When we were creating the That’s My Jam! white paper, most of the jam organizers mentioned that they wished they were able to offer more support to the jammers needing advice on what to do next. So we created an interactive resource to guide them on their post-jam journey.
We’re pleased to announce the release of our new white paper That’s My Jam: Understanding the Value of Game Jams. We will be launching it during Toronto Games Week at Game Jam Day:
Game Jam Day: What’s Next, Jammer? Sat June 14, 1:30p.m.-4:00p.m.
The launch of That’s My Jam white paper features Gina Hara (GAMERella), Adam Saltsman (Finji), and Adam Clare (Sheridan) sharing their perspectives on the cultural and economic value of game jams. Then, Kim Gibson from Ontario Creates will do a short presentation and Q&A about how jammers and other new creators can apply for prototype funding. Supported by Ontario Creates. Free! 📍 Lillian H. Smith Public Library (Lower Level), 239 College St
For over two decades, emerging and established game developers have turned to game jams as sites of training, experimentation, networking, and fun. Game jams are public events where participants create games from scratch within a set time limit while following a central theme. Despite their ubiquity around the world, the role of jams in relation to the broader game industry is not well understood. Sourcing insights from interviews and surveys with emerging and established developers, this white paper interrogates what game jams are, why people attend them, and how they benefit game makers with diverse creative and professional aspirations.
The white paper was written by Michael Iantorno, illustrated by Mary Verhoeven, andfunded by Ontario Creates and Mitacs.
We’re back with a fresh edition of GAIN’s annual roundup newsletter, first launched in 2016 to annually spotlight and celebrate game art events from around the globe!
This year, we’re thrilled to share highlights from 22 events across 14 countries, featuring everything from trailblazing pioneers to emerging voices, and from grand festivals to intimate pop-up gatherings. María Luján Oulton returns as editor, reaching out to friends, colleagues, and like-minded communities to collect their favorite snapshots from the game art events and projects of 2024.
If you enjoy this roundup, please share the link and let us know about any events, projects, or people we may have missed—we’d love to include them in future editions.
PLAYTOPIA – South Africa (Capetown)
Their Festival Director Dominique Gawlowski tells us “We could see a major uptick in attendance and interest in the event compared to previous years. We are extremely pleased with how this event has evolved over the years from a small low key indie fest to much higher level of production standards, larger attendance and much more industry support.
We had over 80 games on exhibit in our main arcade from around the world with a focus on African made games. Our Indie Planet has also grown! We have begun to develop relationships with other similarly minded festivals such as Bitsummit (Japan), Now Play This (UK), A.Maze (Germany) and Freeplay (Australia) and showcase their best in shows for South African audiences. We had two large rooms filled with both international and African made immersive art installations and two days of talks at our Playtopia summit with special guests coming to speak about the craft of making games and the creative process.”
We are thrilled to announce the open call for the fifth edition of GAIA, taking place in Barcelona in 2025. GAIA (Game Arts International Assembly) is an international symposium and gathering dedicated to exploring the intersections of games, play, and art through critical and creative perspectives. For years, GAIA has provided a unique platform for curators, artists, game designers, scholars, and cultural practitioners from around the world to engage in meaningful conversations, share pioneering projects, and foster a global network within game arts.
For over two decades, game developers have turned to game jams as sites of training, experimentation, and community-building. That’s My Jam is a new project we’re starting that studies the importance of jams for both emerging and established game makers.
GAIA 2024 Online Edition was a unique and exciting event that emerged in response to the remarkable growth of the GAIA community. While originally occurring in-person every other year, it’s become clear that we need a space to stay connected, share ideas, and engage in the discussions that inspire us. This special two-day event allowed us to come together virtually, with 33 speakers from 19 countries participating across 10 sessions, creating a rich and diverse program.
The Game Arts International Assembly will happen ONLINE on Tuesday Sept. 10th and Thursday Sept. 19th.
This time GAIA will feature 11 sessions distributed in 2 days with over 20 curators, community organizers and cultural producers from 12 countries from around the world. We will cover a wide range of topics such as online curation and community caring to innovative editorial approaches. In addition to talks sharing personal experiences, playful workshops, and practical sessions, GAIA will include an online artgames showcase.
Join us! Let us know your interest in the sessions via this form and we’ll send you a calendar invite with a link and the correct time zone information.
Our tenth and final stop is next week at A MAZE. Berlin, where Marie will be doing a workshop and a panel about alternative modes of videogame production like unions and co-ops. (GAIA will also be doing a series of microtalks about building creative communities.)
Since we first launched the project at Toronto Games Week 2023, we have traveled the world facilitating discussions and giving out thousands of free comic books. Most recently we were in San Francisco at GDC, the largest game developer conference in the world, doing a packed panel…
as well as presenting at the unconference Lost Levels in the park that day…
Earlier this year, we also launched the project in Taipei…
The online version is not merely a warm up to the in-person edition (which will take place in September 2025 in Barcelona) but a highly-accessible version of GAIA, for anyone around the globe who might not be able to attend the in-person meetups, and a way to gather larger parts of our growing community.
We are now working on a program to share knowledge between game arts organizers and curators and would love to have your input. If you feel like being an active part of these online sessions this is your opportunity to propose a talk or activity! You can fill in now the Open Call Form. For inspiration check out the programming at our previous online edition.
We welcome established as well as emergent game culture producers, curators, community organizers, art curators and museum professionals, streamers, critics, academics and all professionals who are working, or intend to work, with videogames as cultural objects.
This year GAIA is being produced by Luján Oulton (Now Play This), Jim Munroe and Marie LeBlanc Flanagan (Game Arts International Network), and Shalev Moran. Visit our newly updated GAIA website for more info.
From special guest editor, María Luján Oulton… We are bringing back to life GAIN’s annual roundup newsletter, an inspirational collection of game arts related photos from events around the globe.
For the first time since 2019 we reached out to friends, colleagues and like-minded groups asking to share their favorite pictures from the videogame arts event or project they worked on in 2023. The result is events from 23 cities covering five continents. The game arts community is coming back in a big way!
If you like it, please spread the link (or retweet) and let us know about any events or people that have not been named here so we can include them in future roundups.
