Health & Fitness
In an alternate reality, the Global Game Jam kicks off...
Around the world, the game creating community grows with the Global Game Jam
It started at 5:00 PM around the world Friday. As the 5:00 PM time moved from New Zealand to Korea to India to the Faroe Islands, the UK and eventually the US, participating sites excitedly reported in, the Keynote was shown and the theme was revealed. But participants and attendees were first instructed: No Facebook, No YouTube, No Twitter. Shhhhh. Not until the theme was revealed at 5:00 PM Hawaii time. That time has passed, so I can share with you:
The theme of this year’s Global Game Jam is ”What Do We Do Next?”
It’s an open ended question that can be answered in many ways. Many ways for the many thousands of participants to grow their game.
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For the uninitiated, a Game Jam is very similar to a Hack A Thon. Game enthusiasts with all levels of skills from beginner to artist, programmer, writer gathered at 5:00 PM local time to hear and begin work on their solutions to the theme. Then, for the next 48 hours - unbroken time for the committed enthusiasts - the enthusiasts work on the theme. It’s a time of supportive game development community. Not a competition, an opportunity for growth.
The Global Game Jam, first held in 2009 was an initiative of Susan Gold, Gorm Lai and Ian Schreiber. A university professor, industry professionals and writers on Game Theory and Game Development. Each year since the, the Global Game Jam has grown. In 2014 there were 72 countries, over 23K registered participants, 488 locations and 4292 projects.
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2015 welcomed us, the Long Beach Sea Base’s Club Ten program. With Global Game Jam regional coordinator Gregory Walek, we devised a plan for our local Game Jam. It’s youth oriented, and we have different concerns from many of the other locations. We selected Construct 2 as our platform for the day. We planned volunteer meetings every Friday, with Saturday and Sunday activities for jammers. At Friday’s final meeting, questions ranged from: “Do we need to introduce the participants to the left click”. “Can they type?” ”How long do we think the kids will last?”
In the end our first Game Jam was a small jam but it was a very successful day. Nine jammers immersed in game learning and game playing for an entire day. Nine tired, but happy jammers taking away a new experience. It’s one thing to learn a skill. A game jam provides a means to grow that skill. If you missed it, never fear - there will be others.