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# A song is the whole theme of thatgamejam #02
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/a-song-is-the-whole-theme-of-thatgamejam-02/
- Published: 2026-11-02T22:44:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-02T22:44:38.000Z
- Description: thatgamecompany's two-week jam asks entrants to turn a piece of music into play, with $10,000 across five prizes and no rhythm games required.
- Author: Kill Screen Staff
- Tags: News, #events, #radar-item, Events, thatgamecompany, Jenova Chen, game jam, itch.io, music, Sound design, Journey

Event details

When

Submissions open through Sat., Nov. 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PT

Where

Online, through itch.io (TapTap for developers in China)

Cost

Free to enter

[Join the jam](https://itch.io/jam/thatgamejam02?ref=killscreen.com)

The theme of the second thatgamejam is a piece of music. [thatgamecompany](https://www.killscreen.com/tag/thatgamecompany/) released it with [the announcement video](https://www.instagram.com/p/De3jE0Hvjam/?ref=killscreen.com) on Oct. 24 and gave entrants two weeks, until Nov. 7, to turn what the track makes them feel into a game. Any genre counts. The rules say outright that nobody has to make a music or rhythm game, or even put the track in their entry.

0:00 

/0:49 

1× 

The thatgamejam #02 announcement, with the theme track. The full recording is on [the jam page](https://itch.io/jam/thatgamejam02?ref=killscreen.com). Video courtesy thatgamecompany.

The track was composed by Jason Grace, and the full recording is free to download from [the jam page](https://itch.io/jam/thatgamejam02?ref=killscreen.com). Anyone who uses it has to use it unmodified: no remixes, no samples. A cover or an original score is fine.

It is a fitting prompt for the studio behind *Flower*, *Journey* and *Sky: Children of the Light*, games built so that strangers feel something together without a line of dialogue. [Jenova Chen](https://www.killscreen.com/tag/jenova-chen/), the studio's CEO and creative director, said in the announcement that the studio picked a theme you hear because "sound doesn't need translating." The jam follows the September launch of thatgamepublisher, which [we covered](https://www.killscreen.com/the-studio-that-fled-publishers-is-now-a-publisher/) as *Sky* money going toward other people's emotionally ambitious games.

Five cash prizes total $10,000: Best Overall ($3,000), Best Gameplay, Best Visual Design and Community's Voice ($2,000 each), and TapTap's Choice ($1,000). Studio staff review every entry and Chen evaluates the finalists. The community vote runs on itch.io from Nov. 8 to Dec. 11, and winners are announced Dec. 22\. 

Killscreen covers games that start from a feeling instead of a genre, and the people making them far from the big storefronts. The free newsletter brings them to you.

[Get the free Radar ](https://www.killscreen.com/start/?ref=radar-cta)