itch.io

🚨 Newsflash! Minor Deadline Extension 🚨

We've decided to extend the game jam deadline a little bit by an extra 2 hours! This gives you all some additional time for last-minute polish, final touches, and ensures everyone can submit their game without too much deadline stress.

Please upload early! We strongly recommend trying to upload your game at least a few hours before the deadline. This will help you avoid any last-minute network problems and give you time to verify that your game is playable for other participants.

⏰ New FINAL Development & Submission Deadline: Tuesday, 3 November 2026 15:00 CET

🔧 2-Hour Technical Grace Period

After the submission deadline, there will be an additional 2-hour Technical Grace Period before we lock the uploaded game files.

This gives participants who submitted their game before the deadline a little extra time to fix technical problems discovered around the deadline, such as:

• accidentally uploading the wrong build
• missing files
• a build that does not start
• upload/network problems
• game-breaking build or export issues

Important: The submission deadline is still the final deadline for entering the jam. Your game must be submitted to the jam before that time. If you have not submitted your game before the deadline, the Technical Grace Period does not apply and you can no longer enter the jam.

⏰ Technical Grace Period ends: Tuesday, 3 November 2026 17:00 CET

After that time, game files will be locked and can no longer be edited until the voting period has ended.

📅 Important: The 2-hour extension and the 2-hour Technical Grace Period are absolute and final! 😈 No further extensions will be granted.

You can still edit your project page, including the description, background, colors and screenshots.

Please do not delete your uploaded game files after they have been locked! If you delete them, participants will no longer be able to play your game and you will not be able to upload a replacement until uploads are opened again after voting.

After the deadline the voting period starts:

• Note: In our game jams, voting is restricted to submitters only. This decision was made after some teams in previous jams downvoted all competing entries. Team members are still welcome and encouraged to leave comments of course.
• Please wait until the Technical Grace Period has ended before seriously playing and rating entries, as some participants may still need to replace a broken or incorrect build during those two hours.
• We also have our special Feedback Award + prize: Awarded to the participant who provides the most helpful, constructive, and insightful feedback on others' games. This category values those who go above and beyond with thoughtful comments, tips, and encouragement to help fellow developers improve their games. This choice is not based on any scientific calculations or exact scoring. Instead, we select from a group of participants who, in our opinion, provide thoughtful and constructive feedback. From that group, we draw a name as the award recipient.

Make these extra hours count!

Good luck and happy jamming! 🎮

🚀 GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition Part III has officially begun and you can still join us! 3 dev days left!

🎃 Theme: IT ONLY COMES OUT AT NIGHT

🎮 225+ developers have already joined and there’s still plenty of time to jump in and make a game!

Yes, you can use assets you've purchased from Fab in your game jam entry.

🚀 GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition Part III has officially begun!

🎃 Theme: IT ONLY COMES OUT AT NIGHT

🎮 225+ developers have already joined and there’s still plenty of time to jump in and make a game!

🎬 Watch the Theme Reveal:

🎃👻 The spooky season is almost here! 👻🎃

Only 1 day to go until the GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition Part III!🕸️🕹️

From October 30th to November 3rd, 2026, the jam returns for 4 days of spooky creativity, strange ideas, creepy experiments, teamwork and, most importantly, fun! 🧛‍♂️🦇

🎃 Join Now: GoedWare Game Jam Halloween (Part 3) @ itch.io (175+ already did)
📣  Theme: The theme will be revealed at the start of the jam 

Get ready to Conjure | Creep | Captivate 👻 

🎃👻 The spooky season is almost here! 👻🎃

Only 2 days to go until the GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition Part III!🕸️🕹️

From October 30th to November 3rd, 2026, the jam returns for 4 days of spooky creativity, strange ideas, creepy experiments, teamwork and, most importantly, fun! 🧛‍♂️🦇

