Game jams are exciting events for developers and indie game fans alike. During the days or weeks that the jam takes place in, teams and solo developers race to build the best game they can, making sure to fit the theme of the jam. Game jams usually have a theme or a restriction, one that all contestants must abide by, that is only revealed at the start of the jam. This is to make sure that no one team can start working on their project before the jam has officially begun.
Even though many game jams have a panel of judges or some voting pools to declare one game the winner, a game jam isn’t really a competition. The winner usually doesn’t even receive a prize besides a short-lived spotlight on their work. Game jams are an opportunity to experiment, learn, and make a game under time pressure. Thanks to those events, developers can learn to manage their time effectively, they see what it’s like to work on a game from start to finish, and in the case of in-person jams, they make connections.
5 Brackeys Game Jam
Even if it’s not the biggest of its kind, Brackeys’ takes the spot as the second most popular game jam on Itch.io, a well-known website and storefront for indie games and their developers. Created in 2018 by the YouTube channel Brackeys, the jam became more and more popular, reaching over 1,000 entries in 2022. According to fans, this game jam is perfect for those trying to connect with a tight-knit community of developers.
One peculiar aspect of the Brackeys Game Jam is that it takes place two or even three times a year. When compacted together, the seemingly low number of participants come to rival those of larger yearly jams like the GMTK jam or in-person events like the Global Game Jam. Unlike most others, the Brackeys Game Jam has many different categories of awards, like Fun, Innovation, and so on. Games submitted to this jam also tend to get more comments and feedback than those in busier events, so they're ideal for those trying to learn more.
4 Nordic Game Jam
Taking place in-person in the city of Copenhagen, one would think that the historical game jam has been thoroughly surpassed by its online peers, but that’s not entirely true. With an average participation in the hundreds, this is still the second-largest in-person game jam and the first that takes place in a single location. The Nordic Game Jam is truly historical: born in 2006, it is the oldest in-person game jam still running.
Besides taking place in-person, the Nordic Game Jam is a jam like any other. Participants are given a theme or a restriction and have 40 hours to come up with a game, either alone or working in a team. The jam is well known for attracting key figures of game development as speakers and judges, like designer Peter Molyneux in 2010 and Heather Kelley in 2009 and 2019.
3 Gamemaker Toolkit Jam
The Gamemaker Toolkit Jam is one of the largest online game jams out there. It was founded in 2017 by YouTuber and journalist Mark Brown of Gamemaker Toolkit, becoming the most popular game jam of Itch.io during its second edition, with over 1000 games submitted. Participants have 48 hours from the moment the jam’s theme is revealed to when the timer runs out, so the resulting games are usually short and to the point.
Many successful games started as prototypes during one of the Gamemaker Toolkit jams, like the rollerblade shooter Rollerdrome and the relaxing stacking game A Little to the Left. Most of those success stories didn’t win their respective jams, which only goes to show that those aren’t a competition but a way to reconcile game-making and a busy life. On that end, the Gamemaker Toolkit Jam is one of the best jams for those especially busy, lasting just 48 hours.
2 Ludum Dare
One of the oldest online game jams, the Ludum Dare, has been going on since April 2002. Named after the gaming forum it originated on, the first edition of this jam only saw 18 participants. At its highest, in April 2020, it reached almost 5000 submissions from individual teams. Many indie success stories started as Ludum Dare prototypes and later became full games, like Broforce, Pony Island, and Mini Metro.
Each Ludum Dare is divided into two categories. The first works just like any modern jam, allowing teams to work on a game collectively and use third-party content. The other is called Compo, or “hard mode”: it requires developers to work solo and forbids the use of any material not created during the jam. Additionally, the compo only lasts 48 hours, while the classic jam version lasts 72 hours.
1 Global Game Jam
The Global Game Jam is the biggest in-person game jam event. What makes it so popular is that it takes place in different locations simultaneously. It currently holds the record for the most attended in-person game jam, with its 2019 edition seeing 47,000 contestants and 9,010 games developed in just 48 hours.
Originally inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, the Global Game Jam has since become a much larger event thanks to a simple twist. Instead of taking place in a single location, which naturally imposes some limitations on how many people an event can hold, participants of the Global Game Jam can attend from many different locations. In 2022 alone, there were 680 active locations, situated in 100 different countries.