Welcome to Games Now! Game Jam #15 - Autumn 2024!

Games Now! is an open lecture series on trends in game development and design. Our community is open for anyone to attend, including our game jams! This game jam is run in hybrid mode and we are all about international teams and mixing game schools! The jam is held on both Games Now! Discord server and Aalto University Otaniemi campus (Marsio) as well as at campuses of our collaborating schools. The jam theme is revealed on Tuesday, 12th November, and we have a first deadline (gameplay videos) on Friday 15th November. The final deadline for the games is on the 17th November.

As the jam is open for anyone to attend (we are all students at the school of life), invite all your friends. The best jam games (there will be time to polish) will be exhibited at an art gallery in Helsinki, on May 2025.

We also offer matchmaking help. All the teams and jammers participating in the matchmaking process are required to register for the jam latest on Monday 4th November (8 days before the jam start) AND to sign up on our Discord server no later than Monday (11th November).

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Register to the GN! Game Jam - Autumn 2024:  https://forms.gle/Hn6SK5M6JgZcKXQD8

Join our GN! Discord server: https://discord.gg/YsgagHX

Note: You have to be active on Discord throughout the jam!

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We continue our series of online jams with multicultural collaboration with jammers from various countries around the world.  You can join the jammer matchmaking to meet new people and explore your own creative powers together! The jam will be jointly held in collaboration with the GN! network's universities and schools. Check the full list here: https://gamesnow.aalto.fi/schools/

You can join the jam regardless of whether you are enrolled in any game school - the jam is open to anyone and free of charge! We welcome everyone who loves games and is interested in cross-cultural jamming. You can take multiple roles in game jams depending on your interest. Game jams always need programmers and artists, but also designers, writers and musicians are important to the teams. For a game jam team that crosses time zones, a producer role is  also very valuable!

The jam will be kicked off on the 12th of November, 2024 as part of the GN! Event Week program at: https://www.twitch.tv/gamesnowaaltofi. At the kick-off, we will introduce the rules of the jam and reveal the inspirational theme.

####### Requirements and Theme ######################## 

The technology of the jam games is not restricted, we welcome all digital platforms as well as all forms of analog games, such as board games and ttrpgs. 

The jam will have an inspirational theme, which will be revealed on the 12th November 2024.

All jam teams are required to be completely transparent on which tools, resources, and software were used to make the game. You can choose the license of your game, as long as it allows playing the jam version of the game for free.

The best games of this jam have the possibility to be showcased at Kumma Gallery in Helsinki in May 2025. Eligibility for the art gallery showcase:

• Your game was submitted to GN! Game Jam Autumn 2024 or GN! Game Jam Spring 2025 according to the deadlines
• Your game page includes a gameplay video
• We give bonus weight to the teams that worked with several time zones and/or language barriers
• We prioritize teams with at least 1 student from the GN! Network schools (check here: https://gamesnow.aalto.fi/schools/)

##################### Schedule #####################

Time zone: Finland, Ukraine etc (EET) / Sweden, Germany, etc (CET) / Ireland, Portugal etc (UTC) / New York (EST) / Hong Kong (HKT) / Korea, Japan (KST, JST)

##### Before the Jam #####

• Matchmaking signup: Until Monday 4th November 2024 (register here: https://forms.gle/Hn6SK5M6JgZcKXQD8)
• Matchmaking team announcement on GN! Discord: From Friday 8th November 2024 @GN! Discord: https://discord.gg/YsgagHX
• GN! Event Week lectures: Mon-Tues, 11th - 12th November 2024, 10:00 -16:00 (EET) / 9:00 - 15:00 (CET) / 8:00 – 14:00 (UTC) / 3:00 - 9:00 (EST) / 16:00 - 22:00 (HKT) / 17:00 - 23:00 (KST, JST) @ https://www.twitch.tv/gamesnowaaltofi & Aalto Otaniemi campus (Marsio), Finland

##### The Jam #####

Jammers can communicate, seek help, socialise, and  jam throughout the week at GN! Discord: https://discord.gg/YsgagHX

