[games_access] Global Game Jam contest & diversifier

[Michelle Hinn]

It's always a highlight to see what cool things come out of GGJ! I'm
starting to work with the NYC groups for GGJ 2014 NYC -- because,
well, there's no way I going to be able to jam this weekend...sleep
has been hard enough but I suspect most of you know about my recent
surgical overhaul on my back and that follow up pneumonia/anemia/heart
issue hospitalization I had recently! :)

Anyway, this is so exciting to hear about the organizers including an
accessibility diversifier! It will be a kick to see what comes out of
that!

I've been talking to organizers on the US side of things over the last
few days and they are excited about getting the SIG involved at a much
greater level for 2014 -- I'm thinking from what you've just said,
Ian, that the stage is set for the whole world for 2014 that year! :)

So let's get our thinking caps on as soon as possible after the GGJ
and think about what we'd like to see implemented at all of them world
wide! :D

Anyone interested in a post-mortem chat sometime next week about this
year's GGJ and how to start focusing on next year (never too early!).

Anyone besides Ian is attending any of them this year? Would be nice
to get a nice head count of who is going to be where this weekend!

Go GGJammers!!
Michelle

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 3:52 PM, Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com> wrote:
> This weekend is the weekend of the annual Global Game Jam, a hack weekend
> where teams at venues around the world work to produce a finished game over
> the same 48 hours, all working to the same overall single theme with some
> optional extra things to aim for too, called diversifiers.
>
> Outside of the theme and diversifiers, in 2011 jam Tara kicked off an
> accessibility challenge at the Orlando venue. In 2012 that was expanded to
> several venues in the UK
> (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2012/jan/27/global-game-jam-accessibility).
> Both years as well as awareness raising and myth busting it produced some
> nice stuff, 20 games such as these:
>
> http://archive.globalgamejam.org/2012/super-space-snake-space/play
> http://archive.globalgamejam.org/2012/mini-freerunner
>
> If you take a look at the feature lists for those games and consider they
> were each made in 48 and 20 hours respectively, by people who hadn't before
> attempted accessible game design, they're pretty powerful arguments against
> the common myth that accessibility has to be difficult and time consuming.
>
> This year the contest is running again, including venues in Australia as
> well as the UK.
>
> More importantly though, after the success of last year's challenge the
> organisers of GGJ have decided to include an accessibility diversifier.
>
> This means an extra optional goal together with some supporting information
> about accessibility will be presented to all of the GGJ developers.
>
> Global Game Jam is the largest event of its type, with approx. 10,000
> developers at 300 locations in 60 countries.
>
> Ian
>
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