itch.io

Crikey! I grew up watching Neighbours and Home and Away, so the language felt pretty natural to me, mate. As a self proclaimed Master Pintsman I have had my fair share of dungeon and pub crawling experiences. It felt a bit like a Scottish bar brawl simulator (I'm Scottish), just with more huntsman spiders. I really enjoyed the conversations. They were funny and made it feel like a proper pub where you wander around having a yarn and maybe grabbing a schooner.

Thanks for checking it out! Yeah - I agree on the difficulty and the Konami Code mechanism. I was a last-minute addition. Once the judging period is over I'm going to default it to turn-based mode and add an actual menu to select mode :)

Cheers,
  Lee

Thank you!

Thanks!

Really fun concept! The movement feels great and the squiggly snake animation and other animations gives the game a lot of charm. I did find it pretty tough - I could usually only make it to around level 3 before getting overwhelmed.

Funny coincidence: I also made a snakelike roguelike for the 7DRL jam called SN@KELIKE. If you enjoyed playing your game, I suspect you might enjoy playing mine too (though it’s also a bit difficult!).

Hope you continue with it post judging. Well done!

I recognize your games immediately from various game jams and I always love seeing them pop up. This one is another really charming idea - the chess + roguelike mashup works great and it's very polished.

I did run into quite a few stalemates during my runs. If that gets addressed I can easily see this being very popular. Really lovely experience as always <3

This game’s got balls! I’m always happy to see games made with PICO-8, and this one is a great example of what the it can do. Throwing the ball around to take out enemies feels really satisfying, especially when you manage to line things up and defeat multiple monsters at once. Moments like that made me wish there was a score or XP multiplier for taking out two or three enemies in a single throw. 

Muscle memory for picking up and releasing the ball with Z, and having to release to move, and press and point in a direction and release to fire took some getting used to.

The simple animation are lovely and give the game a lot of charm. I enjoyed looking through the commits and seeing the progression in the game. And of course - programmer music, haha. Nice one!

I found the game a bit difficult to get into at first because I didn’t immediately notice the controls on the right side of the screen. Once I spotted them, things started to make more sense. I often felt a little frustrated when I ran out of ammo just before defeating the last enemy, so it might be nice if there were occasional ways to regain ammo during a run. (Did note that ammo appeared after killing each wave though).

That said, I really enjoy games that mash up genres like this (disclaimer: I experimented with something similar myself). The use of third-party creative assets was nice - I discovered BDragon1727's stuff through this, which I’ll definitely be bookmarking.

 During play I found myself wishing for power-ups that could boost range or add new abilities. I also struggled a bit with the spikes, since I often took damage when trying to bounce over them - though that may just be a skill issue on my part 😆  And the enemy that attacks with the repeated ❌ pattern was tough! Overall, it’s a really interesting take on the roguelike formula with a clever genre combination.

Thanks for playing! <3

I added a note about the Konami code on the game page. Basically, if you press arrow keys and B A keys in this order... ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A ... you'll get turn-based mode. Which is waaaaaaaaaay easier. And more likely to get you on the leaderboard 🙂

Thanks for checking it out and reviewing! <3

It should have sound. What OS and browser are you using?

Beautiful game! I was just about to say it felt a bit easy.... and then I died. I found myself really hoping to come across a healing potion, but mostly found the scorpion and bouncing projectile power-ups. I could see it getting a bit repetitive over time, though I didn’t discover all the items. I made it to around level 6/7 before dying to a fumbled keypress LOL.

Definitely feels like a strong foundation to build on - looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

I enjoyed playing your game and reading your post-mortem! Very Cogmind-y with a touch of Alien-esque sound effects and UI - love it! I agree with your point about some of the text being a little repetitive, but the dark vibe and computer terminology made up for it. I felt like a l337 h4x0r 🤓

I did find a couple bugs e.g. pressing ESC when prompted to press ESC exited fullscreen (macOS, Chrome at least), and I ran into a door in a T-intersection of three rooms that wasn’t traversable. Pic attached in case you're collecting bug reports.

