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The GAMERella Game Jam is a primarily English-language event; our keynote and general operating language is English. However, there are many French-speaking jammers, mentors, and organizers in the space over the weekend.

GAMERella Game Jam is a free, accessible, low-stress, beginner-friendly and inclusive 2-day game making event. Info on the next game jam is available on this page. Updated late summer/early fall.

Every November, we welcome marginalized and under-represented folks: women (cis/trans), gender diverse, 2SLGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodiverse, new settler, disabled, low-income, and others equity-deserving backgrounds. The jam provides mentors, workshops, support workers, equipment, low-sensory and prayer rooms, aid for travel, accommodation and child-care is available on request.

In 2013 we started as a tiny game jam, trying to make an alternative space for people who have been unwelcome in game spaces before. We replaced gatekeeping with free workshops and mentors, and the only crunch at our jams is from free snacks! We are proud to say that over the past decade, our participants have gone on to found over a dozen game studios, study games, become successful freelancers, work for AAA studios, and even come back to GAMERella to teach, mentor and become organizers!

Game jams are a powerful tool for creativity, learning, networking and for changing the world!

Sign up for future workshops through our TicketTailor site.

{softBoxWide|Game jam 2025|photography/group_f.jpg|squished|November 15th, 2025}

Macaroni art, a hot coffee on a cold morning, an inside joke- this year’s theme is:

i made this for you

As GenAI claims to be the future of the creative industries, this theme emphasizes the human, the “i” who makes things, and the hard work that goes into producing creative works. It also welcomes jammers to embrace the beauty of making something a little rough around the edges! It comes with the territory of making something from scratch, especially for the first time. It doesn’t have to be all hand-knit scarves and cookies out of the oven. Perhaps it is an elaborately crafted trap, or the beginning of a villain arc. We look forward to seeing whatever you make at this year’s GAMERella Jam!

Keynote 2025

Meagan Byrne

Meagan is an Apihtawikosisân (Métis of Ontario) game designer, interactive digital media artist, writer, and philosopher. Her most recent work is the Indigenous cybernoir detective game Hill Agency: PURITYdecay. Her works explore one of two streams: expression of childhood trauma and Indigenous futurism (specifically Land Back utopianism).

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2024 Mentors

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{softBoxWide|Game jam 2023|photography/group_a.jpg||November 11th, 2023}

2023 Mentors

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