Last year Phil and the gang in Thurles hosted a games jam. Now is the time for others to sign up to do it too.

Companies can do it too!

Full call for hosts below

Aphra

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The third installment of the GGJ – Global Game Jam 2011 will take place the last weekend of January 2011 (January 28-30, 2011):

– One Weekend
– World wide game jam
– One theme
– Thousands of game developer enthusiasts
– Hundreds of locations
– Thousand+ newly created games

We are looking for hosts to accommodate and organize local sites of the GGJ 2011. We hope to see a lot of first-timer sites to enhance the experience and bring even more people together, creating innovative games and having a wonderful time.

Please note that everyone, even sites that took part in 2010, will have to sign up again for 2011.

New to Global Game Jam for 2011:
* Board games, as well as digital games
* Cross-site participation

Global Game Jam was founded three years ago by Susan Gold, Foaad Khosmood, Ian Schreiber and Gorm Lai, who is serving as this year’s GGJ chairman. The inaugural GGJ in 2009 had 53 sites in 23 countries participating. About 370 games were produced. In 2010, more than 4,000 game enthusiasts in 139 different locations made over 900 games, many very experimental in nature.

The largest group in 2010 was the Nordic Game Jam in Copenhagen, Denmark with more than 300 participants. Several experimental games developed at Nordic Jam have been shown at IndieCade and other events. Dutch Game Garden also made a second big showing this year. Other big jams included The Israeli Game Developers, METUTECH-ATOM (Turkey), NYU Game Center, Tumbleweed Game Jam (Norway) and Game Jam Sydney.

In the U.S., 55 jam sites in 30 states accounted for 40% of total sites. Canada had 10 sites; the UK 8; Germany 5; Brazil 5 sites; and Finland 4. First-timer sites jammed in Colombia, Russia, Poland, India, Pakistan and Philippines and Malaysia.

“GGJ is a truly global event, which is opened in New Zealand, 23 hours before the last sites on the American West Coast joins. This also means New Zealand is finishing, when Cogswell is only half way through!”

”The 2009 and 2010 events were such smashing successes, we want to do it again, and make it even better,” said Lai. “It’s a chance for anyone and everyone to be a part of experimental game development. We walk the talk!”

To sign up your studio/lab/school, please look over the following specs for what is needed, and then see this page for instructions.

* Physical space to comfortably seat participants
* Internet access (either wired or wireless) for all participants
* Access to common game development tools and/or ability to download and install software
* Local IT support in case of problems with computers or Internet connectivity
* At least one local official organizer to coordinate the event
* Access to all space and computing resources around the clock over the weekend of January 28-30, 2011 (preferably)
* Access to food (such as nearby food stores or restaurants, or you can provide food on-site)
* Presentation space (such as an auditorium) to do a post Jam presentation on Sunday, January 30.

The IGDA prefers locations that can be open for the entire 48 hours but can accommodate those that are not. It just means less time for site participants to make their games.
The organizer must be a part of all email correspondence, participate on Basecamp and meet all due dates.

The GGJ will provide local organizers with tools to help set up your local event, hands on guidance before and during the Global Game Jam, a web page on the GGJ site, local and international promotion of the event.

Not sure if your site can host? Have questions that aren’t answered here? GGJ leadership will host a pair of hour-long online Q&A sessions on Monday, October 25, 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST (that’s 3 p.m. on October 25 and 3 a.m. October 26, GMT). Simply go to this URL during those times and get your questions answered: http://globalgamejam.org/irc/

You can also connect to the chat session via your own IRC client using: irc server: irc.us.mibbit.net, channel: #globalgamejam

Look for early location announcements to show up on the new Game Jam website in early October. Jammers will begin registering by mid-November, so for best results, submit your jam site before then.

Hope to have you with us (again) in 2011!,
Foaad, Zuraida, Ian and Gorm