A bunch of our experienced organisers and volunteers are delivering game development workshops, game jams and “meet the gamer” sessions in libraries across Wexford this June 2024 as part of Cruinniú na nÓg!
We are, each of us, delighted for the opportunity to share our experience and passion for game making with everyone.
For more information please visit Wexford County Council website, on the Wexford Public Libraries Events page.
Hey folks! Galway Game Jam presents our 10 Year Anniversary Jam!
Our hybrid jam will take place at Portershed a Dó, Market Street, Galway, and online!
Galway Game Jam
Click the link below to view the Galway jam-site details and register as a jammer.
To register, create a new user account on the itch.io website. Itch.io have their own policies for privacy, data and code of conduct which you agree to when registering. Please send any game jam related queries to info@galwaygamejam.com.
As always, our game jam event is open to all. It is about creativity, collaboration and experimentation. We will assist in team formation if you are uncertain about what you would like to be doing for the event.
We have secured a venue and sponsors for event insurance and will provide a meal, and tea / coffee for the event.
Ardán will be supporting our food and drinks for the event, in addition to providing equipment on loan. Ardán are providing us with legendary levels of support in the form of the Wild Galway Games Initiative. More information will be available about this launch-pad initiative at the game jam. You can also reach out to Eoin at info@ardan.ie with any questions you may have. Ardán also have a presence on our Discord server, so you can feel free to ask questions there.
Our venue is provided by PorterShed, backed by AIB.
Galways first Galway Game Jam ran at 091 Labs, in March 2013. Ten years of game jams!
We are looking forward to putting on an extra special game jam to celebrate.
Thank you all for your amazing contributions over the years. Watch this space!
Hi folks,
Great news for us jammers and organisers! Our upcoming game jam is supported even more by Ardán, our local game industry support organisation! Ardán were already helping the jam to cover event insurance, but in addition to that, they will sponsor food and drink for the event and provide a few high performance laptops on loan during the game jam.
I’m sure that the jammers will appreciate the bite to eat during the free event, and the reduced build times, I know I will!
Galway Game Jam organisers and jammers alike are thrilled to be receiving this fantastic level of support. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Ardán for future jams, and exploring how we can continue improving our community events.
Looking forward to the jam!
Darren
An email landed in the Galway Game Jam inbox today with some fun stats. Ha, well I know I lost some folks with the words “fun” and “stats” together, but if I haven’t lost you yet, that means you are geeky/nerdy enough to be somewhat intrigued by the results.
These live streams occur over the course of our hybrid and virtual jams. So in a way it is a record of our commitment to providing an interesting event for our remote-jammers. Having this reminder is a nice way to share how much work goes into these events.
| Broadcasts: | 13 |
| Hours Watched: | 124 |
| Days Watched: | 5 |
| Highest concurrent viewers: | 22 |
| Total Followers: | 76 |
| Channel Points: | 6.9k |
| Chat Messages: | 305 |
| Top Categories: | Science & Technology |
Generally we have two people hosting a livestream at any moment. Both are either engaging with the stream or one person will be monitoring the stream, Twitch chat and our Discord server for questions and comments from our remote jammers and viewers.
The hours watched seems to be total of all viewers time spent viewing the livestream. We operated a live stream for parts of the game jams. As we had 2x 16 hour jams and 1x 24 hour jam we can estimate total of 40~48 hours of livestream. As we generally have two people involved in the stream, we can get the estimated human labor cost of the stream itself as 2x 40~48, or 80~96 hours of human labour. Not an insignificant amount!
In addition, while these live-streams are operating, the management of the jam itself is spread to yet another volunteer/organiser. So, if we multiply the base watched hours by 3, we get the human labour of running the watched-hours of livestream while also running the jam.
That’s approximately greater than 120 hours of voluntary effort, to share knowledge and encourage the local/national game development community.
Now to consider all of the effort the jammers went into making games while we where livestreaming. Well, that would take a bit more granular research! Total jammers per jam changes, and people contribute differently to projects – sometimes there are hours when people are not working directly on a game, and sometimes people wake up in the middle of the night with a game idea. So it’s more difficult to track. Suffice to say, we’ve had 22 game projects submitted this year, and these games are from teams of 1-5 people. Not everyone would watch the streams, though their work would be shared at various points if they are happy to. I wouldn’t be shocked if total hours of game making effort at Galway Game Jam events over 2022 was over 1200, for 2×16 hour jams and 1×48 hour jam. I’ll leave you to do more math if you want and please feel free to leave a comment to put my numbers straight.
