Gary SpringArms - Global Game Jam 17 Mac OS

(Redirected from Game jams)

Some game jams are local events, taking place in universities, conference halls, or other private spaces. The Global Game Jam takes place at the end of January of every year, with over 800 locations in 100+ countries around the world. The Ludum Dare is an example of a virtual game jam, an event where participants largely remain at home, but present their efforts at the conclusion of the jam. The original prototype – developed in just 48 hours at the 2013 Global Game Jam in January – challenged players to complete a heart transplant, armed only with an arsenal of clumsy and inappropriate tools and a hand that was diabolically difficult to control, using a combination of keyboard and mouse actions.

Participants in Free Knowledge Game Jam 2015

A game jam is a contest where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The contest duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally programmers, game designers, artists, writers, and others in game development-related fields.

Traditionally, game jams focus on video games;[1] however, board games have also been the subject of game jams.[2]

History[edit]

The term game jam is a composition of the words game and jam session. A jam session describes the musical act of producing music with little to no prior preparation in an effort to develop new material or simply to practice. In the same way, game jams are events in which game developers prototype experimental ideas into playable games.[3]

In March 2002, video game developersChris Hecker and Sean Barrett, interested in the capability of modern hardware in rendering a large number of sprites, worked with Doug Church, Jonathan Blow, and Casey Muratori in developing a specialized game engine capable of rendering a massive number of sprites. Hecker and Barrett invited a small group of video game developers to meet in Hecker's office in Oakland, California for the purpose of creating innovative video games using this newly built engine. Hecker and Barrett named this gathering the 0th Indie Game Jam, a game design and programming event 'designed to encourage experimentation and innovation in the game industry'.[4][5]

Format[edit]

Location[edit]

A finished game being presented at Global Game Jam 2014, Jyväskylä, Finland

Some game jams are local events, taking place in universities, conference halls, or other private spaces.[6] The Global Game Jam takes place at the end of January of every year, with over 800 locations in 100+ countries around the world.[7] The Ludum Dare is an example of a virtual game jam, an event where participants largely remain at home, but present their efforts at the conclusion of the jam.[5]

Time constraint[edit]

Game jams typically have restrictive time limits, ranging from a few hours to several days. This time constraint is meant to simulate the pressure of a deadline and to encourage creativity among ideas produced by game jam teams.[2][3]

Theme[edit]

A game jam may be centered on a theme, which all games developed within the jam must adhere to. The theme is usually announced shortly before the event begins, in order to discourage participants from planning for the event beforehand and from using previously-developed material.[3] In addition, themes are meant to place restrictions on developers, which encourages creativity.[8]

Ludum Dare 24, a competitive game jam event, featured the theme of 'Evolution'. As stated by the Ludum Dare rules, all participants in the competition were recommended to create a game based on this theme. However, the rules also stated that participants were not required to use the theme, which allowed for games to be made outside of the theme.[9][10]

Technology[edit]

The type of technology can vary depending on the type of game being developed, and among the different disciplines involved.

In a video game jam, teams are generally made up of at least a programmer and an artist.[3] A programmer would work in a development environment such as Microsoft Visual Studio for development in a .NET Framework application or Eclipse for a Java-based application. An artist may use tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Blender 3D or Autodesk Maya. Other tools used by developers include videogame frameworks such as the Unreal Engine, CryEngine, Unity, Godot, and Microsoft XNA Framework. If in a team, developers might use communication services such as Discord, and source control services such as GitHub.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • Sara Cornish, Matthew Farber, Alex Fleming, Kevin Miklasz (2017). The Game Jam Guide. Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  1. ^Shin, Kaneko, Matsui, Mikami, Nagaku, Nakabayashi, Ono, Yamane,and lovesplayingslender.Localizing Global Game Jam. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  2. ^ abGlobal Game Jam. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  3. ^ abcdJagnow, Rob. Game Jam Central, Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  4. ^Hecker, Chris. 0th Indie Game Jam. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  5. ^ abChen, Sande (August 9, 2017). 'A Brief History of Game Jams'. Gamasutra. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  6. ^TOJam. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
  7. ^Khosmood, Foaad. 'Global Game Jam FAQ'. globalgamejam.org. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  8. ^STL Game Jam. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  9. ^Ludum Dare 24 - Evolution. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  10. ^Ludum Dare Rules and Guide. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Game_jam&oldid=1014971575'
Global Game Jam
AbbreviationGGJ
Formation2008, with first Game Jam held January 30–February 1, 2009
Typenon-profit charity 501(c)(3)
HeadquartersSan Luis Obispo, California[1]
International
President
Joseph Olin
Johanna Summers
Parent organization
Global Game Jam, Inc.
3
Volunteers
1000+
Websitehttp://www.globalgamejam.org

