Game Off 2024 theme announcement

Get ready for our annual game jam, Game Off! Whether you’ve been a participant for years or you’re hearing about it for the first time, this is your chance to create something extraordinary throughout November. The theme for this year? SECRETS. Intriguing, right? What kind of hidden stories, covert missions, or untold mysteries will you reveal? That’s entirely up to you.

You have until December 1 at 13:37 PST to build a game loosely based on the theme—how you interpret it is entirely up to you.

Need inspiration? Here are a few concept ideas:

• Top-down adventure: explore a mysterious temple filled with hidden chambers and secret passages, revealing lost treasures and forgotten lore.
• Stealth platformer: infiltrate a secret society’s headquarters, using gadgets and shadows to remain undetected
• AR treasure hunt: use real-world surroundings to find hidden clues that lead to a secret treasure.
• Hacking simulator: circumvent security systems and use social engineering to gather passwords and access tokens before time runs out. Maybe even hack time itself!
• CLI text adventure: help hero Marty troubleshoot his life now that he has no more secrets to hide.
• A game about the Secret Life of NPCs. Ever wonder what the shopkeeper does when you’re not around? Now’s your chance to find out.

🔥 New this year: wildcards (for extra nerd cred)

We’re introducing wildcards—optional challenges to give your games some extra flair, inspired by Global Game Jam’s “diversifiers” and Godot Wild Jam’s “wildcards”.

• Small palette: limit your colors to 4—perfect for retro CGA vibes or Fantasy Consoles experiments.
• Cheat mode: let players break the rules with things like infinite lives or invincibility via codes, key combos, or hex edits.
• Speed run: make time the enemy! Add high scores or leaderboards, and rewards for clever, time-saving moves.

Incorporate any, all, or none into your game!

We look forward to seeing your wonderful, weird, and wacky creative interpretations.😆

How to participate

Work alone or on a team. Use whatever programming languages, game engines, or libraries you like.

1. Sign up. Create a free GitHub account if you don’t have one.
2. Join the jam. Hop onto the itch.io Game Off page. If you don’t already have an itch.io account, you can sign in with your GitHub account.
3. Create a public repository. Store your source code on GitHub—open-source magic at its finest. Push your game before December 1 at 13:37 PST.
4. Submit your game on itch.io. Once submitted, you’ll be able to play other entries and cast your votes!

Voting

After the submission period ends, participants will vote on each other’s games. Entries will be evaluated in the following categories:

• Overall
• Gameplay
• Graphics
• Audio
• Innovation
• Theme Interpretation

Voting will end on January 8, 2025, at 13:37 PST. Winners will be announced on GitHub 𝕏 and the GitHub Blog on January 10, 2025, at 13:37 PST.

New to game development?

Game jams are a great excuse to build your first game, play with a new game engine, or learn a new language. There are plenty of free, open source and “source available” engines to explore. Here are a few suggestions for some popular languages:

• JavaScript: you might be interested in Phaser or Sprig.
• Python: check out Pygame or Godot (Godot uses GDScript, which is similar to Python).
• C++ or C#: look at Godot, Unity, and Unreal Engine.
• Rust: you might like Bevy.
• Java: take a look at libGDX.
• Flutter: take a peek at Flame.
• Go: you might want to look at Ebitengine.
• Lua: check out LÖVE or Defold or LIKO-12 (especially if you like retro games)!

The Game Off 2024 Community is a great place to ask questions or look for teammates. There’s also a fantastic and friendly community-run Discord server

New to Git or GitHub?

Game Off is the perfect opportunity to check it out (version control pun intended)!

• Git Documentation: learn everything about version control and how to get started.
• GitHub Help: explore tutorials and FAQs about GitHub.
• Any questions about GitHub? Visit the GitHub Community Forum.

Good luck and have fun! Can’t wait to play, err, test all your games! <3

Written by

Lee Reilly

@leereilly

Developer / Marketing / Community at GitHub. Twitter: https://twitter.com/leereilly.