🎃 Join Now: GoedWare Game Jam Halloween (Part 3) @ itch.io 
📣  Theme: The theme will be revealed at the start of the jam 

Get ready to Conjure | Creep | Captivate 👻 

🎃👻 The spooky season is almost here! 👻🎃

Only 1 week to go until the GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition Part III!🕸️🕹️

From October 30th to November 3rd, 2026, the jam returns for 4 days of spooky creativity, strange ideas, creepy experiments, teamwork and, most importantly, fun! 🧛‍♂️🦇

🎃 Join Now: GoedWare Game Jam Halloween (Part 3) @ itch.io 
📣  Theme: The theme will be revealed at the start of the jam 

Get ready to Conjure | Creep | Captivate 👻 

We also noticed it unfortunately and are working on it:

Update on the Game Jam #17 Public Results

We've noticed some unusual voting patterns and suspect possible vote manipulation in the public rankings. We've contacted itch.io Support and decided to wait one week before officially confirming the public rankings, giving them time to investigate. Unfortunately, as jam organizers, we have very limited tools on itch.io to investigate voting activity ourselves. We hope you understand and appreciate your patience. We're sorry for the delay, but we want to make sure the results are as fair as possible for everyone! Thank you all for your understanding and for being part of GoedWare Game Jam #17

We hope itch.io does reply and quickly but they do not always do that. If not we will try to find another solution to this matter that will be the most fair as possible.

Thank you so much for the kind words! 😊 Really happy to hear you enjoyed the game and its atmosphere!

And no worries! As the jam host and a jury member, I make sure to play and rate every single submission. Between playing all the games, reading devlogs and keeping the jam running smoothly, it's unfortunately difficult to leave detailed feedback on every game as well 😅. But playing and rating them all is something I definitely do!

Thank you! 😊 Really appreciate the kind words and thanks for taking the time to play!

Thank you so much for playing and for the detailed feedback! 😊

I really appreciate it and I’m also really happy with it because there are some very useful tips and constructive points in there that I can definitely take with me.

Really cool to hear that the game feels cinematic and gives you that big space opera feeling! 🚀 That was definitely part of the intention, but you never really know how it will come across to someone actually playing it, so I’m very glad that worked.

And thanks for the compliments on the UI as well! That was a pretty important part of the prototype and of the gameplay that’s currently in the game, sso it’s great to hear that it worked well for you. The extra feedback on buttons and selections is a very good point too and definitely something I’ll keep in mind.

And yes, you are completely right about the tutorial 😅 It was actually quite high on my list at first, but as is often the case with game jams... too many ideas and not enough time. Especially while also organizing the jam at the same time 😄

The tutorial slowly got pushed down the list in favor of other features that seemed fun to add. Classic feature creep... one of those very well-known game jam traps and I definitely fell into it this time (again) 😅

So you are absolutely right that a more complete version of the game would need a proper introduction and tutorial to explain how everything works together. There are some tooltips and labels in the current version that explain things like what to drag where and what certain actions do and stats of the pilots, but that is obviously not the best way to teach the player the whole game.

The balancing is also still pretty rough, again mostly because of time management, and I think that probably makes some of the systems and their effects less clear as well.

Hopefully, despite the confusing start, you were still able to enjoy it a bit and have some fun with it!? 😊

I’ll definitely count this as a +1 for making a bigger version in the future, with this feedback properly worked into it of course! 😄🚀

Thanks again for playing, for the kind words and especially for the useful suggestions on how to make it better! 💪

Thank you for playing and for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback! 😊 There is always something useful I can take from comments like this.

I'm really glad the theme worked for you and that the commander approach came across well. The original Wing Commander games were definitely one of the inspirations, but I wanted to look at that kind of setting from the other side of the cockpit and put you in charge of the pilots instead. 

It's also great to hear that you enjoyed the overall experience. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the space atmosphere, audio and presentation to work together, so I'm happy that came across. And especially that losing pilots actually feels meaningful. Even in a small prototype, I really wanted the player to care about the decisions they make and the consequences afterwards.

