn from our experiences, participate together with us on this journey, and be inspired! Just go ahead and create a new topic, add to your title [dev name here]'s Devlog, and post away!

Looking forward to what folks come up with these next two weeks! Have fun and happy speedgaming!

Hi Karen, I cannot seem to edit the submission as it takes me to a 404 error page. But thank you for letting us know in the community thread what you did or didn't use!

Hi Kaleb! The link to vote on the theme for CGDC Speedgame Hardmode is here: Christian Game Developers | # Speedgame Hardmode theme poll | Facebook

That link will take you only to the poll so you can vote on a theme or add your own.

For the Discord, here's the link: https://discord.gg/AeR4BEFX

Prizes were pending a minimum participation of 5 people who submit. The prizes were being adjusted several times because we have a limited budget for the jam and that information was not exactly clear to the organizer at the time it was written. Probably should have been left TBD until all the information was clarified. The final adjustment came when of the 20 something folk who joined, too few had submitted, less than five people. Another reason for a smaller prize pool is that in the case that we hold more jams later this year, we still have budget to offer for prizes.

Regarding the date adjustments, some folks had run into issues submitting, making their build, etc. at the last hour and so a grace period was allowed of an additional day since the complaints were read the very next day rather than on submission close. Because it was strange that so few people had submitted considering the amount of folks who had joined, it made sense to open it back up in case it was a more widespread problem than originally thought.

This event is volunteer run, and since the few folks who run this event may be caught up in other things throughout the day, we can't be on this all the time, so some issues slip through the cracks until we log back in and take a look. Apologies for the issues and we will strive to do better.

Hi Zach! I can open up submissions again so you can submit your game!

If you have any feedback throughout the jam period, or questions or thoughts, drop them here in this thread and I'll be monitoring it. That way it's all in one place and easier to manage.

Feel free to drop a devlog as well, where you explain a little your game idea and perhaps share your daily process. I find that being able to post your thoughts also helps you work through blockers or flesh out the idea better in your head. You also get to show other folks your design process which may help them in their own development journey! Totally optional!

If you have any feedback throughout the jam period, or questions or thoughts, drop them here in this thread and I'll be monitoring it. That way it's all in one place and easier to manage.

Feel free to drop a devlog as well, where you explain a little your game idea. Short jam cycles typically have folks heads down in their project because there's less time. But I find that being able to post your thoughts also helps you work through blockers or flesh out the idea better in your head. You also get to show other folks your design process which may help them in their own development journey! Totally optional!