Interested in making a game and being part of a global experiment in creativity? SUNY Morrisville is once again serving as a host site for Global Game Jam®, the world’s largest game jam event, taking place Friday, Feb. 3-Sunday, Feb. 5.
During the worldwide event, participants are given a central theme and just 48 hours to create a video or board/card game.
During the fast-paced “jam session” teams of artists, hobbyists, programmers and gamers throughout the world are given a chance to brainstorm, innovate, collaborate and develop new ideas for game design.
The event begins at SUNY Morrisville on Friday, Feb. 3, at 4 p.m. in Charlton Hall with registration, a videoconference and unveiling of this year’s theme. Final game submissions are due at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5, followed by a game creation preview and weekend wrap-up.
Teams, some of which are formed on-site, spend 48 hours brainstorming and designing a new video or board game from scratch without any outside help. All finished GGJ games are archived on a website for everyone to play.
Some of the games participants at the Morrisville site have created include: Traps: The Spanish Adventurer (a journey to prove capability as an adventurer, by collecting all of the gold); Ex-Extinction (Sir Captain Rawrington must save his dinosaur ancestors from the incoming asteroid onslaught); Flight Team Phoenix (pilot a phoenix spaceship and eliminate alien enemies) and Cardiac Canyon (a hiker tumbles down a cliff and must follow his heart to lead him through the dark and back to his camp).
Registration for the SUNY Morrisville site is open for students and non-students over the age 18 of all skills levels. For more information about GGJ at SUNY Morrisville contact Professor Richard Marcoux at 315.684.6788 or marcourp@morrisville.edu.
Global Game Jam® history
2009 Game Jam — 53 sites, 23 countries, 1,650 participants, 370 games
2010 Game Jam — 138 sites, 39 countries, 4,300 participants, 900 games
2011 Game Jam — 169 sites, 44 countries, 6,500 participants, 1,500 games
2012 Game Jam — 242 sites, 47 countries, 10,684 participants, 2,209 games
2013 Game Jam — 319 sites, 63 countries, 16,705 participants, 3,248 games
2014 Game Jam — 488 sites, 72 countries, 23,189 participants, 4,292 games
2015 Game Jam — 518 sites, 78 countries, 28,000 participants, 5,438 games
2016 Game Jam — 632 sites, 93 countries, 36,164 participants, 6,866 games
2017 Game Jam — 701 sites, 95 countries, 36,401 participants, 7,263 games
2018 Game Jam — 803 sites, 108 countries, 42,800 participants, 8,606 games
2019 Game Jam — 860 sites, 113 countries, 47,006 participants, 9,010 games
2020 Game Jam — 934 sites, 118 countries, 48,753 participants, 9,601 games
2021 Game Jam — 585 sites, 104 countries, 28,825 participants, 6,383 games (held online due to COVID-19 pandemic)
2022 Game Jam — 680 sites, 100 countries, 33,000 participants,5,860 games
