Meet the 2026 Ukie Student Game Jam winners

The Ukie Student Game Jam is an exciting challenge that invites our student members to develop an original video game in just 32 hours. This year, in collaboration with Epic Games, we chose the theme of “Symmetry”. Each team, made up of between three and six students, was paired with an industry mentor to offer guidance and support throughout the event. With over 180 students across 40 teams taking part, from 10 academic institutions, we were thrilled to receive 34 impressive submissions! Be sure to explore and play all the entries on itch.io.

And the winners of the 2026 Ukie Student Gamejam are…

WINNER: Conformity Cubed by The Octachoron

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Reflexive by Pressure Makes Diamonds

OUTSTANDING DESIGN: Symmetrizard by Team-20

Prizes, courtesy of partners Scan Computers, were awarded to all winners, consisting of a fabulous array of accessories, including keyboards, gaming mice, and headsets.

Read on more to find out more about these fantastic games.

WINNER: Conformity Cubed

Team: The Octachoron
Members: Jonathan, Kori, Alex and Jamie from University of Staffordshire
Mentor: Archie McGrath from Digital Umami / Feral Interactive

“A cube puzzle game where players must rotate the cubes to get to the finish.”

What the judges thought:

“This is a really impressive entry. The gameplay is fun and challenging, and the layered learn-as-you-play mechanics are rewarding. I’m blown away by how much The Octachoron were able to achieve within the Jam. Conformity Cubed is polished, fun, it looks and sounds great, plus there are an impressive number of levels. Some of them are fiendishly challenging! But I would happily play many more. Symmetry is used to excellent effect here. The transitions between the levels are lovely, both to look at and listen to. There’s so much potential for further development and expansion.”

 “I appreciated the take Conformity Cubed takes when approaching the idea of moving multiple characters: having an obstacle block all moving parts rather than just the one directly affected offer a nice potential for interesting puzzles. Despite the inherent clunkiness of having to move characters that at time cannot be seen, character and camera controls feel well thought out and function well. Difficulty is well balanced, puzzles are well thought out, and the game looks visually polished and coherent. I think this is a very strong and engaging demo, well done!”

 “It’s a very polished game with a very good mechanic resonating the theme of symmetry. The use of a very small play space is impressive – with how many levels to be created without going overambitious for finishing and polishing in the end. It’s simple gameplay but with very impressive complex puzzle design in such short period of time. Very delicate game.”

Can you rotate your way to the finish? Play Conformity Cubed here.

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Reflexive

Team: Pressure Makes Diamonds
Members: Jamie, Jordan, Jen and Faïçal from University of Worcester
Mentor: Noah Rigden from Purr Point Productions

“Embark on a series of tests using quantum mirror technology, which can have objects simultaneously exist and not exist at the same time.”

What the judges thought:

“This is a very interesting game and also a impressive amount of work done in a short life span considering that the team has done voice acting to set the narrative direction of the game. That itself made it stand out from the rest. It was also very ambitious to create a full 3D puzzle game in such a short period of time, but the team managed to execute it well under the time pressure and very smartly building Symmetry into it.”

“This is a great concept. Very clever and very Portal. Maybe too on-the-nose in its similarity to Portal though with the test chambers and VO – any further development would require some distinction from it.”

“Both in the look and the design, Portal inspirations are strong with this one! A strong demo and very well fitting within the theme: the main mechanic in particular was a very original take on the theme, but I also appreciated that additional ones were hinted at with buttons and movable objects. The Narrator was a great addition to give the whole experience as a whole more personality, and I found myself wanting to keep playing even just to hear his next lines. Overall, this was a great effort that shows plenty promise and a clear sense of direction.”

Can you get to grips with quantum mirror technology and complete the tests? Play Reflexive here.

OUTSTANDING DESIGN: Symmetrizard

 

Team: Team-20
Members: Tom, Abigail, Harley and Harrison from The Academy of Contemporary Music
Mentor: Jim Shacklock from Criterion Games

“2D “symmetry” puzzle platformer, jump and flip your way to the top of each level.”

What the judges thought:

“Simmetrizard was a joy to play. The difficulty ramps up in a satisfying way, and the art style feels clean and consistent (except maybe the eye enemies). I think all the mechanics are implemented smartly and embrace perfectly the theme of the game jam. The game already shows a lot of creativity and room to grow, and I loved how it manages in just a handful of levels to expand on otherwise simple mechanics ((moving multiple characters at once and having them switch positions) by layering additional ones on top of it. Well done!”

“The team’s ambition of making multi-levels is commendable and they were able to execute it within this extremely short period of time. The idea is great, the visual effect for swapping is actually pretty cool, however that does leave the momentum after swap a bit hard to control during a jump. The game can probably benefit having a menu, but overall a very solid idea for this game jam.”

Can you flip your way to victory?  Play Symmetrizard here

Congratulations to all our participating students!

Judging the Ukie Student Game Jam 2026 was a pleasure, though not without its challenges. The creativity and talent on display were truly outstanding. The judges and Ukie team had a fantastic time exploring the diverse range of submitted games. Considering the students had just 32 hours to develop their projects, the results were incredibly impressive. We highly recommend checking out their amazing entries!

Special commendation and honorable mentions for the following 7 games also making the judges shortlist:

• Catching Cinders by Starlets from University of Westminster
• Me Myself and I by MCS Productions from Norwich University of the Arts
• Mirari by Average Temperature from University of East London
• O(FFICE)CD by NoSleep from University of Southampton
• Reflection by Different Page Games from University of Staffordshire
• Senile Felines by Team-22 from Norwich University of the Arts
• Twin Sync by Team-16 from University of Staffordshire

 

We also want to extend a huge thank you to all of our Game Jam Mentors who volunteered their time to guide and support the participating students. Their insight was invaluable and made this a rich learning experience for these aspiring developers. In addition, our award-winning games were considered and selected by our panel of judges from the Ukie team and our generous industry partners who we also wish to extend a huge thanks to for all of their support.

The Ukie Student Game Jam 2026 is proud to be in partnership with Scan Computers and Epic Games.