Global Game Jam at NHTI

Concord – Next weekend up to twenty dedicated young programmers, artists and musicians will gather at NHTI, Concord's Community College to take part in a worldwide game development competition. Held simultaneously at over fifty sites around the world, the Global Game Jam (GGJ) brings together teams of programmers who collaborate to create games given the same basic themes and technical constraints. (For further information visit globalgamejam.org.)

The event will kick off at 5:00 pm Friday January 30th with a keynote speech (streamed to all the participating sites at once) by Kyle Gabler, creator of "The World of Goo," an award-winning game whose first incarnation was developed during a Game Jam. "The next big transformation in gaming won't come from a large game studio with million dollar teams and marketing budgets," says Gabler. "It will come from some kid in their bedroom with a few pieces of free software and a never ending supply of caffeine and motivation. I can't wait to see the scraggly, brilliantly hacked together beginnings of some of the next great games crawl out of these 48 hours."

For the next two days, with minimal time out for food and sleep, the teams will throw themselves headlong into their work. By 5:00 pm on Sunday, the results must be ready for prime time.

According to Greg Walek of the school's Animation and Graphic Game Programming (AGGP) faculty, NHTI may be the only community college taking part in the competition. Indeed, the only other GGJ venue in New England is MIT. But while the school faces stiff competition, it has a proud history of past achievements. One game developed at NHTI during last year's Game Jam - "Infectious Munch" - went on to take second place at the prestigious 38 Studios Game Challenge (and the game's creators have since moved on to prestigious four-year schools). Another game developed during last year's Jam is now popular on the New Grounds internet site.

Anyone who would like to join the Game Jam at NHTI should contact Greg Walek at to reserve a spot. The public is welcome at any time, but Greg suggests the best times to drop by would be at 5:00 pm Friday for the keynote address, and at 5:00 pm Sunday for the showing of the finished games. The Global Game Jam will also be streamed live on the web at Ustream.tv, and local developments can be followed on www.nhtigamejam.blogspot.com.

Global Game Jam is organized by International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and supported by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., Mekensleep Studios, and Unity Technologies, maker of Unity3D. The GGJ Venue at NHTI is organized by the NHTI AGGP Department, and the live event web feed is supported by TPSradio.net, The People's Sports Radio Network.

NHTI, Concord's Community College, is a fully accredited, public community college serving students, businesses and the community by providing excellent academic, technical and professional education. NHTI offers 62 academic programs to more than 4,000 students. NHTI is a member of the Community College System of New Hampshire.