Goldsmiths hosts London Global Game Jam event
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Goldsmiths, Game Dev London and Uni Jam hosted an in-person Global Game Jam event, building on the success of hosting in previous years.

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is an annual international event, taking place virtually and in over a hundred countries around the world since it began in 2009. Thousands of jammers take part in a 48-hour hackathon focussing on game development around that year’s theme. It is a collaborative event, with participants working in teams to create games. Games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and Surgeon Simulator began as part of the GGJ and have gone on to commercial success.
The 2025 event kicked-off in the Great Hall with a keynote from Goldsmiths Senior Lecturer Alan Zucconi.
For many participants, the Global Game Jam is their very first experience with game development. The low stakes remove the fear of failure, as there is no expectation for a game made during a game jam to be successful. Game jams like this allow developers to explore unusual mechanics and gameplays that they might have not otherwise have a chance to work on.
Alan Zucconi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing
To reveal the theme for the 2025 Jam, he unveiled a bubble machine, announcing that the jammers would need to spend the next 48 hours building a game around the theme ‘bubble’. The jammers then settled in to get to work, with the Hall remaining open overnight throughout the weekend event.

Bubbles floated across the Great Hall as the theme was announced
The event saw jammers gathering from across London. Uni Jam now includes the London College of Communication, London South Bank University, the SAE Institute, and Staffordshire University London.
The 2025 event followed on from the success of previous years, being number one in the UK and among the top ten worldwide for participants both in-person and online.
A game jam encourages creative thinking and collaborative working. Alan Zucconi added, “Making games is a serious business, and it is not uncommon for major titles to be in production for several years. This can be really taxing on game developers, especially independent ones and small studios. Game jams are designed to do exactly the opposite: making a game in just a few days, and releasing it no matter its state.”
Explaining how the GGJ can benefit students, he added, “It's the perfect opportunity to learn how to prioritise tasks and to master time management, as everything (from art to code) has to be finished by the end of the jam.”