A 2-Week-Long Game Jam Experience

Get ready to unleash your creativity at Game I/O, OHI/O’s brand new 2-week-long game jam, launching Feburary 17th!

Can Time Be Stopped?

THEME

Time is central to your game.
Time should meaningfully affect gameplay.

If time resets or the game restarts,

not everything returns to its original state.

At least one element must persist, change, or evolve.

Mechanics, visuals, narrative, or systems may shift.

What is Game I/O?

Game I/O is a 2-week-long game jam hosted in collaboration with Ohio State’s Game Creation Club. Open to students of all skill levels, the event challenges participants to ideate, design, and build original games over the course of two weeks. Whether your passion is storytelling, game design, art, programming, or simply playing games, this is your chance to create something amazing.

Participants will form teams, collaborate on original concepts, and check in regularly with mentors for guidance and feedback throughout the month. The jam culminates in a final showcase and judging celebration on March 3rd, where teams will present playable demos, compete for prizes, and share their games with the community.

No experience? No problem. Game I/O includes structured checkpoints, learning resources, and mentor support to help everyone level up and have fun along the way.

Schedule

NOTE: Judging will occur in-person on March 3. Please make sure you are able to attend.

Tuesday, February 17: Opening!

Location: Fontana Labs 2040 (40 W 19th Ave Building 151, Columbus, OH 43210)

Event	Time
Doors Open + Food	6:00 PM
Opening Ceremony	6:15 PM
Game Jam Starts!	6:30 PM
Workshop (Intro to Game Development)	6:45 PM

Thursday, February 19 + February 26: Coworking Sessions

Location: Fontana Labs 2020

Event	Time
Doors Open + Snacks Come work on your projects in-person!	6:00 PM

Event

Time

Doors Open + Snacks

Come work on your projects in-person!

6:00 PM

Monday, March 2:

Game submissions due online at 11:59 PM EST

Tuesday, March 3: Closing!

Location: Fontana Labs 2040

Event	Time
Doors Open + Food	5:30 PM
Voting + Judging	6:00 – 7:00 PM
Score Tabulation	7:00 – 7:30 PM
Closing Remarks	7:30 – 8:30 PM

Prizes

Place	Prize	Photo
1st Place	Acer Nitro Monitor
2nd Place	$50 Steam Gift Card
3rd Place	Drone

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a game jam?

A game jam is an event where participants create a video game from scratch within a limited timeframe.

I don't understand the theme...

That’s okay! The theme “Can Time Be Stopped?” is intentionally broad. At its core, there are two parts:

1) Time is a meaningful part of gameplay.

For example:

Treating time as a mechanic, the player interacts with
Make time a pressure (countdown, deadlines, etc.)
Use time as a loop or reset
Show time passing, breaking, or changing the world

2) At least one thing must persist, evolve, or degrade across resets.

This could be:

The player’s abilities or knowledge
The environment or world state
NPC behavior
The rules of the game itself
The story or lore revealed over time

Still Stuck? Here’s some examples:

A character who can stop time, but doing so permanently drains a resource
Each reset makes the world more corrupted, older, or emptier
A roguelike where the player resets, but the world grows harsher
A short game that loops every 60 seconds, but the rules change each loop

The key idea is that the reset is not clean, and the game remembers.

Who can participate?

Anyone who is a student at a university! We encourage all levels of expertise to join. Whether this is your first game jam or you’ve been to others, Game I/O provides an opportunity to collaborate and create something amazing.

Is this event free?

Game I/O is free to participate in!

Do I need a team?

All participants must be in teams of 2 to 4 to submit a project, but don’t worry if you’re coming in without a team. We will provide opportunities before and during to find a team. Team formation will be ongoing in the Discord server up to and during the event.