Ukraine joined the biggest worldwide game creation event in 2016. Starting from the central location in Kropyvnytskyi Global Game Jam has involved Odesa, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Rivne, Zhytomyr and other cities. Several games initiated at previous Global Game Jam Ukraine have reached a successful worldwide release. Such as: “Noone lives under the lighthouse” (PC, Steam), “Farlanders” (PC, Steam), “Dual Cat” (HTML5, Poki).
For the Global Game Jam 2023 additional safety measures have been taken. As no part of Ukraine can be safe from the strikes of Russian missiles, all 11 GGJ23 locations in Ukraine have been operating in the hidden mode and they were not listed on the GGJ world map. Additional requirement to the hybrid locations (besides the standard 3: internet, work area, presentation area) was an access to the bomb shelter nearby.
The GGJ theme announcement video aired at the Kropyvnytskyi location, had to be interrupted due to the air raid siren. After the alarm was over and the jammers returned from the bomb shelter, the Jam began. In Odesa and Sumy the GGJ locations were equipped right in the coworking places underground. The developers who participated online had to align their work schedule to the power losses due to the Russian damaging the critical infrastructure.
The total number of Ukrainian game developers who participated in Global Game Jam on the Ukrainian locations was 385, also more Ukrainias who had to leave the country, joined GGJ locations in Poland, Denmark, United Kingdom or other countries. Being among 39 000 of Global Game Jam participants from over 100 countries in the world is essential for the Ukrainians and gives a great sense of belonging.
Organizers of GGJ in Ukraine keep working after the Jam helping the game creators from Ukraine gain attention from the streamers, publishers and press to their games. All-country online games presentation is planned for mid-February.
The theme of Global Game Jam 2023 was "ROOTS", and the games creatively cover various interpretations of this theme: growing plants, digging underground, researching ancestry, doing math calculations and many more.
Full list of games made at GGJUA23 locations: https://globalgamejam.org/2023/games?title=&country=UA
Games showcase: http://www.ggj.org.ua/2023/02/global-game-jam-ukraine-2023-games.html
Ukrainians never forget that they have a possibility to make games only thanks to the protection of the Ukrainian defense forces and the help from the Allies. Therefore GGJ community in Ukraine runs a fundraising to support volunteer projects organized by game developers, such as:
O-Pocket https://o-pocket.org/ and Gamedev under Bombs: https://ggconference.com/en/conference/games-gathering-gamedev-under-bombs/
as well as the bigger initiatives live "Come Back Alive" https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/ or United 24 https://u24.gov.ua/
Address from Oleksii Izvalov, Regional coordinator of Global Game Jam in Ukraine, was included into the Global Game Jam Keynotes video: https://youtu.be/F9rPdJvyaRQ?t=220
Contacts:
Oleksii Izvalov
https://www.linkedin.com/in/izvalov
Telegram: t.me/Airapport
Skype: generalcfr