Nordic Game Jam 2012: Largest in the World

Participants at Nordic Game Jam 2012 relax and start celebrating after the end of the 48-hour game jam main event.

Nordic Game Jam 2012 was the biggest game jam in the world during this year's Global Game Jam.  

By Thomas Rousse

Over 48 hours, jammers made games for a wide range of platforms, from digital entries for desktop and mobile to analog party and installation games.  The participants themselves ranged from high school students who had never made a game to seasoned industry veterans.  During the event, 290 jammers created 61 games, according to the Global Game Jam website.  

Many game makers left Copenhagen with more than just a new game under their belt—participants had the opportunity to share skills, make new friends and have fun with the Nordic game development community.

Nordic Game Jam kicked off the weekend early with a pre-party on Thursday.  Registration began on Friday, along with a series of talks from developers on topics such as indie gaming and Unity.  Some jammers took inspiration from the talks for the game jam ahead. 

"Listening to personal experiences from people like Jon Hare and Manveer Heir was what really stood out for me," said Mikkel Faurholm, a first-time participant in the jam.  Heir, Senior Designer at BioWare, delivered the NGJ keynote after an opening speech by Denmark's Minister of Culture, Uffe Elbæk.  

After a presentation of the pre-recorded Global Game Jam keynote, participants formed groups and started making games.  The hand-in deadline was 14:00 Sunday.  Just before the deadline, jammers that had been as sluggish as zombies or sound asleep on a couch a few hours before were full of energy as they rushed to put the final touches on their entries.

Because of NGJ's size, games were presented on four separate tracks; each group had about five minutes to pitch their game.  Voters and the jury selected the twelve finals for a second round of judging; the audience selected their top three favorite games, and each jury member recognized one game for outstanding achievement.  

Redgrim's Simon Gustafsson Two And A Fjers Men [Haha], a slightly surreal game featuring an alienated humanoid going about his everyday life and occasionally chuckling about jokes from "Two and a Half Men," won first place and a Jury's Choice Award from Manveer Heir.  

Sugarush's Mussades, a board game where players take on the roles of thieves trying to outrun the guards and each other after a treasure heist, won the board game track and a Jury's Choice Award from David McCarthy.  

Anders Lystad Brevik, a member of Sugarush, credited the game jam's atmosphere for helping bring his team together on short notice: 

"I'm fairly certain that the game would not be nearly what it is now if anyone on our team was not there."

All results, from finalists to audience and jury choice awards, are available here.  After the awards ceremony, jammers fought through their tiredness to celebrate the completion of their games.

After four days of jamming and partying on little sleep, most participants were exhausted by the end of the weekend.  Jonatan van Hove, who submitted three games during the jam, reported back on his post-jam experience: "I had to sleep for 17 hours."