YoYo Games hosts game jam to celebrate GameMaker's 20th anniversary

November 15th, 2019 marks 20 years since Mark Overmars released Game Maker, with hopes to make game creation more accessible to anyone. In those 20 years, countless games have been created using the software. While the software has since changed its name to GameMaker Studio, as well as seen many revisions to its icon, the software still manages to be among the most accessible, powerful 2D game engines that don't require the user to know any programming.

In celebration, a game jam with the theme "20" is being hosted on itch.io from November 14th to November 21st. Participants are encouraged to interpret the theme however they wish. YoYo Games suggested to "create something in 20 hours, or with 20 lines of code, or at a resolution of 20x20px". The only hard rules are that the game must be made using GameMaker (though it doesn't explicitly state a version number) and the project files must be included for verification.

Whether one decides to join as an individual or as a team, YoYo Games is hosting a promo that allows all jam participants to obtain a temporary jam license for GameMaker Studio 2, the latest version of the software.

YoYo Games will be internally be playing and judging all of the jam entries. Winners of three categories (best game, best use of theme, best use of GameMaker) will win prizes, which include developer licenses for the software. Participants will also be able to vote on each others games within the itch.io page, however, these votes will not influence YoYo Games' selected winners.

If you wish to learn more about the jam, as well as the upcoming Version 2.3, read the official anniversary post from YoYo Games.