And you're absolutely right about the balance and the amount of tactical control at the moment. I would have loved to add more missions, more variety and more ways for the player to influence what happens during them. But you know how game jams go... so many ideas, so little time! 😅

Those are definitely things I would want to expand if I turn this into a bigger game. I'll put another +1 next to that idea now that someone else wants to see it too... maybe I really do need to make proper work of it! 👀🔥

Thanks again for playing, for the kind words and especially for the useful suggestions. And of course, enjoy the rest of the jam! 😊🎮

Thanks for playing and for the kind feedback! 😊
Really happy to hear you enjoyed the game, the art and audio and the mechanics with the people, ships, and decisions. Thanks again! 🚀🎮

Thank you! 😊 Glad you enjoyed it!

I actually had quite a few more ideas I wanted to add, but as usual with game jams, time management was chasing me all the way to the finish line 😅🏃‍♂️💨

Still, I’m really happy with how it came together, so it’s great to hear it already feels like a real game!

Thanks for bringing this up. I can definitely understand why seeing 12 ratings but only 4 recorded downloads would raise questions, and it's good that you reported it!

Unfortunately, as jam organizers we have fairly limited analytics available to us. We cannot see the individual scores people give to games, and we also don't get detailed voting data that would let us inspect a participant's overall rating behavior. So we can't directly check whether someone is, for example, systematically giving very low ratings to other entries.

The download number doesn't necessarily give us the complete picture either. itch.io's statistics may not always update immediately or reflect every possible way someone accessed a game, and itch.io also doesn't require someone to download or launch a game before they can submit a rating. So while the difference between 4 downloads and 12 ratings is certainly worth noticing, we don't yet know what caused it.

We do take possible voting manipulation seriously. Unfortunately, in previous jams we have had cases where people tried to influence the public results by giving very low ratings to competing games. That's one of the reasons voting in our jams is now limited to people who actually submitted a game.

We'll keep an eye on the voting. If anyone else notices something unusual with their ratings or statistics, please let us know as well. Multiple reports or similar patterns can give us a much better indication that something may need investigating.

If we see enough reason for concern, we can also contact itch.io and ask them to review the voting activity, as they have access to information that we as organizers cannot see. If we do need their help, we may also have to give them some time to respond and investigate it.

This is also one of the reasons we've made the Jury Ranking a much bigger part of the jam, with significantly larger prizes. Public voting is still an important part of the jam, but unfortunately there have been attempts in the past to influence public results. The jury ranking gives us a separate evaluation where the games are played and evaluated by the jury itself.

We also have the Feedback Award specifically to encourage people to actually play games and leave genuine, useful feedback. For us, that kind of participation is much more valuable than simply clicking through entries and leaving ratings without meaningful engagement, which is very much in line with the point you made as well.

So we do take concerns like this seriously and we’ll keep a close eye on the voting and on any similar reports that come in.

Thanks again for reporting it! 🙂

Bonus Prizes from Our Supporting Sponsors

In addition to the main prizes sponsored by GoedWare, we also have bonus prizes generously provided by our supporting sponsors. These sponsors help make the jam even more exciting by offering extra rewards for the participants! 

A big thank you to all our supporting sponsors for contributing these additional prizes and helping make this event even better!

Current Supporting Sponsors: 

CraftPix.net is an online store and resource specializing in providing high-quality premium and free 2D game assets for game developers, indie studios, and hobbyists.

CraftPix.net will sponsor the following prizes for the top 3 in the public & jury ranking:

• 1-year Craftpix Membership

__________________________________________

1BITDRAGON is an easy-to-use music creation tool for indie and solo game developers who want to create their own game music without requiring much musical knowledge.

