Game Jamming

What would MOLYDEUX? Game Jam is this weekend!
http://www.whatwouldmolydeux.com/

This is going to be an extremely funny worldwide event. This 48hr game jam is based on a parody twitter account @petermolydeux(http://twitter.com/petermolydeux) which suggests extremely original and highbrow gamedev concepts much like the real-life works of brilliant and arty designs of Peter Moloyneux, creator of many game classics, who's real twitter account is @pmolyneux(http://twitter.com/pmolyneux) in case you're hoping to follow the real person along with the parody account.

The jam is being hosted around the world in many locations, and will be attended by hundreds of creative game jammers. Be sure to check out the tweets of @molyjam(http://twitter.com/molyjam) and search for the hashtag #molyjam or #molyjam2012 to watch all the fun unfold.

Here are just a few of the awesome game concepts that will be used as inspiration for people's crazy games:

https://twitter.com/#!/petermolydeux/status/180146512930668545

What Would Molydeux?

Check out the map for locations, chat with participants, or watch livestream of the events. San Francisco, USA. Anna Kipnis: @doubleanna; Patrick Klepek: @patrickklepek; Chris Remo: @chrisremo · molyj…

7DRL Seven Day Roguelike Challenge

If you like nethack, moria and other turn based fantasy crawlers that focus on the gameplay instead of the graphics like desktop dungeons, this is the biggest week of the year. All this week (ending on Sunday) gamedevs around the world are working to create a "roguelike" game as fast as they can.

Check out the main challenge website:
http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=7DRL_Contest_2012

The community blog where people are posting screenshots:
http://7drl.org/

And finally the wikipedia entry on roguelikes, in case you want to read more about one of the coolest (and most "indie") game genres of them all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike

7DRL Challenge 2012 – RogueBasin

The 2012 Seven Day Roguelike Challenge, 8th of its kind, will be held on the week of March 10th to March 18th. Links. 7drl.org—a community blog for the 7DRL Challenge. Announcement thread on RGRD. How…

PyWeek – The 14th Python Game Programming Challenge will run from the 22nd to the 29th of April. http://pyweek.org/14/

Play the last PyWeek's amazing games: http://pyweek.org/13/entries/

Timetable:
Friday 2012/03/23 Pre-registration open
Sunday 2012/04/15 Theme voting commences
Sunday 2012/04/22 Challenge start
Sunday 2012/04/29 Challenge end, judging begins
Sunday 2012/05/13 Judging closes, winners announced

Goals of the PyWeek challenge:

- Invites entrants to write a game in one week from scratch either as an individual or in a team,

- Is intended to be challenging and fun,

- Will hopefully increase the public body of game tools, code and expertise,

- Will let a lot of people actually finish a game, and

- May inspire new projects (with ready made teams!)

(via Richard Jones who is co-presenting a 3 hour pygame
tutorial at PyCon in March. See: https://us.pycon.org/2012/)

#MOJAM Mojang (the Minecraft people, let by +Markus Persson) is going to do doing an internal game jam this weekend with any donations going to the humble bundle charities. The fun things about this jam is that everyone is invited to

vote for the GENRE:
- Shoot 'em Up
- Racing Game
- First Person Shooter
- Peter Molyneux
- Dating Simulator
- Real Time Strategy
- Dungeon Crawler
- Beat 'em Up

and the THEME:

- World War II
- Horror
- Post Apocalyptic
- Fantasy
- Steampunk
- Modern
- Ancient Egypt
- Candy Land

Currently the winner is a steampunk real-time strategy … which actually sounds pretty awesome! Enter your own vote here:
http://www.mojang.com/2012/02/15/humble-bundle-mojam/

Humble Bundle Mojam

Starting this Friday, February 17th at 10 CET Mojang will be creating a new game LIVE with all of the money going to charity. With the help of our friends at HumbleBundle.com, we are having a fun game…

nanoLD 48 minute game jam today!
Hosted by +Sos Sosowski on +Ludum Dare.

Who needs 48 hours? Think you could make a playable game in a mere 48 minutes? Your challenge this weekend is to try to pull off this incredible feat. Nobody is expecting a gaming masterpiece. Perhaps you have an existing game framework all set up and ready to go.

