Every January, nonprofit Global Game Jam® empowers creators all over the world.

“(We) try to make it as welcoming and friendly to people who participate (as possible),” says Global Game Jam®Executive Director and veteran game developer Tim Cullings.

The whole idea with GGJ, Tim explains, is collaboration and keeping the community first.

While Global Game Jam® is the world’s largest game-creation event, it is NOT a competition. The emphasis, instead, is on collaboration and supporting one another as fellow creators.

Participants have 48 hours to team up, in-person or virtually, and come up with something amazing.

It all starts on Friday afternoon, with video keynotes and guidance from leaders in the game development industry.

Game on, community wins

And then: time for what everyone’s been waiting for. The announcement of the theme!

At that point, everyone gets working. The atmosphere is collaborative, rather than competitive, as each person supports the others with their unique skills. And there is no judging of the games (there will be just too many of them!), but everyone “wins”, as they get to grow, contribute and learn.

Concurrent with the game jam is an event for the next generation of creators, ages 12-17: GGJ Next. If you would like to help teach youth to make digital games, here’s a link to the free lessons on the GGJ Next website.

Global Game Jam® started in 2008, as a project of the International Game Developers Association’s Game Education Special Interest Group. According to the Global Game Jam website, GGJ became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in May 2012. Today, GGJ is run entirely by volunteers, with the exception of two paid staffers.

And what’s especially fun: participants do NOT have to be technical. Some teams skip the “digital” part altogether, and create board games!

The 2023 Global Game Jam involved participants from 108 countries. From online, hybrid and in-person sites, more than 39,000 people collaborated on creating games. The 2023 GGJ theme was “Roots”, and by the time the game jam ended, participants had made–wait for it–more than 7,600 games!

Dates have already been announced for Global Game Jam 2024: January 22nd through 28th.

Tim talked about his own journey as a game developer, some of his favorite experiences with this year’s Global Game Jam®, and what’s next.

On this edition of Over Coffee®, we cover:

• How Tim began his journey as a game developer:

• His experiences organizing the 2023 Global Game Jam® in his new position as Executive Director;

• How GGJ differs from many hackathons;

• How GGJ has opened doors to a number of participants exploring game development as a career;

• Some of the games that have resulted from past Global Game Jams;

• One of Tim’s favorite moments from GGJ 2023;

• What’s needed, between now and next January, to make GGJ 2024 a success;

• Participant skills that are especially in demand (again, no technical expertise needed!);

• Types of games participants create;

• What Tim hopes to see, during GGJ 2024;

• How to apply to host a site in 2024.