Dates: Wolfjam begins Friday, November 6th, check-in starts at 5pm EST. The hacking duration of the event runs from Friday 9pm November 6th to Saturday 11pm on November 7th. Sunday is for demo and awards. See schedule for details on talks and more.

Eligibility: Wolfjam 2026 is open to anyone 18 years of age or older at the time of the event. All skill levels are welcome. Participants may register and compete as individuals or as part of a team, and team members do not need to share a school or employer. Both in-person (UAlbany ETEC) and remote/virtual participants are eligible.

Submission Requirements: We require an executable or instructions on how to access your project. You can upload your project to platforms like itch.io, Fortnite Creative, Roblox Creative, etc, but you must explain how we access your game and what we need in order to run your project.

We also encourage documentation and any other relevant materials that explains your creative process so we can see what you've been up to the last 24 hours.

Prizes & Winner Selection: Wolfjam 2026 will award prizes as determined by the organizers, judged by a panel selected by Wolfjam staff; to be eligible to win, a project must comply with all rules outlined in this document and meet the Project Submission Requirements, and Wolfjam organizers reserve the right to disqualify any submission that violates these rules. With winners announced at the closing ceremony and posted to the Devpost hackathon page.

Original Work, Plagiarism & Intellectual Property: Passing off someone else's work as your own, with or without modification, isn't allowed. If you use external resources, assets, libraries, frameworks, sound, art, whatever, make sure you actually have the rights or license to use them, and give credit where it's due. It's on you to know what you're allowed to use and where it came from.

Generative AI: Wolfjam does not prohibit the use of AI tools, including generative AI, in your project. We recognize that AI raises real, unresolved questions for the game dev industry and the world at large, and for most of those questions there's no universal, definitive answer yet. Wolfjam is built around innovation, experimentation, and collaboration. We want to empower developers to try new tools and learn new skills, not police which ones they reach for. Realistically, AI is embedded in the same toolchain as Photoshop, Blender, Visual Studio, GitHub, and the OS you're building on, banning it outright isn't enforceable, and it wouldn't reflect what the games industry actually does day to day, which is part of what we're trying to give students and early professionals a real taste of.

That said, using AI doesn't exempt you from the rules above: your project must still be original work created during the event, and you're still responsible for attribution and for the legality of anything you use. This cuts both ways with AI specifically, please note that in many jurisdictions, a purely AI-generated asset isn't protected by copyright, while an asset a human creates using AI-generated elements may enjoy some protection; the law here is still developing and varies by country. You are responsible for knowing whether a tool's training data was properly licensed and whether you actually have the right to use what it generates, the same standard that applies to any other external resource under our IP and attribution rules.

Code of Conduct: Wolfjam is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment and harassment-free experience for everyone.

Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or political views; sexual images in public spaces; deliberate intimidation; stalking; following; photography or audio/video recording against reasonable consent; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact; and unwelcome sexual attention.

Photography is allowed, but other participants must be given a reasonable chance to opt out of being photographed. If someone objects to having their photo taken, comply with their request. It is inappropriate to take photographs in contexts where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Games created at Wolfjam are equally subject to this policy, a project's content is not exempt from the anti-harassment standard above.

Sponsors and partners are also subject to this policy. Sponsors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Sponsor representatives (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing, uniforms, or costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment.

If you are being harassed, notice someone else being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of Wolfjam staff immediately.

Wolfjam staff will help participants contact campus security or local law enforcement, provide an escort, or otherwise assist anyone experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the event. We value your attendance.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, organizers may take any action deemed appropriate. This includes a warning, expulsion from the event, being barred from future Wolfjam events, or reporting the behavior to UAlbany campus security or local law enforcement.

These rules apply at the Wolfjam venue (UAlbany ETEC) and at any Wolfjam-related social events, both in-person and for remote/virtual participants.