Rules

Game jams are great, but they don’t fit very well around busy grown-up life. This is the slow-mo version: a whole month, a shared theme, and a group of friends cheering each other on. There is some gentle competition, but this is not about grinding, perfection or winning anything.

The goal: steady progress, shared often, and help each other finish more things.

Dates

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• Sunday 1 November – Monday 30 November 2026
• Work at your own pace. There are no daily requirements.
• Weeks run Sunday to Saturday. Claims made on 29–30 November count towards week 4.

Theme: Squad Goals

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Interpret it however you like:

• A team, crew, party, flock or swarm
• A goal that only works when things cooperate
• Sport (five-a-side counts)
• Aspirations, ambitions, or someone’s very specific life goals

Make sure you claim On Theme by explaining your take on it.

What counts as a project?

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Anything game-adjacent:

• Games, toys, experiments, interactive tools
• Any engine, framework or language, or even paper prototypes
• Solo or collaborative (just be clear what you worked on)

Achievements and points

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• There are lots of small achievements, and each can be earned once.
• Most should take about 1–2 hours or less.
• 5 pts: very small progress (30–60 min)
• 10 pts: solid, focused work
• 15 pts: a meaningful milestone or iteration
• 20 pts: harder, integrative, or very shareable progress

Points are for fun, bragging rights and momentum only.

How to claim

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1. Do the thing.
2. Post some evidence in your devlog thread in Discord: a screenshot, a clip, a build, or a few sentences.
3. Write claim: followed by the achievement number or name, e.g. claim: 12 or claim: Bug Hunter. Several in one post is fine: claim: 1 and claim: 4.
4. It appears on the leaderboard with the next update, greyed out until the referee confirms it.

Shared goal

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Everyone’s points also count towards one shared target. If the group reaches it by the end of the month, the popadoms reward is unlocked! Helping someone else earn points helps everyone.

Weekly mini-twists

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Each Sunday a new optional mini-twist is revealed: a light constraint, a creative lens, or a nudge to share. Taking part earns a bonus achievement. They appear on the jam home page and the achievements page as they are revealed.

Weekly roundups

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Every week this site publishes a roundup of everyone’s progress, built from your Discord devlog posts. If there’s something you don’t want quoted on the public site, react to it with 🙈 and it will be left out.

Sharing

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Sharing is the heart of the jam. Good things to share:

• Screenshots or short clips
• Before and after comparisons
• A few sentences about what changed or what you learned
• Code snippets or system explanations

WIP is encouraged. Rough is good. Broken is fine.

Finishing

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You do not need a perfect or complete game. A playable build, a toy, or a clear ending is a win. At the end of the month, share what you made, reflect on what worked and what didn’t, and celebrate finishing something.