The Walking Dead kicks off official game jam contest

Robert Kirkman's Skybound comic book imprint is kicking off an official The Walking Dead game jam starting today, Sept. 26, the company announced. The two week-long game jam is being launched to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the zombie comic book series and ties into an upcoming storyline, "All Out War."

Aspiring and established video game developers are invited to participate in the All Out War game jam, which comes to a close Oct. 10. The ten best entrants will receive a number of prizes, including signed special books, merchandise and t-shirts, plus a free Unity license and Steam Greenlight keys from Valve, should game jammers decide to continue their work after the contest.

The game jam contest's rules require that games be built in Unity — which offers a free 30-day trial — and disallows any use of The Walking Dead artwork, its storylines — including the upcoming All Out War arc — and its characters. Despite its association with the comic book, the rules further stipulate that contestants can't use the titles or phrases "The Walking Dead" or "All Out War" in their games.

A longer list of rules for the All Out War game jam are available at The Walking Dead official site.

The All Out War story arc kicks off in early October with issue #115 of The Walking Dead. During the 12 issue arc, The Walking Dead will be published on a bi-weekly basis.