But hey, that's nothing compared to the number of bugs in my game!

This is exactly the kind of roguelike I’d love to try making myself someday.

Very cool concept! I love games with faux old school OS UIs. The checkbox system for enabling/disabling mechanics was a nice touch (and I learned some German). Had I not read the instructions and the details on this page, I probably would have assumed that was the end of the game after beating the first round. I wouldn’t have thought to check the mail... and maybe others won't. Maybe consider a “you’ve got mail” style alert or jingle to draw attention to it in a future version? Very polished though - well done! 👏

Very short, but fun! I liked the cyberpunk vibe and the glitchy digital/real world concept. It felt a bit too easy though, and I wasn't always sure if different weapons had advantages against certain enemies. Nice use of 3rd party assets - solid feel to it! LOL at the script ̶k̶i̶d̶d̶i̶e̶s̶ kitties! 😆

Really loved the graphics, and it’s awesome that you made this in Godot and shared the source code too. The game is tough, but in a good way. It definitely has that "just one more run" feeling. I also really like how you kept the spirit of permadeath but twisted it a bit with the time mechanic. It’s a really clever idea and feels pretty impressive for something made during a 7DRL. I’ll definitely be coming back to this after I get through reviewing some other entries :)

I love little PICO-8 games! So may be biased. The camera mechanic was a really interesting idea. The focus on observing creatures instead of fighting them was refreshing, and it was fun trying to lead monsters together to get better group photos. Even though you mentioned it is incomplete, it already feels like a solid foundation with nice level transitions and sound effects. Great work and I would love to see it expanded further

It was enjoyable and the shooting/hacking mechanics were fun to use. Playing with just a trackpad made it more difficult, but I still had a good time with it. I did get stuck in a room with three turrets where neither hacking nor shooting seemed to work, but overall good job!

Hi - if I submit my project now, can I still make changes over the next few days or are changes not allowed after submission?

Thanks!
  Lee

Hi there - apologies for the confusion there! Voting will end on January 8, 2026, at 13:37 PST and the winners will be shared 48 hours later.

> Hey Lee! Out of curiosity is there roughly some minimum number of ratings a game needs to be visible to the judge(s) selecting winners for each category?

Hi! Right now, with 8858 total votes, an entry needs to get the median number of votes (14) to get the full portion of it's score. I can't find great documentation quickly on it, but this thread might be helpful.

Hi there - thanks for flagging this! This should be fixed now - it was supposed to have been set to 5 like it has been in previous years. I incorrectly thought that the Rating queue unlock size defaulted to 5 like Rating queue size 🤦🏻‍♂️

That's OK. 💩 happens!

Send an email to lee@github.com with your itch.io game URL plus a reasonable excuse, and I'll send you a link to submit your game.

Cheers,
  Lee

That's perfectly fine 👍🏻

Absolutely!

Go for it! 🩸

Hi! I tried to check out your game, but I get the error, "Sorry, this project is not available for sharing. If this is your project or the project of one of your students, please sign in to your account to view the project."

You might actually be able to export it to share the code in a GitHub repo? See https://support.code.org/hc/en-us/articles/13211665878157-Exporting-Projects-fro...

Yes you may!

Hi there! Your game will still get rated by at least five other participants, even if you don’t rate anyone else’s. That said, I really encourage you to play, rate, and leave feedback on other entries - it’s one of the best parts of any jam!

Everyone who uploads a qualified submission (and any teammates) are able to rate and review entries.

Go for it!

Hi Alwin, great questions!

You can create your repo anytime, even right at the end with a single commit. There’s no requirement to show progress publicly throughout the jam. Use whatever workflow works best for you or your team.

Your project doesn’t need to be “open source,” just “source available,” so others can potentially build and learn from it  (or help confirm the code was written during the jam period). You’re encouraged to license it however you like and keep developing it afterward, even for a commercial release. There’s no expectation to share any proprietary or purchased assets; placeholders or omissions are totally fine, and lots of folks do that.

