Home › Groups › Albany

Global Game Jam 2012

 Join us for the 4th Annual Global Game Jam, happening in the same 48 hours all over the world!

What's this game jam thing?
A game jam is a cooperative gathering of game developers to encourage experimentation and innovation – participants come together without a team, without a game idea, and are given a subject/theme to incorporate in their game while meeting new people. At 3 pm on Sunday, games are uploaded to the global site, and local games are reviewed on site.

Where is it?
SUNY Albany will be the host site in Albany for the Fourth Annual Global Game Jam, from January 297th through January 29th, 2012. Other sites around the world will run game jams with similar rules and limitations, each starting in its own time zone.

Facilities
We will meet in Assembly Hall, 2nd floor of the Campus Center for the kickoff video feed at the beginning of the jam.

There will be two computer labs (with 70 computers) in the SUNY Albany science library. Both of these areas are nearby a central food court. Break out rooms for the whole weekend include the digital workshops in the Science Library, Campus Center CC364, 367, 370 the whole time. Additional rooms are available at different times also if we need more break outs.

Finally, finished game demos will take place in room 375, 3rd floor  at the end of the jam on Sunday.

Schedule
Friday: dinner will be provided

  • 3 pm – Attendees start arriving, register, get familiar with space, mingle
  • 4 pm – Assembly Hall opens
  • 5 pm –Opening ceremonies, theme announcement, team forming
  • 6 pm – Planning and making games!
  • 11 pm – Computer labs close
  • 12 pm – Campus center closes

Saturday: PROVIDED MEALS TBD, dining hall is open from 12-9pm for attendants to get lunch & dinner

  • 9 am – Computer labs open, campus center opens
  • 11 am – Deadline for personal account creation
  • 11 pm – Computer labs close
  • 12 pm – Campus center closes

Sunday: PROVIDED MEALS TBD

  • 9 am – Computer labs open, campus center opens
  • 3 pm – Game submission deadline
  • 3:30 pm – Startup Business Presentation
  • 3:45 pm – Game presentations
  • 5 pm – We’re out of there!

Directions & Parking
The Campus Center is at the SUNY Albany Main (Uptown) Campus at 1400 Washington Ave. Directions to the campus can be found on the SUNY Albany website.

Park in the visitors lot for the campus center, east side. There is a booth to pay, but it should be empty during game jam and no fee.

See the Parking Map for how to get to the Center Drive East Parking Lot. A Larger Map with all locations is also available on google maps.

Supported Software
Lab computers will be available for use with the following software installed:

  • Game Maker
  • Unity
  • Unreal Development Kit
  • Adobe Photoshop, Flash & Illustrator
  • Microsoft Office: Excel, Powerpoint and Word
  • Blender
  • Audacity
  • GIMP
  • Microsoft Visual Studio Suite 2005
  • Sun Java Development Kit (JDK)

For a full list of other applications installed, please check the SUNY ITS Website

Unsupported Software
Here are some examples of other development environments which are not installed on the computers in the lab, but you may want to research and bring installed on your own machines. Most of these only need one machine to code & compile on, since other team members can use the machines in the labs to create other assets.

Online-Registration - before January 27th: $10
Sign up for a Global Game Jam account on the official website by January 24th. Make sure to set your jam site to "Albany IGDA Chapter". This will both allow you to upload games from the Albany Location during the jam, as well as be your proof of pre-registration for when you show up to pay at the door.

IGDA Member Discount: IGDA Members Qualify for a $3.00 Discount. Send a note to albany@igda.org with the name on your membership or member number for information on how to receive the discount.

On-site registration - after January 27th: $15
Sign up for a Global Game Jam account on the official website, making sure to set your jam site to "Albany IGDA Chapter". Pay at the door.

Food
The registration fee at the door will go toward food for the duration of the Jam. See the event schedule above for specifics on which meals will be provided.

What to bring
Bring yourself. If you have a computer you want to work on, bring that. USB keys aren't a bad idea either. NOTE: there will not be secure storage on-campus. You are responsible for securing any equipment you bring.

Minors must be accompanied by an adult.

What not to bring
Pre-organized teams and pre-designed games. Everyone is encouraged to form teams on Friday after the theme of the game jam has been announced.

Constraints
The rules of the game jam prohibit the use pre-made content (this includes program code, audio, graphics, models, etc.) unless it was publicly available at least a month prior to the game jam. The SUNY labs will closed at night, 11pm-9 am.

Intellectual Property
All Games, Ideas, Art, Code and Concepts made during the Global Game Jam are owned by the members of that team. This includes all aspects of intellectual property, including Patents, Trademarks, Designs and Copyright. In the spirit of a game jam there are often many people helping one another. When appropriate acknowledgements will be made to those parties, all members of the team are held to standard industry practices of collaboration.

All participants of the Global Game Jam will allow their game to be archived on the Global Game Jam website in the form it was submitted at the end of the game jam on January 29, 2012. Participants may ask to have an update of their game posted with notice of version information.

All materials made at the Global Game Jam can be used for demonstration and lecture at conferences, schools or industry venues (example: GDC 2010) with the expressed discretion of the Global Game Jam, the IGDA and IGDA Education SIG.

As an initiative of the IGDA, the Global Game Jam is fun and trying to keep things simple. Rule of thumb is that teams are not going to illegally exploit others' IP, and that in turn, everything we create becomes part of the public domain. Participants agree that their participation in the Global Game Jam will hold no one liable for any loss or damage.

About the Business of the Game Industry
Initial Legal Issues
What are Games Made of
Contract Arsenal

Play Games from the Past 3 Game Jams!

Check out the games made in Albany, NY at the past 3 game jams on this blog post. There are 26 games and counting!

Last updated: 01/25/2012 - 12:25 PM