Past Events › Game Jam

Game jams -- meetup events where people off all stripes and disciplines come together to create games -- are a long tradition here at the MIT Game Lab. Last year, we held the first ever "Gayme Jam," where we focused on creating games dealing with queer issues and ideas. This year, we're doing it again but under a new name: the QUILTBAG Jam at MIT is your opportunity to meet new people, explore game design ideas, and have a tremendous amount of fun in the process. The event is open to everyone of every sexuality, gender identity, and field of interest, whether you're an artist, a writer, a hardcore programmer, or simply someone who likes games.

The MIT Game Lab is spending January obsessed with arcade games! This one-day game jam is the official start time for a month-long game development session to create games that will be playable at arcade cabinets in the MIT Museum and MIT's Comparative Media Studies | Writing department. Students who attend will form teams and create design and technical prototypes that will eventually become full fledged games by the end of the month.

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.