1BITDRAGON will sponsor the following prizes for the top 3 in both the public & jury ranking:

• 1BITDRAGON Steam key

__________________________________________

In addition to the main prizes sponsored by GoedWare, we also have bonus prizes generously provided by our supporting sponsors. These sponsors help make the jam even more exciting by offering extra rewards for the participants! 

CraftPix.net is an online store and resource specializing in providing high-quality premium and free 2D game assets for game developers, indie studios, and hobbyists.

__________________________________________

1BITDRAGON is an easy-to-use music creation tool for indie and solo game developers who want to create their own game music without requiring much musical knowledge.

__________________________________________

Thanks a lot for playing and for the nice words! 😊 It is great to hear that the tension during the dogfights came across well. That was definitely the intention. You have some influence, but at the same time you also have to watch and hope your pilots can handle things, a bit like a real carrier commander. 

And yes, I agree about the choices. I would have liked to balance them better and add more meaningful options, but time management during a game jam is an enemy I think most game developers know all too well 😅

I also really appreciate the detailed feedback. It is always useful to hear which parts worked well and where there was still room for improvement.

Thanks again for playing. I am really glad you found it both fun and tense, because that was what I was aiming for! 🙌

Thank you! Really happy you enjoyed it and I appreciate you taking the time to play and leave a comment! 😊

Thank you for the kind words! 😊

I actually wanted to do quite a bit more, but as often happens during a game jam, my time management caught up with me and I had to start cutting things and wrapping them up much faster than planned.

I would have loved to add more varied missions, options and meaningful choices, but that just wasn’t realistic within 10 days. So I’m really happy it still made such a good impression! 😄

Thanks again😊!

I’d still love to turn this into a bigger project someday, especially if it turns out to be something more people would enjoy too. Wing Commander was one of my all-time favourites and managing the carrier, pilots and missions instead of doing the dogfighting yourself really appeals to me and feels like something a bit different.

That said, I’d also absolutely love to play a proper Wing Commander-style game with modern graphics and gameplay. 😄

And thanks for the kind words about the jam too! We really enjoy organizing it, and it’s great to see people having fun, learning things and actually finishing and submitting a game.

I’m really glad you’ve had a good time and I hope you enjoy the next few days of the rating period too, discover some great games, and get plenty of useful feedback on your own! 💚

Thank you again for the kind and positive words! I’m really glad the game made an impression. And yes... the asset packs definitely didn’t come with everything I needed. 😄

It’s also really cool to hear that you’ve been thinking about a similar indirect-control mechanic yourself. I’d definitely encourage you to try something with it! It creates a very different kind of decision-making compared to direct real-time control, and there’s a lot of interesting potential there.

Thanks again for taking the time to play and share such thoughtful feedback. Really appreciated! 💚

🎃 GOEDWARE GAME JAM HALLOWEEN EDITON (Part 3) 🎃 

Ready to create something spooky?

Join us for the Halloween Edition (Part 3) of the GoedWare Game Jam, starting October 30th, 2026! Whether you’re a solo dev or part of a team, this is your chance to craft a chilling, creative game and share it with a fun community of game makers.

Tagline: Conjure| Creep | Captivate 😈

Over the course of 96 thrilling hours, you’ll:

• 🎃 Embrace the Theme – The secret theme will be revealed at the start to spark your creativity.
• 👻 Collaborate & Connect – Join our Discord to meet fellow devs, get feedback, or find a team.
• 🔮 Showcase Your Work – Submit your game and compete in public voting and jury rankings.
• 🪄 Level Up – Experiment, learn new skills, and push your creativity under time pressure.

📅 Save the Dates:

• Jam Duration: October 30th - November 3rd, 2026
• Theme Reveal: October 30th 11:00 AM (CET)

🔗 Join the Challenge: GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition (Part 3) @ itch.io
🌐 Connect with Us on Discord: GoedWare's Hub

Connect with like-minded creators, share your progress, and bring your spooky game ideas to life!

