In March, the University of Central Missouri will host a game jam competition. The competition has been an annual tradition of UCM for the past four years. A game jam is a timed event where participants compete to create a video game based on a specific theme and a set of rules. Linrui Zhang, professor of computer science, is the sponsor and organizer of the UCM Game Jam.
“We give students two weeks to complete the game, but in the two weeks they have to design the game and create the game assets and then develop the game so it is really so they need to have good time management,” said Zhang.
In addition to participating in their own game jam competition, students from UCM have also competed at other events. Chillenium is considered to be the world’s largest student-run game jam in the nation and is hosted by Texas A&M University typically during the month of February over a single weekend. UCM has sent a team to compete there for a three-year award streak beginning in 2022. Belinda Copus, chair and associate professor for the computer science and cybersecurity department, was the coach for the teams that went to Chillenium.
“I think my favorite part is just, they want to do this. They want to be there and helping them reach that destination. You know, we don’t send teams alone to events like this when the university is sponsoring and so it’s been fun to get to be that person that travels with them,” said Copus.
Vic Burns, a junior in the computer science degree program, was part of the winning team for the 2023 Chillenium national competition in Texas.
“One of the cool things about Chillenium specifically is that they have a bunch of people who are in the industry, who are like mentors. They walk around and they see what’s going on. If you have a problem, you can hold up one of the cards on the table,” said Burns. “They have different cards for specific things, like programming, art, game design, that kind of stuff. You can hold up one of those cards and a mentor of that skill will come up to you to help you out.”
For those interested in participating in the UCM Game Jam, game-building experience is not necessary to compete.
“If you don’t have the skills or the knowledge to actually make a game, you can make a design document instead of implementing what sort of game design your game would have, what goals and objectives, what the win-loss rules are,” said Burns.
There are multiple tiers of competition entry for the UCM Game Jam, ranging from Beginner to Professional. Each tier offers its own set of rules and requirements for the participants based upon skill level. As of now, the competition is only open to computer science students but will be open to other departments in the future
Edit 04/02/26: This story was originally published on Feb. 18, 2026, and had previously not stated the dates of the competition. The dates of the competition are March 23, 2026 to April 6, 2026. The link for the competition website is https://github.com/linruizhangucm/UCM-Game-Jam
