Global Game Jam 2019 | January 25 - 27, 2019

dammit

Hi Guys

I have volunteered to be the GGJ 2019 Regional Organiser for South Africa. Essentially, this means I'm here to help as much as possible with ensuring sites around the country have a successful jam in January.

The first step in this process will be for site organisers to apply for a site. This ability will open up on the 1st of October 2018 on the Global Game Jam website. Please apply early so that we can get you ready and up to speed on some of the changes to GGJ as quickly as possible.

If you have any questions, please reply to this thread (but remember to @ me so that I get an email too) :)

Here's to a happy GGJ!

*Thanks for the sticky :) *

Approved Sites

GGJ19 Durban: Africa School of Technology & LearnWebAnim
https://globalgamejam.org/2019/jam-sites/ggj19-durban-africa-school-technology-learnwebanim

GGJ19 Johannesburg: Microsoft
https://globalgamejam.org/2019/jam-sites/ggj19-johannesburg-microsoft-bryanston

GGJ19 Cape Town: City Varsity
https://globalgamejam.org/2019/jam-sites/ggj19-cape-town-city-varsity

ladyinblack

@dammit Durban to have a venue

dammit

ladyinblack said:

@dammit Durban to have a venue

Is that a question or a statement?

ladyinblack

dammit said:

ladyinblack said:

@dammit Durban to have a venue

Is that a question or a statement?

statement

dammit

Great @Ladyinblack Does this mean you plan to apply to run a venue? At the moment, there are no applications from Durban. You need to go to the Global Game Jam website and apply to have a venue before you can host a GGJ event.

ladyinblack

Yes, I've read that, and will be doing just that.
Thanks.

dammit said:

Great @Ladyinblack Does this mean you plan to apply to run a venue? At the moment, there are no applications from Durban. You need to go to the Global Game Jam website and apply to have a venue before you can host a GGJ event.

dammit

We've got two JHB applications for sites :D Please remember to check your emails if you are registering to host a site!

dammit

Durban venue now approved and I believe the GGJ sites are open for jammer registration. Let the games begin!

mattbenic

@dammit would you mind adding a link for the GGJ site and list of current SA venues (or direct link to that list on the GGJ site) to the OP. I'd like a quick single reference link I can share with people and your post being it would be ideal ;)

dammit

mattbenic said:

@dammit would you mind adding a link for the GGJ site and list of current SA venues (or direct link to that list on the GGJ site) to the OP. I'd like a quick single reference link I can share with people and your post being it would be ideal ;)

Good idea :)

Timothy

dammit said:

We've got two JHB applications for sites :D Please remember to check your emails if you are registering to host a site!

@dammit any news on these sites being approved or not yet? I don't see any JHB sites on GGJ yet? :) Also, I'm assuming the applications are for Vega and Microsoft as usual ?

dammit

Timothy said:

dammit said:

We've got two JHB applications for sites :D Please remember to check your emails if you are registering to host a site!

@dammit any news on these sites being approved or not yet? I don't see any JHB sites on GGJ yet? :) Also, I'm assuming the applications are for Vega and Microsoft as usual ?

Hi @Timothy

I have reached out to both venues again to take the next step in the process in order to get them approved. I haven't received any response from the one venue, while the other one had some admin they were working on. I will ping them again and hopefully get things going :)

Thanks for the message

dammit

First JHB venue approved. See First post.

Crash

So excited and glad to see venues opening up!

dammit

Please do register as jammers for the site you intend joining.

And Cape Town, now that Playtopia is over I'm expecting to see a venue organised ;)

Tuism

Joburg's usual GGJ site at Microsoft Joburg is in:
Jam site page:
edit: xxxx pending xxxx

Please sign up as a jammer if you'd like to join us here!

dammit

Tuism said:

Joburg's usual GGJ site at Microsoft Joburg is in:
Jam site page:
https://globalgamejam.org/2019/jam-sites/johannesburg-bryanston-microsoft

Please sign up as a jammer if you'd like to join us here!