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is an annual distributed game jam. Inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, and created by Susan Gold, Ian Schreiber, Gorm Lai and Foaad Khosmood, originally developed under the International Game Developers Association Education SIG to bring together the elements of creativity, collaboration and experimentation. At each site, participants gather to develop ideas, form small groups, create new, creative, innovative games, and present them to their peers and the global community, all in a limited time span. As of 2013, GGJ is managed by Global Game Jam Incorporated.[1] Current and past board directors include the founders Elonka Dunin, Lindsay Grace and Zuraida Buter. In January 2019, GGJ generated teams in 860 sites in 113 countries, who over the course of one weekend created 9,010 games.[2] The Global Game Jam carries a registered trademark.

Participants[edit]

Participants in the Global Game Jam are of all skill levels and in various fields. Everyone from professional game developers to educators to artists and designers is welcome to participate.[3] Once the jam begins, participants come up with game ideas, before pitching those ideas to each other and forming teams to work together on a project.[4]

Event organization[edit]

An image from the Global Game Jam in Los Angeles 2015

Groups wishing to host a jam site must fulfill certain requirements. Their location must have Internet access for everyone involved, access to development resources such as an IDE, possibly preinstalled at the location, an event coordinator, beverages and nearby food access, if possible, round-the-clock availability of the location, and security for belongings.[4]

At each site, the Global Game Jam runs continuously for 48 hours in each time zone, beginning at 5:00 PM on the start date, and ending at 5:00 PM two days later. The recommended schedule includes a short planning and team creation period, followed by development time until 3:00 PM on the final day. The last few hours are set aside for teams to present their creation to each other. However, sites are not required to follow this schedule.[5]

At the beginning of the event participants are given a theme, such as “Extinction” in the 2011 Jam. Participants are asked to create a game that in some way relates to this theme. Additionally, participants are given a list of “achievements”, also referred to as diversifiers.[6] These are designed to drive creative development by adding a unique or limiting factor to their game’s design.

Past events[edit]

The first Global Game Jam was held from January 30 – February 1, 2009, at 53 locations across the globe. During the jam, 1650 participants created 370 games.[7][8]

The second Jam expanded further in 2010, increasing to 138 sites and resulting in 900 games made by 4300 creators.[5]

The 2011 Game Jam, which ran January 28–30, gathered 6500 participants at 169 sites who created over 1500 games total.[9]

The 2012 Game Jam ran January 27–29 with over 10,684 participants in 242 locations (47 countries). 2209 games were created. According to a March 2 press release, the Global Game Jam is recognized as the largest in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records.[10]

The 2013 Game Jam was held January 25–27 with 16,705 participants in 319 locations (63 countries). 3248 games were created.[11]

The 2014 GGJ was held January 24–26 with 23,198 participants in 488 locations (72 countries). 4290 games were created.[12]

The 2015 GGJ took place from 23 to 25 January with 28,837 participants in 518 registered jam sites in 518 locations (78 countries). 5438 games were created.[13]

The 2016 GGJ was held January 29–31 with over 36,164 participants in 93 countries.[14]

The 2017 GGJ was held January 20–22 with over 36,401 participants in 95 countries.[14]

The 2018 GGJ was held January 26–28 with 42,811 participants in 108 countries. 8,606 games were made at 803 locations.[14]

The 2019 GGJ was held January 25–27 with 47,009 participants in 113 countries. 9,010 games were made at 860 locations.[14]

The 2020 GGJ was held January 31 - February 1 with 48,753 participants in 118 countries. 9601 games were made at 934 locations.[14]

Global

The 2021 GGJ was held January 27 - January 31 with 28,825 registered participants at 585 sites in 104 countries. 6,383 games were made. (Online only due to COVID-19 pandemic)[14]

Event themes[edit]

GGJ theme of year 2012, an Ouroboros figure.