Given this brief moment of napkin-math analysis to consider how these numbers add up, we would like to put in another brief moment to extend a heartfelt gratitude to all!
A huge thanks to our mentors for taking part in the live streams, for sharing their passion, curiosity, interests, advice, tips, wisdom and personal journey in game dev on the stream, and for showing us all how we can build better games together. Here’s a list of mentors to date – not just over 2022 – we don’t really have many places to thank them so I thought I’d give everyone a shoutout at once (some have come back more than once):
And to our very own volunteers and organisers and moderators who keep incrementally improving upon the live-stream experience and dedicate their personal time to providing the world not only with a game jam, but also with a window into our humble game jam that showcases the creativity and welcoming nature of our community. 2022 Volunteers/organisers:
And a special thanks to Gabe Mullarkey, Eoin Butler Thornton, Alan Duggan, all the folks at Ardán, Galway City Council Tourism dept, Anthony Shaughnessy, Aoife Cheung, Trevor Murray and Mary Rodgers from the Portershed and Sheila, Sarah, Brian and Noreen from Galway Technology Centre for helping to make this year a success, and for supporting the local game dev community.
Over 2022’s game jams from Galway Game Jam and our Global Game Jam event, our community has created:
| Game Jam | Theme | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Galway Game Jam 20 | “Propinquity” | 7 |
| Galway Game Jam 19 | “Wild” / “Wild Galway” | 8 |
| Global Game Jam 2022 at Galway | “Duality” | 7 |
| Total | 22 |
Thanks for watching!
Hey folks! Galway Game Jam presents Global Game Jam 2023, from Portershed a Dó, Market Street, Galway!
Global Game Jam
Click the link below to view the Galway jam-site details and register as a jammer.
To register, create a new user account on the globalgamejam.org website. Global Game Jam have their own policies for privacy, data and code of conduct which you agree to when registering and attending a Global Game Jam event. Please send any game jam related queries to darren.ggj@mindcauldron.com.
We are currently looking for mentors and volunteers. Get in touch with us on Discord!
You can also learn more about what Global Game Jam from their site, and ask questions on the Galway Game Jam community discord server, or indeed the Global Game Jam community discord server.
We have secured a venue and sponsors for event insurance, and are looking at getting some snacks sponsored also.
P.S. Fun fact, Galway’s jam-site has been described by Global Game Jam Regional Organiser Thom as one of the “usual suspects” for Ireland, along with IT Carlow / SETU Carlow.
This is quite a nice compliment! All the more so because we are a humble grassroots game jam community that stepped up to keep the Global Game Jam tradition going, which was first established by Pulse College staff and students in 2015 while Pulse College operated a Galway campus. Mission successful in my book, and long may it continue!
—
Update Jan 26
Ardán will be supporting our food and drinks for the event, in addition to providing equipment on loan. Huge shoutout to Ardán for the support!
Hi folks, it’s jam time again! We are going to run yet another hybrid game-making event after the success of our previous hybrid jam.
Thanks to support from Ardán and GTC for helping us put together another venue-based jam.
[Update for Day 2]
Super thanks to GameCraft (supported by Coding Grace) for sponsoring our post-jam drinks and food. This is a delightful way to wrap up the jam, giving people a chance to catch up, exchange stories and connect. This would not have be possible without the generous support from our geeky event friends at Coding Grace and GameCraft.
Join the jam on itch.io: https://itch.io/jam/galway-game-jam-20
Carve these dates out of your calendar:
For our on-premises jammers, we will be using The Cube co-working space in the Galway Technology Centre located in Mervue Business and Technology Park, Wellpark Road, Galway. Big thanks to Galway Technology Centre for supporting the jam!
Here we will have access to a well equipped space which contains desks, office chairs, power and internet and meeting booths. So, please bring your own computer/laptop and cables.
As we did in our previous hybrid jam, we will be streaming from the venue to our Twitch channel during the event, and a large screen will showcase our virtual jammers and stream right in the space, bringing everyone together in the end. How nice!
Facilities:
Code of conduct: https://galwaygamejam.com/code-of-conduct
Covid / illness restrictions: In-person jammers, please take an Covid-19 antigen test on the morning of the jam. If your test result is positive, do not attend the venue. If you are feeling ill, do not attend the venue. You are very much welcome to participate remotely, (but take care of yourself!) see links above for remote jamming details and links.
Contact: We will provide stickers to attendees to indicate the level of contact they are happy. We are using a traffic-light system: Red = no contact. Yellow = Hand contact is okay. Green = Full contact is okay. If you are unsure, please ask! (And people can change their mind!)
