Thanks for asking! Game Jam’s in general have an awesome history that I highly suggest looking into, as it’s very interesting how it’s developed over time. They’ve been running strong for almost two decades now!
Game Jam’s are specifically fun competitions for developers to come together and push themselves to create a fully functional game in a limited time frame. The duration varies, but the average is actually around 24-72 hours. Pretty impressive, right? These events are definitely not exclusive to Epic or Unreal Engine either, I highly recommend looking into some other jam opportunities as well. They’re great ways to meet like minded developers and learn some fun development tricks. It’s also great for beginners to have a finished project to present on their portfolios as well!
Our MegaJam is a great way for our incredibly talented community to come together and make some fun projects & memories, as well as possibly earn some prizes for their hard work as well. It’s an enjoyable tradition that we hope to continue for many years to come.
If you’re looking for good templates to start with for making your own game, I recommend looking into either (or both!) of the publicly available projects Stack-o-Bot & Lyra Starter Game. They have a ton of content around them as well that make learning the building blocks of game creation much easier.
If you haven’t given a Jam a chance before, I hope you do in the future. There is an impressive range of little free weekly games that are masterfully built and a lot of fun - give some of them a try when you have the chance! 