🎃 Create, compete, and celebrate Halloween with GoedWare Game Jam Halloween Edition (Part 3)! ✨

Q: What is the theme for this jam?
A: The theme will be announced on the jam page and on Discord when the jam begins.

Q: Do I need to combine the announced theme with Halloween?
A: Since this is our special Halloween Edition, we'd love everyone to incorporate both the announced theme and a touch of Halloween into their game. You can focus primarily on the announced theme, but we'd like to see some recognizable connection to Halloween as well. It doesn't have to dominate your game or rely on traditional Halloween clichés.
Remember that Halloween / Theme is one of our judging categories!

Q: Is horror required for this Halloween Jam?
A: No, absolutely not! Your game can be horror, but it can also be funny, thrilling, mysterious, magical, cozy, or a mix of different styles! Halloween is much broader than just horror. Think spooky atmospheres, mysterious settings, folklore, trick-or-treating, playful monsters, or even a charming adventure with a Halloween twist. 
You don't need traditional Halloween elements like ghosts, pumpkins, or monsters either. Feel free to interpret Halloween creatively! 🎃

Q: Who can vote?
A: In our game jams, voting is restricted to submitters only. Voting is restricted to participants who submitted a game to the jam. This decision was made after some teams in previous jams downvoted all competing entries. Team members are still welcome and encouraged to leave comments of course.

Q: Who can participate?
A: Anyone! All experience levels are welcome, and you can work solo or in a team (recommended max 4 members).

Q: Can I participate in multiple teams?
A: Yes, you can help multiple teams with specific contributions, such as music, sound effects, or artwork, as long as you're properly credited. However, you can only be the official submitter for one game. You may not vote on any game you've contributed to, to keep things fair for everyone!

Q: Can I use any game engine?
A: Yes! You can use any engine or framework, such as Unity, Godot, Unreal, GameMaker, etc. Just ensure your game fits the jam’s rules and theme.

Q: Can I submit multiple games?
A: No. For this Halloween Jam, each participant or team may submit one entry. Because this jam runs across one weekend, we want participants to focus on making one small, finished game and on playing and giving useful feedback to others.

Q: Are AI tools allowed?
A: Yes. You may use AI tools to assist with coding and asset creation, such as art, music, or sound effects. However, you should remain meaningfully involved and in control of the development of your game. You should still be making the important creative, design, and development decisions, while actively directing, reviewing, testing, and shaping the results.

AI-generated content should be used thoughtfully and ethically, and must respect copyright and licensing rules. AI should help you realize your game, not effectively decide or create the game for you.

Please also be transparent about your AI use. Use itch.io's AI disclosure options where applicable, briefly mention how AI was used on your project page, and answer any AI-related questions in the submission form honestly.

Q: What about music, fonts, and assets?
A: You can use royalty-free music and audio assets you own, with proper credits and licenses. Make sure all assets adhere to copyright and licensing rules. You may use assets you already own, such as those from the Unity Asset Store or Unreal Marketplace. Ensure that all assets are properly licensed and that you have permission to use them. Avoid infringing on copyrights or trademarks.

Assets purchased from established asset stores, such as the Unity Asset Store or Unreal Marketplace, usually include a license that allows them to be used in games. However, you are still responsible for checking the license of the specific asset and making sure your use complies with its terms.

Q: Can I edit my game files after the deadline?
A: No. Game file edits and uploads are locked after the deadline. You can still update your project page with text, screenshots, images, instructions, and other additional information.

Q: Does my game have to be a certain format?
A: No. Browser builds are recommended if you want more players and ratings, because many people prefer not to download files during a jam. Downloadable builds are also allowed. If possible, at least make sure a Windows version is available.

Q: Can I submit a game that I already started on?
A: No. Your submitted game should be made during the jam period. You may use existing tools, templates, assets, plugins, snippets, workflows or libraries if you have the right license and credit them where needed, but the actual submitted game should be created during the jam.