Photography: If you wish to be excluded from photography please wear the black sticker provided. There will be some photography at the event for promotional use on social media and website by Galway Game Jam.
Hi folks, it’s nearly jam time again! We are going to run a hybrid event: both virtual and venue based participation. We can’t wait to bring you our first in-person compatible jam since 2020! This event will also be part of the Wild Galway Games Initiative from Ardán and Galway City Council, look out for their theme on the day!
Theme and Diversifiers: [to be announced on the day]
Carve these dates out of your calendar:
We will be using the Portershed’s latest facility at Bowling Green, located in the heart of Galway city.
Here we will have access to an event space which contains desks, chairs, power and internet. So, please bring your own computer/laptop and cables. There are a few small booths available for use, including a sound treated streaming booth (a dream for you audio folks who like to record bespoke sounds and Voice Overs on the day!).
We will be streaming from the venue to our Twitch channel during the event, and a large screen will showcase our virtual jammers and stream right in the space. Hopefully we can collide the seperate worlds of the hybrid jam together even more for this one.
Facilities:
Code of conduct: https://galwaygamejam.com/code-of-conduct
Covid restrictions: In-person jammers, please take an Covid-19 antigen test on the morning of the jam. If your test result is positive, do not attend the venue. You are very much welcome to participate remotely, see links above for details and links.
Contact: We will provide stickers to attendees to indicate the level of contact they are happy with in a traffic-light system. Red = no contact. Yellow = Hand contact is okay. Green = Full contact is okay. If you are unsure, please ask!
Photography: If you wish to be excluded from photography please wear the no-photo badge/sticker provided. There will be some photography at the event for internal use by Ardán, as well as some photography for promotional use on social media and website by Galway Game Jam.
Hi folks, it’s time for Global Game Jam, to largest game jam event in the world!
Join us online and make a game over a weekend! It can be a computer game, board game, card game, table top game, social game, it’s up to you!
Registration and details here:
https://globalgamejam.org/2022/jam-sites/galway
Jammers (you!) will be working together in teams, or solo, to create a game inspired by a theme. Each year the theme is revealed along with a Keynote speach and discussion around game jams, game development, with tips on how to approach the challenge in a healthy way.
This year the theme has been announced by Global Game Jam in their official theme reveal stream, available here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1265904745
This years Diversifiers can be used to add extra challange/spice to your game jam effort. Global Game Jam games can be searched and filtered by the Diversifiers applied to them too, so it can help people discover your game after the jam:
https://globalgamejam.org/news/ggj-2022-diversifiers
We have decided to stick to the original 48 hour format for this year.
Beginning 5pm Friday 28th of January, and ending 5pm Sunday 30th January.
The community in Galway has been running these events for the last 6 years, including online-only jams during lockdown. We will continue the tradition, and evolve as needs be!
Global Game Jam Code of Conduct and reporting: https://globalgamejam.org/code-conduct
Global Game Jam rules and legal policies: https://globalgamejam.org/legal-policies
Global Game Jam FAQ: https://globalgamejam.org/faq
Our local Galway Game Jam community event Code of Conduct: Code of Conduct
Hi folks,
Here’s the schedule for the livestream on Saturday 13th November.
See you then!
| Time | Speakers at #GalwayGameJam 18 | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | Sophia Impetus | How to turn Concepts into Designs |
| 11:00 | Dr. Sam Redfern (Psychic Software) | Building your GameDev Inventory |
| 12:00 | —Live development followed by break— | |
| 13:00 | Alastair Low (Lowtek Games) | Accessibility and Dislectek |
| 14:00 | Leela Colins (run.design) & James Brown | Organised fun @ NIGD |
| 15:00 | Jupiter Hadley | Making a good first impression |
| 16:00 | —Live development followed by break— | |
| 17:00 | Jammers | Jam progress and playtests |
| 18:00 | Wrap up |
*All times are Irish standard time / GMT / UTC+0.
Changes:
Make a game throughout the month of November! On the last Saturday of the month (27th) we will run a showcase livestream on our Galway Game Jam discord server where we will play everyones jam creations.
Are Galway Game Jam going to run a venue-based jam?
We are still uncertain about running a physical Galway Game Jam event. We would love to hear any ideas about how you would like this to be done on our discord, and if you have any suggestions for fun things to do for the game jam that is currently underway, we would love to have them!
We are hosting a virtual gamejam event on split over two weekends in June.
Assistance will be provided to ensure everyone can get up an running for the event. If you have any technical questions please reach out and we will do our best to help you get set up for the jam!
