This event is an opportunity to make games, explore new game ideas, and interact with fellow game-lovers in an exciting and relaxed environment. Learn something, teach something, make something, and play something!

The event is a community-based effort to increase the total knowledge, experience, and ideas available to community members. Do you know something about games that may interest others? Then volunteer! We want to know what you know!

Register now on our GI Eventbrite page!

FAQ:

Q: Do I have to be qualified to volunteer?

A: Not necessarily—we do need people just to help with setup/cleanup/registration/lunch. If you want to do a talk or tutorial, you should have some confidence that you know something that would be useful or interesting. If you say you can do a talk or tutorial I’ll most likely believe you—I’m not interested in stopping any enthusiastic volunteers. Please let us know if you'd like to lend a hand as a mentor, tutorial-giver, skill-haver, setter-upper, or anything else!

Q: Do I have to stay the entire time?

A: No! We’re going to organize volunteers into shifts. You are, of course, free (and encouraged!) to participate even when not “on duty.”

Q: Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?

A: The GI Jam organizers can be reached via the email: gijam@uwaterloo.ca

Q: Do I have to bring my printed ticket to the event?

A: You do not need to bring your printed ticket, but you should bring a piece of ID. Not only do we use it to double-check registrations, we trade you for your ID if/when you borrow our development equipment.

Q: What's the Global Game Jam?

The Global Game Jam is a community effort to build and foster a stronger world wide game development community. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity. You don't need to understand what it is coming in, but feel free to go here and read up on it if you wish. In January 2016, the GGJ had over 600 locations in 93 countries create 6866 games in one weekend! We are excited to be one of the locations for the 2017 jam. The GGJ provides themes for those who want to kick-start their development process, but using it will be non-mandatory. You can register as a participant in the Global Game Jam at the uWaterloo location via this link.

Tentative Schedule:

Friday (the 20th):

4:30 pm - Doors open (QNC 1502) / Registration begins. During this time, teams can form, chat, and brainstorm before things kick off.

5:15 pm - Opening remarks

5:30 pm - Tutorials begin in QNC 1502 (learn about game design, Unity 101, and Unreal engine). Quiet space is available in QNC 2502.

9:30 pm - Doors close

Saturday (the 21st):

9:00 am - Doors open

9:30 am - Welcome back, reminder of available help.

12:00 pm - Lunch begins

2:30 pm - Check-in, mentors circulate

5:00 pm - Show & tell (optional: 2 minutes for each team to describe what they’re making)

9:30 pm - Doors close

Sunday (the 22nd):