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Gamedev.js Jam celebrates Web games - build an HTML5 game within 13 days of the jam on a given theme, it runs between April 13th, 5 PM CET and April 26th, 5 PM CET 2026. Also, there are prizes!
This year's theme is... Machines! Remember that your entry will be judged based on how well you implement the theme, but you can interpret it however you like.
Join us no matter your skill level - this game jam is a perfect opportunity to create your very first game, or build a prototype for your next commercial hit. Almost two weeks of development time should be more than enough!
You can use #gamedevjs hashtag on X ⁄ Twitter to share your progress, ask for feedback, see what others are building and hopefully help them out if they need it. There's also a Discord server for direct communication!
Use of AI is totally allowed, and even encouraged, as long as you don't break any copyright laws.
Check out the previous editions to get the grasp of what to expect: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.
This Jam is organized by Andrzej Mazur from Enclave Games, creator of the js13kGames competition.
There are optional Challenges in the Jam - entries submitted to those will be judged separately by the panels of dedicated experts, and each offer unique prizes for the best games.
You are free to take on any of them, selected few, or even multiple at once.
Challenger: GitHub
Description: Provide the source code of your entry on GitHub in a readable form to have a chance of being featured in a dedicated blog post on the GitHub Blog (see 2022, 2023, and 2024 for reference).
Prize pool: 5 GitHub Copilot Pro plans
Expert: Stacey Haffner
Challenger: Phaser Studio
Description: Simply develop your game using any version of the Phaser game framework. You'll find docs, resources and guides on our web site to get started quickly.
Prize pool: 10 Phaser Editor Pro annual subscriptions and 5 Vampire Survivors bundles (worth $5500 total)
Expert: Richard Davey and the Phaser Studio team
Challenger: YouTube
Description: Create a single player game that would entertain audiences on YouTube. It can be any genre or art style you like as long as it isn't too violent or specifically made for kids. See here for current Playables games for reference. Currently Playables are available for players in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, and Malaysia, but developers globally are allowed to participate. More information on Playables development can be found here.
Please avoid: graphic/realistic violence, hate speech or symbols, sexual content, anything depicting self harm, IP infringement. More information can be found at our community guidelines here.
Visit Playables Developer Portal for more information, fill out the YouTube Playables Interest Form, and make sure to join Playables Discord.
Prize pool: featured marketing in Discord, fast track to Playables, Gemini AI Pro for 12 months, swag.
Experts: Lu Liu, Paul Bliudzius, Meg Campbell
Challenger: Wavedash
Description: The requirement is that participants deploy and publish their jam game on Wavedash. Anyone can enter regardless of the engine they use. Games published on Wavedash will be eligible for prizes. The winners will be judged by the Wavedash founders and will be announced May 11.
Learn more at docs.wavedash.com. Have questions? Support will be provided through Wavedash’s Discord.
Prize pool: $2500
Experts: Matt Portner, George Kennedy, Kyler Blue
Challenger: OP Guild
Description: Build your game jam entry using the Ethereum ecosystem. Whether you want to experiment with decentralized ownership, player economies, or blockchain-powered gameplay mechanics, this challenge is all about exploring what Ethereum can bring to Web games.
Your game could include features like on-chain assets, player-owned items, decentralized identity, or smart contracts powering gameplay systems. You might store important game data on-chain, use Ethereum wallets for authentication, mint collectibles, or create mechanics where players truly own what they earn.
The goal isn’t to make blockchain the whole game - it’s to use Ethereum in a meaningful and creative way that enhances the player experience. Use any tools, frameworks, or libraries from the Ethereum ecosystem that fit your workflow. As long as Ethereum technology plays a clear role in your project, your entry qualifies. Show us how decentralized tech can power the next generation of Web games!
Prize pool: $130
Expert: Paul Gadi
There are three levels of prizes: for all the entries, for given criteria, and for Challenges.
Given prizes from the overall results assigned to specific places for the available criteria.
Winners will also be promoted via our X ⁄ Twitter, on the gamedevjs.com website, and in the Gamedev.js Weekly newsletter.
Panel of experts giving feedback to your entries (with their top5 picks each), or judging games from given Challenges.
Stacey Haffner
@yecats131 | youtube.com/@staceyhaffner
Stacey Haffner is the Director of Microsoft's OSPO and leads game developer advocacy. She is an engineer, game developer, and product leader who runs her own indie studio, has built teams in startup environments, and now applies that expertise to advancing open source, empowering developers, and championing the game dev community. She shares tutorials and devlogs on her YouTube channel at youtube.com/@staceyhaffner
Paweł Jarosz
@pawel_developer | paweljarosz.pl
Paweł Jarosz is a developer with over a decade of experience across multiple industries. He has released many free games, most of them with open source, and is currently developing the dark fantasy slavic RPG Witchcrafter: Empire Legends, and is running a small indie gamedev studio. He is deeply involved in the Defold ecosystem, sharing practical knowledge through tutorials and community education, helping other developers. Since last year, he has also served as the Community and Content Manager at the Defold Foundation. He also runs a YouTube channel about gamedev and Defold at Unfolding Gamedev.
