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This year's annual game jam will take place on November 14th & 15th!

Sign-ups are open here now!

The jam will be available in-person in Montréal and

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Keynote 2026

Dr. Jess Rowan Marcotte

Dr. Jess Rowan Marcotte (they/them) is an Indigiqueer/Two-Spirit, transgender Mi'kmaw (Ugpi'ganjig) and Euro settler (with Scottish, British, Irish, French, and German heritage) interdisciplinary artist, interaction designer, writer, researcher, community organizer, and maker who was born and raised in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke, Mooniyang). They make acclaimed interdisciplinary projects at the juncture of interactive theatre, digital experiences and experimental interactive works, tabletop roleplaying games, installations, and alternative controller work. They are one of the three co-founders of Soft Chaos Cooperative and have been organizing the Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon) and related activities since 2017.

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Unified by themes of awkwardness, vulnerability, and intimacy at a time of disconnection and upheaval, their work encourages people to reflect on their relationship to themselves and others within systems that shape their lives. They do this through narrative design (storytelling of all kinds for use with interactive projects), interaction design (how people are taught to engage with each other and with technologies supporting these projects), and game design (the rules, systems, and structures underpinning a project). Because of the nature of their work, they find themself in community-oriented roles, working to improve material and sociological conditions for creators in their milieu. They have served as a community organizer, curator, mentor, and adjudicator and have become a leader in their communities of practice.

Soft Chaos Cooperative: https://softchaos.games Jess's personal work: https://faenotype.design Jess on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/jessromarcotte.bsky.social

As part of Soft Chaos Cooperative, Jess is crowdfunding Strangers on the 'Net soon! Sign up here to be notified on launch.

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The 2026 jam workshops have begun!

View all workshops at our Zeffy page

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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!

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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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{softBoxWide|Game jams 2022-2013|||Archives under construction...}

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