Q: What are the rating categories?
A: Games will be rated on Gameplay / Fun / Engagement, Art Style / Visuals, Audio / Sound Design, and Halloween / Theme, with a special Feedback jury category for participants who provide thoughtful feedback on others’ games.

Q: How many ratings do I need to be eligible for prizes?
A: Each game currently needs at least 10 ratings to qualify for prizes. Playing, commenting and rating other games will help increase your own game's visibility and chances of receiving ratings. The minimum rating requirement may be adjusted based on the number of participants and submissions.

Q: How does the judging work?
A: In addition to community ratings, a jury panel will review games to award their favorite entries. The Feedback Award is selected manually and is awarded to the participant who gives the most helpful, detailed and constructive feedback on other entries.

Q: Is there a place to connect with other participants?
A: Yes! Join our Discord Server to chat, brainstorm, and share ideas with the community.

Q: Can I submit my game to other jams? 
A: No. Games submitted to this Halloween Jam may not be submitted to other game jams during the same jam period.

Q: What if I have more questions?
A: Feel free to reach out in the Discord, and we’ll be happy to help!

We’re always open to collaborations and would love to hear from you!

If you'd like to support our Game Jam, whether by providing a prize, sponsoring a specific category, or contributing in another creative way, we’d be happy to discuss the possibilities.

Sponsoring the jam is also a great opportunity to showcase your brand, project, product, or company to an active community of game developers, artists, designers, and game enthusiasts.

Interested? Simply leave a message below or join our Discord server and send GoedWare a DM. We’ll get back to you and explore how we can make your contribution a great fit for the event.

Let’s make something awesome together! 🎮✨

No, horror is not required for this Halloween Jam.

Your game can be horror, but it can also be funny, thrilling, or a mix of horror and comedy. Just make sure it connects in some way with the theme/Halloween!

Feel free to ask questions about the jam here..!

Use this topic to find team members for the Game Jam or go to our discord channel:  https://discord.gg/PNMKywspdb 

@ Discord there is also a collaboration channel to look for other participants to try to find and form a team.

Post here some handy links to free game development resources for your fellow Game Jam participants.

Some resources to help you started:

• Blender, for 3D  models and can also do 2D and/or sculpting: https://www.blender.org
• Kenny Assets: https://kenney.nl/assets | License: CC0 1.0 Universal
• CraftPix.net,  free 2D game assets for arcade, strategy, platformer, RPG and many other game types: https://craftpix.net/freebies/
• Freesound.org: https://freesound.org | License: https://freesound.org/help/faq/#wait-this-is-all-free
• 8bit Sound Generator: https://www.bfxr.net/ | License: You have full rights to all sounds made with bfxr, and are free to use them for any purposes, commercial or otherwise.
• Color Scheme Generator: http://colormind.io/
• Color Scheme Designer: https://paletton.com/
• Open Game Art: https://opengameart.org | License: https://opengameart.org/content/faq#q-how-to-credit
• Piskel,  a free online editor for animated sprites & pixel art:  https://www.piskelapp.com/
• Mixamo, animations: https://www.mixamo.com/
• Tree It, free tree creation tool: http://www.evolved-software.com/treeit/treeit 
• WOWIE Asset Pack (by Jonas Tyroller): https://jonas-tyroller.itch.io/wowie-pack
• LabChirp, a powerful and versatile sound effect generator: https://labbed.itch.io/labchirp
• Kay Lousberg free Game Assets: https://kaylousberg.com/game-assets
• ChipTone, a free tool for generating sound effect: https://sfbgames.itch.io/chiptone | License: All sounds created using ChipTone are free to use for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, under the CC0 licence. 
• Beepbox, BeepBox is an online tool for sketching and sharing instrumental music: https://www.beepbox.co
• Material maker, for procedural materials: https://rodzilla.itch.io/material-maker
• Audacity for editing audio: https://www.audacityteam.org
• Game idea generator, for if you're completely stuck on an idea: http://ygd.bafta.org/resources/game-idea-generator
• Ship Mixer, create ships that perfectly fit the shmup style:  https://kenney.itch.io/ship-mixer (License see link)
• Creature Mixer, create characters that perfectly fit the platformer style:  https://kenney.itch.io/creature-mixer (License see link)
• Some amazing free CC0 low poly places/characters/props: https://elbolilloduro.itch.io/
• Texture tool:  https://www.codeandweb.com/texturepacker
• Collection of low poly stuff: https://github.com/Miziziziz/Retro3DGraphicsCollection
• Inkscape: a free and open source vector graphics creation tool. https://inkscape.org/
• LibreSprite: LibreSprite is an open source version of AseSprite. https://libresprite.github.io/#!/
• Pixel Art Sprite Mixer. It has 100 Pixel Art Top-Down Animations, attack anims, weapons, swimming, teleporting, energy charging, jumps and ninja runs + more. Also has over 400 Items/Armors.  I made it to help beginners, indies devs & game jammers. https://kingbell.itch.io/pixel-sprite-mixer
• GDD Wizard is a browser-based tool built for jam teams to plan, organize, and finish stronger. Try it out here: https://studio-erza.itch.io/gdd-wizard
• Procedural music generator: https://pernyblom.github.io/abundant-music/, CC0 licence and https://musical-artifacts.com/ has lots of publicly licensed sound fonts for rendering the midi files that abundant music generates.

