Welcome!

Hello and welcome to all students at Malmö University’s Game Development programme! 

 At the game development programme at Malmö University, a new tradition is starting to take place, where we hold at least one game jam every semester. The time for this semesters game jam is now inching closer and preparations are well on their way to make this event bigger and better than those that came before them.  

For the first time in the history of the Game Lab Jam it is possible to join the jam online! Promoting cooperation and connection with even more students!
We will have some events that will be possible to join even if you are doing the Jam fully online so keep a look out for those!

If you have the possibility to join the jam physically in the lab that is highly appreciated still :) 

We love making games and having fun, and there is no better way to do those things than with friends and fellow students. That's why you’re now invited to participate in the Game Lab Jam: VT 25!

OBS! Don't forget to sign up through Google Forms *as well* as on Itch: https://forms.gle/3m31S5KUa1JL5x4E7

What is the Game Lab Jam? 

The term “game jam” originated from the idea of musicians gathering and playing music (jamming) together. Similarly, developers can meet as a team to create a video game in a short amount of time. 

The aim of this game jam is to improve a sense of community and to socialize between the years, so that we can learn from each other and better our teamwork while also partaking in an activity we’re all passionate about. This is an event for the students, by the students. In order to further push this, attendees are heavily encouraged to develop their games together on-site, in the Game Labs!

You will soon be able to fill out a sign up form where you specify talents, interests and if you have any friends that you would like to partner up with. The theme and limitations of the jam will be revealed to you on the first day of the event, after which you will get started on your projects! 

Developers of all skill levels are not just allowed but encouraged. Don’t hesitate to participate if you’re new to coding or game jams, because this friendly event is for everyone :) 

The Game Lab Jam has already been held five times before, and you can see the wonderful games created during those jams here:

VT 23: https://itch.io/jam/game-lab-jam-vt-23/entries

Summer 23: https://itch.io/jam/game-lab-jam-summer-23/entries

HT 23: https://itch.io/jam/game-lab-jam-ht23/entries

VT 24: https://itch.io/jam/game-lab-jam-vt24/entries

HT 24: https://itch.io/jam/game-lab-jam-ht24/entries

Game Lab Info

The game lab's computers contains a lot of software designed to help you during the jam. In before the start of the jam, the computers will be updated with new software. This means that more recent version of Unity will probably be available to use during the jam. More update will be released in the Discord channel closer to the jam. 

Of course, if you want to bring your own computer and develop on that, you are more than welcome to!

Another exciting thing is that we have managed to gain extended access to the game lab during the jam, which means that the usual closed hours between 22:00 and 06:00 does not apply to us! Instead, we are allowed to be in the labs until 03:00 every night. This means that we are free to sit and jam, hang out, socialize and eat until we drop! (Out of obligation we must inform you that no one should do any of those things "until they drop"...Jam responsibly!) OBS!!: You need to have a MAU multicard to be able to identify yourself as a student in order to stay in the game labs longer than until 17:00!

Also, in order to access Orkanen and the game labs during the weekend, you need to have a multikort and your card pin. You can find more information regarding multikort here: https://student.mau.se/stod/it-service/datoridentitet-och-multikort/ 

This Jam's Theme

The theme of the jam is:

 LOOP(S)

When is it? 

 28th of March 16:00 - 30th of March 16:00. 

Deadline for signing up is the  14/3

The groups will be announced on the  24/3 

A more detailed schedule will be released soon. 

Where is it? 

The game laboratories in the university building Orkanen, more specifically OR:A332 and OR:A333.  
If you are joining us online please be ready and waiting in the discord channel at the start of the Jam(March 28th 16:00). We will try our best to stream the introduction of the jam so that you can watch it live there. If you have questions about participating online please feel free to ask them in the Discord!

Schedule

During the Jam, a number of things will happen! To make it easier to have an overview, we have created this schedule that we will (try) to follow! After the submission deadline is reached, everyone will be given the chance to try out each others games in the lab before going home to a well deserved rest.

Friday 

16:00 Presentation

16:15 Theme reveal

20:00 Quiz 

Saturday 
10:00, 16:00 Skattjakt

17:00 Gartic phone/Wiki speedrun?

20:00 Among us
Sunday
 14:00 Deadline

14:30 Presentations

16:00 End of the jam

Preparations

To sign up for the Jam, please press the join button at the top of the page, as well as fill out the following form: 

 Registration Game Lab Jam Spring 25!
If you've never partaken in a jam before, especially through Itch, we suggest that you read a guide on the basic concepts of a game jam. If you don't have an Itch account already, create one to sign up for the jam and be able to vote on the games after the jam is complete! 

To prepare for the Jam, you and your group are allowed to create a project (Unity, UE5, Monogame etc...) as well as a git repo. If you're thinking about using specific assets, these can be added to the project as well, though do beware that they might not fit the theme of the Jam! Although you may not begin development of anything directly connected to the game.

Another thing you can do is to get to know your group before hand! What are everyone's interest in games? What parts of game development are they the most excited about? What role would they like to have in the group during the jam? All of these things are great to discuss before hand so you are ready to go when the jam starts!

Submitting a Game

To submit your game to the jam you upload your game to itch.io. Remember to make the game free and set the game to "Released".

If you're submitting a Unity game and want to provide a version that works in browsers, you should set compression type to Gzip from Unity's WebGL Player Settings.(Heavily recommended to do!)

Afterwards, return to the jam page and click "submit game" and choose your game from the dropdown menu, answer the required questions and then you've completed the submission!

If you want to make sure that the game has been submitted correctly to the jam, you can go to the games page and look for the badge that says "Submission to the Game Lab Jam HT 25" in the top right.

You can submit the game at any point during the jam, and it is always good to submit quite a bit before the deadline in case something goes wrong,   

Who is organizing it? 

Kim Svedberg - 3rd year 

Victor Gustafsson - 3rd year 

Martin Guvå - 3rd year 

Arvid Johansson - 3rd year

Victor Natvig - 2nd year

Olle Nordin  - 2nd year

Sixten Olsson  - 1st year

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot any of us a message on Discord! :) 

You can also get more information regarding the Jam on the discord channel!