• GN! Game Jam kick-off live stream (theme reveal and brainstorming): Tuesday 12th November 2024, 15:00 -16:00 (EET) / 14:00 - 15:00 (CET) / 13:00 – 14:00 (UTC) / 8:00 - 9:00 (EST) / 21:00 - 22:00 (HKT) / 22:00 - 23:00 (KST, JST) @ https://www.twitch.tv/gamesnowaaltofi & Aalto Otaniemi campus (Marsio), Finland
• GN! Game Jam progress update live stream: Wednesday 13th November ~ Sunday 17th November 2024, 14:00 -15:00 (EET) / 13:00 - 14:00 (CET) / 12:00 – 13:00 (UTC) / 7:00 - 9:00 (EST) / 20:00 - 21:00 (HKT) / 21:00 - 22:00 (KST, JST) @ https://www.twitch.tv/gamesnowaaltofi & Aalto Otaniemi campus (Marsio), Finland

##### Jam Deadlines #####

Jammers can submit their progress report throughout the week at GN! Discord: https://discord.gg/YsgagHX - teachers will present some of those updates during the GN! Game Jam progress update live stream 

• All teams set + first idea (update with sentence) by Wednesday 13th November 2024, 12:00 (EET)  / 11:00 (CET) / 10:00 (UTC) / 5:00 (EST) / 18:00 (HKT) / 19:00 (KST, JST) - share on Discord
• Roles set + idea locked (update with sentence and/or image) by Thursday 14th November 2024, 12:00 (EET)  / 11:00 (CET) / 10:00 (UTC) / 5:00 (EST) / 18:00 (HKT) / 19:00 (KST, JST) - share on Discord
• Update with image by Friday 15th November 2024, 12:00 (EET)  / 11:00 (CET) / 10:00 (UTC) / 5:00 (EST) / 18:00 (HKT) / 19:00 (KST, JST) - share on Discord
• Update with video by Saturday 16th November 2024, 12:00 (EET)  / 11:00 (CET) / 10:00 (UTC) / 5:00 (EST) / 18:00 (HKT) / 19:00 (KST, JST) - share on Discord
• Update with playable by Sunday 17th November 2024, 12:00 (EET)  / 11:00 (CET) / 10:00 (UTC) / 5:00 (EST) / 18:00 (HKT) / 19:00 (KST, JST) - share the itch.io link on Discord
• Final playable game build on itch.io: Submit to itch.io by Sunday 17th November 2024, 22:00 (EET) / 21:00 (CEST) / 20:00 (UTC) /  15:00 (EST) / 18th November 2024, 4:00 (HKT) / 5:00 (KST, JST) (submit your game page on this jam page).

##### Exhibition #####

• GN! Exhibition (for selected games): End of May 2025 @Kumma Gallery (Kankurinkatu 5, Helsinki), Finland - details TBA!

##################### Jam Hosts #####################

Annakaisa Kultima, Aalto University, Finland 

https://aakoosgamelab.com/

Annakaisa Kultima is a university lecturer in interactive media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Finland. She has been teaching and studying game design and development since 2006 in several universities in Finland and Sweden as well as traveled as a visiting lecturer around the world including universities in US, China, Denmark, South Korea and Japan. Her research is concentrating on game development cultures, creativity, game industry trends, as well as game jams. Kultima’s PhD dissertation “Game Design Praxiology” examined the multitude of issues of understanding ‘games as created’ including game jam cultures. Kultima is also an active member of the game ecosystem in Finland and internationally: she is working as a judge in several game competitions, running and participating in game jams (around 50 game jams so far!) as well as curating exhibitions on games. She has been leading Global Game Jam theme committee and been the regional organizer and site organizer for Global Game Jam for many years. She is also a member of the founding team of The Finnish Museum of Games as well as the co-founder and the head of non-profit organization Finnish Game Jam between 2013-2020. At Aalto University, Annakaisa works on the Games Now! open lecture series carefully picking the most interesting topics and speakers to the series.

Solip Park Aalto University, Finland 

http://www.parksolip.com/

Solip is a game researcher & doctoral candidate at Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture - Department of Arts and Media. Her current research interest is focused on game production, work culture, and immigrants/expats. Solip is the author and artist of the "Game Expats Story" comic series, a researcher at the EU-funded ORE research project, and a lecturer at the EU Erasmus Mundus game degree programme Replay.  She is also a deputy member of Finnish Game Jam Ry, and a project lead of "Kor-Fin Esports Festival" hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (South) in Finland - connecting game devs in Finland and South Korea.  Solip was the first South Korean to acquire Finland's startup entrepreneur residence permit in 2018 and was one of the founding members of Nexon Computer Museum in 2013 - the first permanent museum in East Asia dedicated to the history of computers and video games, located in South Korea.