Thanks! 😊

The 80 hours is a pretty rough estimate though. I basically figured around 10 workdays of 8 hours. I didn’t actually track the time, so 90 hours or even a bit more could definitely be possible. I’ll probably clarify that it’s just a rough estimate. (Just added that to the field to clarify) 

It was solo dev though! I did use assets from the Unity Asset Store, especially for models and things like that, because unfortunately I’m definitely not a designer 😄 On the other hand, that was probably a good thing too, because if I had to model everything myself, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten this far within the time I had. 😅

I hope you also enjoyed playing it, or at least found the concept interesting!? 😊

Thank you so much for the kind words and of course for taking the time to play the game! I'm really glad you enjoyed it and it's great to hear that the carrier, the characters and the combat came across well. 😊

It definitely wasn't easy to build everything in 10 days while also handling all the work that comes with organizing the jam. That's also why the balance isn't quite where I wanted it to be, and I would have loved to add more missions and a few other things. But as always, time management is part of the challenge 😅

I did also use some assets that I had already bought or received, which of course helped a lot as well.

So again, thank you for the very positive feedback. Comments like this definitely give me some extra motivation to maybe turn it into a bigger and more polished version in the future.

I'll count this as a +1 for continuing with it 😄

🚨 Newsflash! Minor Deadline Extension 🚨

We've decided to extend the game jam deadline a little bit by an extra 4 hours! This gives you all some additional time for last-minute polish, final touches, and ensures everyone can submit their game without too much deadline stress.

Please upload early! We strongly recommend trying to upload your game at least a few hours before the deadline. This will help you avoid any last-minute network problems and give you time to verify that your game is playable for other participants.

⏰ New FINAL Development & Submission Deadline: Monday, September 28th, 2026, 15:00 CET

🔧 2-Hour Technical Grace Period

After the submission deadline, there will be an additional 2-hour Technical Grace Period before we lock the uploaded game files. 🆕

This gives participants who submitted their game before the deadline a little extra time to fix technical problems discovered around the deadline, such as:

• accidentally uploading the wrong build
• missing files
• a build that does not start
• upload/network problems
• game-breaking build or export issues

Important: The submission deadline is still the final deadline for entering the jam. Your game must be submitted to the jam before that time. If you have not submitted your game before the deadline, the Technical Grace Period does not apply and you can no longer enter the jam.

