You may use pre-existing code and can use whatever art and audio assets you have the legal right to use, but you shouldn't make stuff ahead of time that is specifically for this jam.

We ask that you do not use generative AI (such as Midjourney, ChatGPT, or Github Copilot) to create any assets or code.

You can use pre-existing code, libraries, and functions, and make use of generic code for things like menus or input. You can also create things like a blank Unity project, a Github page, or your itch.io profile in advance to save time.

You can use pre-existing sprites, textures, fonts, models, shaders, animations, sound effects, and music - including public domain assets, assets you have purchased, assets you have made yourself, or assets that are (legally-acceptable) derivative works of existing media. 

You should credit all external art and audio in your game description. 

Game Engine:  

You may use any game engine, as long as you can export a file that can be uploaded to itch. We recommend Unity, Godot, and Game Maker.

You can support controllers and other peripherals, as long as keyboard or mouse also works. And you can upload builds for Mac, Linux, Android, etc, as long as you also have a Windows or browser version.

You should not require the user to download additional software from external sources. If your game requires additional files (like DLLs) they should be included in the download and not require separate installation. 

The itch upload limit is 1GB. You can compress your game as a ZIP, RAR, or 7Zip file (ZIP is preferred). You can also upload larger files via Butler if you really need to.

You can have online features like multiplayer servers and leaderboards - but files hosted outside of itch.io must not be modified or updated during the jam period - with the only exception being to ensure compliance with itch.io rules (i.e. removing a rulebreaking leaderboard name).

Once the rating period is over, you're free to update your game however you please, charge for it, release it on other platforms - the game is yours, do what you wish with it. 

Thank you Mark Brown of GMTK Game Jam for the following amazing list of resources where you can find art, fonts, music, and sound effects for your games.

Many of the assets are eligible for use in the jam but check the license before using and provide credit in your game’s description!

Art

• OpenGameArt (2D + 3D)

• Kenney (2D + 3D)

• Game-Icons (2D)

• Textures.com (Textures)

• Poliigon (Textures)

• Poly.pizza (3D)

• Mixamo (Animations)

Fonts

• Fontsource (Fonts)

• Font Squirrel (Fonts)

• Google Fonts (Fonts)

Audio

• Incompetech - Royalty Free Music (Music)

• Free Music Archive (Music)

• Freesound (SFX)

• OpenGameArt (Music + SFX)

• Kenney (Music + SFX)

• Soniss (SFX)

• WeLoveIndies (Music + SFX)

Tools

• BitFontMaker2 (Fonts)

• Photopea (Art)

• sfxr (SFX)

• Chiptone (SFX)

• Bosca Ceoil (Music)

• BeepBox (Music)

• Lospec (Palettes)

• Easy Releasy (itch.io page designer)

• Tiny Tools (More!)

• Click here to get logos, which you may wish to add to your project.