Susan writes, “Over 22K game developers from all over the world (72 countries) came together this past weekend (January 24-26) at the annual Global Game Jam (GGJ). This year’s event was record breaking, having churned out over 4K games with the theme ‘We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.’ The yearly event focusing on collaboration, experimentation and innovation in games challenges developers of all skill levels. The jam is about creating community as well as creating games, all jams are physical jams where you have a chance to grow your skills and your network. Add to that the event prides itself on being hardware and software agnostic — open to digital and analog games that are open source adhering to a Creative Common’s license.
“As if making a game from start to finish with your new found friends at one of the 400+ local jams isn’t hard enough, the GGJ offers diversifiers help challenge developers just a bit more. This year GGJ decided to honor the memory of the late Aaron Swartz by creating a diversifier that asks the developer of the game to only use materials found in the public domain. The Global Game Jam is a volunteer based 501c3 looking to share the universal language of games around the world while generating a buzz of creativity for everyone to feed from.”
(Thanks, Susan!)