Global Game Jam Mexico Regional Organizer Arcelia Ceballos passes away

Sadly we were hit with the news that long time Global Game Jam Mexican Regional Organizer Arcelia Ceballos passed away.

She participated in video game development projects, content creation, and other activities related to art and multimedia. Since 2013 she is the Regional Organizer in Mexico for Global Game Jam Inc., the largest video game creation event in the world. She has touched and inspired many people in her life leaving on to them the love of games and game development and was one of the most inspirational women in the field who truly left her print for the community.

The GGJ organizers have dedicated this years GGJ to her.

Please include her in your dedication for the GGJ 2022.

Our most sincere condolences goes to the family and friends of Arcelia Ceballos And GGJ family.

Read the orginal Article from Global Gam jam here.

Unreal Bahrain Initiates Preparations for Upcoming Events

The Unreal Bahrain team initiated its preparations for the upcoming events for the remaining of 2021, with an exciting number of activities, workshops, and meetups lined up.

With events coming in swiftly, the organizers and volunteer teams worked together to put plans for the Unreal Bahrain community.

Unreal Bahrain is always looking for extra support to help with their events! Whether you’re a designer, a programmer, an editor, or event management, we’re always looking for volunteers to join our ranks! Head over to our website www.unrealbahrain.com, where you can find the link to signup, as well as stay updated with our latest developments! 😊

 We are happy to announce that Unreal Bahrain will be organizing the local youth-oriented game jam, GGJ NEXT®. The Jam will take place virtually between the 28^th July and 11^th of August 2021 accompanied with guidance counselors for an engaging two week camp that young creators can enjoy for Free courtesy of   Unreal Bahrain and The Global Game Jam Organization.

Signup for the Jam here [https://forms.gle/LGKBApNRxrySs2Dc9].

 Who is this for?

• This is for young creators and their parents/legal guardians to participate in.
• No game development or game design experience is required, you will be learning everything from scratch.
• It is a great way to fill up the summer learning new, exciting, and creative things.
• Participants will engage in group activities and learn how to work in teams.

 Rules and Guidelines to signups

• Participants must be between 12-17 years of age (Exceptions may apply).
• The participants will have their identities verified after filling up the form.
• Parents and legal guardian need to sign a permission form.
• Participants need to read the code of conduct.
• Participants will receive guided tutoring via a discord channel once identities of participants, parents, and legal guardians are confirmed.
• For the duration of the jam participants will be assigned to counselors and have an open session at 6 PM with the general counselor every day for two hours.
• Both digital and physical games are accepted as final submissions.

 Participants will need to

• Keep a record of their learning by taking pictures or videos, plus notes.
• Optionally work in teams.
• Present their end work.

 Jam Program

 Benefits

• Participants that have completed the jam will receive a completion certificate.
• It’s a fun activity for everyone.
• Learn new skills and understand how games are made.
• Access to Game Maker for two months for free.

For more info contact +97339296739 or mail [email protected]

More about the GGJ NEXT

 In an aim to expand Bahraini’s skillset in game development, Unreal Bahrain has partnered with Global Game Jam Organization to host the fourth edition of the Global Game Jam NEXT (GGJ NEXT); an international game jam dedicated to develop the skills of young gaming enthusiasts through a free 2-week program taking place from 28^th July – 11^th August 2021.

GGJ NEXT® is an annual event operated by the Global Game Jam® to serve younger people (12-17 years old) who are interested in learning the creation of video games.

The 2021 GGJ NEXT event, set to take place virtually, incorporates one week of learning through a carefully designed game development curriculum consisting of game creation resources and lessons from a diverse, international group of game designers and educators. Participants will then develop a game using the skills they have learnt in the following week. Participants will receive a certificate upon completion of the event. Interested participants can sign up to the GGJ NEXT by registering on Unreal Bahrain’s website: www.unrealbahrain.com

The curriculum is a series of micro-lessons for educators covering topics of jamming, game design, coding, and much more. The Global Game Jam team have created this curriculum so that teachers, camp counselors, youth leaders, or anyone can learn to teach game development, and run game jams. The curriculum is also offered in Arabic.

Unreal Bahrain welcomes any initiatives which supports game developers locally and regionally, and Mohamed Bastaki, Marketing Manager of Unreal Bahrain, emphasized: “By collaborating with the Global Game Jam Organization, this enables us to provide learning material to game development enthusiasts to enhance their skills in the field of game development and meets our vision of establishing a game development industry in Bahrain.

“Young creators participating in GGJ NEXT will be able to showcase their new skills, creative ideas, and personal self-expression through games on the GGJ NEXT website where videos created by the young jammers will be hosted.”

“Participants of the GGJ NEXT will enjoy a fruitful 2-week virtual program which introduces them to computer programming, art, animation, and teamwork. We encourage all participants to visit the GGJ NEXT website and get the opportunity to create your very own game in this exciting event.” concluded Mohamed Bastaki.

On this occasion, Huda AlHamed, Youth Program Manager of Unreal Bahrain, stated: “The GGJ NEXT is a global game jam event dedicated to young creators who aspire to be game developers. They will gain technical skills such as graphic design, game development, and sound editing, as well as learn soft skills such as teamwork, time management, presentation and leadership skills.”

