For the first time in Zambia, Ubongo Game Lab will host The Global Game Jam here in Lusaka at BongoHive. Ubongo Game Lab is a community technology group interested in game development, gaming technology and its use within Zambia. They have taken a big 
step onto the game development scene in putting Zambia on the map. The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world’s largest game jam event taking place around the world at physical locations. According to the first GGJ newsletter, GGJ has recorded 485 locations around the world that are participate in this year’s GGJ and Zambia has been highlighted as one of the new GGJ countries to participate.

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) brings together thousands of people for a weekend of collaboration and creativity.Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.

The structure of a jam is usually that everyone gathers on Friday late afternoon, watches a short video keynote with advice from leading game developers, and then a secret theme is announced. All sites worldwide are then challenged to make games based on that same theme, with games to be completed by Sunday afternoon. In January 2013, GGJ had 309 locations in 63 countries create over 3000 games in one weekend! GGJ 2014 is January 24-26 at a location near you… if not you can make one of your own. The jam is known for helping foster new friendships, increase confidence and opportunities within the community. The jam is always an intellectual challenge. People are invited to explore new technology tools, trying on new roles in development and testing their skills to do something that requires them to design, develop create, test and make a new game in the time span of 48 hours.

The event will be held at BongoHive from Friday 24th at 11:00 am until Sunday 26th at 05:00 pm.

The event is free and if you would like to participate, register from here.