Theme announcement will happen on our Discord server at 10:00am Saturday June 12th.
Details and tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/galway-game-jam-17-tickets-149767361209
You must agree to our Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy to participate in the event and access our Discord community server.
Register at https://globalgamejam.org/2021/jam-sites/galway
Livestream: https://www.twitch.tv/galwaygamejam
We are hosting a virtual gamejam event on split over two weekends in December.
Assistance will be provided to ensure everyone can get up an running for the event. If you have any technical questions please reach out and we will do our best to help you get set up for the jam!
Theme announcement will happen on our Discord server at 10:00am Saturday December 12th.
Details and tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/galway-game-jam-16-virtual-jam-tickets-130779197099
You must agree to our Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy to participate in the event and access our Discord community server.
Our community Discord server will host virtual 1GAM Galway meetups.
1GAM Galway is a monthly game-maker enthusiast meetup.
What is 1GAM Galway? 1GAM is an acronym for One Game A Month which references the personal challenge of the same name. Over time our meetup has evolved it’s scope as a more general game-makers meetup, sometimes with featured talks and demonstrations. All are welcome to present progress on a your own games. The spirit is that of encouragement and a positive approach to learning. This meetup takes place on the first Tuesday of every month. 1GAM Galway is for adults (18+ years), and you must agree to the Galway Game Jam code of conduct on the Discord server.
See you soon!
48 hour gamejam from Jan 31st to Feb 2nd, at PorterShed, Galway.
Please register your place here: https://globalgamejam.org/2020/jam-sites/galway-ireland
Click Join This Jam Site and follow the instructions to create an account if you have not already.
Event details are provided at the jam-site page.
Thanks again to everyone for making Galway Game Jam 15 possible.
It was a cozy little jam and we are delighted with the results.
We were very impressed by the professionalism shown by the film students from GMIT while undertaking their observational documentary project, from initial meetings setting up the project, through to execution over the two days. Great job folks!
The games made at the jam are available at the link below.
The theme was “An Epic Evil”.
https://itch.io/jam/galwaygamejam15/entries
Our good friends at Galway Gaming Tribes are willing to host us for public demo of the games. We will be demoing all games who’s creators have given us permission to do so. If you would like your game demo’ed at Tribes, please get in touch!
— Darren
This two-day game jam will be taking place in Galway, a city along the Atlantic coast of Ireland, during the growing wintery darkness of November. It’s okay, we have hot beverages and donuts to keep you warm and cozy as you create weird and wonderful games!
Dates:
Admission: €10
Booking and details: http://bit.ly/GalwayGameJam15
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2574442122785793/
News: We may have a student film crew at the event making an observational documentary of the game jam. We have not had anything like this before at a gamejam, so before the event we will send out more information regarding this collaboration (e.g. release forms). See our discord server for further discussion and to express any concerns you may have about this so that we can address them.
Everyone is required to agree to our Code of Conduct in order to participate or attend the jam in any capacity.
A 2-day game making event.
Attempt to make a game or prototype in a super short timeframe.
This game making even aims to be a creative, collaborative and welcoming event. We are open to people of all levels of experience and welcome different types of games; video games, board games, card games, table top games etc.
Organisers will assist team formation on the first day.
Games made at the event will be played by everyone at the end of the event, so people can see what everyone has been working on and get a chance to play each others games. We may assist people wishing to order food as a group at the end.
When:
Day 1 – Sat 21th – 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Day 2 – Sun 22th – 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (4pm submission time.)
Admission: €10
Bookings: https://galwaygamejam.clr.events/event/128809:galway-game-jam-14
Theme/Limitation: TBA – Please discuss on discord/facebook!
Discord server: https://discord.gg/ah4WcdW
We will announce the theme on Saturday morning that will serve as a focus or design pillar for your game. Themes and limitations are great for your creativity – they remove the problem of having a “blank page” of infinite possibility. Feel free to interpret the theme is your own way. Use this as a core part of your game, or at the very least a starting point for your game idea. Hopefully, this focus will serve to channel your creativity and experimentation.
Check our facebook event page and our discord server on the lead up to the Galway Game Jam 14 for updates!
We will not be providing food; please arrange food and snacks for yourself. Our venue is located in the city centre, so there are plenty of options for you to get a bite to eat. There are also the Saturday markets and Sunday markets if you are up for a short walk!
There are some kitchen facilities available. You are permitted to eat & drink at the gamejam and are responsible for cleaning up after yourself – thank you!
Organisers and volunteers, identified by “STAFF” badges and during announcements, will be around during the event. Feel free to ask them any questions and bring any issues to their attention.