The Game Jam Experience

The results for the GMTK Game Jam 2026 are in! “The Game Jam Experience” got 149th place in the Creativity criteria out of more than 10k submissions which is my record so far. I received a lot of positive feedback however there was a consensus that the game was a bit too short which is why I decided to add a few new gameplay elements.

• The game icon will now try to run away from the cursor which adds yet another comic element to the gameplay.
• Added a new bug for players to find and fix
• Added animations to the robot
• Updated the main menu
• Made the bug list more straightforward

Throughout GMTK2026, I realised that making Fake OS Games is pretty fun. Unfortunately, as many people remarked during the rating period, the game ended up very short due to the fact that creating a fake OS took a significant part of the 96 hours of the jam. For this reason, I have decided to create a template for future game jams. Following the jam, I created a new Unity Project featuring a minimal fake OS setup that I am currently working on improving. One of the first things I did was commenting my code and adding null checks to make execution safer. In addition to that, originally, mini games were created by instantiating a prefab inside which was problematic as several mini games needed to exist in the same scene at the same time. In my fake OS template, I replaced prefab creation with additive scene loading to better separate mini games.

• Added 5 different ending to the game depending on how good the final game is
• Added music and sound effects
• Submitted to the GMTK2026 Game Jam

• Added a simple browser where players can submit their game
• Created the main menu by reusing some of the game’s assets

• Added a game editor in which players must debug their game and fix issues

• Finished coding the conversation with the artist.
• Added a countdown before the end of the game jam
• Added a Hints and Tips window
• Changed background colour and made many new textures for the game

Teamwork is an essential part of any game jam (except of course if you are working alone like me). I started working on a chat app inside the game and improved window graphics.

“You have 96 hours to make a game that fits the following theme : [Countdown]”. For this year’s GMTK game jam, I decided to make a game which simulates those last 10 stressful minutes right before the end of a Game Jam when you actually need to submit something that works. I want this game to consist of a simple Operating System UI in which the player will have to face various challenges before being able to finally submit the game. I decided to use Unity for this project as it’s the engine I am most comfortable in. Started by making a simple draggable window UI.