Global Game Jam '26
Feb 03, 2026
Over the last weekend, I participated in the Vancouver Global Game Jam!
Here were some of the assets I created for the game I worked on. I joined in to help this team around the afternoon of the second day, so I only had around 10 hours to squeeze these drawn assets and their game's UI. Even so, I had a lot of fun and my team was very happy with the outcome!
I've done a good chunk of game jams before, but only remotely/online. This was my first in-person event, and MAN, I really had a blast!
There really is no feeling like being in a room full of creatives, just making stuff for the love of the craft. The passion and energy in the room was tangible--everyone was kind, friendly, excited, and personable--and it really reminded me of why I like making art so much in the first place... because it connects me with others.
My goal for this jam was to ONLY do artwork this time. Historically, I've had to fill in as the programmer/project manager in the game jams I've participated in. Usually, this is because I'm working with other artists who don't have any programming experience, so if I DON'T do the programming, it just won't get done.
Luckily, this worked out perfectly for me! GGJ was assisted by a team called PixelRoute which essentially brings in a bunch of professional artists to fill in art asset requests for jammers after they've got their teams formed and base games set up, so I hung out with that team until around the middle of the second day of the jam.
The team I ended up helping approached the PixelRoute table with inspirations of retro anime and horror, and we all immediately knew the project was made for me.
It was the team's first jam, and while unfortunately their concept did suffer a bit from scope creep (which is completely expected from a first jam and something I am also very guilty of, haha), I still think they managed to do something pretty darn cool in a very short amount of time!
I'm totally exhausted now that it's over--my voice hurts from talking so much!--but I made a lot of new friends and am really eager to do another in-person game jam soon!
Here were some of the assets I created for the game I worked on. I joined in to help this team around the afternoon of the second day, so I only had around 10 hours to squeeze these drawn assets and their game's UI. Even so, I had a lot of fun and my team was very happy with the outcome!
I've done a good chunk of game jams before, but only remotely/online. This was my first in-person event, and MAN, I really had a blast!
There really is no feeling like being in a room full of creatives, just making stuff for the love of the craft. The passion and energy in the room was tangible--everyone was kind, friendly, excited, and personable--and it really reminded me of why I like making art so much in the first place... because it connects me with others.
My goal for this jam was to ONLY do artwork this time. Historically, I've had to fill in as the programmer/project manager in the game jams I've participated in. Usually, this is because I'm working with other artists who don't have any programming experience, so if I DON'T do the programming, it just won't get done.
Luckily, this worked out perfectly for me! GGJ was assisted by a team called PixelRoute which essentially brings in a bunch of professional artists to fill in art asset requests for jammers after they've got their teams formed and base games set up, so I hung out with that team until around the middle of the second day of the jam.
The team I ended up helping approached the PixelRoute table with inspirations of retro anime and horror, and we all immediately knew the project was made for me.
It was the team's first jam, and while unfortunately their concept did suffer a bit from scope creep (which is completely expected from a first jam and something I am also very guilty of, haha), I still think they managed to do something pretty darn cool in a very short amount of time!
I'm totally exhausted now that it's over--my voice hurts from talking so much!--but I made a lot of new friends and am really eager to do another in-person game jam soon!