Matt Portner
@portner | wavedash.com
CCO of Wavedash, previously founded DefendTheHouse, the YouTube gaming channel. Matt has worked at Snap and BuzzFeed, and has VFX credits in the tv and film industry.
George Kennedy
@franzwarning | wavedash.com
CTO of Wavedash, was previously an Engineer at Juicebox Games and has built many apps, sites, and dev tools including a live audio streaming platform and a digital marketplace acquired by GoFundMe.
Kyler Blue
@kylerblue | wavedash.com
CEO of Wavedash, previously designed GIF Keyboard and built Tenor.com and the Tenor API into one of the world’s largest search engines.
Richard Davey
@photonstorm | photonstorm.com
Creator of Phaser and founder of Phaser Studio. If he's not wrangling code, he's working with the studio team to ensure the best possible experience and tools are made for Phaser developers. Was there at the birth of both gaming and the web and has loved the ride ever since.
Iris Kroonstuiver
linkedin.com/in/iris-kroonstuiver
Iris Kroonstuiver is a Business Development Manager at Poki, the world’s leading web games platform with over 100 million monthly players. She started her career in the games industry in 2004 as a game journalist, before moving into content management and production, where she led the development of mobile, HTML5 and desktop games and worked closely with studios across the globe. Expanding her impact beyond individual titles, Iris transitioned into People & Culture leadership, shaping company vision, teams, and creative environments. Today, she brings this full-spectrum experience back to business development, partnering with developers worldwide to bring high-quality, accessible games to millions of players on the open web.
Stein Damen
linkedin.com/in/stein-damen-66687379
Stein Damen is the Head of Account Management at Poki, a leading platform for free-to-play browser games reaching over 100 million monthly players. He works closely with game studios to help them launch, scale, and optimize titles for the web, enabling instant-play reach and sustainable growth. Previously, Stein was Co-CEO of Paladin Studios, one of Europe’s most respected indie game studios, where he spent over a decade building and scaling successful mobile, PC, and console games. He brings deep experience across studio operations, publishing, and developer growth to support Poki’s global network of partners.
Lu Liu
linkedin.com/in/lu-liu-spec
As a founding member of YouTube Playables and the Product Manager on Content and Creator Experience, I'm deeply passionate about gaming and enabling creativity. I am so excited to see your interesting new ideas and how you make gaming even more fun for the YouTube audience!
Paul Bliudzius
paul-bliudzius-3b07b678
A Software Engineer on YouTube Playables and an avid gamer with a background in independent game development. As a "jack-of-all trades" who has participated in numerous game jams, I’m excited to see how developers approach this year’s game jam.
Meg Campbell
@girlhack | linkedin.com/in/megcampbell
Meg has been part of YouTube Gaming since 2014 and recently transitioned to lead Gameplay Experience and Community for Playables as a Product Manager. Previously, she built the initial Playables launch catalog and served for 10 years as Partner Manager for over 100 top YouTube Gaming creators. A gamer since Atari, Meg can't wait to play your games!
Paul Gadi
@polats | opgames.org
Paul is CTO ⁄ Co-Founder of OP Games, focused on helping game developers successfully create decentralized games. He also leads the KERNEL Gaming Guild, a fellowship of the most talented builders in Web 3. He loves exploring the intersection of new technologies with game design, and believes that decentralization and shared virtual economies will revolutionize how we play games.
Submit an HTML5 game between April 13th and 26th 2026 through the Itch.io platform. It can be a solo submission, or a team effort. You can even submit more than one entry if you want to. Submitted games should have English as the default language.
Voting will be open to all who submitted a game, and will happen via the Itch.io platform for 13 days right after the submission period ends - between April 26th and May 9th. Winners will be announced on May 10th, and challenges on May 11th.
Games will be voted on based on a given criteria: Innovation, Theme, Gameplay, Graphics, and Audio. The Overall ranking will be based on the summary of those.
The short version is: anything that can run on the Web in a browser without extra plugins is considered a valid jam entry. It's highly advised you create new content for the jam - submitting your old demos or already finished projects makes no sense.
If you have any questions or concerns please ask at the Community forums or join our Discord server.
Gamedev.js Survey 2025 is over, and the Report was already published! If you participated and submitted your answers - thank you! Feel free to view and use the results of the current state of Web Game Development in 2025 as long as you credit and link to the source.
All participants and judges of the Gamedev.js Jam are required to agree with the following code of conduct. Organizers will enforce this code throughout the online event. We are expecting cooperation from all participants to help ensuring a safe environment for everybody.
Gamedev.js is dedicated to providing a harassment-free competition experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of competition participants in any form. Competition participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the competition at the discretion of the competition organizers. TL;DR: Be excellent to each other. For more details see Berlin Code of Conduct.