“The main goal of the GGJ NEXT is to create a health gaming community where players change their roles from users to game producers, and we are using this opportunity to develop our younger generation to not only be talented in this field, but help them develop an array of employability skills over the summer.”

When talking about her experience in the 2020 edition of GGJ NEXT, Huda said: “I had the honor of mentoring great young candidates in the previous edition of GGJ NEXT, and was amazed by their creativity, commitment, and teamwork. We both learnt from each other over the course of 2 weeks, as they used their talents to take on roles such as game directors, writers, graphic designers, music composers, and animators. They mastered the game development concepts in the first week and used the second week to learn about using game engines to develop their very own game, and I was proud of their commitment that they showed throughout the time.”

The GGJ NEXT is also open for volunteers to help make this event a success, as Volunteer Manager of Unreal Bahrain, Talha Iftikhar, stated: “Playing video games is one of my favorite childhood memories, and I’m sure there are lots of us which share the same memory. Having said that, we want to involve more motivated volunteers who have a passion for gaming to work with us on this event as well as future events at Unreal Bahrain. Volunteers will be developing their skills graphic design, event management, and management skills during this time. Interested volunteers can sign up on our website: www.unrealbahrain.com“

Unreal Bahrain is under the umbrella of the Bahrain Internet Society as part of its gaming initiative, which has been supporting the local game development community since 2017 through initiatives like the Bahrain Game Jam, meetups, partner programs and much more.

Useful links:

GGJ NEXT official website: https://ggjnext.org/

Event details: https://unrealbahrain.com/global-game-jam-next-2021/

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/tYvfctTU9a29f33J9

Volunteer signup: https://form.jotform.com/201112812593042

Dear Community,

We wish you and your loved ones to be safe and in good health.

After a year of taking a break we are happy to be back with our meetups
Join us today to discover some of the things we have been up to since last year, we are going to discuss our roadmap, upcoming events and take some of your feedback.

We are theming this month as “Summer of Reading”, start reading and recommending new books, tutorials and encourage other to learn new things.

Signup opn the Bevy link Here 

Or join us at 6:00 PM on Zoom

Dear Community,

We are happy to announce that TESMENA is our newest community partner.

We will be rolling out new community benefits due to this partnership over the coming few months (stay tuned for details)!

To kick it off we would like to invite you to signup for a free FIFA 21 tournament on PlayStation, taking place on 19^th March, through their online platform D11.gg! [Link]

TESMENA is giving away $500 in prizes in this tournament which can be redeemed through their rewards page, or could be transferred to the APICO card so you can cash it out.

Think you’re good enough to compete? Register now for the tournament on the following link:

https://hub.d11.gg/tournaments/24a6a2eb-9f3c-43f9-94c9-1a8a4585edb2

Join in the action by entering the D11 Gaming community on Discord:

https://discord.gg/RAPydTxFnh

The games will be played on PlayStation 4, so you will need a PS Plus Subscription to play online.

The tournament will be played on Best of 1 in a match, and all matches will be played on the same day. The Prizes for this event are in redeemed via the D11 portal where it can be spent on awards on the site or credit to your Apiso cards.

Find out more about the tournament on the link below:

https://hub.d11.gg/tournaments/24a6a2eb-9f3c-43f9-94c9-1a8a4585edb2

This is not a paid advertisement, this is done through our partnership program with TESMENA.

Dear Community,

We wish you and your loved ones to be safe and in good health.

These are the times that we show our will and determination towards doing our part in combating this wide spread Pandemic, for that I call upon your support to play a part in your community to help combat the current COVID-19 spread by Spreading Awareness, and engaging yourself and those around you to use and develop their skills.

As part of the recurring Monthly Challenge, we invite you the community to participates in creating content based on this month’s theme.

Abdulla Sultan is your regular 9-5 worker in Bahrain and leader of Tabletop House on the side. He was introduced to the world of Tabletop Roleplaying games in 2017 and since then has been an avid player and Dungeon Master since. He was given the role of leader in late 2019 and has been organizing events and handling the social media account to spread awareness about Tabletop Role playing games and many more! Currently he’s been working with different entities to try to host events and sessions where people can join online and even participate.

Quick FAQ’s

What is this month’s theme?

Infection.

Infection can mean anything that spreads or is contagious like laughter, yawns or a virus / disease.

You can create something that is meaningful, fun, sad, hopeful, creative, purposeful, or just plain silly.

How do I submit my entry?

Submit your entry by registering in the The Unreal Bahrain Monthly Challenge – October 2020 jam on itch.io before 7th of November 2020.

You are encouraged to add a video that is less than 3 minutes.

For more information and clarification please contact +973 33899309 or +973 39296739 or send an email to [email protected]

Who can Participate?

Anyone. This is an open challenge for creatives.

Game development requires people with different talents to work together to make a game, that includes artists, musician, writers, voice actors, comedians, filmmakers, developers, designers, and anyone with a creative talent.

Be creative and use your skills and talents.

Are there any guidelines?

For those of you that want a little bit of clarity, here are some guidelines:

Are there any prizes?

Not yet, all your works will be featured on the UnrealBahrain.com website, and social media.