Global Game Jam

Global Game Jam

Abbreviation	GGJ
Motto	innovation, creativity, experimentation
Formation	2008, with first Game Jam held January 30–February 1, 2009
Region served	International
Parent organization	Global Game Jam, Inc.
Website	http://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 and Gorm Lai, 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. In January 2014, GGJ generated teams in 485 sites in 73 countries, who over the course of one weekend created 4,289 games. The Global Game Jam carries a registered trademark.

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. 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.

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, round-the-clock availability of the location, and security for belongings.

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.

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. These are designed to drive creative development by adding a unique or limiting factor to their a game’s design. Examples include “Both Hands Tied Behind My Back”, in which a game should be designed to be played without the player’s hands, or “Picasso Lives”, in which game art must be cubist in style.