Hi @Tuism.

There's an application process :) So, it looks like Microsoft has applied, but there's a step before the site could be open for jammer sign ups. I'll contact the person who has applied.

Thanks


Note: Tuism, I've rejected your site application because there is already one in progress for Microsoft. This is why there are regional organisers :)

dammit

Okay, there has been a little change of plans. After chatting to the organisers at Vega and Microsoft in JHB, we've decided that this year we'll merge the two at Microsoft. This site has been approved and you can register as a jammer (see first post for links). I'm hoping to see this merger help to grow the industry by bringing more students together (from different institutions) and having them interact and get to know the industry veterans. <3

Tuism

Thanks for sorting that out, the single venue at Microsoft had always been traditionally where everyone hung out together for many years already, it would be great to see students from all different institutions come along too.

Gazza_N

Yeah, I enthusiastically agree that it's a good call to consolidate the venues in Joburg. Thanks for all the effort! I'm signing up right the heck now.

Timothy

@Tuism and @Gazza_N see you guys there! keen to see hopefully even more jammers than usual! :smiley:

dammit

Tuism said:

Thanks for sorting that out, the single venue at Microsoft had always been traditionally where everyone hung out together for many years already, it would be great to see students from all different institutions come along too.

A single venue is absolutely ideal, though we are looking at alternating between Microsoft and Vega because both do want to host and I don't see a reason to exclude people from the opportunity to host game jams :)

dammit

Now, we just need a CPT organiser... any volunteers?

Tuism

dammit said:

Tuism said:

Thanks for sorting that out, the single venue at Microsoft had always been traditionally where everyone hung out together for many years already, it would be great to see students from all different institutions come along too.

A single venue is absolutely ideal, though we are looking at alternating between Microsoft and Vega because both do want to host and I don't see a reason to exclude people from the opportunity to host game jams :)

Well, if single venue is desired then a neutral ground like Microsoft would be preferable to one with a commercial interest in getting people to them. If Vega were to host then it is only fair that the hosting should cycle to other schools too... Which honestly is just a lot of logistics. My experience in arranging events is that consistency brings establishment. Moving things around causes people to drop off.

There are plenty of other game jams which don't "demand" single venues, those would (and already do) work very well for jams like ludum dare, which are always looking for venue availabilities.

Tuism

dammit said:

Now, we just need a CPT organiser... any volunteers?

Adone, Danny and Francois were talking about this on Twitter. I don't remember their forum handles lol :p

dammit

Tuism said:

dammit said:

Tuism said:

Thanks for sorting that out, the single venue at Microsoft had always been traditionally where everyone hung out together for many years already, it would be great to see students from all different institutions come along too.

A single venue is absolutely ideal, though we are looking at alternating between Microsoft and Vega because both do want to host and I don't see a reason to exclude people from the opportunity to host game jams :)

Well, if single venue is desired then a neutral ground like Microsoft would be preferable to one with a commercial interest in getting people to them. If Vega were to host then it is only fair that the hosting should cycle to other schools too... Which honestly is just a lot of logistics. My experience in arranging events is that consistency brings establishment. Moving things around causes people to drop off.

There are plenty of other game jams which don't "demand" single venues, those would (and already do) work very well for jams like ludum dare, which are always looking for venue availabilities.

We never had a problem hosting at UCT in Cape Town.

Tuism

Not sure what you mean by "problem", if an actual problem arose or if I personally had a problem with it, either way I can't speak to that as I was never involved in organising in CT. I just *do* know the scene in Joburg.

dammit

New GGJ site approved for Pretoria! Get on signing up :)

francoisvn

Tuism said:

dammit said:

Now, we just need a CPT organiser... any volunteers?