All you need to do is make something – anything – that could be called a game and post about it on www.ludumdare.com as well as on twitter using the #ld48 hashtag.

There are NO rules. No submit forms. No voting or winners. This is a personal challenge to all #gamedev people. Push yourself. It will take you less than an hour out of your life, so you've got nothing to lose!

THE THEME IS: *INDUSTRIAL". Good luck and have fun!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/02/11/nanold-make-a-game-in-48-minutes/

Ludum Dare » Blog Archive » nanoLD – Make a game in 48 minutes!

#ludumdare on irc.afternet.org (Info). Ludum Dare 23 — April 20th-23rd, 2012 — 10 Year Anniversary! Ludum Dare 22 :: December 16th-19th, 2011 :: Theme: Alone. [ Results: Top 50 Compo, Jam | Top 25 Cat…

Infinite World

The Feb. 2012 Experimental Gameplay Challenge has begun!

http://experimentalgameplay.com/blog/2012/02/infinite-world-in-february-2012/

You have one month to create a game that uses some sort of infinite world generator.

Perhaps you will choose to implement a perlin noise terrain system, or a fractal geometry algorithm, or even pure randomness could do the trick. Others have used maze generation algorithms or the cellular automata cave generation trick to generate playable valid worlds that never end. This sounds like a really fun challenge.

You have a FINITE amount of time (all month) to make something INFINITE. Good luck!

INFINITE WORLD in February 2012 | Experimental Gameplay Project

INFINITE WORLD in February 2012. February 1st, 2012. From MMOs like Love, to block-smashing hits like Minecraft ginormous auto-generated worlds seem to be en vogue things days. And what's not to l…

JS1K competition Feb 1 to Mar 14.

The competition has begun! Your mission: to create an awesome demo, game, effect or just some eyecandy in merely 1024 bytes of javascript source code.

#JS1K sounds impossible at first, but in past events some mind-blowingly polished and complex demos were made, including webGL screensaver style trippy effects and even full-fledged video games, from platformers to roguelikes.

What can YOU make in only one kilobyte?

http://js1k.com/

js1k.com

Tweet. The object of this competition is to create a cool JavaScript "application" no larger than 1k. Starting out as a joke, the first version ended with a serious amount of submissions, pr…

Ludum Dare (10 year anniversary) has been announced!

#LD48 Twenty Three will be held on April 20th to 23rd, 2012.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/

Be there or be square. Ludum Dare is the most active game jam community on the internet, with quarterly jams and a competition where participants vote on categories like theme, graphics and sound to declare a WINNER.

This will be the grand tenth anniversary of the venerable game jam/compo and promises to be a MASSIVE event. It is entirely probable that a thousand games will be made. Do not miss this event. Fun times will be had by all.

Ludum Dare

In case you haven't heard, on GDC Monday at 6 PM will be a free screening of Indie Game: The Movie available to all GDC attendees (well, the first 500 that arrive). After the movie, there will be …

#PEGJAM : The Winnipeg Game Jam is this weekend.

Best of luck to all involved and HAVE FUN!

Read more about it here:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=23727.0

Additional info here:
https://plus.google.com/b/109613269982984742720/109613269982984742720/posts/TzmcCdUVEeU

PEGJAM 2012 + Indie Game: The Movie Screening

PEGJAM 2012 + Indie Game: The Movie Screening

Global Game Jam Diversifiers and Acheivements System

The #GGJ12 is this weekend, and around 10,000 #gamedev hopefuls are expected. This is the biggest game jam on the planet. Because there are so many games being made, a system for classifying your game called "diversifiers" has been set up. This will let you "tag" your game so prospective players can find the kinds of games they are looking for. It also helps for generating game style statistics later on. Here's an excerpt and list of the cool categories and achievements available:

1. 1D
(Single-dimensional gameplay)
The game takes place along only a single dimension.

2. ASCII Art
(3D game… in text)
The game is rendered in 3d… but can only use ASCII text (no graphics code or libraries allowed).

3. Asymmetry
(Every player is different)
The game requires more than one player, but each player has entirely different goals and rules.

