| ET Eastern USA | CET Central European | |
|---|---|---|
| Jam starts | Wed, Sep 23 — 2:00 PM | Wed, Sep 23 — 8:00 PM (CEST) |
| Submissions due | Wed, Nov 4 — 2:00 PM | Wed, Nov 4 — 8:00 PM |
| Community rating | Nov 5 – 10 | Nov 5 – 10 |
| Rating closes | Tue, Nov 10 — 2:00 PM | Tue, Nov 10 — 8:00 PM |
| Top 5 announced | Wed, Nov 11 — 2:00 PM | Wed, Nov 11 — 8:00 PM |
| Judges play and score | Nov 11 – 13 | Nov 11 – 13 |
| Finalist video due | Fri, Nov 13 — 2:00 PM | Fri, Nov 13 — 8:00 PM |
| Judging Panel + Awards | Sat, Nov 14 — 2:00 PM | Sat, Nov 14 — 8:00 PM |
Every deadline is 2:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CET — that's 12:00 PM Mountain Time, where we're based. Same clock reading on every date, and the same calendar day everywhere, so there's no midnight rollover.
Simulation is the widest genre in games.
It's the breakout hit that has you optimizing a supply chain you invented for yourself. It's the management game you lose a weekend to. It's the tycoon loop, the survival colony, the vehicle you learn to actually fly. And it's the training tool that teaches a surgeon, models a city, or runs a disaster before it happens.
All of it counts here. Build something that simulates a system — real, invented, serious, or ridiculous.
For six weeks, make a simulation game. The best ones win cash, get feedback from working industry veterans, and demo live on a stream that plays to both the jam community and a room of developers, studios, and educators.
Open to developers worldwide.
Theme: SIMULATION
Watch the kickoff stream for the theme reveal, design guidance, and inspiration.
Your game needs to simulate a system of some kind. Beyond that, the field is wide open:
Neither is favored. A great entertainment sim and a great applied sim compete on equal footing, and we've built the rating criteria to make sure of that.
First Place
Second Place
Third Place
All five finalists
Special categories — selected by the judges from all entries, independent of placement:
Unity mentorship goes to the top-placing finalist team built in Unity.
Why Discord is required: after you submit, we add you to a private review channel for your entry. That's where you'll get community feedback and expert industry review. If we can't match your submission to a Discord account, we can't get you into that channel — so the username on your submission has to match the account that joined the server.
Team size: solo, or up to 5 people. Members can join after the start, but everyone must be listed on the final submission. Every team member should be in the Discord.
Every submission must include:
.exe or browser (WebGL). Browser builds get the most plays and ratings, and travel best internationally.
The core design, code, and content of your game must be created during the jam period, September 23 – November 4.
Permitted, as long as they're credited:
Not permitted:
Attestation. Every submission requires a signed attestation confirming the above (see the submission form). Submitting a false attestation is grounds for disqualification and forfeiture of any prize — including after results are announced.
You keep everything. Games and all underlying IP remain fully owned by the participants who made them.
AI-generated art, code, music, and text are permitted. You must disclose them, aligned with Steam's requirements — this keeps your game shippable later.
Disclose:
You must hold the rights or permission to use everything in your game, AI-generated content and third-party assets included. That means you created it, or you licensed it for personal or commercial use.
All participants rate on five criteria. Each is written to work across the full range of the genre, from a chaotic tycoon sim to a clinical training tool.
| Criterion | What it asks | Entertainment lens | Applied lens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systems | Does the simulation hold together? Do player actions produce meaningful consequences and readable feedback? | Do the mechanics interact in ways that create emergent situations? | Does the model behave plausibly enough to be instructive? |
| Engagement | Does it hold your attention and reward you for paying attention? | Is it fun? Do you want another run? | Is it compelling enough to keep a learner working through it? |
| Creativity | Is the idea original? Does it feel distinct? | Fresh premise, unusual mechanic, unexpected tone | A problem no one's simulated this way before |
| Theme Execution | Does it interpret the jam theme well? | — | — |
| Presentation | Art, sound, clarity, and overall polish | Does it feel good to be in? | Is it legible? Can the target user find what matters? |
Fidelity to reality is not a criterion. An abstracted, deliberately gamey system can score full marks on Systems if it's coherent and generative. A photorealistic model can score poorly if nothing you do matters.
