The Global Game Jam (GGJ) encourages people to challenge themselves and be creative. Over the course of a weekend you and a team of game makers will build a computer game from paper prototype to finished marvel. The game theme will be given to you on the first day of the event - what you do with the theme is your choice. Game Jam participants range from amateurs to professionals and include industry professionals, students, faculty, hobbyists and anyone with a passion for making games. The jam is open to artists, designer's, programmers, musicians and anyone interested in computer game-making. In its second year, the GGJ is a global experiment in creativity you won’t want to miss. The Miami University location offers a beautiful campus with state of the art computer labs, supportive staff and faculty, and easy access to everything you would need to make your game Jam weekend an unforgettable experience. What is a Game Jam? As the folks at the Toronto Game Jam put it – a game jam is an around the clock, game making binge. Coders, artists, musicians, designers and people who love game making join forces to bless the world with a new computer game. They work intensely over a weekend, and share a passion for games. A game jam is also an unforgettable bonding experience. A full weekend of hard work, a crazy deadline, and the kind of creative inspiration that only comes at 2:00 am. Think pizza, white boards, Mountain Dew, and aha moments. Why Jam? The same reasons musicians jam. Things are better when you work with others. 40 people scurrying to make a great game provides the kind of energy you can only get at a jam. It’s part competition, part adrenaline inspired creative spree. Jams are great ways to finally get a game made, get away from your other projects, meet people with the same passions, explore new ideas, test your sleep deprivation skills, learn first hand game making, get together to make. Why Jam at Miami? Between Miami’s Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies and the Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering we have a lot of great resources. You might not have known it, but Miami has been teaching game design and development for years. Our school gets games. We have faculty in the arts, business, education and engineering, who not only know game making, they love it. We also understand that games are made with lots of input, from lots of different people. A good game team is more than a couple of good programmers, or designers with a vision, its artists, developers, and designers thrashing through cool ideas. Post-itsCheck our location information for more details about our facilities. You won’t be disappointed. Great labs at a well established institution. Check. A pile of great on-campus dining options (23 food-service-awards-great, actually) and a variety of off campus choices in walking distance. Check. Game Jam staff dedicated to making sure your game gets international recognition. All set there too. If you are really eager, you can view our preliminary schedule too.