Group Forming Processes – Experiences and Best Practice from Different Game Jams

Game jams attract participants from different disciplines, with different backgrounds and professions, and various skillsets. At game jam events, these diverse participants, who in many cases have never met before, will work together in a short time span on a game project. Results of a first small study suggest that groups, which are not well balanced, can lead to frustration among the team members and can reduce their overall satisfaction with the experience and the project outcome. Participants of well-balanced groups are by contrast more satisfied with their final project and their team’s success. Furthermore, we provide insights into team building issues of game jams and offer best practice solutions based on our experience in small, medium, and large-scale game jam events.