- Free participation for everyone worldwide… Game submission deadline November 5, 4:00 AM
- Online awards ceremony to be held on November 14… Xorin credits also provided to participants
- Freely take on challenges in management, survival, sandbox, etc… Expert feedback for the 5 finalist teams
Game Gauntlet is hosting the simulation-themed online game jam , ‘Game Gauntlet SIM Jam’ . While primarily aimed at students and solo/indie developers, anyone worldwide can participate for free. The total prize pool is $1,500.
Registration is available on the itch.io event page . The game submission deadline is 2:00 PM Eastern Time on November 4, which is 4:00 AM on November 5 in Korea. According to the organizers, over 410 people have already registered.
If you simulate the system, the genre is free.
The theme of this game jam is ‘Simulation’. You can submit a wide range of entries, from management, tycoon, colony, survival, vehicle, and life simulations to immersive sims and sandbox systems.
There is no need to meticulously recreate reality. The organizers stated that they evaluate not how similar it is to reality, but whether the in-game systems function consistently and whether players’ actions lead to meaningful results.
The Game Jam began on September 23 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Following community and judge evaluations, the winners are scheduled to be announced via an online live stream on November 14 at 2:00 PM. The awards ceremony will be held on November 15 at 4:00 AM KST.
| step | Schedule (US Eastern Time / Korea Time) |
|---|---|
| Submission Deadline | November 4th, 2:00 PM / November 5th, 4:00 AM |
| Community evaluation | November 5-10 |
| Judges’ scoring | November 11–13 |
| Awards Ceremony (Live Stream) | November 14th, 2:00 PM / November 15th, 4:00 AM |
Participate without engine restrictions… Teams of up to 5 can be formed
Participants may use their preferred tools, such as Unity, Unreal, Godot, GameMaker, or their own engines. They may enter individually or form a team of up to five members. However, the core design, code, and content of the game must be created during the Game Jam. Entries that merely modify the graphics or appearance of existing projects are not eligible.
You may use asset packs, personal asset libraries, middleware, plugins, music, etc., and you must disclose the source of the materials used. Images, code, music, and text created with generative AI are also permitted. In this case, you must indicate the use of AI in accordance with Steam’s disclosure standards.
Submissions must be executable files (.exe) for Windows or WebGL builds that run in a web browser. The organizers noted that international users tend to play browser builds more often. The game title and description must be written in English, and the content rating must be ESRB T (Teen) or lower.
Participants must join the organizer’s Discord server. During the evaluation period, a certain number of other entries must also be evaluated to become a prize candidate. The game and intellectual property rights of the submitted works belong to the creator.
Five game industry professionals judged the final entries
The expert evaluation will be conducted on the five finalist teams. The judges are as follows.
- Jason Della Rocca: Co-founder of Execution Labs, former Executive Director of IGDA
- Jared Yeager: CAA Executive, Head of Indie Game Accelerator FRAME1GAMES
- Renee Gittins: Representative of Stumbling Cat, IGDA Alumni Board Chair
- Dave Crooks: Dodge Roll Game Director, ‘Enter the Gungeon’ Director
- Adam “doseone” Drucker: Composer of ‘Into the Gungeon’, ‘Gang Beasts’
1st place prize of $1,000, 2nd place $500
The first-place team receives a prize of $1,000, a trophy, and a 90-minute pass to legal services. If the winner is a solo participant, they receive a lifetime IGDA membership; if it is a team, they receive a two-year membership for each team member. The second-place prize is $500 and a trophy.
The top three winners will also receive a one-year CraftPix membership, a one-year Farclip Playtest pass, and a three-month Xorin Premium pass. The five finalist teams will participate in one-on-one feedback sessions with the judges and have the opportunity to showcase their work during a live broadcast on November 14.
Prize money will be paid in U.S. dollars via the payment platform Oncade. Winners residing outside the United States must submit a W-8BEN tax form, and those under the age of 18 require parental consent. Prize money cannot be paid to certain countries subject to U.S. sanctions, but South Korea is not included. Judging, the awards ceremony, and the presentation of works will all be conducted online.
Sponsor Xorin offers $100 credit to participants
Xorin, the Silver Tier sponsor of this game jam, is an AI co-development tool that runs in the Unity Editor.
According to the developer, Xorin examines the project to identify scripts, prefabs, components, and Inspector settings before working on them. It can also place assets with their size, colliders, and rigging set directly into the scene. Changes are first displayed as differences and are reflected in the project only after the user approves them.
Participants can receive $100 worth of credit by entering the code SIMJAM . Card registration is not required, and the credit can be used on supported models during the Game Jam from September 23 to November 4.
$40 worth of credit is provided to all users who sign up for Xorin, regardless of whether they participate in the jam. The credit can be used for Antropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Kimi, and GLM models, and it also supports a method where users can directly link their own API keys.
The developer stated that they are currently not charging usage fees and that if you have used up all your credits, you can inquire about additional payments via Discord.
Xorin currently supports Unity and plans to support Unreal and Godot as well. Usage is not a requirement for participation, and you can compete on equal footing regardless of which engine you choose.
How to apply
To register, click ‘Join jam’ on the Game Gauntlet SIM Jam page on itch.io. If participating as a team, all team members must join the organizer’s Discord server. You can register or add team members at any time before the submission deadline.
On Discord, after submission, you can also receive feedback and expert reviews through a private review channel.
Information regarding ‘Game Gauntlet SIM Jam’ and ‘Xorin’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Event Name | Game Gauntlet SIM Jam |
| Host | Game Gauntlet |
| subject | simulation |
| period | September 23, 2026 – November 4, 2026 (Submission deadline: November 5, 4:00 AM KST) |
| Eligibility | Anyone worldwide, free to participate, solo or teams of up to 5 |
| engine | No restrictions |
| Total prize money | $1,500 in cash (1st place $1,000, 2nd place $500) |
| Partner/Sponsor | Devolver Digital (Gold), Xorin (Silver), IGDA, Unity, Farclip, CraftPix, Odin Lo & Media, etc. |
| Submission format | Windows .exe or WebGL browser build |
| Awards ceremony | Online live broadcast on November 14 at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time) |
| Registration | itch.io |
| Xorin Jam Credits | Code SIMJAM, $100 ( xorin.ai/simjam/get-xorin ) |
| Xorin General Registration | $40 credit for everyone ( xorin.ai ) |
| Support Engine | Unity (Unreal, also planned) |
