This jam is now over. It ran from 2022-08-25 18:00:00 to 2022-09-02 03:59:00. View 513 entries



Work alone or with a team (up to 5 members total) to make the most incredible project in Unreal Engine based on the given theme and submit before the deadline!

OFFICIAL RULES

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

  • The game must include custom gameplay that exceeds the gameplay found in Epic Games’ starter templates.
  • All art assets in the game must have a material other than "DefaultMaterial" applied to it. 
  • Submissions must be packaged for Windows or MAC OS X or Android or iOS (development build) or Oculus Mobile, or Windows Mixed Reality, or HoloLens. No full, unpackaged projects. VR and AR projects are accepted. Android games can be distributed via the Play store as well.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY AND TIMELINE   

In Unreal Engine game jam tradition, we'll be kicking this one off and announcing the theme during the livestream on both Twitch and Youtube on Thursday, August 25 at 2 PM ET with the theme being announced at 3 PM ET. The jam ends on Thursday, September 1 at 11:59 PM ET. 

You will need the following information at the time of submission:

  • Team Name
  • Each Team Member's Name and Email Address associated with your Epic Games account
  • Game Name
  • Name of your submission
    • Please format the name of your .zip file with your team's name attached, ex. TeamName_GameName
  • List any content that was created before the jam that was included in the final submission.
  • Submissions must include a link to gameplay footage (between 30-60 seconds) demonstrating recorded gameplay.
    • The footage will be included in our highlight reel on the 2022 Epic MegaJam results livestream.


>> You need to upload your game to your Itch.io account page before you can submit it to the 2022 Epic MegaJam page.<<

NOTE: In order to submit your game to Itch.io, your .zip file must be UNDER 1GB. This won't affect most projects, but please be mindful of the size of your game once compressed. If your file is more than 1GB, you may utilize the Butler tool to upload your files to Itch.io. More info on that is here. Also check out Blendo Itch Uploader, a GUI for uploading projects to Itch.io.

JUDGING

Qualified Submissions will be reviewed and scored (1-5 point scale) by a panel of qualified judges, according to the following criteria:

  • Unique Use of Contest Theme
  • Fun Factor
  • Visuals
  • Audio

NOTE: Sourced (non-original) assets are allowed but will not be reviewed and scored.

  • Example 1: A scene with environment art from the marketplace could get points for lighting and composition, but the pre-made assets wouldn't. 
  • Example 2: A scene with sourced audio could get points for implementation (spatialization, real-time modulation, etc), but the sourced audio wouldn't.

GETTING STARTED   

Here are some resources that will help you get prepared for the 2022 Epic MegaJam!


Assembla will grant access to their platform to all #UnrealJam development teams to build their Unreal Engine game using Perforce, SVN and/or Git repositories. Teams can also use Assembla's built-in PM tools to coordinate their efforts during the Jam. As a secure cloud version control provider of Perforce, SVN, and Git in the cloud, Assembla is an essential partner to any developer. We are excited to help facilitate Assembla's ongoing work within the game development community. Read our "how to" guide here. Please also exploretutorials on using Assembla beforehand for maximum efficiency during the event. Sign-up is now available here!

Note: Repositories will be deleted 28 days after the jam concludes. Save your files locally to ensure they won't be lost! 

As SideFX has done for past UE4 game jams, they would like to give out 2-month Houdini Indie licenses for participants to use before and during the game jam. Request this here! SideFX has also created a collection of pre-built assets to use for the game jam, check out the Unreal Starter Kit here. Furthermore, check out some of their latest tutorial videos: Getting Started with Houdini Engine for UE4, and Building Game Friendly Assets.

KitBash3D is providing free use of their fantastic Neo City Kit, to be used in relation to The KitBasher Modifier, or otherwise! Show the KitBash3D team what you're made of!

Get their special BOOM Library Game Pack for free and start with a handpicked selection of our great SFX packages, like Assault Weapons or SCI-FI, perfectly coordinated for your game’s sound design. Just put their Game Pack into your shopping cart on our website. Once downloaded you can use the sounds forever for any non-commercial and commercial productions. Please read their terms & conditions for legal notes. The link is available now!

WeLoveIndies gives free use of all sound and music from the WeLoveIndies catalogue for your Epic MegaJam project - without registration. Just check out for free with the voucher "WL-22Ep-MeJam-UUECI". The downloaded assets stay unlimitedly licensed to this project even after the jam. It is not allowed to reuse these assets for other projects outside of the Epic MegaJam. Everybody who uses WLI for the Jam additionally gets a 50% voucher for the next project. (Legal note: Their sound and music is free of any royalties claims by collecting societies such as GEMA, SACEM, PRS, BMI, etc.

