The Revolution

in 48 hours:

The Global

Game Jam Annakaisa Kultima

University of Tampere

Finnish Game Jam

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

Global Game Jam

GGJ 2013:

• Over 16,000 participants

• 319 locations worldwide

• 63 countries

• Over 3,200 games made

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.

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

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

Typical Schedule

• Friday – People come in

– Listen local presentations

– Watch the keynote videos

– Theme is released

– Brainstorm

– Sell your ideas

– Form groups

– Start developing!

Typical Schedule

• Saturday – Continue

developing!

– Stay nourished

• Sunday – Rush your game

ready

– Upload the game

– Presentations

– Party!

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

500+ participants of GGJ

in Finland

~2000 game developers

in Finland

What does it take to

run a GGJ event?

• Minimum: – 1 organizer

– A place to stay

– Electricity

– Internet connection

– 1 participant

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.

Example Games

• Finnish Game Jam 2013

Example Games

• International Fame: – Johan Sebastian Joust

• IGF 2012 Seumas McNally Grand Prize Finalist

– Surgeon Simulator 2013

Competition or not?

• Global Game Jam

is not a competition

• Local competitions

• Some get motivated,

some get intimidated

– Some play

TOO SAFE!

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

How to get on board?

• Participator? Organizer?

• Check for more information Globalgamejam.org

• Executive directors – Zuraida Buter

– Elonka Dunin

– Foaad Khosmood

– Gorm Lai

Interested to sponsor?

• Contact our Fundraising & Sponsorships Chair,

Susan Gold +1 415 286 3489

susan@globalgamejam.org

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