Gamedev.js Jam 2026 start and theme announcement!

The seventh yearly edition of our online web game development competition started NOW! You have exactly 13 days between April 13th, 5 PM CET and April 26th, 5 PM CET 2026 to build a web game, submit it through Itch, and win lots of cool prizes!

Theme

This year’s theme is… MACHINES!

Your game could be focused on operating a specific machinery like an assembly line, or you can be a mechanic fixing whatever is broken in a car or an IT guy adjusting people’s computers. Maybe YOU are the sentient machine or a robot. It could be a rhythm machine, or physics based. Flying drones, robot factory, robotic duels, or turret defenses. You can fight against rogue AI using robots to destroy humanity, or create fun little mechanical toys for children to play with, totally up to you!

Remeber that you are free to interpret the machines theme however you like.

Partners

Here are our awesome Partners this year.

• Platinum: YouTube Playables, Wavedash
• Gold: GitHub, Poki, Defold, Phaser Studio
• Silver: OP Guild, Playgama.com
• Bronze: Enclave Games, js13kGames

This competition wouldn’t be possible without the support of those companies.

Challenges

We have five optional challenges with extra prizes in 2026.

• Open Source by GitHub
• Build it with Phaser
• YouTube Playables
• Deploy to Wavedash
• Ethereum by OP Guild

You can pick any of the challenges above, try doing all at once, or ignore them entirely.

Prizes

Here’s the list of prizes for the overall winners, top entries in each criteria, and challenges:

• 10 × Jump Tracks game license
  
• 10 × Pyxel Edit editor license
• 30 × Wonderland Engine Foundations course
• 10 × WebStorm IDE commercial license for 12 months
• 10 × CosmoPirates game license
• 8 × GDevelop Gold license for 12 months
• 10 × Aseprite editor license
• 10 × CraftPix membership for a team of up to 5 members for 12 months
• 2 × Construct 3 Personal license for 12 months
• 10 × PlayCanvas Personal plan for 12 months
• 5 × Jsfxr Pro Solo lifetime license
• 5 × How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself ebook
• 10 × Zenva Academy subscription for 12 months
• 5 × CSS Battle Plus account for 6 months
• 5 × Web Maker Pro account for 6 months
• 10 × Easel+ subscription for 12 months
• 5 × Kronnect individual asset
• 13 × The Supernatural Power Troll game license
• 3 × CodePen Pro Starter account for 12 months

• Open Source Challenge by GitHub prize pool: 5 GitHub Copilot Pro plans
• Build it with Phaser Challenge prize pool: 10 Phaser Editor Pro subscriptions and 5 Vampire Survivors bundles
• YouTube Playables Challenge prize pool: 10 fast track to Playables, 7 Gemini AI Pro, and swag
• Deploy to Wavedash Challenge prize pool: $2500
• Ethereum Challenge prize pool: $130

The first are decided by participants themselves in a public voting on Itch, and the last are picked by dedicated experts.

Experts

They are here to either select the winners of the given challenges, or have their own top5 picks.

• Stacey Haffner (Open Source)
• Richard Davey (Phaser)
• Lu Liu (YouTube Playables)
• Paul Bliudzius (YouTube Playables)
• Meg Campbell (YouTube Playables)
• Matt Portner (Wavedash)
• George Kennedy (Wavedash)
• Kyler Blue (Wavedash)
• Paul Gadi (Ethereum)
• Paweł Jarosz (top5)
• Iris Kroonstuiver (top5)
• Stein Damen (top5)

Expect lots of constructive and valuable feedback.

Join the jam!

Start jamming right NOW! Join Gamedev.js Jam 2026 on Itch if you haven’t already, visit our Discord server to find teammates in the #looking-for-team channel or brainstorm theme ideas with fellow devs, and ask for feedback later on. Don’t forget to share your progress using #gamedevjs hashtag on X/Twitter, Mastodon, or Bluesky.

That’s it – good luck and have fun!