What is Jamference?
Jamference is a game jam built around one idea: making games with AI, out in the open. You get a theme up front, a surprise restriction at the starting bell, and one week to ship something playable. The week after that, everyone plays and rates what everyone else made.
Everyone starts from the same two prompts and ends up somewhere completely different. That's the fun part. Build solo, build with friends, build with a model in the loop. As long as something playable exists at the deadline, you're in.
The full week is there to make it easier to take part, not a bar you have to clear. Your game can be one prompt or a full week of work, a tiny toy or something huge. Just make something fun. New to jams? This is a good one to start with.
The theme: Great Works of Art
This time the jam is a gallery. Pick a painting, a print, a sculpture, a tapestry, a whole movement, and build a game around it.
The dream: games that look like they walked straight out of a museum. A platformer painted in the swirling brushstrokes of The Starry Night. A puzzle game cut from Hokusai's woodblock waves. A roguelike crawling through the margins of a medieval illuminated manuscript. A pointillist shooter built one Seurat dot at a time. Borrow a great artist's style and make it playable.
But any take on great works of art is fair game: a heist in a gallery after dark, a restorer fixing a ruined fresco, a portrait that keeps changing when you look away, a game about the artist rather than the art. The theme is a launchpad, not a leash. Nobody is checking your homework against a definition.
A note on public domain
If you put an actual artwork in your game (the image itself, a scan, a crop, a texture made from it), it needs to be in the public domain. A good rule of thumb: if it was made before 1923, you're very likely fine. Mona Lisa, The Starry Night, The Great Wave, Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Garden of Earthly Delights: all yours to use.
Styles are different. Nobody owns cubism or surrealism, so you can make your game look like a Picasso or a Magritte. Just don't drop the newer paintings themselves into your game. When in doubt, check, and credit the original artwork on your page either way.
Restriction: to be announced at the bell
The restriction lands the second the jam opens, not a minute before. Nobody gets a head start, nobody gets to pre-build around it. And unlike the theme, it's mandatory.
Two weeks, two jobs
Build week 30 Oct – 6 Nov
The restriction drops at the open. Seven days to make and submit. Submissions close hard at the deadline, and whatever is uploaded then is what gets played.
Rating week 6 – 13 Nov
Everyone plays everyone. Score the three categories, leave people some real feedback, and the averages decide it at the end of the week.
Ratings
Three categories, weighted equally. The three scores are averaged, and the highest average wins.
Was the game actually good to play? This is the one that matters most, because it's the whole point of making games.
How was AI used in making the game, or inside the game itself? Interesting, ambitious, well-judged use scores higher than sheer volume of tool calls.
How well does the whole thing come together? Art, audio, animation and feel: the sense that every piece was built for the others.
Rate generously and rate honestly. Everyone here shipped something in a week.
Rules
-
AI must be part of the buildRequired
This is the rule that defines the jam. AI has to be genuinely involved somewhere: code, art, audio, writing, level generation, design ideation, or as a live system inside the game itself. "I used it for a variable name" doesn't count; we're looking for AI doing real work. Tell us what you used and where.
-
The restriction is mandatoryRequired
The theme is optional inspiration. The restriction is not. Incorporate it, and be ready to explain how in a sentence.
-
Build it during the jam week
Games must be made inside the one-week build window. Existing projects, prototypes you've been sitting on, and last month's abandoned build are not eligible.
-
Reused assets are fine if they're yours to reuse
Your own libraries, your own engine, your own tooling, licensed asset packs, AI-generated assets are all allowed. Just make sure you have the right to use them, and credit anything that needs crediting. Any artwork you use directly must be in the public domain (roughly, made before 1923).
-
Keep it broadly safe for everyone
No NSFW content, targeted harassment, or hate. If your game contains anything intense, such as horror, gore, flashing imagery or heavy themes, flag it clearly on your submission page.
-
Be nice
This is a place to make games and have fun. Give constructive feedback and don't bash anyone for how they use AI.
-
Disclose your team
Solo, duo, or squad, all fine. Just list who did what, and say so if you're contributing to more than one entry.
FAQ
Do I have to follow the theme?
No. "Great Works of Art" is there to spark ideas. Only the restriction is compulsory.
Can I put a famous painting directly in my game?
Yes, if it's in the public domain. Roughly, that means it was made before 1923. Credit the artwork and the artist on your page.
Can I make my game look like a newer artist's work?
Go for it. Art styles and movements are free for everyone. You just can't use the newer artworks themselves.
Which AI tools can I use?
Any of them. Coding assistants, image and audio models, agents, local models, whatever you've got. Combine them freely.
Do I need to disclose which tools I used?
Yes, briefly, on your submission. No essay required; a short list of tools and what each one did is plenty.
Can I build a game about AI instead of using AI?
You can do both, and plenty of people will. But rule 1 still stands: AI has to be part of how the thing got made or how it runs.
What engine can I use?
Whatever you're fastest in. Unity, Godot, Unreal, Bevy, plain HTML and JavaScript, Twine, a spreadsheet with delusions of grandeur. No restrictions.
What kind of game can I make?
Any genre, any platform. Web builds get played the most, so if you want ratings, a browser version helps enormously.
Does my game have to be playable in the browser?
It is recommended but not required. A web build gets played and rated far more than a download, because most people rating are clicking through a long list of entries. If you can only ship a downloadable build, that is still a valid entry.
Can I submit more than one entry?
Yes. Each one is judged on its own merits, and each needs its own submission page.
Can I keep working on it during rating week?
Bug fixes are fine, and encouraged if something is broken enough to block play. Adding features, content or art is not, because everyone should be rated on the same build. Keep the deadline version playable all week and label any post-jam version clearly.
How is the winner decided?
Fun, AI use, and Polish are averaged into a single score. Highest average takes it.
I missed the deadline. Now what?
Get in touch in the community channel as soon as you can. Late submissions are handled case by case; the earlier you say something, the more we can do.
Is there a prize?
Bragging rights, a leaderboard, and a pile of games that didn't exist a fortnight ago. The real prize is finding out what you can ship in a week with AI riding shotgun.
When's the next one?
We’ll be hosting jams every two weeks. Keep an eye out for the next one, and join the community to hear it first.