Scope is important, especially when working under tight deadlines. The "Ooga Booga 2026" Game Jam aims to unite creative minds with complete freedom in artistic direction, minus adult content. To help create something within a small amount of time, a mandatory theme will be imposed:
Constraint
Without Constraint, it is harder to demonstrate your abilities in game design and project management. This theme will require additional attachments in your submission. Below, I will identify ways you can demonstrate your application of the theme for your or your team's project.
Mood boards, asset tracker sheets, storyboards, video game design docs, sketches, we want to see what's happening behind the scenes!
Attachments can be uploaded as extra files or embedded in the description of your submission. Feel free to include comments that elaborate on the approaches incorporated into demonstrating Constraint.
There is no expected level of skill for participating. Be mindful of your capabilities and not overscoping!
Here the three optional themes you can reflect in your submissions:
- Bats
- Crystals
- Dinos
https://www.instagram.com/gamecave_main/
I will repeat, additional themes are optional and meant for creative inspiration. Only Constraint has to be followed. If you do not provide attachments for this theme's category, you will not be fully scored in the Constraint category.
- All work done for the game must be during the submission period (February 27th to March 1st).
- All games must respect the constraint guidelines (see above).
- Games must be appropriate for streaming. Nothing that would get DMCA'd or anything else that would violate TOS.
- Teams can be no larger than 5.
- No AI-generated work.
How do I make a game based on the mandatory theme? Assets aside from the game created for game design purposes, should be included in the submission. This will affect the primary grading criteria, Constraint.
What game engines can I use? Any engine, any platform.
How to submit a game? When the jam begins on February 27th, you will have until 12:30 PM US Eastern time on March 1st to upload your entry to the jam. No changes can be made to the submission after the deadline. Make sure your game is ready before March 1st @12:30 PM!
What assets can I use? Original assets are encouraged, but any assets you have the rights to use that don't break the rules are fine (e.g., asset store).
How does voting work? When the submission period ends, voting will open. Members of a team who submit a game can vote, and cannot vote for their own submission. Team members must have an itch.io account added as a contributor on their game’s submission to be eligible to vote. The grading criteria will focus on Art, Gameplay, Audio, and Constraint. Voting ends March 8th @12:30 PM.
How does judging work? When voting ends, organizers will review and select finalists to be featured on a game jam livestream at https://www.youtube.com/@GameCaveMain. This will include commentary and gameplay. The livestream time is TBD and will be announced during the voting period.
Will every game be streamed? This is the first time hosting this game jam. The number of games streamed will depend on the number of submissions. In case a large amount of submissions are received, top entries will be prioritized, with some additional random picks.
Will streamed games be fully played? Submissions will be played for a minimum of 10 minutes.
How many winners? The highest-rated game will win. The winner(s) will receive the prizes mentioned below.
- The highest-rated submission will receive an exclusive tag in the GameCave Discord. This is the first year running the event. We appreciate your participation!
- A shoutout on GameCave's media pages (i.e., Instagram, X, and YouTube), announcing the winning submission.
Looking to team up? Visit our Discord: https://discord.gg/5fpJp7SKSb
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