This summer, join the Learning Labs for our second Game Jam! Game jams are events where participants make a video game, card game, board game, or hybrid game, often based on a theme or concept during a specified timeframe. This Game Jam lasts from June 1st to July 19th at 12:00 pm. The theme of this year’s Game Jam is “Strange Side Effects,” which is open to interpretation. This year, winners in many categories will receive awards and cash prizes.

Join us on June 17th and 18th, 2023, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, at the Norcross Public Library for our GameDev Studio to find out how you can get started or to learn more about game development.

Join us on July 26th, 2023, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, at the Norcross Public Library for our GameDev Showcase of selected games from this year’s Game Jam and meet their creators.

All events are free and open to the public.

Theme:

Explore the strange and unusual with this year’s theme, “Strange Side Effects.” We are looking for unique interpretations of the theme.

Any game engine, a coding tool, or website is welcome for entry. This year, we have expanded to accept board, card, tabletop, and hybrid games. For video game submission, the work must be a game that is playable via a web browser and made public for wide viewing. The form for submitting your game only allows a URL to be entered. Most games will need to be uploaded to itch.io after creating a free account. If your game is not free, we will not be able to play it, and it will not be selected for our Showcase. Please note that games cannot contain nudity, drug use, profanity, slurs, or extreme violence. Any games uploaded with this content will be removed from our itch.io page.

Rules:

  • This Game Jam is free to enter and open to anyone creating a game based on the theme.
  • Submissions open on June 1st and close on July 19th at noon. 
  • Upload your game to our game jam page on itch.io, so other people can find and play it: https://itch.io/jam/gcpl-game-jam-2023. For physical or hybrid games, you will have to submit our Google Form so that we can set up a time to demo your game before the Showcase.
  • To create an account on itch.io, you must be at least 18 years old or have a parent/guardian create and manage the account. Here are the itch.io Terms of Service for reference as needed.
  • Your video game must be playable via a web browser. Download-only games will not be played by our staff and will not be eligible for the Showcase or highlight reel.
  • Submissions are collected through Google Forms.
  • Selected creators will be notified by Monday, July 24th, 2023
  • To win prizes, creators must be present at our GameDev Showcase at our Norcross branch on July 26th.

Important Dates:

  • June 1, 2023: Game Jam begins
  • June 17-18, 2023: GameDev Studio from 1:00 – 4:00 pm
  • July 19, 2023: Game Jam ends at 12:00 pm
  • July 26, 2023: GameDev Showcase from 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Submit Your Entry

The Gwinnett County Public Library’s Learning Labs have many free resources to help game developers and designers, like access to Adobe Creative Cloud, Blender, drawing tablets, and audio and video recording studios. We also offer coding classes to help you get started in Scratch, Python, C#, or the Unity game engine. Access to our Learning Labs is free with a library card. Out-of-county patrons can purchase a full-access library card for $40 a year.

For more information on getting started with game design and development, visit our LibGuide: https://lib.gwinnettpl.org/learninglab/gamedev

Learning Labs Specialists are also on staff to help! Book-a-Librarian or make a reservation to use the labs at https://www.gwinnettpl.org/learninglabs

Have a question? Send us an email at learninglabs@gwinnettpl.org