Judges receive the five finalist builds on November 11 and have three days to play and score them. Scoring is 1–5 on each of the following. The first three mirror the community criteria; the last two are judge-only.
| Criterion | Question |
|---|---|
| Systems design | Is the underlying model coherent, and does it generate meaningful decisions? |
| Execution | Scope control, polish, and how complete it feels for six weeks |
| Originality | Does this do something we haven't seen? |
| Publishing potential | Could this become a full release someone would pay for, or deploy? |
| Completion potential | Could this reach a shippable state in roughly six months? |
Publishing potential is read against the game's own market. For an entertainment sim, that means a commercial release. For an applied sim, that means a school, studio, agency, or training program that would license or deploy it. Both are valid answers.
Best Entertainment Simulation and Best Applied Simulation are selected by the judges from all entries, not just the five finalists. A game that didn't make the top 5 can still take a category. Selection uses the same rubric, weighted toward the category's own lens.
Final prizes are set by judge vote and confirmed by Game Gauntlet.
This jam covers a wide range — a chaotic tycoon sim and a serious training tool can both be excellent, and both are welcome here.
Rate each game against what it's trying to do, not against what you'd have made.
Every submission includes a one-line statement of intent. Read it first. A training simulation isn't trying to be a laugh, and a tycoon sim isn't trying to be accurate. Ask whether the game achieves what it set out to achieve, then rate accordingly.
Rating runs November 5–10, closing Tuesday, November 10 at 2:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CET (19:00 UTC). Every participant must rate at least 3 entries — teams that don't rate are ineligible for prizes. Three is the minimum, not the target: the more entries you rate, the fairer the top 5 is for everyone.
Do not solicit ratings or coordinate vote-trading. Entries that do will be disqualified.
Uploads stay open during the rating period, but only for one reason: fixing game-breaking bugs. Crashes, softlocks, builds that won't launch, save corruption.
If you push a fix, post what you changed in your submission's devlog or in the jam community thread. Keep it short — one line is fine.
Not permitted during rating:
Everyone is rated on the same six weeks of work. Fixing a crash keeps that fair; shipping improvements while people are voting does not. Undisclosed changes are grounds for disqualification, and we check upload timestamps against devlogs before finalist builds go to the judges.
Avoid the problem entirely: browser (WebGL) builds are the least likely to strand you with a launch failure you never saw on your own machine.
The top 5 are announced Wednesday, November 11. If you're in, two things happen.
1. Submit a 1–2 minute video — due before the panel. Introduce your team, describe your game, show gameplay. Due Friday, November 13 at 2:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CET (19:00 UTC).
2. Show up and demo live. This is the one that matters.
The Judging Panel + Awards is a livestreamed online call on Saturday, November 14 at 2:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CET (19:00 UTC). Finalists demo their game to the judges live and answer questions. Results are revealed on the stream.
Your video is the fallback if your team genuinely can't make the call — it gets shown in your place. But be clear about the tradeoff: in our experience, judges weigh live attendance heavily. A team that demos its own game and fields questions gives the panel far more to score than a recording can. If you can make the call, make the call.
Everything is online — no travel, ever. Wherever you are in the world, you join the same stream. We coordinate over Discord.
The stream also plays to the room at the Game Gauntlet Play & Demo Day, held in collaboration with Vital Spaces (venue TBA). Your demo reaches the online jam community and an in-person audience at the same time — without you going anywhere.
The jam is open to developers worldwide. Trophies, CraftPix memberships, mentorship, and promotion are available to every winner regardless of location.
Cash prizes:
Target ESRB "T" (Teen) or lower. Entries rated "M" (Mature 17+) will not be accepted. No NSFW content, explicit sexual content, extreme violence, or hate speech.
Late submissions will not be accepted. Submissions may be removed by admins for rule violations.
By entering, you consent to your submission, gameplay footage, and any recorded video or audio being used for Game Gauntlet promotion and social media. In-person attendees consent to being recorded at the event.
Be respectful. No harassment or discrimination. Report concerns to organizers. Violations may result in disqualification or removal from the event and community.
Game Gauntlet is an indie game jam and community, connecting developers with mentorship, industry feedback, and exposure.
The jam culminates at the Game Gauntlet Play & Demo Day on Saturday, November 14, held in collaboration with Vital Spaces (venue TBA). The judging panel and awards stream live — finalists demo to the judges online while the stream plays to the room, reaching both audiences at once.
Where this is going. We're building toward a Game Gauntlet accelerator — real funding and publishing support for indie developers.
Presented by Cosmic Forces.