⏰ Technical Grace Period ends: Monday, September 28th, 2026, 17:00 CET

After that time, game files will be locked and can no longer be edited until the voting period has ended.

📅 Important: The 4-hour extension and the 2-hour Technical Grace Period are absolute and final! 😈 No further extensions will be granted.

You can still edit your project page, including the description and screenshots, and you can also add or update your devlog link after the deadline.

Please do not delete your uploaded game files after they have been locked! If you delete them, participants will no longer be able to play your game and you will not be able to upload a replacement until uploads are opened again after voting.

After the deadline the voting period starts:

• Note: In our game jams, voting is restricted to submitters only. This decision was made after some teams in previous jams downvoted all competing entries. Team members are still welcome and encouraged to leave comments of course.
• Please wait until the Technical Grace Period has ended before seriously playing and rating entries, as some participants may still need to replace a broken or incorrect build during those two hours.
• Devlog (optional) deadline is end of Thursday, October 1st
• Do not forget to fill in the Easter Egg form / Farclip question during submission when required. (optional)
• We also have our special Feedback Award + prize: Awarded to the participant who provides the most helpful, constructive, and insightful feedback on others' games. This category values those who go above and beyond with thoughtful comments, tips, and encouragement to help fellow developers improve their games. This choice is not based on any scientific calculations or exact scoring. Instead, we select from a group of participants who, in our opinion, provide thoughtful and constructive feedback. From that group, we draw a name as the award recipient.

Make these extra hours count!

Good luck and happy jamming! 🎮

Devlog is in our jams always later than the game submission deadline :-)
Deadline for the devlog is end of Thursday, October 1st.

Hi!

Yes, your game can participate.

Our rules allow the use of AI tools for asset creation, including artwork, music and sound effects. We just ask that AI-generated content is used thoughtfully and ethically, and that it does not replicate or closely resemble existing copyrighted content.

So using AI tools to create artwork and then adjusting or editing it yourself in Photoshop is allowed.

Transparency is important to us, though. Please make sure to correctly fill in itch.io's AI disclosure, answer the AI-related question in the jam submission form and mention the use of AI-generated artwork somewhere on your project page or description. This way, other participants and the judges know how the assets were created.

Good luck with the final part of the jam! :-)

🎉 PROMO ACTION JAM #17: WE HAVE OUR WINNER! 🎉

A big congratulations to the winner of our #GoedWareGameJam Promotion!

The winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card! 🏆🎁

Here’s the winning post on X by @ryanpondbuilds:

Currently making DETOUR for GoedWare Game Jam #17!
The theme is “THE LONG WAY HOME” and there are already some really cool interpretations popping up.
Come make something with us!
/jam/goedware-game-jam-17
#GoedWareGameJam #gamedev

Winning post: https://x.com/RyanPondBuilds/status/2102412605528899720

Thank you to everyone who joined the fun and helped spread the word about GoedWare Game Jam #17! 💚

Your support is greatly appreciated!

We will DM the winner to hand over the reward.

No, Discord is not required. Email is perfectly fine for handling the prizes.

The only advantage of being on Discord is that you'll see the final results a little earlier, since we announce them there first and update the main jam page shortly afterwards.

You are still in time and added to the contender list :-) !

🚀 GoedWare Game Jam #17 has officially begun!

🧭 Theme: THE LONG WAY HOME

🎮 325+ developers have already joined and there’s still plenty of time to jump in and make a game! Around 8 dev days left!

No, it doesn’t have to be a literal egg! 🥚😄

By “Easter Egg” we mean a hidden secret or surprise in your game. It could be a joke, secret power-up, hidden shortcut, funny reference, unusual interaction, or anything else creative.

The idea is simply to give players something fun or surprising to discover. 😊

You can find the full explanation in the Easter Egg Challenge section on our main jam page: /jam/goedware-game-jam-17 
(It’s optional, by the way! 😊)