RamsterZ Animations is providing some perfect examples of paired animations! Head on over to their website and check them out, and be sure to take a peak at the Double Trouble modifier! 


Sign up with a free account at GameTextures.com and take advantage of the free samples from the GameTextures.com team!

Quixel Megascans are free for all Unreal Engine users! Log in with your Epic Games account and get access to the entire library.

Quixel Mixer allows you to leverage hundreds of free premade Smart Materials that adapt to the shape of your 3D model. One tool for all your basic texturing needs, texture tile creation or maps for 3D models and is free for use with Unreal Engine. Log in with your Epic Games account and get access to the tool and the entire Mixer/Megascans library. Don't forget, Quixel Bridge is built into Unreal Engine 5!


Incredibuild could not have said it better with "When you have seven days to release a winning game, every second of your build time counts!" Take full advantage of their powerfully smart, and scalable solution to significantly cut down on your build time and release a higher-quality game on time! Follow the steps on their landing page and propel your MegaJam game to faster heights!


AWS is here to help you with $1,000 in AWS Promotional Credits* to help you build your game with AWS GameKit, Amazon GameLift and more! Just sign up here!

*AWS Promotional Credits are subject to the terms and conditions found here.

Chat with other jammers, and find team members over at the Forum announce thread, or head over to #game-jam-chat or #game-jam-lfg on Unreal Slackers, our community ran Discord.


The Unreal Directive is dedicated to providing Unreal Engine resources that are well researched, easy to understand, and adhere to best development practices. Check out their resources here!


Award Categories and Prizes

The 2022 Epic MegaJam will feature 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finalists, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place student finalists, and eleven modifier categories. Each team member will receive the prize awards unless otherwise stated. 

1st Place Prizes

2nd Place Prizes

3rd Place Prizes

To be eligible as a Student Entrant Team, the Entrant Team must all be currently enrolled full-time, or part-time at a recognized educational institution.

1st Place Student Prizes

2nd Place Student Prizes

3rd Place Student Place Prizes


MODIFIER CATEGORIES AND PRIZES

Each team (including, but not limited to the finalists) can also win one of our thirteen modifier categories. A team may win more than one modifier IF there are no other eligible entries for the additional modifier.

ARMY OF ONE - 

For the best game developed by a solo developer

With 29 years of experience, Falcon Northwest builds high-performance PCs for gamers, game development, VR, & business use. They custom build systems for anyone that needs more than an off-the-shelf PC, including a wide variety of custom builds for Epic Games’ own development. We're honored to have them sponsor the Army Of One category once again with a custom 2022 Epic MegaJam graphic system!

Specifications:

  • Chassis - Tiki
  • Custom 2022 Epic MegaJam UV Print
  • EVGA XC3 GeForce RTX 3080 10GB - LHR
  • SilverStone SX SFX-L Titanium 800 Watt
  • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming Motherboard
  • AMD RYZEN 7 5800X3D 8-Core - 3.4GHz to 4.5GHz
  • CPU Cooler - Asetek® Liquid Cooling 550LC
  • G.Skill TridentZ RGB 32GB (2x16GB) - 3200MHz
  • Samsung 980 Pro 2TB - PCIe M.2 SSD
  • Microsoft Windows 11 PRO

In addition to the custom 2022 Epic MegaJam graphic system, the winner of the Army of One modifier will also be rewarded with: 

Light It Up- 

For the game with most creatively lit environment that includes real-time ray tracing

Best creative implementation of at least ONE advanced ray tracing effect like RTXGI or RTXDI (via NvRTX branch). Not a requirement, but bonus points if used in combination with another effect like ray traced shadows, ray traced reflections, or ray traced caustics.

Gaming is the world’s largest entertainment industry - with more than 200 million gamers, NVIDIA GeForce® is its largest platform. GeForce RTX GPUs, GeForce Experience™ application, and the popular GeForce NOW cloud gaming service transform everyday PCs into powerful gaming machines. Their invention of RTX graphics technology has reinvented graphics and is a powerful tool for game developers to shatter the status quo.

The winners of the Light it Up will be rewarded with:

Audio Experience- 

For the game with the best audio (music and sound).

Welcoming back WeLoveIndies- a handy and valuable online tool for all game developers to find, bundle, share and download everything you need to create a well-sounding game. Benefit from their unbeatable indie rates, their non-negotiable quality standards, and their experienced team that does nothing but create audio concepts, write music, and design sound – full of passion – the whole day long.

