Global Game Jam - Cape Town

Games are a burgeoning tech industry that South Africa and Cape Town has yet to fully harness. The Global Game Jam is a great opportunity to foster this young industry with so much potential.

Below is some more info on the actual event. More info can be found here:

Local event: http://www.afrigraph.org/global-game-jam-2011

Global info: http://www.globalgamejam.org/

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is a 48 hour game development competition, which will be held simultaneously at a number of locations around the world. The South African leg of the event will be staged at the Computer Science Dept of the University of Cape Town.

Additional information on the event can be found here. A fee of R100 will be charged per entrant to cover hosting costs and food over 3 days. A small number of Windows workstations will be available for participating teams to use but people are encouraged to bring their own laptopsk or PCs since these are guaranteed to have the software they will need. Details of development API's and restrictions can be found in the provsional FAQ. Users will be assigned an account on the system and will have internet access.

There will be a unifying theme to the GGJ and a location specific constraint which will differ for each hosting site. These will only be made known on the morning that the event begins. Participants will sign-up beforehand and may bring their own laptops to the venue. There is, however, a limit to free network points so only one laptop per group will be allowed on the network and assigned an IP address.

In keeping with other events of this nature, the GGJ encourages networking and team-work by preceding the event with a "game pitch". After the theme is announced, participants are allowed time to chat amongst themselves and to discuss various ideas around the theme. Then, anyone (or a newly formed group) who feels confident enough can "pitch" a proposal for a game to all the participants and those who can contribute something to the effort are free to join that group. This continues until all those wishing to pitch have done so or joined another group. Everyone who attends must end up in some group, however, since everyone can contribute to the success of a group - even if they assume a role such as testing.