4. Collaborative Casual/Hardcore
(Two players: one casual, one hardcore)
Collaborative play for two, but one player has more to do than the other (or the difficulty level is different between them).

5. Connectivity
(Two GGJ games that interact)
This game somehow interacts with at least one other group’s game.

6. Eyes Wide Shut
(No graphics)
The game has no graphics.

7. Followers
(Increasing number of NPCs follow you)
The game involves a growing number of autonomous non-player characters that are always following the player character’s position.

8. Good Vibrations
(Game contains haptic feedback)
Make a game where haptic feedback (e.g. rumble or force-feedback) is a key ingredient.

9. Kiloplayer
(1024 players or more at once)
The game supports 1024 players (or more) simultaneously.

10. Hive mind
(3+ players control the same avatar)
Player avatar is controlled simultaneously by 3 or more people. They don’t have to, but may, control the same aspect of the character.

11. I know what you did last…
(Game changes between sessions)
The game mechanics or content will change in the next play session, based on the actions taken in the previous session.

12. It’s Not Plagiarism, It’s Research
(Everything was taken from somewhere else)
Every part of the game (code, art, and sound) must be taken from public-domain or other open-source sources, not created on-site. You must cite all of your sources!

13. Scribbl’d
(All art is hand drawn)
All artwork is hand drawn and scanned in.

14. Swarm
(1000+ enemies in play at once)
The game is designed to have over 1000 enemies in play at once.

15. The Right Target Audience
(Programming during play)
The game involves the players actually programming while playing.

Diversifiers for GGJ 2012 | The Global Game Jam

The GGJ Diversifier system is a system aimed at diversifying the games as well as providing motivation for experienced game jammers. In a sense, the diversifiers are a free-for-all voluntary list of s…

BOARD GAME JAM Toronto – Dream it, build it, play it. Feb. 25-26, 2012
http://boardgamejam.com/

Game Jammers: have you ever considered making your own board game? For those living in Ontario, Canada, the opportunity to do so with others has been announced.

You can register for the event here:
http://boardgamejam2012.eventbrite.com/

From the website:

If you love playing games of any sort then this Jam is for you. We welcome people of all levels from professionals to people who just love rolling dice.

It’s a two day event starting on Saturday morning and concluding on Sunday evening. On Saturday and Sunday you make your game and then on Sunday evening we’ll play the games everybody has made!

At Board Game Jam you can:

Get a chance to explore the fundamentals of good game design.
Try out some crazy game idea you’ve been been exploring.
Meet other people who love games.
And most importantly make a game!
If you’re still wondering what Board Game Jam is check out the FAQ and about section.

Like last year, you can sign up as an individual or get some friends and show up as a team – it’s entirely up to you!

Board Game Jam Toronto | Dream it, build it, play it.

Board Game Jam 2012 is happening Feburary 25-26 and tickets are on sale! If you love playing games of any sort then this Jam is for you. We welcome people of all levels from professionals to people wh…

TIGJAM UK 6

A weekend of making games, hosted by the Cambridge Friendship Club. Everyone welcome, regardless of experience, so long as you're willing to get your hands dirty.

Date: 17-19th February 2011
Venue: CB2 Bistro, Cambridge.
Read more about it here:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=23850.msg675344

The format of the event is usually that we have a running series of opt-in 3-hour jams all weekend. If you want to focus on a single-project, great, if you want to spend longer extend one of these mini-jam games into something bigger, great, if you want to work on something else entirely different, great.

People will be about from 10am on the Friday, but Friday being a weekday, people will be arriving all through the day. There are usually plenty of people hanging about for the Monday after as well

Get tickets here (£5 each):
http://tigjamuk6.eventbrite.com/

See CB2 here: http://www.cb2bistro.com/
You'll be expected to buy food and drink at the venue.

Accommodation:
The YHA hostel in cambridge is super convenient – very close to both the train station and CB2! £20.00-ish per night – we're organizing rooms on this thread:

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=23851.0

For more info, send a mail to analytic@gmail.com
Or send a tweet to @cb2indies(http://twitter.com/cb2indies)

Night of the Living Game Devs

A game jam hosted by +Sven Bergström (who is also known as FuzzYspo0N on +Ludum Dare) which is being held on Januray 21st, 9am to Midnight, in Cape Town. Think of it as a pre global game jam.

