Every year, game creators around the world gather for an exciting weekend of innovation, creative collaboration, and ground-breaking ideas.
This January, Global Game Jam has brought this worldwide spirit of spontaneous creativity right to Saint John, NB with one of its official jam sites hosted at the CAM Institute of Design.
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is a 3-day game development marathon where artists, programmers, designers, storytellers, and game enthusisats of all skill levels collaborate to build real games from scratch.
The theme is usually revealed a few days to the event and this gives room for spontaneous creativity and quick thinking.
This year’s Saint John event will host game jammers such as students, hobbyists, and aspiring game developers. The aim of this event is to open up the barriers traditionally associated with game creation, making it more accessible, diverse and inclusive. At GGJ, experimentation and trial and error techniques in a pressure-free environment isn’t just encouraged, it is expected.
In this setting, jammers discover what’s possible when they follow their curiosity and embrace experiential learning.
With only 3 days to deliver, jammers dive into software like Unity, Godot, or GameMaker and pick up essential techniques through hands-on experimentation. This encourages collaboration and helps build life long friendships, it also helps the jammers become more confident in their abilities, while encouraging them to develop their spontaneous creativity.
The hosting of the Saint John edition at CAM Institute of Design reinforces CAM’s commitment to nurturing design talent through comprehensive programs like Game Programming, Game Art & Design, and Character and Creature Animation. By opening its doors for Global Game Jam, CAM has further reinforced its position to nuture creative talent in the Saint John community.
For Saint John’s gaming community, this event will be a testament to the power of collaboration and spontaneous creative adventure.
Thanks to CAM’s role as the Saint John host, more local creators now have the confidence to keep building, keep learning, and keep imagining.
