So it begins! Being the earliest time zone to hit the line, jamming sites in New Zealand mark the starting point of Global Game Jam 2018.
However, there are more than 800 sites across 109 countries all over the world joining this massive world-wide event, and sites will kick-off in order by their respective time zones, until the Honolulu site in Hawaii starts.
GGJ is currently the world record-holding on-site game jam, and the participation trend is still growing. While we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we also achieved 3-digit country participation for the first time ever! We estimate more than 40,000 jammers from all walks of life will join this 48-hour event to build something new and exciting.
To connect participants in this global endeavor, Global Game Jam will have a common theme. But since we don't want the surprise to be spoiled for the jammers all over the world, the theme has to be kept a secret until Hawaii starts jamming.
There will be jammers who are relatively inexperienced, and who are industry veterans. There will be people who've just met for the first time or have collaborated before. Either way, we encourage you to embrace the Global Game Jam motto: Experimentation, Innovation, and Collaboration. Let the keynote and theme inspire you, and work together. It's the perfect chance to experience game development in a brief, yet complete way, while having a lot of fun!
You can find us on Facebook, follow our latest updates on Twitter, and watch our Twitch livestream.
Games created during the event will be uploaded to GGJ website, and everybody will be able to download and try out all the interesting projects the jammers have built.
#GGJ18 would not have been possible without the support of our many generous sponsors, including Unity, Amazon Appstore, Facebook, Sensoryx, Soylent, Media Molecule, Mapbox, CRYENGINE, Github, SideFX and WB Games New York.