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About MelonJam:

MelonJam is a 3-day long game jam (an event where people get together and make small games, normally in a short time span). Participants will create games centered around a theme, which will be announced at the start of the jam. You can participate solo or in teams of up to 4 people in three divisions: Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. Games will be reviewed by professionals and college students in game development and we'll give feedback to every entry.

It may be daunting to take on enormous, time-consuming projects like full games, but MelonJam seeks to help make this process much easier and fun, with the focus on generating and prototyping new ideas. To support beginners, we provide tutorials, prizes, such as a recommended schedule for MelonJam. You'll find support and fun in our awesome community on Discord (plus on demand cat pictures 😺).
MelonJam 6 will be from July 24-27th 5:00 PM UTC!

MelonJam was created by the Cupertino Game Development Club with the intent of bridging the gap between high schoolers with a game development interest and experienced game developers. We offer a chance for students interested in game development to try their hand at making a small game while encouraging them to improve their skills so that they can make something big in the future. True to the purpose of a game jam, MelonJam also gives developers a chance to have fun brainstorming and developing a game, irrespective of experience.

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Tier Selector


Tier Selector by Alimad Co!


MelonJam Sponsors & Partners:


Gold Tier

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Bronze Tier

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Interested in Sponsoring? Check out our:


Sponsorship Prospectus


Or email: melonjamgdc@gmail.com




Team - Board of Directors:

Matthew Xu
Qinzhao Li
Calvin Chang
Lindsey Li
Alex Li
Grace Lin
Sharvil Phadke





Frequently Asked Questions:


What's a game jam?


A game jam is a lot like a hackathon for games. People develop games using any tools that they have, then submit them by a due date. As with hackathons, people are free to use any resources that are available to them to develop their game: their game engine of choice, their digital art program of choice, youtube coding tutorials, books on art, anything. You can even use human resources—you can team up with others to make your game better.

Most game jams, as does MelonJam, also have a theme. Some jams prefer or require that you stick to the theme; others don’t, and only intend for the theme to be a tool to kickstart your brainstorming. To make the jam more challenging and to enforce creativity via restriction, MelonJam requires that you connect your game to the theme in some way.

Who qualifies for each category?


In general, anyone who does not have much experience in game jams or game-making can participate in the Novice category; those who are moderately experienced participate in Intermediate; those who are more skilled in terms of years of experience or completed projects/jams participate in Advanced. We have more detailed guidelines for determining your division, please use the tier selector above.

We encourage participants who are more skilled to participate in any category above the one they qualify for, as these categories often have less competition (especially Advanced). Teams may also be disqualified if their submission is unreasonably skilled, especially in Novice.

No category is limited to age or grade, and we welcome everyone to participate.

Do I have to follow the theme?


Yes; to be eligible for a prize, your game must have some aspect that fits the theme in some way. This is because we want to make the jam more challenging as well as enforce creativity through restriction.


I’m not a high schooler; I’m younger/older than one. Can I still join?


Yes; we do not intend to restrict anyone from participating in MelonJam. While we do target pre-collegiate students in particular, we believe that there is much to gain from having people from all sorts of backgrounds share their games and ideas with others.

That said, we sometimes have a few prizes that strictly benefit high schoolers, but if you win them, you can choose to pass them on.

I’d like to work as a team. Can I?


Yes, you may work in teams of up to 4 people. If you are set on having a team larger than that, contact the hosts. However, depending on the exact numbers, having team members who are experienced in game-making will require you to enter in higher divisions.