Global Game Jam Comes to Birmingham City University

Birmingham City University will host a Global Game Jam event on the 23rd of January, where gaming industry professionals and students alike will take part in a 48 hour game developing competition.

In a month’s time, more than 7,000 people worldwide will compete against each other to make the best computer game within a 48 hour time period. Last year’s Global Game Jam produced nearly 3,000 games.

Upon arrival at the event, a secret theme will be announced, which all games must stick to. The event is said to encourage competitors to explore new technology tools, experiment with new roles in game development as they design, develop, and test their game within a 2 day period. Game developers often must work to strict deadlines. Global Game Jam will be most beneficial to students, training them to work under pressure. The event is inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, an event based around similar ideas, but is held only in Copenhagen.

“Computer games are of growing importance to our regional economy” says Andrew Wilson, the Programme Leader for Computer Games Technology at Birmingham City University. “Our highly respected computer games technology course is leading the way in providing exceptional young talent to [game studios],” he adds. Wilson also states that the Jam “will emphasize both the regional and global importance” that video games can carry.

Many developers decide to continue working on their project after the Jam, and some of them are available to play for free on globalgamejam.org. One of the most popular games to come from Global Game Jam is Surgeon Simulator 2013. The initial version was created at a Jam in 2013.

There are currently 318 registered ‘Jam sites’ in the world, spanning from Iran to Belarus, Taiwan to America, England to Spain, the list goes on. The event will run from January 23 to January 25 in 2015.

Gabriel Polychronis, NoobFeed (@Twitter)