ALLSTARS is back for its third year, you know the drill. Get a score system in your game, lock in, and get ready for devs and players alike to compete.

At the conclusion of the jam, ICG will host an in-person community reception and showcase (RSVP required, kofi supporters get early access to RSVPs) of all of the officially selected games submitted to the jam, held at The Lair (4551 N Kedzie). 

This year's jam is generously sponsored by Makey Makey! 

• Entries should be in line with the jam's theme (announced at start)
• Gore and other more graphic content are acceptable, we just ask that any entries containing particularly sensitive elements be flagged accordingly. 
• Game must contain a score system of any kind and at minimum local leaderboards
• All entries should be tagged with #icg and #allstars2026
• Only games officially selected will be showcased at the in-person reception.
• Games are required to submit the jam entry form to qualify for official selection, and must be available for the live showcase.
• Any pre-made assets or asset packs used must be credited.
  
  
  

Schedule (all times CST)

• June 22nd | 7:00 PM: Kickoff with a speed meet for team formation on Discord.
• June 22th | 7:30 PM: Jam starts!
• July 11th | 11:59 PM: Submissions due
• July 12th | 12:00 AM: Community Voting opens!
• July 13th | 11:59 PM: Community Voting closes
• July 19th | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Community reception and game showcase at The Lair, located at 4551 N Kedzie, Chicago, IL 60625    All dates/times in CST.

Theme - Deserted Island 

The only stipulation for Allstars is that your game involve any kind of scoring mechanism and leaderboard.  An additional, optional theme will be announced at the beginning, and optional prompts as voted on by our ko-fi members will be unveiled at start time.

Optional Prompts:

• Slip and Slide
• That's not what bananas are for
• Cookout Chaos

Prizes

Prize details will be updated throughout the event, but as it stands we have prizes from Makey Makey for jam winners, as well as cash prizes supplied by both ICG and community members. If you're interested in adding to the prize pool you can donate through ko-fi ; (leave a star emoji or some such in the note). All donations received this way leading up to the showcase will go into the prize pool, distributed across our top 3 winners and top alt control game; if we hit $500 in our prize pool (Currently at $300), we'll expand the cash prize across additional placements! Alt control placement will be decided at the end of the event by participant voting and judge's picks.

Current Prize Pool: $300

• ICG: $125
• City Wizard Games: $100
• Danny Myerscough $20

Current Prize Placements:

• 1st Community Pick: $80
• 2nd Community Pick: $55
• 3rd Community Pick: $30
• 1st Alt Control Placement: $80

Community Prompts (as voted on by Kofi supporters):

• Slip and Slide
  
• That's not what bananas are for
• Cookout Chaos

Quick Links

• Indie City Games Discord
• Game Jam entry form
• Showcase RSVP

Official Selection

All entries will be reviewed by community vote and additionally by an impartial selection committee. Entries will be evaluated based on presentation values, engagement, playability, and cohesion with the jam theme and suitability for an in-person event. 

Official selections are determined as a split between community votes and judge's picks. The top five entries placed via community votes (provided the team has submitted a jam form) are accepted, followed by five judge's selections. Judge's selections will not overlap with the top five community votes.

If your game is alt-control/uses a unique form of control, please specify in the form and on your itch page! A video is always helpful here, and these games will be considered separately from other entries in order to ensure that there is no overlap. Alt-control games will be evaluated separately for official selection, and if selected will not impact the inclusion of community votes and judge's picks at the showcase.

We want to minimize gatekeeping and encourage community participation across all skill levels.  All games that comply with the rules below will be included in the jam page on Itch.io. However, due to limited space at the in-person reception, the number of games selected will be limited but no less than 10.

This year's official selections are:  Community Picks

1. ---

Judge's Picks

• -----

Rules for Official Selection

To be officially selected, submissions must fulfill the following criteria:

• Game must be submitted to the game jam on Itch.io.
• Jam entries should be original and created during the jam period.
• One contact person on the team must submit an entry form.
• Games must adhere to the jam theme.
• Teams are limited to five members or fewer. Participants may be members of multiple teams but may only be the contact person for a single game. Team members (usernames or real names) must be credited on the game’s Itch page.
• At least one team member must be present and able to display the created game for the duration of the showcase reception (we will have table space for you and outlets, you're on the hook for the rest!).
• Any externally created assets must be credited with links on the game’s Itch page.
• The game must be reasonably functional as determined by Indie City Games.
• If a game is submitted as playable in-browser, it should also include a downloadable version.
• Game size should not exceed 2 GB.
• Game must not use GEN AI. Usage will result in an instant disqualification.
• The game must be playable without a third-party installer.
• Tag your game with #icg and #allstars

Community Voting

Please keep comments and critique constructive when voting! It's just as important to let people know what they did well on a project as what could be improved. We trust our community members to be objective, kind, and supportive in their voting process.

Legal / IP Rules

• Developers hold all rights to the games they make.
• Developers grant Indie City Games the permission to use their game's name, screenshots, and video footage in promotional materials for Indie City Games, and future events.
• Indie City Games are not responsible for any games submitted. 
• Games featuring text in languages besides English must provide a translation of all submitted materials not in English.
• Indie City Games reserves the right to not display and / or remove any uploaded games if the game content is broken, offensive or unsuitable as determined by Indie City Games’ sole discretion. This includes but is not limited to: games with harmful or prejudicial themes related to gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, appearance, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, socioeconomic status, or religion.