Global Game Jam er verdensomspennende arrangement hvor spilldesignere, kunstnere, lydfolk, programmerere og spillentusiaster møtes for å lage et spill i løpet av 48 timer. Det eneste kravet man må følge er at spillet dreier seg om et gitt tema som blir avslørt på fredagen. Bortsett fra det er det meste lov: du kan lage spill i et hvilket som helst program, med hvilke som helst verktøy: GameMaker, Unity, Unreal, HTML5, papp og duct tape - strengt tatt trenger du ikke lage et dataspill en gang. Du kan lage et brettspill eller kortspill, så lenge det holder seg til tema og kan spilles.
Den offisielle Global Game Jam-siden sier følgende om arrangementet:
The Global Game Jam® (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event (game creation) taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today's heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games - it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
The structure of a jam is usually that everyone gathers on Friday late afternoon, watches a short video keynote with advice from leading game developers, and then a secret theme is announced. All sites worldwide are then challenged to make games based on that same theme, with games to be completed by Sunday afternoon. In January 2017, we had 700 locations in 95 countries create over 7000 games in one weekend! GGJ 2018 is January 26-28 at a location near you... if not you can make one of your own. The jam is known for helping foster new friendships, increase confidence and opportunities within the community. The jam is always an intellectual challenge. People are invited to explore new technology tools, trying on new roles in development and testing their skills to do something that requires them to design, develop create, test and make a new game in the time span of 48 hours.
The GGJ stimulates collaboration and is not a competition.
Så hvis du går og tenker at du gjerne kunne tenke deg å lage et spill, men ikke vet helt hvor du skal begynne, anbefaler jeg deg å bli med på Global Game Jam på i Oslo. Du får kanskje ikke mekket et helt spill ferdig, men du får tilbringe 48 timer sammen med likesinnede, og det er ganske kult.
I fjor ble det laget over 7000 spill på Global Game Jam.Her kan du sjekke ut de norske bidragene. Og her kan du melde deg på!