+ Flock runs it. Our OG legend is taking the reins on this one. He's been a judge on both previous rounds, has played more jam games than is healthy. Josh and Clem are in the back making sure things run smoothly.
= Co-hosted with Jamlytics. Quinten's tools and expertise, Quinten's Discord for the jam-tech side. All-round jam-god.
+ We publish games now. Scorchpot went live in August. We play every entry through a publisher's lens now. See "Why we run it".
- Patch Builds are removed. Idea was cool, in practice not so much.
What this is
A jam for the wacky, wild prototypes that usually get left on a sketchy USB. We give you an idea and a deadline; you make something playable.
v1.0 pulled in 480-odd games and about 5,000 ratings, which was not what we expected from a newsletter's first jam. v1.1 was smaller and slower. We're bringing back the sprint because we all love to run and slide in at the last second.
Why we run it
Honest answer: we're interested in creating an idea engine. Indieformer spent twelve years as a newsletter picking out indie gems you should look at. Now we publish them. We want this jam to be the top of that funnel. We go through the entries and the participant feedback looking for the ones we can't stop thinking about, and then we talk to those devs about what taking the game further might look like.
Entering doesn't sign you up for anything. All emails about this jam stay through itch. Signing up for our own newsletter is optional.
How it runs
Starts Friday 9 October, 12:00 noon PDT.
That's 19:00 UTC
21:00 in Berlin & Paris
20:00 in London
6:00 AM Saturday in Melbourne
4:00 AM Saturday in Tokyo
Ends Monday 12 October, 12:00 noon PDT. Same offsets: 19:00 UTC, 21:00 CEST, 20:00 BST, 6:00 AM Tuesday in Melbourne. itch shows the countdown in your own timezone at the top of this page.
Six categories, 0 to 5 each. Averaged into stars. Everyone who enters rates other entries.
None of these say "polish". It's 3 days, guys; come on.
Art: does it look like one person's idea and not an asset pack?
Innovation: is there something here that feels different?
Sound: does the audio belong to the world?
Theme: is the theme the game, or a sticker on top?
Presentation: were decisions made on purpose?
Accessibility: can someone who isn't you pick it up and play?
Judges
Community score runs alongside a judges' panel. The panel picks the prizes.
Flock: Running the jam this round. Indieformer Discord mod, judged v1.0 and v1.1.
Josh & Clem (Indieformer): Reading entries with a publisher's hat on.
Quinten (Jamlytics): Jams are his life. The man knows what to look for.
Jake Lizarraga: Indie game marketer and previous Patch Notes judge.
Prizes
$100 AUD each to the top 3 Overall entries. Paid by Indieformer via PayPal or Wise. If we can't split three, we'll widen the pool rather than force a ranking. We did that last time too. Remember, we're also looking out for games to publish, so you never know what might happen!
Rules
72 hours. Upload before the deadline. If itch falls over, we'll sort it in Discord.
Use the theme.
No NSFW. No nudity, extreme gore, or real-world trauma.
Browser or Windows/Linux build at minimum.
Submissions in English.
Small reused code and assets are fine. A finished game with a new coat of paint is not.
AI: Allowed, to a limit. Just tell us how you used it. A short note in your submission. Clever, supportive use is fine. An end-to-end AI build isn't in the spirit. (We aren't coders. We used it to help style this page and tidy the copy. Same rule applies to us.)
Previous versions
v1.0 · Sep 2025 · 72 hours · "The Error Is the Feature" · 472 entries
v1.1 · Jan 2026 · 10 days · "Out of Time" · 93 entries · co-hosted with Jamlytics
v2.0 · 9 to 12 Oct 2026 · 72 hours · theme TBA · co-hosted with Jamlytics
Where we are
Indieformer Discord for teams, questions, and the theme drop. Flock & Quinten will be there all weekend. Jamlytics Discord for anything jam-tech. indieformer.com for the newsletter, where we'll write up what happened afterwards. Tag socials with #PatchNotesJam.
Feeling like having a little fun? Participate in our bonus challenge! Hide the Indieformer logo somewhere in your submission (or show it right up front; it's your game). No reward, no extra points, just a little extra if you have the time. Indieformer's logos and assets, if you want them, are here.
