Unreal SF Game Jam #UESFGJ

Pizza, swag, prizes provided by Epic Games!

• In person kickoff event June 16th

• Winners announced July 21st

• 7 day event

• All skills and skill levels welcome!

Submissions and voting will be through Itch.io.

Theme will be announced at kickoff event June 16th.

Unreal SF Game Jam RSVP
https://communities.unrealengine.com/events/details/epic-games-san-francisco-presents-unreal-sf-game-jam-gray-area-monday-5pm-2025-06-16/

When:
June 16th ‘25 (in-person)
5pm to 10pm
to
June 23rd (Submit Online)
12am PST Midnight

Where:
Gray Area Theater
2665 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

To find a team or ask questions, join our Discord!
Unreal SF Link Tree:
https://linktr.ee/unrealsf

Speakers

Ramen VR | Creating tools for UE developers
-Why we’re making Aura and what Aura can do

Mark Girouard | AAA Game Design Industry Veteran
-Scope & Creep Management

Gorka Games | Unreal Engine Content Creator
-Game Jam Tips and Tricks

Speaker Links

Ramen VR
-https://www.tryaura.dev/

Mark Girouard
-https://www.linkedin.com/in/markgirouard/

Gorka Games
-https://www.youtube.com/@GorkaGames

Rules

• Team Max Size limit: 3

• Unreal Engine templates allowed

• FAB asset packs and plugins NOT allowed

• AI generated art NOT allowed

Sponsors
Epic Games | Simulation Sessions
Gorka Games | Aura + Ramen VR

Objective:

Your objective is to spend a week creating a prototype that can be played through in 10 minutes or less.

Optional Guide:

-Day 1 and 2 - Planning and Experimenting - Create a Discord for your team. Create a list of mechanics that fit the theme, pick a decision maker, Pick from that list of mechanics to be implemented. Decide who is in charge of specific features. Create a simple roadmap for when these features should be done. Create a project page on itch.io. Decide on how you will share the project (source/version control); Perforce is recommended and integrates nicely with Unreal Engine. Experiment and learn to fill missing knowledge.

-Day 3, 4, and 5 - Implementation - Trust your decision maker, be proactive, ask questions, and do your best. Also be considerate and patient; Game Jam short deadlines tend to make team experiences very intense. That's a good thing! Remember that how you conduct yourself as a teammate will be remembered beyond this week.

Day 6 and 7 - Polish - IF your core experience is finished and there are NO BUGS, create your own art, SFX, 3D art, VFX, UI art, to direct your players. Make objectives more clear and tell your players when they are doing the right or wrong things. Allow for time to Zip and upload your project, and fill out the Submission details in Itch.io.

When in doubt, trust your decision maker.

When the game jam is finished, hopefully UESFGJ has walked you through creating a solid prototype that has lots of potential, and maybe you made friends in the process! Now would be the time to connect if you haven't already and plan next steps.

UESFGJ on Itchio
https://itch.io/jam/unreal-sf-game-jam

Supplemental materials:

Ari Arnbjörnsson - Kill the Hitch talk from Unreal Fest 2025

https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/tutorials/6XW8/unreal-engine-the-great-hitch-hunt-tracking-down-every-frame-drop

Christina Wisdom - Quick Ways For Speeding Up Workflow | Inside Unreal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRGaDGiGb7Y&t=1813s