FAQ

Game jams are typically a short window of time, either 24 hours to a whole week, where folks will work under a theme to produce a short game prototype from scratch to finish. Teams usually consist of 1-4 people here at GAMERella. Each member takes up a different role to see the project to completion. You’re essentially left to your own devices throughout the jam, with a few check-ins from the staff and mentor teams to see how things are going. As we approach the end of the jam, you’ll be encouraged to send us your game to post on our GAMERella Global itch.io page for your to showcase whatever you’ve made!

NO! We will encourage regular breaks, keeping hydrated, and sleeping. You won’t be your best self if you operate on little sleep.

We have a NEW location!!
MONTREAL: District 3 Innovation Centre
Concordia University, FB Building, 6th floor, Room 600
1250 Rue Guy Suite #600, Montréal, QC H3H 2L3, Canada

November 11-12, 2023
For in-person jammers in Montreal, we will start Saturday at 10am and wrap up at Sunday 5pm. However, we think sleeping is more important than making games, so we will all be sending you home to have a good night sleep!
All participant will be invited to submit their game to our itch.io jam page!

You can participate in our amazing team-making session Saturday Morning! Sign up to the jam, and join us Saturday morning!

You can sign up with a team that has already formed, but you can also come solo and join a team while you’re here. We’ll have a team-building session for anyone who hasn’t yet found a team. We also ask people who have formed their teams beforehand to consider adding a first-time jammer to the mix. If you have a team but are missing someone with a particular skill set, don’t worry, you will meet that person at the jam!

There is no required number, but we suggest you stick to 2 or 4. Anything above 4 per team is not recommended as it can get a little chaotic. You can also make a game by yourself, if you’re up to the challenge! Join the GAMERella workshops to broaden your skill set.

The guidelines for most game jams are as follows: if the theme is not secret (will be announced a couple of weeks before the jam), you may begin thinking of how you would like to approach making your game and find yourself a team. We encourage you all to try to make your whole game, including your assets during the jam. Of course we understand that time is short and there are some great asset libraries online, especially for sound. We will leave it up to you how much you rely on those. Just make sure to check copyright laws and give credit when using assets created by someone else.

Yes, there are. Make sure to visit our Workshop page to find out online tutorials for many of the apps listed below!

We recommend Twine an open source, free tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories online. It is very easy to use and requires no coding knowledge.

Stencyl is another great tool to create games without code.
Just like Stencyl, GameMaker is also mostly drag-and-drop, but includes features allowing for more complex games with some basic programming.

There are also great free apps for making audio (Audacity, Tux Guitar, Otomata) and art (PyxelEdit) for your game.
Most probably these applications will be taught during our workshops!

In this case, we recommend you join us for the showcase that happens Sunday from 5 to 7pm. During the playtest participants will show what they worked on during the weekend. The vent is public, so invite all your friends!

All GAMERella participants who make a video game will be asked to upload their game to our itch.io jam site. It is free to register and easy to upload your game. Once uploaded, people can play your game anywhere in the world for free. If your game is a physical game and cannot be described by zeros and ones, take some photos or even some videos and share that online. Organizers can help you with this process, just let us know. During in-person game jams, our photographer can help you take stunning photos for your game’s glory.

Mentors are lovely industry and maker folks who have volunteered their time to help you through the jam experience. They come from various skill backgrounds and will be “on the ground” assistance for any issues or problems you bump into during the jam, as well as dropping by to ask you questions about what you’re making. We’ll have a live schedule for who is around and when, so you know who you can turn to if you need help and who might drop by to say hello during the jam.

Sometimes during a jam, you can’t finish your game! However, over the years, we’ve had participants come away with a really neat mechanic they managed to pull off or a character animation that they’re really proud of – even if it didn’t end up being part of a completed game. This experience is really about you getting more comfortable in making something, and honing your skills further with others. This is the place to make mistakes and learn about bugs you never dreamed existed!

Absolutely. We have a support worker available throughtout the jam who is not just available to address any of your concerns but will go out of their way to check in with every single participant regularly. We also have some basic code of conduct outlined on our values page.

1. Sign up! We can’t wait to meet you!
2. Look through our workshops page. Lots of simple tools you can learn quickly!
3. Don’t have a team or missing a team-member? Don’t worry! Participants can take place in our amazing team-making session.
4. Bring cozy clothes, blankets and pillows that will keep you comfortable. Cosy hot beverages & food are on us!
5. Still unsure about something? Send us a message! We want to know if there is anything else you might need to make this weekend less stressful for you!

Great question! We are also concerned about this! At GAMERella, we want to continue to exercise caution, approaching public health measures from a place of mutual-care and in ways that ensure the wellbeing of all our participants. All participants will be encouraged to wear a surgical or higher quality mask. KN94 masks will be provided free of charge to all participants. Our location is very well ventilated. But we are also amplifying ventilation with a large HEPA air filter. Furthermore, please ensure that you wipe down your work-space after use using the cleaning supplies we have provided.

IMPORTANT: If you have COVID symptoms leading up to/during the jam, or test positive, please remain/return home and immediately notify the organizers. Thank you!

We do our best to make the jam as accessible as possible. When the jam is in-person, it takes place on the 6th floor of the FB building at Concordia University, which is wheelchair accessible via all of its entrances and the 6th floor is reachable by elevators located near the building entrances. In proximity to the space, there are gender-neutral washrooms that are also wheelchair accessible.

We work hard to make sure all announcements, spoken parts (including new and old workshops) of the game jam will be either transcribed live and/or posted with closed captioning.

We also recommend trying to make your game more accessible. Here are a very handy tips and guidelines to help you with that.