The submit form for js13kGames 2026 is live. Register a draft now to lock in the name for your game - everything else can be filled in later, up until the deadline on September 13th.
No surprises this year: you’ll be going through the very same multistep flow that replaced the old one-page form in 2024. Register a draft, claim a unique name for your game, upload a build and try it out live on the website, fill in the rest of the details, bring your teammates on board, and hit submit whenever you feel ready.
Yes, it means a couple of extra clicks compared to the single form we had used from 2012 all the way to 2023. It has been worth it though - ever since the switch, the number of “please fix this one thing for me” messages arriving after the deadline has dropped dramatically.
As long as the draft is still open you can keep tweaking anything about the entry: the description (Markdown works, and so does a bit of HTML), screenshots, author details, or a video of the gameplay. Our Hello World example shows you what the end result looks like.
Submission flow improvements
Each time you submit a zip, your game will now undergo a basic in-browser test routine which won’t let you through to the next step if, for example, there are any console errors (e.g. due to missing assets).
We will also automatically generate some cover / thumbnail images for you based on a simple screenshot of your game running (immediately after it loads) - at least until you complete the Presentation step.
We use Chromium for the tests, but they run in an environment with shared and constrained resources, so heavily compressed games (e.g. Roadroller) can take a few good seconds to actually process. If you have a very heavy, CPU-intensive algorithm running before page load (e.g. procedural generation of assets), it’s entirely possible that you might get cut off due to resource constraints. This is an experimental feature for now, so if you have issues, get in touch.
There are a few additional minor UX improvements as well: for example, we prefill the “team” step with contributors to the repository you provided in the registration step.
Strict deadline and fixes
Since you can play your entry on the competition website (which doubles as the voting app) at any point before September 13th, 13:00 CEST , there’s really no reason left for a broken build. That said, as proposed in the Deadlines and Fixes blog post, there will be a 24 hour window for minor fixes , though please keep in mind every single one will have to be manually validated and accepted. This approach is in a trial run this year and if it’s going to be abused, then it won’t stay for the next time.
If the form itself is what’s giving you trouble, then please drop us a line and we’ll try to sort it out. Good luck and have fun!
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