Global Game Jam 2016: Everyone can create videogames!
On Friday afternoon started Global Game Jam 2016 (official website), the most important game development event in the world, now in its eight edition. The premise of the event is simple: to develop games for 48 hours without interruption. At the beginning of the long journey participants are organized in small multidisciplinary teams and then they start working on the challenge of developing one or more games.
Each year, the participation has increased significantly. For instance, this year the event has 632 sites worldwide, and over 25 thousand people, a remarkable growth when compared with the 518 locations and around 20,000 registered people in 2015 (official data).
Although many of the participants have already met before, one of the main attractions of the event is to meet other people and develop games with newly formed teams. In fact, there are notable cases of small game companies that were born as groups that met at a GameJam for the first time.
Another interesting attraction of the event is that no prior knowledge or preparation is required. There are many participants who come to the event because they dream of making games and do not know how to begin. The GameJam gives them a unique opportunity to internalize what it means to create video games, in addition to providing a chance to share with experienced people and meet key people in the industry.
In each version of the Global Game Jam, the global event organizers publish a theme, which should be followed by participants from around the world when designing their games. This year’s theme is “Ritual” and more than 5000 videogames are expected to be developed around it. After the event is finished, those little games will be posted on the official website and, in some locations, the most outstanding ones will be awarded.
Global Game Jam in Chile and South America
This year, the event has three venues in Chile. The one with the longest tradition is Valdivia (Facebook Group), where the event has been held for three years in a row. Organized by Universidad Austral and Nemoris Games, the event has more than 70 registrants and it also included several lectures and classes related to videogame development before starting the gamejam session.
Santiago (Website and Facebook Group) has also been a venue in recent years, but organizers have varied each time. This year, the gamejam was organized by the Game Dev UC group, and they managed to gather more than 180 developers. The site promises to become one of the most massive gamejam sessions that has taken place in the country.
Finally, there is also a location in Viña del Mar (Facebook Group), a city with tradition of such events. Organized by the VG Valpo groups and supported by game companies that reside in the city, this location has also assembled a large group of game development enthusiasts.
In other South American countries there are also numerous sites. Brazil with 48 sites and Argentina with 13 sites are the leaders in the region, with representatives in every corner of their countries.
Colombia has also an important role, with 5 locations in the largest cities. Meanwhile, the event is growing slowly but firmly every year in the rest of the Southern Cone countries, with 2 sites in Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and Uruguay, and one location in Ecuador and Paraguay.
No doubt it will be an unforgettable experience. Best success to all!
Check the full sites list or the published games from previous years.
Juan Pablo makes videogames since he was 8 and he is a father since 2004. Today, he has three children and he has worked in more than 20 videogames. He got interested on how paternity and the videogame industry are related and he decided to write about it, founding "Papa Game Dev".
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