Epic AI MegaJam 2026: rules, prizes and Unreal MCP setup

The 2026 Epic AI MegaJam runs November 12 to 15, 2026. You build a playable game in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), solo or in a team of up to five people, with "as many AI agents as you want", and compete for $65,000 in cash prizes plus Development Continuation Grants of up to $50,000. Using AI is optional, and Epic says you own your game. Source: 2026 Epic AI MegaJam on itch.io

Everything below comes from the jam's itch.io page, Epic's forum announcement and Epic's MCP documentation, checked on 2026-11-06. The full Official Rules are linked from the jam page as documents we couldn't read as text, so read them yourself before you enter.

Quick answer: MegaJam rules at a glance

Source: 2026 Epic AI MegaJam on itch.io

Is the Epic AI MegaJam the same as the Epic MegaJam?

Yes, there's one jam this year. Asked on the Unreal forums whether the AI MegaJam replaces the regular MegaJam, an Epic staff member replied: "There is only one MegaJam, but using AI is optional." Source: Unreal Engine forums announcement thread

So if you'd rather build by hand, you can still enter, and none of the judging criteria (ambition, theme, fun, gameplay, visuals, level design, audio) mention AI. The thread also shows plenty of developers unhappy with the AI framing, so expect a mixed crowd.

What's allowed and what isn't

The jam page lists the rules in two columns. Allowed:

• Any AI tools: coding agents, asset generation, audio and writing.
• Teams of up to five people, with no limit on agents.
• Assets you didn't make, such as from Fab, "as long as you have the right license". You must list them in your submission.
• Custom gameplay beyond Epic's starter templates.

Not allowed:

• Starting before November 12. You may set up tools, agents and MCP ahead of time, but you must declare any prompts, scripts or assets made before the jam.
• Entering with both Unreal Engine and UEFN. Pick one.
• Unpackaged Unreal Engine projects. Unreal teams submit a packaged build.
• Content that breaks the Official Rules, including other people's IP.

Source: 2026 Epic AI MegaJam on itch.io

The "declare anything you made earlier" line matters more than usual here. If you write an agent prompt library, a skills file or helper scripts during setup week, keep a list and include it with your entry.

Prizes and categories

Main categories pay $7,500, $5,000 and $2,500 for first to third place: Best Overall (Unreal Engine), Best Overall (UEFN) and Best Student Project (for students currently enrolled in higher education). Modifier prizes include Best Team ($5,000), Solo Driver ($2,500), Render Royalty for visuals ($2,500), Pocket Powerhouse for mobile ($2,500 each for one Unreal and one UEFN winner), Glass Box for the best dev log ($2,500) and Walkie-Talkie for a narrative UEFN game with LLM-powered NPCs ($2,500). Development Continuation Grants pay $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 to the top three in each of Unreal Engine and UEFN. Winners are announced by January 29, 2027. Source: 2026 Epic AI MegaJam on itch.io

Two catches: the Glass Box prize requires a dev log link, and the dev log is optional for everyone else. If you might go for it, take notes from day one.

What you submit

Both tracks submit on itch.io with a 30-60 second gameplay video, the team name, and each member's name and Epic account email.

• Unreal Engine: a packaged development build for Windows, playable on Windows 10 or 11, macOS, Android or iOS, in a .zip named TeamName_GameName under 1 GB (use butler for bigger builds).
• UEFN: a private version code, which is a fixed snapshot of your island. Live island codes and playtest codes aren't accepted.

Late submissions are disqualified. Source: 2026 Epic AI MegaJam on itch.io

How to set up Unreal MCP before the jam

The jam page tells you to "get your coding agents and MCP working before kickoff", and links Epic's Unreal MCP docs. Unreal MCP (listed here as the Unreal Engine 5.8 MCP plugin) runs an MCP server inside the editor so an agent such as Claude Code or Cursor can spawn actors, set up lighting, create material instances and run automation tests. Epic's 5.8 docs mark it Experimental: "many features are incomplete or missing" and APIs may change. Source: Unreal MCP documentation

The setup, per those docs:

1. In Edit > Plugins, enable Unreal MCP and All Toolsets, then restart the editor.
2. In Editor Preferences > General > Model Context Protocol, turn on Auto Start Server. It listens on http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp by default; you can change the port.
3. In the editor console, run `ModelContextProtocol.GenerateClientConfig ClaudeCode` (or Cursor, VSCode, Gemini, Codex, or All). This writes the agent's config file to your project root.
4. Launch your agent from the project root, after the editor is running, and ask something simple like "What actors do I have selected?" to check the connection.

Two things to know: the server has no authentication and only accepts local connections, and it runs tool calls one at a time on the game thread, so don't fire overlapping calls. The Codex config is write-once; delete a stale one by hand. Source: Unreal MCP documentation

For UEFN, the editor has its own MCP server under Editor Preferences > Agentic Workflows > Model Context Protocol: start the server, pick your agent and click Generate Client Config, which writes the config into your Fortnite/FortniteGame folder. Its tools read and edit Verse, place Creative devices and start play sessions. To restart the server you close and reopen the editor. Source: UEFN MCP documentation

If you'd rather not wire MCP yourself, editor assistants like Aura and Ludus AI are alternatives (compared in Aura vs Ludus AI), and the Unreal Engine Skills for Claude Code plugin adds Unreal-specific instructions to Claude Code. Check each one's current price and trial length on its listing before the jam starts. The full list is on our Unreal Engine AI tools page.

AI assets: check the license anyway

"Use any AI tools" doesn't mean every output is yours to ship. The jam asks you to have the right license for assets you didn't make, and the grants are for continuing the game afterwards, which is when license terms bite. Example: Meshy's free plan gives you 100 monthly credits under a CC BY 4.0 license (commercial use with attribution), while its Pro plan ($20/month) gives a private license for all assets. Source: Meshy pricing Compare 3D generators in Meshy vs Tripo, and see our Can you ship it? page for the verdict on every tool we track.

A checklist for MegaJam week

1. Join the jam on itch.io and read the Official Rules linked from the jam page.
2. Pick Unreal Engine or UEFN now. You can't switch tracks or enter both.
3. Get MCP and your agent working before Nov 12, and test a packaged build of an empty project so packaging isn't a day-four surprise.
4. Keep a list of anything made before the jam: prompts, scripts, agent skills, assets. Declare it.
5. Note every outside asset and its license, including Fab assets and AI tool outputs.
6. Watch the kickoff on Nov 11 for the theme, and plan a 30-60 second video that shows gameplay in the first seconds.
7. Submit early. The deadline is Nov 15, 5:59 PM PST, and late entries are disqualified.

Planning to sell the game later? Read Can you sell a vibe-coded game? for code ownership and Steam's AI disclosure. For other jams this month, many of which ban AI outright, see Can you use AI in game jams?