Check out his blog to get in touch:
http://underscorediscovery.com/

Here's the awesome poster he made! Love the zombi-fied retro graphics.

PEGJAM: The Winnipeg Game Jam

February 3rd weekend in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the Skullspace, including a screening of Indie Game: The Movie for the game jam attendees in a rented movie theatre, featuring organizers +Noel Berry +Marlon Wiebe +Alec Holowka

TIGforums announcement thread:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=23727.0

Sign up at eventbrite:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2745320327

Skullspace:
http://www.skullspace.ca/blog/

Indie Game: The Movie:
http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/

CONFIRMED PEOPLE

+Vieko Franetovic
http://viekoslavia.com/?tag=krunch
"Krunch"

+Matt Thorson
http://mattmakesgames.com/
"Give Up Robot 2", "Fat Wizard", many more

+Andy Moore
http://bit.ly/wHpGun
"Steambirds"

+Sara Gross
http://www.twobitart.com/
"Hollow's Deep"

+John Stringham
Twitter:@jotapeh

+Marlon Wiebe
http://feeblethemighty.com

+Matthew Klundt
http://mattfoxgames.com/

Check out the fantastic t-shirt that they designed! Great use of a "peg" motif.

Board Game Design Guide
Video by Ian Schreiber, Global Game Jam Director:

Hint #1:
Play to your strengths. No programming or sound is required. With board games, you only have one role: designer/tester. If working in a group, remember there is one danger: design by committee. It helps if you go into this as an advocate for the player (as opposed to a particular design idea). Set up a playtesting exchange. Feedback is everything.

Hint #2:
Everything is a prototyping material! Pencil, paper, cards, coins, pocket lint. You only need whatever's around you. No more than 2 or 3 materials for testing. Don't spend too much time on game-pieces while designing.

Hint #3:
Playtest without knowing the rules. Make them up on the fly, while playing! Start with a general idea and be willing to change everything around. You don't actually have to know how the game works before playtesting. Eventually decide what the interesting player choices are. Only during playtesting will the best ideas come. Grow it organizally.

Hint #4:
Prototype fast. Start playing the game as fast as you can. When you're playing the game, you know when you're having fun or not. Don't be afraid to go back to the drawing board. Keep playing. Leave as much time for playtesting as possible. Never let your design sit still.

Hint #4:
When you have a game that is playable and is fun, give your final materials some love. Once you find the fun, take care to make the art and pieces look nice. The rules are the game, so write them carefully and clearly. You could even make a play tutorial video! Link to it on your blog or the GGJ website. It makes it easier to explain, and makes people excited and willing to download the rules and try your game.

Good luck and have fun making a board game!

Hints for Newbies (2012) — Board Game Edition

GGJ Director Ian Schreiber provides helpful hints for board game designers.

STOP SOPA GAME JAM

On January 18th, +Sos Sosowski is hosting the STOP SOPA game jam! Sounds like fun. http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/01/13/stop-sopa-game-jam-january-18/

Some ideas: Write a game about censorship. Make a non-game protest that is a black screen with black sprites. Make an amazing title screen but a play button that is redacted. Whatever you do, have fun. Remember, SOPA is still alive with a new name (PIPA).

To quote the +Ludum Dare page, "Let’s protest! Make anti-SOPA games on January 18 and make the internet crawl with these! It’s the best we can do, let’s abuse it and help the internet stay the awesome place it is now! Follow #sopajam on Twitter!" https://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23sopajam

Ludum Dare » Blog Archive » Stop Sopa Game Jam – January 18

Big List of Game Jams!

The Global Game Jam – http://globalgamejam.org/
With tens of thousands of participants, this yearly game jam takes the cake for being the best organized, more popular game jam in the world. It is held in late January each year and there are hundreds of local events synchronized to occur on that same weekend.

