Vibe Coding Game Jam: Rules to Check and a 48-Hour Plan
A vibe coding game jam is a contest where you build a game in a fixed time with AI doing the coding, and many ordinary game jams limit or ban exactly that. So read the rules before you read the theme.
How different can the rules be?
Very. Here are two real ends of the scale.
Cursor Vibe Jam 2026 asked that at least 90% of the code be written by AI. The game had to be made during the jam, playable on the web for free with no login or signup, and without heavy downloads, with one entry per person. It ran from 1 April to 1 May 2026, and the page advertised more than $50,000 in prizes. The page asks sponsors to get in touch about April 2027, but we found no confirmed next edition.
GMTK Game Jam 2026 went the other way. According to an archive of its rules, you must not use generative AI for art or audio, and entrants are generally asked not to use AI at all.
Most jams sit somewhere between these two, and the rules change each year. Before you enter any jam, find the answer to these:
- Is AI-written code allowed?
- Is AI art or sound allowed?
- Must you say that you used AI?
- Must everything be made during the jam?
- Can you use code or assets you prepared earlier?
If the rules are silent, ask the organisers. Do not take silence for a yes.
What should I do the day before?
Do the boring part first. Choose your tool and publish a blank page to wherever the game will live. A jam lost to an upload problem at the last hour is a very avoidable loss. Check the jam's rules before preparing anything more than that.
How do I spend the 48 hours?
Here is the plan, using an invented theme, "too many keys". You play a hotel night porter with 100 keys and five minutes to open the right room before the guest gets angry.
| Hour | What you do |
|---|---|
| 0 to 1 | Read the theme and rules. List three ideas. Choose the simplest one |
| 1 to 2 | Your AI draws the game. Cross out whatever will not fit |
| 2 to 8 | Build the core with plain shapes. One guest, one room, one key |
| 8 to 16 | Sleep. Tired prompts are vague prompts |
| 16 to 24 | Finish a full run, from start screen to game over |
| 24 | Decision point: if it is no fun, cut until it is |
| 24 to 36 | Add more guests and rooms, then sound, then looks |
| 36 | Stop adding |
| 36 to 44 | Fix what your testers trip over. Write the game's page |
| 44 to 46 | Upload and submit |
| 46 to 48 | Nothing. This is your safety margin |
Keep a short note of what the AI made while you go. Then, if a jam asks for it, you can answer honestly in one minute.
Your idea must be new for the jam, so leave your old project at home. Also keep names and art your own. Can you copy game mechanics? has more on that. For a slower version of this plan, there is the seven-day schedule.
Paste this to your AI
The jam theme is [theme]. The rules say: [paste the rules].
First list what the rules say about AI code, AI art, AI sound and starting early. Quote each rule. If the rules do not mention something, write "not in the rules" so I can ask the organisers. Do not assume it is allowed.
Then give me three ideas for [hours] hours that fit those rules, one sentence each, and say how each one fits the theme.
When I pick one, sketch it first as a Mermaid diagram with the fewest boxes that still make a full game, from start screen to game over. Walk through it and cross out anything we cannot finish in time. We build only what survives on the diagram.
Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP
How to check it worked
- Compare each quote with the rules page. Are the words really there?
- Send your "not in the rules" questions. Ask the organisers early.
- At hour 24, hand it to someone. Can they play from start to game over?
- Open your link in a private browser window. Does it work with no login?
- Check your entry after you submit. Does the page show the right game?