Adone, Danny and Francois were talking about this on Twitter. I don't remember their forum handles lol :p

Yeah, we're still trying to organise a CT venue. Hopefully that'll be organised soon :)

BigHairDan

dammit said:

New GGJ site approved for Pretoria! Get on signing up :)

Note: the PTA site has a few Windows machines available if you can't BYOC. We have 7 available. If you plan to sign up, please indicate if you want to book a rig :)

*edit: we also have room for those that do want to bring their own machines. We have capacity for about 18 jammers excluding myself.

dammit

Cape Town...you're leaving things quite late...

mmillions_

Hey! Vega can't help us out, so trying to find somewhere else to do it. What is the deadline for registering sites?

dammit

mmillions_ said:

Hey! Vega can't help us out, so trying to find somewhere else to do it. What is the deadline for registering sites?

Hey! The site applications close on the 4th of January. Good luck finding a venue!

dammit

@mmillions_ Cape Town you have 2 days left...

mmillions_

Hey @dammit, I just got the confirmation from City Varsity and I’ve registered the site. Got the email to say that it’s being processed. I’ll keep an eye on my inbox in case you need any more information.

dammit

Fantastic, you'll get emails from me shortly and we'll start the process :D

dammit

Just in the nick of time, we have a Cape Town venue. Congratulations everyone for getting everything organised in time. I'm looking forward to seeing loads of sign ups and some great games being created!

Which means: everyone, start signing up for your jam venue!

dammit

11 more sleeps! Nice to see the registration numbers climbing in all venues. Keep it up everyone and I look forward to an exciting jam.

dammit

I hope you're all getting ready - it's this weekend!

And the numbers are looking great, well done! I'm especially proud of the new sites - it can be quite a challenge to get people to join for the first time.

Durban: 5 jammers registered
Johannesburg: 50 jammers registered
Pretoria: 3 jammers registered
Cape Town: 40 Jammers registered

There's still time to register and join, so if you haven't done so yet, please do!

Crash

Going to be exciting! I can't wait!

dammit

One more sleep! Wishing everyone the best.

PS: A reminder to the site-organisers to encourage jammers to make use of the discord channel, to use the social media hastag (BUT DON'T REVEAL THE THEME ONLINE UNTIL SATURDAY), and generally have a healthy happy jam :)

dammit

Due to unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, the PTA GGJ is now unavailable. For those who intended to attend that one, hopefully you will be able to make it to the JHB one in Bryanston.

Krummelz

Looking forward to the jam!

I've never attended GGJ before, so I'm curious about what the process will be, and what to expect. From what I understand, it's somewhat formalised, and the organisers send out info and a format to follow. There's been no communication from the local jam site, and all I have to go on is the address. Is this the norm? What should participants be expecting from the sites in the lead up to the jam, and how does the weekend generally proceed?

francoisvn

@Krummelz: it can vary from site to site. If you're attending in CT, pls check out this doc for more info: http://bit.ly/ggj19capetown

dammit

Krummelz said:

Looking forward to the jam!

I've never attended GGJ before, so I'm curious about what the process will be, and what to expect. From what I understand, it's somewhat formalised, and the organisers send out info and a format to follow. There's been no communication from the local jam site, and all I have to go on is the address. Is this the norm? What should participants be expecting from the sites in the lead up to the jam, and how does the weekend generally proceed?

Your site organiser should have been in touch with you before the jam. I'm sorry that this didn't happen and will follow up on this.

dammit

Well, I hope you all had a marvelous jam! I've seen some pictures and posts, and the games are looking super interesting.

Please remember to fill out the surveys if you participated as well as share you game at your next meetup and on the forums:

*Survey for Jammers:*
[GGJ 2019 Survey for Jammers](https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Y5GLMCQ)
:point_up: Please could you distribute the jammer survey at your sites *before the end of Sunday* - we would love to get as much feedback as possible from them, and you can really help with this by planning it into the event.

*Tell us about the games you loved*
Don’t forget, for game you particularly liked at your site, post them in #gamesiplayedandloved -- so we can all check them out.

mattbenic

Is there by any chance a list of all the games created by locals anywhere?

francoisvn

@mattbenic: each of the 3 sites has a link to the list of games (bottom right, under the recent games). Eg: for CT