Ludum Dare – http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/
With a ten year history, Ludum Dare (latin for “giving game”) is the biggest and most popular non-sponsored, community of game jammers around. Every four months over one thousand participants vote on a theme and try to write a game in a weekend. Mini jams are held once per month, but these are more intimate affair with around 20 participants. By comparison, the 21st Ludum Dare, which was held in August 2011 resulted in 599 games being made, and Ludum Dare 22, held in December 2011, produced a whopping 891 games. At this rate, the ten-year anniversary in April 2012 may reach the thousand games mark. Highly recommended.

The Experimental Gameplay Project – http://experimentalgameplay.com/
Once a month, these freewheeling dandies pick an interesting theme and give participants seven days worth of effort during the entire month to come up with a game based on it. Less competitive than Ludum Dare, there aren't any massive voting phases or rankings but this game jam is perfect for people who can't devote a single weekend to game development and would prefer to space out the work when it better suits their schedules.

The Game Prototype Challenge – http://gameprototypechallenge.com/
Smaller and more personal, this up and coming game jam generally results in between ten and thirty games per jam and is held during an entire week, rather than just a single weekend. Friendly and informal.

The Super Friendship Club – http://superfriendshipclub.com/
Super Friendship Club is an informal and friendly place for people to talk about games they're making and get feedback on them. They host "pageants" every 2 months, where participants make games around a certain theme.

Klik of the Month Klub – http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/
The folks at Glorious Trainwrecks have been hosting insanely fast two hour game jams for several years now. Frenetic, fun and fantastic.

PyWeek – http://www.pyweek.org
If you make games in Python, PyWeek is a popular game jam with theme voting, judging and some passionate fans.

Reddit Game Jams – http://www.reddit.com/r/RedditGameJam
Held infrequently, game jams at Reddit can be a great way to meet tons of your fellow game developers.

Newgrounds Game Jams – http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/nggamejams
There are occasional game jams held at all of the major Flash game portals online. These can gain you a very large audience of players quickly.

TIGJam – http://www.tigjam.com/
A yearly event held by the good people of TIGsource, an indie game development community.

Dream.Build.Play – http://www.dreambuildplay.com
A high profile one-per-year game jam for people who make indie games on the XBOX. Large audience, big cash prizes and a lot of really high quality games.

Blitzkast – http://www.thepoppenkast.com/tag/blitzkast/
A small, informal and fun game jam that is held almost monthly.

There are quite literally over a hundred other game jams worth checking out online and new ones appear every month. Here is a listing of many more game jams:
http://www.mcfunkypants.com/2010/game-jams-aplenty/

The Global Game Jam | January 27-29, 2012

For all site organizers: There will be four Q&A (Questions and Answers) sessions in January, leading up to the Game Jam weekend. Attendance is optional, but if you have any last-minute questions a…

All-star lineup for Global Game Jam keynote

John Romero and Will Wright are among those contributing to the keynote which will kick off this year's Global Game Jam, organisers have announced.

As well as Doom creator Romero, the keynote will also feature his partner, social game developer Brenda Brathwaite. Game academic Gonzalo Frasca, and multimedia artist Baiyon, who has worked on the Pixeljunk games and LittleBigPlanet 2, will also speak – in Spanish and Japanese respectively – before The Sims creator Wright officially opens the event.

GGJ director Foaad Khosmood said: "We are thrilled that such iconic figures will kick off this year's event. No doubt they will inspire many young designers and game enthusiasts to do great things in the future."

This year's Global Game Jam takes place from January 27 to 29 in over 200 locations around the world, tasking teams with developing a game from scratch to completion in 48 hours. Organisers are expecting around 10,000 participants.

That's double what was predicted last year, when an eventual 6,500 participants developed almost 1,500 games in the course of the weekend, with proceedings opened with a typically leftfield keynote from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi.

All-star lineup for Global Game Jam keynote

John Romero and Will Wright are among those contributing to the keynote which will kick off this year's Global Game Jam, organisers have announced. As well as Doom creator Romero, the keynote will…

This month's +Ludum Dare miniLD is being hosted by +Ryan Grieve on January 21st – 22nd and the theme is FEAR.

MiniLDs are relaxed, small, informal gam jams that are held once per month. Sign up and join in on the fun this weekend!

To quote TheGrieve, "I’ve always had a deep fascination with games that could craft a deep and immersive emotional state in and around the player. Or even better, games that would get the player to work themselves up into that state.

