The Istanbul branch of the Global Game Jam activity, the 48-hour game development marathon, carried out around the world at the same time, took place on 26th and 28th January 2018 under the main sponsorship of Netmarble Turkey with the organization of Bahçeşehir University Game Laboratory “BUG”.
Asst. Prof. Güven Çatak, the Director of BUG Laboratory, mentioned the agreement that Bahçeşehir University made with Unity 3D, the most-used game engine, while Barış Özistek, CEO of Netmarble EMEA, was mentioning the new game accelerator program that they would start within StartersHub. While BAU, which will be the Center of Turkey Unity Education, is holding certificate examinations with BUG organizations, the related courses will be ensured via BAU IDEA.
The theme of GGJ, turning of the 10th year, was ‘Transmission’. 165 game designers, virtual artists, and programmer, called Jammer, developed a game together for 48 hours in BAU Galata Campus. 42 games were produced and announced to the world through globalgamejam.org at the end of the activity which sound designers and musicians joined. Apart from mobile games, the games for PC and VR platforms were developed. The Transmission theme was discussed from different aspects. While Last Chance was concentrating on the challenge of catching the message sent by accident to his girlfriend, Electrician concentrated on completing the circuits with puzzles for transmitting the electricity to the houses left in the dark.
Güven Çatak said that the activity was not a competition and everyone’s awards were the new people that they met and the games that they produced together. Global Game Jam, the biggest game development community activity in the world, took place in 109 countries and 805 locations this year.