From Jan. 24 through 26, thousands of international game developers will take part in one of the largest game development jams worldwide, the Global Game Jam—and Calgary is going to be at the heart of the action.
The Calgary Game Developers Association (CGDA) will be hosting an in-person, 48-hour development frenzy at Platform Calgary, to support the professional development and fun side of video games.
The association, along with others across Canada in locations like Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto, will be showcasing the homegrown talent in our games industry.
“We have plenty of students from Bow Valley [College] who join, but we also have successful independent developers. We get some who have worked in larger studios, and everybody works together in a collaborative manner with the goal of having fun, learning something new and just trying new things,” said Brett Miller, a board member with the CGDA.
Some of those participants would be single individuals and others as part of larger teams, he said, but the goal by the end of the weekend is the same: to create some sort of game, even if it’s not entirely complete.
“In general, the idea is, to get a prototype, to rapidly test something, and to have some fun along the way,” Miller said.
Unlike other events, like some of the numerous hackathons held in the city, the goal of the game jam is to leave the competition in the game itself.
No one’s game is put before a panel of judges, and no prizes are handed out. But even without the competition, some games produced by the jams have gone on to become full-fledged products available for play by the public.
Global Game Jam, which was founded by the International Game Developers Association’s Game Education Special Interest Group, has since 2009 seen close to 10,000 games made by jammers, according to the organization in 2024.
Miller said that one 2024 creation in Calgary has gone on to become part of the CGDA’s arcade machines, which allows players to get a retro game experience with some modern titles.
“One of our participants created a relatively simple arcade game where you were juggling. She did the entire game herself, and in the 36 hours in-person that we had, created a really difficult and addicting game. You played as a clown that had to toss juggling pins as you made your way across the level, and you couldn’t drop any of them as you had to avoid obstacles,” Miller said.
“She did flush it out a little further, and she created a build to run on our arcade machines, which we showcase at places like Platform Calgary, Game Con Canada and soon, hopefully, the Calgary Central Library.”
That year’s theme was chaos—a perfect fit for the game, he said.
Each year the theme of the Global Game Jam is revealed on the opening night, and is a closely held secret.
The public can view the games made in Calgary, starting at 4 p.m. at Platform Calgary on Jan. 26. For more details, see calgary.games.
