The theme for Global Game Jam® 2023 was announced as a part of a 5 hour opening ceremony that featured keynote talks, interviews with sponsors and members of the GGJ Community, and of course the theme reveal.
It was live streamed on our Twitch and YouTube channels as well as on host Alanah Pearce's YouTube Channel and viewed by thousands of people around the world.
We started things off with a talk from one of our hosts of the theme reveal event, Mary Kenney, game writer and author of Gamer Girls. Her talk is called Our Games, Our History AKA Why we need Gamer Girls and is a great little history lesson on important women in the history of game development.
Executive Director Tim Cullings welcomed us to the jam and wished everyone luck at the jam and reminded us to thank your local organizers and volunteers.
Oleksii Izvalov of GGJ Ukraine gave us a brief history of Ukraine's involvement in Global Game Jam and an update on the current situation for the GGJ and game development community still working and participating in Ukraine even under constant threat of attack.
See Global Game Jam's full statement on the situation in Ukraine and find ways to support the people there.
Fereshteh Forough, Founder and Executive Director of Code to Inspire, the organization dedicated to bringing STEM education to women and girls of Afghanistan talked about the situation in Afghanistan and how young women are using games to tell their stories.
Finally Jabari Alii, Systems Designer from Skydance Interacitve gave us some tips to have a great and successful game jam experience.
Then the moment we wait for all year finally arrived when the theme was revealed....
We can't wait to see all of the games you will create based on this inspiring theme and hope you will join tens of thousands of game creators all over the world in making a games with us!
Find a site in your area and sign up to jam with us today.
Join our Discord and show us your work, meet other jammers, ask questions of our sponsors and organizers, and more.
And don't forget to spice up your jam with this year's tasty Diversifiers!