Gary Spring Arms - Global Game Jam 17 Mac Os X

  • 2009 - 'As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems'[14]
  • 2010 - 'Deception'[14] (plus extra time-zone-specific themes, including 'The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain')
  • 2011 - 'Extinction'[14]
  • 2012 - An image of Ouroboros.[15]
  • 2013 - Sound of a Heartbeat[16]
  • 2014 - 'We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.' [17]
  • 2015 - 'What do we do now?'[18]
  • 2016 - 'Ritual'[14]
  • 2017 - 'Waves'[14]
  • 2018 - 'Transmission'[19]
  • 2019 - 'What home means to you'[20]
  • 2020 - 'Repair'[21]
  • 2021 - 'Lost and Found'[14]

Intellectual property[edit]

All games produced are created under the Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike 3.0 free license, and while they remain the intellectual property of their creators, the Global Game Jam retains the ability to use any game as promotional material.[5][22] As a part of this and as part of the license, every game is archived, along with source code for many digital games, on Global Game Jam’s website.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ ab'About'. Global Game Jam. September 13, 2013.
  2. ^'Time to go home... GGJ19 roundup'. Global Game Jam. January 29, 2019.
  3. ^Serrels, Mark. 'Game Jam: Saving The Australian Games Industry In 48 Hours'. kotaku. Retrieved 23 December 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. ^ abBasic Questions. http://www.globalgamejam.org/wiki/basic-questions#ggjArchived 2012-09-02 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2/14/2011.
  5. ^ abcd'Global Game Jam'. Global Game Jam.
  6. ^'Global Game Jam Diversifiers'. Official Global Game Jam Website. Retrieved 19 April 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. ^Jacobs, Steve. “Global Game Jam 2009: A Worldwide Report.” p1. 2/25/2009. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3943/global_game_jam_2009_a_worldwide_.php.
  8. ^Whitacre, Andrew. “GAMBIT Game Lab to build new video games in 48-hour marathon.” 1/5/2010. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/gambit-game-jam.html
  9. ^Alexander, Lee. “Global Game Jam Sees Biggest Year Yet With 6,500 Participants.” 1/25/2011. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32750/Global_Game_Jam_Sees_Biggest_Year_Yet_With_6500_Participants.php
  10. ^'Global Game Jam Sets Guinness World Record™ for Being The Largest Game Jam in the World'. www.gamasutra.com.
  11. ^http://2013.globalgamejam.org/news/2013/02/04/global-game-jam-2013-numbers
  12. ^'GGJ 2014 by the Numbers'. Global Game Jam. February 16, 2014.
  13. ^'GGJ 2015: The Official Stats'. Global Game Jam. January 30, 2015.
  14. ^ abcdefghijkl'History'. Global Game Jam. October 9, 2013.
  15. ^'GGJ 2012 Theme'.
  16. ^'GGJ13 Theme'.
  17. ^'GGJ14 Theme!'. Global Game Jam. January 24, 2014.
  18. ^'Twitch Jams 2015 #GGJ15'. GameDev.net.
  19. ^'The theme for Global Game Jam 2018 is…'. Global Game Jam. January 26, 2018.
  20. ^'The theme for Global Game Jam 2019 is…'. Global Game Jam. January 25, 2019.
  21. ^'The theme for GGJ 2020 is…'. Global Game Jam. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  22. ^https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Retrieved 2/8/2011.

External links[edit]

Gary Spring Arms - Global Game Jam 17 Mac Os Download

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