{"id":1028,"date":"2026-11-05T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2026-11-10T14:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T22:03:50","slug":"xr-lab-team-joins-the-2026-epic-ai-megajam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/2026\/11\/05\/xr-lab-team-joins-the-2026-epic-ai-megajam\/","title":{"rendered":"XR Lab Team Joins the Epic AI MegaJam!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div style=\"height:49px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mayflower-blocks-panel card bg-default\"><h2 class=\"card-header\">We Need You!<\/h2><div class=\"card-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Four days. One VR game. A global competition. Are you ready for the challenge?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bellevue College XR Lab student team is preparing to compete in the <strong>2026 Epic AI MegaJam<\/strong>, a global game development competition taking place November 11\u201315, 2026, including the kickoff and theme announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our mission is to design, develop, test, and submit a complete virtual reality (VR) game for the Meta Quest 3 using Unreal Engine 5.8, Meta&#8217;s XR SDK, and AI-assisted development tools. But here&#8217;s the exciting part: We&#8217;re looking for creative students to join us!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div style=\"height:33px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is the Epic AI MegaJam?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Epic AI MegaJam brings developers together from around the world to create games under a tight deadline. The competition&#8217;s theme will be revealed on <strong>November 11 at 11:00 AM Pacific Time<\/strong>, and the development period begins that evening at 9:00 PM.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teams have until November 15 at 5:59 PM Pacific Time to submit their completed games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our team is working toward two exciting competition categories:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Best Student Project:<\/strong> Recognizing outstanding games developed by student teams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Glass Box Prize ($2,500):<\/strong> Awarded for the best development log showing how a team created its game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We&#8217;re Looking for Creative Students!<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You don&#8217;t need to be an expert in VR development to contribute. We&#8217;re looking for students who are willing to learn, share ideas, and collaborate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div style=\"height:21px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mayflower-blocks-row row\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mayflower-blocks-column col-md\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3D Artists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Help us create environments, props, characters, and materials that bring our virtual world to life. Experience with Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, or Unreal Engine is helpful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mayflower-blocks-column col-md\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audio Designers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Create sound effects, environmental audio, and immersive soundscapes. Learn how spatial audio works in VR and how sound can make a virtual environment feel more realistic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mayflower-blocks-column col-md\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Game Designers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Help design levels, gameplay mechanics, and interactive experiences. Think about how players move, explore, solve problems, and interact with the virtual world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div style=\"height:33px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meet Our Team Leader<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project is being coordinated by <strong>Wendell Joost<\/strong>, a Bellevue College student in the Game Development track. Wendell has software development experience dating back to 1991, including full-stack development with Microsoft technologies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He will help students get familiar with the tools, understand the workflow, and coordinate the development process. Whether you&#8217;re participating in your first game jam or already have development experience, the goal is to work together, learn from each other, and create something amazing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How We&#8217;re Using AI<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is an important part of this year&#8217;s competition. Our team plans to use Claude and other development tools to assist with coding, debugging, problem-solving, and workflow automation. We&#8217;ll be developing our game using Unreal Engine 5.8 and testing it on the Meta Quest 3 as a standalone VR experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ll also document our progress through public development logs, GitHub updates, and team discussions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Get Involved<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Register for the Epic AI MegaJam<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/itch.io\/jam\/2026-epic-ai-megajam\">official Epic AI MegaJam page<\/a> to review the competition and registration requirements. Participants must be at least 18 years old and have an active Epic Games account. Official competition teams are limited to five members.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Join Us By November 11!<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The competition is approaching quickly, and we&#8217;re looking for students who are excited about VR, game design, and creative technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You don&#8217;t have to spend the entire four days developing. What matters is your willingness to participate, learn, and contribute.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;ve always wanted to experience VR game development but didn&#8217;t know where to begin, this could be your opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Let&#8217;s build something amazing together!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block-wrapper alignstandard\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mayflower-blocks-button d-grid\"><a class=\"btn btn-primary   \" href=\"https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/rqkPVCKDZ\" aria-disabled=\"false\">Join Our Team on Discord<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Is the Epic AI MegaJam? The Epic AI MegaJam brings developers together from around the world to create games under a tight deadline. The competition&#8217;s theme will be revealed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3936,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"acf":{"summary":"The Bellevue College XR Lab student team is preparing to compete in the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, a global game development competition taking place November 11\u201315, 2026, including the kickoff and theme announcement.","featured_media_type":"image_horizontal","featured_image_horizontal":1051,"featured_image_vertical":null,"featured_video_url":"","caption":"","author_override":"","contact":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3936"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1060,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/xrlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}