The “source available” idea goes back to the early days of GitHub. Before Game Off started around 2012, I used to share zip files of my game jam projects with colleagues and upload them to jam sites. It struck me how few examples of game jam code were out there and how hard they were to find. GitHub was full of web frameworks and libraries back then, but it was kind of a graveyard for finished games.

The original model of participation, before itch.io even existed, was to fork the Game Off repo (for example, github.com/github/game-off-2012) and build your game there. I even built an overly elaborate voting system for judges using the GitHub API. We started using itch.io in 2017, which made running the jam and submitting and playing entries a whole lot easier!

I started Game Off to make game development a little more open, discoverable, and inspiring for everyone, especially for my kids one day who might want to learn about game development too. (I got into software by hacking games as a kid.)

It’s still a side project and one of the highlights of my year, more than a decade later. Believe it or not, this is the short version of that origin story, but hopefully it gives some helpful context! :D

Cheers,
  Lee

You are free to do whatever you wish there :)

No prizes - other than nerd cred and eternal glory.

Absolutely!

Yup!

You can, but there'll be a place to enter the repo URL when you submit your game that's required.

Nope!

That is fine!

Hi there! Here are answers to some frequently asked questions. Please let me know if anything's unclear or you have more questions below, and I'll keep this updated.

Participation and Tools

Q: Can I use Unity, Unreal Engine, or other engines?
A: Yes! You can use any game engine you like.

Q: Can we use blueprints in Unreal Engine?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I use pre-made assets or code?
A: Absolutely! Just add proper attribution in your GitHub repository’s README if needed. Keep in mind that the goal is creativity, so avoid submitting old projects with only minor changes.

Q: If I use paid assets, should I include those in the repository?
A: No. Please only share assets you're able to sure. Please consider adding placeholder assets in the repository and a note in the README about what assets where used.

Q: Do I need a team to participate?
A: Nope! You can join solo or with a team of any size.

Q: Can I use no-code tools like Construct 3 or GameMaker?
A: Yes! Just ensure your project can be exported and shared via a GitHub repository.

Q: Can I submit multiple entries or join multiple teams?
A: Go for it!

Q: Is there a maximum team size?
A: Theoretically, no. Too big and you may crash the itch.io and GitHub servers though! J/K

Submission Process

Q: What do I need to submit?
A: You’ll need to:

• Create a GitHub repository for your game’s source code.
• Submit your game on the itch.io Game Off page by December 1, 13:37 PT.

Q: Can I edit my game after submission?
A: You can fix critical bugs, but leave a note explaining the changes. Avoid altering the game during the voting period.

Q: What kinds of licenses are required/accepted for the public GitHub repo?
You're welcome to use whatever kind of license you wish! See this documentation for tips on choosing / applying a license.

Q: Can I sell my game after the jam?
A: Yes, you can sell your game after the jam.

Q: Can I create the GitHub repository before the jam starts?
A: Yes! You can set up your repo and team structure early—just no coding until the jam begins. 

Voting and Judging

Q: What are the judging categories?
A: Games will be rated on:

• Overall
• Gameplay
• Graphics
• Audio
• Innovation
• Theme Interpretation

Nobody's judging your jam code - don't worry! 🙂

Q: Can I vote on any game?
A: Yes! Participants vote on each other’s games, with the option to explore and rate multiple entries.

Rules and Restrictions

Q: Are there content restrictions for my game?
A: While there are no strict content rules, if it's something I wouldn't show my kids or grandparents... then it may be less likely that it'll appear on our blog 😎 Please also see itch.io's note on adult content.

Support and Community

Q: Is there a Discord or social community?
A: Yes, join the https://discord.gg/4hAr7sa for support, teammate searches, and sharing progress.

Q: What’s the official hashtag?
A: Use #GitHubGameOff to share progress and connect with other participants on social media.