Fighting Game April Jam 2026 Is On Its Way

Fighting games rule, but we don't get too many of them, and we rarely get to see people execute some of the more fun or daring ideas. Making games in this genre is already quite expensive and time-consuming, so taking risks is heavily discouraged.

This is where game jams present a great opportunity, at least for indie devs, to get experimental and make something fun without the fear of committing months of their life or recouping the high costs.

While it didn't start yet, Fighting Game April Jam 2026 is firmly on its way, starting on March 31 and ending on May 1st. Within that time frame developers can submit a fighting game that has to follow under the following definition:

• A competitive versus game 
• That functions completely with just two players
• Which allows for 1v1 matches
• With real-time interactions and movement
• Taking place in the same screen (no split screen, no "one screen per player")
• With at least 2 playable characters
• With the goal of knocking out your opponent
• With a functional local versus
• Has both controller and keyboard support
• And can run in windowed mode
• Optional, not required: remappable controls
• Optional, not required: online versus
• Optional, not required: training mode
• Optional, not required: CPU opponents
• Having 1 character max per player on screen is strongly advised, but you can also make a tag fighter if you so wish, you mad dev
• Max. one submission per entrant! You can still offer mentorship, guidance, advice, quick fixes to other teams or devs, as long as you don't produce a substantial amount of code/assets. Think "special thanks", not "team member"

Naturally, the entirety of production must happen within the month allotted for it. Additionally, it must not use generative AI at any stage of production, including coding. This extends to not using any ripped assets or basing the game on the existing IP, it has to be an original title. Although the use of free assets is allowed and expected.

After the games are finished and submitted, they will be rated based on following qualities:

• Fun factor
• Adherence to the theme
• Game Feel
• Innovation
• Character design
• Presentation (Graphics and Audio)
• Features

While one month is not a lot of time, we'll likely see some really fun games, since they are very much encouraged to do something unique and interesting. It's especially curious what theme will be chosen for this jam, but that won't be revealed until March 31.