What is a Game Jam and where do you sign-up? This session is for a wide audience of game developers who want to know what this trend is about. We will discuss how you do amazing things in an extremely short amount of time with participants of all experience levels. What happens when people come together to collaborate, innovate and experiment in games – a creative buzz is felt around the world. The session will answer how this event came about and started a revolu! tion in games. GGJ will discuss past success and give advice on how to organize a game jam and/or participate in the next Global Game Jam.

1. The Revolution
in 48 hours:
The Global
Game Jam
Annakaisa Kultima
University of Tampere
Finnish Game Jam

3. Global Game Jam
• “Innovation, Experimentation
& Collaboration”
• Physical locations
all over the globe
• Students & professionals
get together to make
games in 48 hours
• World's largest
game jam event

4. Global Game Jam
GGJ 2013:
• Over 16,000 participants
• 319 locations worldwide
• 63 countries
• Over 3,200 games made

5. History
• Susan Gold, Gorm Lai &
Ian Schreiber
• Inspired by: Nordic Game Jam,
Indie Game Jam, Ludum Dare
• International Game Developer's
Association (IGDA) project from
2009-2012
• 2013  Global Game Jam, Inc.

6. GGJ rules
• Participants must meet in person
in an approved jam site
• Global theme and diversifiers
– Selected by committee every year
• Non-digital games are welcome
• All games must be released open
source (Creative Commons)
– Must be uploaded to
GlobalGameJam.org

7. Theme & Constraints
• 2009: “As long as we have each other,
we never run out of problems”
• 2010: “Deception”
• 2011: “Extinction”
• 2012: [A picture of Ouroboros]
• 2013: [A sound of a heart beat]
• +Additional constraints

8. Typical Schedule
• Friday
– People come in
– Listen local
presentations
– Watch the keynote
videos
– Theme is released
– Brainstorm
– Sell your ideas
– Form groups
– Start developing!

9. Typical Schedule
• Saturday
– Continue
developing!
– Stay nourished
• Sunday
– Rush your game
ready
– Upload the game
– Presentations
– Party!

10. Finnish Game Jam
• 2010
– 3 cities
98 participants
25 games
• 2011
– 5 cities
163 participants
39 games
• 2012
– 8 cities
280 participants
85 games
• 2013
– 12 cities
513 participants
138 games

11. 500+ participants of GGJ
in Finland
~2000 game developers
in Finland

12. What does it take to
run a GGJ event?
• Minimum:
– 1 organizer
– A place to stay
– Electricity
– Internet connection
– 1 participant

13. What does it take to
run a GGJ event?
• Tampere style:
– 10+ enthusiastic organizers
– Sponsors for food
– Around 70 participants;
students and professionals
– A place to stay overnight
– A reliable internet connection
– Webcam, “Twitter wall”, etc.
– Press release, blog etc.
– T-shirts, badges etc.

14. Example Games
• Finnish Game Jam 2013

15. Example Games
• International Fame:
– Johan Sebastian Joust
• IGF 2012 Seumas McNally
Grand Prize Finalist
– Surgeon Simulator 2013

16. Competition or not?
• Global Game Jam
is not a competition
• Local competitions
• Some get motivated,
some get intimidated
– Some play
TOO SAFE!

17. Truly International?
• 319 jam sites in 63
countries covering all
time zones
• Countries hosting for
the first time in 2013:
Bolivia, Chile, Egypt,
Greece, Hungary,
India, Latvia,
Macedonia, Morocco,
Nigeria, Serbia and
Tunisia

18. How to get on board?
• Participator? Organizer?
• Check for more information
Globalgamejam.org
• Executive directors
– Zuraida Buter
– Elonka Dunin
– Foaad Khosmood
– Gorm Lai

19. Interested to sponsor?
• Contact our Fundraising & Sponsorships Chair,
Susan Gold
+1 415 286 3489
susan@globalgamejam.org

20. Annakaisa Kultima
University of Tampere
Global Game Jam
Finnish Game Jam
Annakaisa.Kultima@uta.fi
@AaKoo
@AaKooPlays
Aakoosgamelab.com
Gamelab.uta.fi
Finnishgamejam.fi
Globalgamejam.org