The winners of the Audio Experience will be rewarded with:


Make Us Go WOW! (Stylized) - 

For the game with the most stunning stylized graphics

The winners of the Make Us Go WOW! (Stylized) will be rewarded with:

Make Us Go WOW! (Photoreal) - 

For the game with the most stunning photoreal graphics


The winners of the Make Us Go WOW! (Photoreal) will be rewarded with:

Procedural Magicians (Procedural Generation) - 

For the best game that used Houdini from SideFX

From 3D models to animations to VFX and more, Houdini Indie’s procedural workflow can automate repetitive tasks and allow game dev teams to generate higher amounts of quality content in shorter times. Houdini Indie quickens iteration time, thereby improving gameplay by allowing for much more variation. Houdini Indie can also connect to Unreal Engine via the free Houdini Engine Indie plugin and can provide highly controllable procedural assets directly in UE4 & UE5 itself.

The winners of the Procedural Magicians will be rewarded with:

Use it or Lose It -

For the best game created using only a single, 4 channel texture map.

Texture your game using only a single, 4 channel texture map!

Think outside the box - How cleverly can you build materials for your project? Use a 4 channel TGA texture prepared however you like as the only texture input for all of the materials in your submission.

The winner of this modifier will have shown creativity, cleverness and technical understanding of UE's material system, and have either innovated, or pushed the boundaries of what can be achieved with only a single texture input.

  • The final texture map used must be submitted for review with the project or it cannot be judged. 
  • Migrate textures/dependencies with an example asset, using UE assets only, from the final project.


The winners of the Use It or Lose It will be rewarded with:

Fully Kitted - 

For the game with the best use of Achievements using AWS GameKit

Joining the Epic MegaJam for the first time is AWS, bringing purpose-built game services and solutions to help game developers build, run and grow their games.  AWS GameKit gives game developers the ability to build AWS cloud-powered game features,  directly from the Unreal Editor with just a few clicks. Download the AWS GameKit plugin for Unreal  Engine here. Check out our developer guide and documentation on achievements.

All participants can apply to receive $1,000 in AWS Promotional Credits*. Just sign up here!

The winners of the Fully Kitted will be rewarded with:

Multiplayer Elevation  - 

For the best multiplayer game that uses Amazon GameLift

Joining the Epic MegaJam for the first time is AWS, bringing purpose-built game services and solutions to help game developers build, run and grow their games.  Amazon GameLift delivers a reliable, low latency, scalable multiplayer games with high availability for your players while keeping costs low. Check out their tutorial guide on how to use Unreal with GameLift. They also have a YouTube series on how to use Unreal with a serverless backend on AWS and GameLift.

All participants can apply to receive $1,000 in AWS Promotional Credits*. Just sign up here!

*AWS Promotional Credits are subject to the terms and conditions found here.

The winners of the Multiplayer Elevation will be rewarded with:

The KitBasher - 

For the game with the best use of a KB3D Neo City pack

KitBash3D is a company and community that celebrates taking risks and being on the cutting edge of technology and digital media. Their premium 3D assets cover everything from ancient temples to futuristic utopias that artists use to bring their imaginary worlds to life. Their customers include the largest studios (Marvel, HBO, Ubisoft, EA, 2K) as well as thousands of independent artists and hobbyists in more than 150 countries.

The winners of the The KitBasher will be rewarded with:

Double Trouble - 

For the best game that makes use of paired animations

The winners of the Double Trouble will be rewarded with:

Tiny But Mighty - 

For the best game that is less than 150MB (total size of the packaged playable game)


The winners of the Tiny But Mighty will be rewarded with:

Is This Real Life? (XR) - 

For the best XR game

The winners of the Is This Real Life? (XR) will be rewarded with:

Sponsors


Falcon Northwest, Intel, NVIDIA, KitBash3D, AWS Games, BOOM Library, WeLoveIndies, SideFX, GameTextures.com, Incredibuild, Assembla, WholeTomato, ArtStation , Sketchfab, RamsterZ Animations, N-Hance Studio, Multiplayscape, Pack Dev, eelDev, Hyper Gaming and Development, Dary Palasky, Stigma Studios, and Craft Assets Studio.

Plan on streaming your development? Want to show off your WIP? Share your progress with us in the Unreal Engine Showcase and use #UnrealJam on social.

Helpful Links for Jamming 

Sponsor Tutorials

YouTube Unreal Engine's Official YouTube Channel DevSquad's Youtube Channel Lusiogenic's Youtube Channel DevAddict's Youtube Channel Mathew Wadstein's YouTube Channel Peter L Newton's YouTube Channel TeslaDev's YouTube Channel Luos' YouTube Channel GameDevMan's Youtube Channel, William Faucher’s Youtube Channel

Tutorials and Guides Tutorials by Tom Looman Blueprint Guides by Romero