Game Off is our annual game jam, where participants spend one month creating games based on a theme that we provide. Everyone around the world is welcome to participate, from newbies to professional game developers—and your game can be as simple or complex as you want. It’s a great excuse to learn a new technology, collaborate on something over the weekends with friends, or create a game for the first time!

Last year, the theme was “throwback” and over 200 games were created—everything from old school LCD games, and retro flight simulators, to squirrel-infested platformers.

We’re announcing this year’s theme on Thursday, November 1, at 13:37 pm (PDT). From that point, you have 30 days to create a game loosely based on (or inspired by) the theme.

Join the jam on itch.io now

Using open source game engines, libraries, and tools is encouraged, but you’re free to use any technology you want. Have you been wanting an excuse to experiment with something new? Now’s your chance to take on a new engine you’d like to try.

As always, we’ll highlight some of our favorites games on the GitHub Blog, and the world will get to enjoy (and maybe even contribute to or learn from) your creations.

Help—I’ve never created a game before!

With so many free, open source game engines and tutorials available online, there’s never been an easier (or more exciting!) time to try out game development.

Are you…

  • Into JavaScript? You might be interested in Phaser.
  • Comfortable with C++ or C#? Godot might be a good match for you.
  • Proficient with Python? Check out Pygame.
  • Dangerous with Java? Take a look at libGDX.
  • In love with Lua? Check out LÖVE or Defold. Like retro games too? Drop everything and check out LIKO-12!

Do you really like retro games? Maybe you can…

Whatever genre of game you’re interested in and language you want to use, you’re bound to find a GitHub project that will help you take your game from idea to launch in only a month.

Have a repository or tutorial you’d like to share, tag us with #GitHubGameOff.

Help—I’ve never used version control, Git, or GitHub before!

Don’t worry, we have tons of resources for you. From how to use Git, to all things GitHub, you’ll “git” it in no time.

  • GitHub Help offers tons of information about GitHub, from basics like creating an account, to advanced topics, such as resolving merge conflicts
  • Git documentation has everything you need to know to start using Git (including version control)

Did you know? You don’t have to use Git on the command line. You can use GitHub Desktop (our client for macOS and Windows), or bring Git and GitHub to your favorite editors:

GLHF! We can’t wait to see what you build! ❤️

Octocat pixel art animation

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