Global Game Jam 2023 Gathers M'sians to Create Video Game in 48 Hours
You can try out these games yourself!
The long-running Global Game Jam (GGJ) is a highly popular annual event that gathers thousands of individuals at various sites across the world to try and make a video game from scratch.
Last year’s GGJ lasted 10 days and nights and was the longest jam in organisation’s history. A total of 33,000 jammers registered at 680 sites in 100 countries.
Malaysia has been an active participant of GGJ for the past 15 years, and this year, some 80 participants congregated at the office of Xsolla, a US-based global video game commerce company.
“Game developers, hobbyists and people from all backgrounds come together, receive a theme, form teams and spend the next 48 hours or so making a game,” said GGJ Malaysia organiser Yee I-Van on the sidelines of the event last weekend.
Yee said GGJ’s core purpose is to bring people together and since it is a collaborative jam, meaning no prizes are provided, participants mingle and have fun meeting new friends.
“Some people also use it as an escape from their work and make something just for the sake of making it,” he added.
This year’s edition of GGJ is anchored on theme ‘roots’, which could be interpreted in a myriad of ways: root words, a literal root, family roots. Ultimately, it is up to the participants’ imagination, as the theme is usually chosen for its flexibility.
GGJ Malaysia 2023 is hosted by Curine Ventures Sdn Bhd in partnership with Xsolla Inc and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).
“MDEC is looking to actively support local start-ups in the creative space, so events like these are perfect seeding groups for game ideas to sprout.
“Many successful games start their lives as a game jam idea, which went on to be commercialised. That's why this GGJ event was supported by MDEC as well,” said Yee.
A total of 22 games were developed, ranging from narrative adventures to platformers. You can try them out for yourself by visiting the official GGJ website or Itch.io.
Yee said game jams are super important for both aspiring and veteran game developers as they could lead to opportunities in internships, jobs and projects.
“It is also a chance to produce a portfolio piece for themselves in a rapid two-day stint. Companies look favourably at hires who have the initiative to join such events so it’s highly recommended,” he added.
This year, more than half of the participants were students from various universities. As for the veterans, GGJ Malaysia was a fun escape to make something for the fun of it.
They can experiment with something silly and just put themselves to the test,” said Yee, who also joined the game jam as a participant and provided assets to the other teams.
At the end of the two-day event, the participants presented their games by running demos of the titles and explaining how they related to the theme assigned to them.