And so… I throw that challenge to you…

Put fear into your players…

…or convince your players to scare themselves, but remember:

Fear does not have to be horror.
Fear does not have to be shock.

Fear can be crafted in quite a few different ways, experiment, find exciting and interesting ways to keep your players on the edge of their seats. Keep them tense, keep them wary.

Resources

“How To Make A Scary Game” – Mike Birkhead – Excellent post deconstructing some of the aspects of interactive fear.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37075/Opinion_How_To_Make_A_Scary_Game.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29

The Shining Bathroom Scene – A stunning example of how fear can be created without shock or direct horror, the slow ramping up of tension and menace. This scene oozes creepiness and makes me shiver everytime.
The Shining Bathroom Scene

SHODAN’s Infamous Speech – This still creeps me out, it’s simple, powerful and the screeching crescendo is awesome.
SHODAN – Look at you, hacker…

An Example of the Atmosfear Gatekeeper – Not as scary nowadays of course, but here he is for reference
Atmosfear Booster Game Tape 2 – Part 2

Amnesia: The Dark Descent – The finest example of tense atmospheric fear I’ve seen in a long time. Healthy does of shock too. You’ve no doubt all played this already… If not… grab the demo now.
http://www.amnesiagame.com/

Ludum Dare » Blog Archive » Mini LD #31 : “Fear” – January 21st – 22nd

When I was but a young lad, no taller than a spaniel standing on a phone book, I had a board game that I loved above all others. I'd get a few select friends around, we'd set up the pieces, ge…

PennApps is a 48-hour student hackathon from Friday January 13th to Sunday the 15th at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. If you are in the area, be sure to check it out! (via +Douglas Crockford)

PennApps 2012 Hackathon – PennApps is a 48-hour student hackathon from Friday January 13th to Sunday the 15th at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

I just signed up for the Pennapps 2012 Hackathon. Come join me. #launch

Ludum Dare 22 Winners
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/
Frostbite – saint11
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?uid=7981
Abandoned – Noel
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?uid=1527
Last breath – deepnight
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?uid=2982
Final Trip Soccer – Benjamin
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?uid=2952
Stray Whisker – Jigxor
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?uid=3289

Screenshots and links to the top 50 games are available at:
http://www.mcfunkypants.com/2012/ludum-dare-22/

Ludum Dare 22 results are in!
www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/01/09/ludum-dare-22-results/
How did YOU do?
www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=me
Compo Top 50:
www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=top
Jam Top 50:
www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=top&cat=Overall(Jam)
Categorical Top 25s:
www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?more=1

The exclusive focus of this website is the game jam community. In the near future you will be able to read about upcoming events, game jam results and projects that might be of interest to those who love game jamming. We are planning to publish how-tos and motivational articles, a calendar so you never miss another game jam, and perhaps even some interviews with people in this friendly community. Stay tuned!

What is a Game Jam?

Game jams are fun. They are a creative, exciting, social experience. The goal of a game jam is to design a video game, either alone or in teams, as fast as is humanly possible; usually in a single weekend. Some jams are also great for making board games or card games!

Game jams can be absolutely massive group events held in conference rooms and computer labs, or can be intimate affairs taking place in a friend’s living room. Others are online-only events where people work on games at the same time in their own homes and share the results at a website.

The key ingredient in a game jam is time pressure. Whether spanning a 48 hour weekend, an entire week, or just a few hours, the essential attribute shared by all game jams is a limited time-frame. The deadline forces participants to speed-code. To cut corners. To think outside the box and to whip something up as fast as they can.

Almost all game jams focus around a theme. This theme is often a closely guarded secret until the jam begins, and participants are challenged to come up with a fitting game idea.

Occasionally, jams have a competitive element: each entry is voted upon and a winner is declared.

Whether there is voting or not, game jams aren’t really about winning or losing: they are community-run, highly social, feel-good events full of camaraderie from your game developer peers.

Whatever the format or rules, the goal of a game jam is to create your very own game as quickly as possible. Some rise to the challenge and finish amazing feats of programming. Many more fail miserably and never get to the finish line. Regardless of the outcome, everyone has fun. That’s the whole point of a game jam.