BlasterHacks Hackerpack

Useful information for BlasterHacks 2026

Schedule

April 3

Friday

  1. Arrival + Check-In (Green Center Metals Hall)

  2. Opening Ceremonies

  3. Move to Labriola

  4. Dinner (Domino's)

  5. Team Formation & Planning

  6. T-shirt distribution

  7. Hacking Starts

  8. Git Workshop (Labriola 202)

April 4

Saturday

  1. Breakfast (Big Daddy's Bagels)

  2. Patterson-UTI Completions Technology Mini-Event

  3. Lunch (Panda Express)

  4. Dinner (Snarf's)

  5. DevPost Submissions Due

April 5

Sunday

  1. Hacking Ends

  2. Breakfast (Bonfire Burritos)

  3. Judging Starts (various places in McNeil)

  4. Closing Ceremonies (Green Center Metals Hall)

What to Bring

Essentials:

  • Student ID (we won't let you check in without this!)
  • Spare change of clothes
  • Toiletries
  • Water bottle
  • Laptop and charger

A blanket is not a necessity but can be nice to have, especially if you're planning to sleep in Labriola!

Parking

There is free weekend parking in the McNeil parking garage, which has an entrance facing Labriola. The top level of the lot is called "Lot R" on Google Maps. If you don't have a Mines parking pass, don't arrive before 5 PM on Friday; you'll have to pay.

Project Rules and Guidelines

  1. All projects must be submitted through the DevPost platform and uploaded publicly to GitHub or another Git hosting platform.
  2. Projects cannot be started until the designated hacking time begins.
  3. All demonstrations to judges must reflect the state of the codebase at the designated hacking end time.
  4. Projects may be submitted to exactly one track. The tracks are: General, UI/UX, and Game Jam.
  5. Game Jam submissions must adhere to the additional Game Jam rules.

Game Jam Rules

Given the following theme, create an end-to-end video game that adheres to your interpretation of the theme!

The theme is: Command Line

Command Line:

(From Wikipedia) A command-line interface (CLI), also known as a command-line shell, is a means of interacting with software via commands – each formatted as a line of text.

Interpret the theme however you like!

Policies

  1. Do not use copyrighted works for this game jam. If you purchase assets, please keep in mind that the game jam is just for fun and is more of a show of creativity and game development, not how much money you have in your wallet.
  2. While sharing ideas and helping each other out is encouraged, do not put the ideas of other people into your game without first confirming with them that it is okay.
  3. No AI generated assets. Music, art, etc. must either be your own work or work you own a license for (many creators will give out assets and their license for free and you are welcome to utilize their work as long as you follow their policies). AI generated code is allowed, but note that it can make debugging a nightmare if something goes wrong.  If you are in need of non-copyrighted assets, please see the resources section below.
  4. The game should be developed between April 3rd @ 9:00pm MT and April 5th @ 9:00am MT. You are welcome to utilize pre-existing assets, but the actual project and code should be developed during this period.
  5. You own the exclusive rights to your game. Mines Game Development Club will not utilize your game in any way without your permission. Mines Game Development Club may reach out to you to see if we can show off your game during club meetings and on the official Mines Game Development Club Instagram page with appropriate credit, but you are allowed to refuse or restrict our usage in any way you like.
  6. All contributors to a submission must be properly credited. Contributors may opt to remain uncredited, but it is encouraged they remain credited for their hard work.
  7. Participants must also follow the BlasterHacks 2026 Rules and Code of Conduct in tandem with these rules.

If you have questions or concerns on any policy please message the BlasterHacks Discord Game Dev Channel.

Resources

Below are some free resources for game engines, assets, and music:

  • Game Engines:
    • GameMaker Studio: Free, 2D only, Medium Difficulty, Custom Language (GML)
    • Godot: Free, 2D & 3D, Beginner Friendly, Custom Language (GDScript) with some support for C#
    • Unity: Free*, 2D & 3D, Medium-Hard Difficulty, C#
  • Free CC0 Assets:
    • Kenney has a plethora of Creative Commons 0 assets for both 2D and 3D games, including Sound Effects
    • BFXR Is a sound effect generator for more retro/low sample sound effect generation
  • Music
    • OpenGameArt has a catalog of CC0 music. Be sure to filter search results by CC0 licenses

Submission

Submissions are open from April 3rd at 9:00pm MT until April 5th at 9:00am MT, though you are strongly encouraged to utilize the full time!

Judging

Submissions will be ranked by judges via an overall score on the following criteria:

  • Adherence to Theme - How well your game utilizes the Jam theme
  • Creativity - How creative your game is (New ideas, innovative gameplay, unconventional design, etc)
  • Presentation - How your game presents itself (graphically, audibly, control, etc)
  • Enjoyability - How enjoyable your game is (intuitive controls, bugginess, player frustration, etc)