The HiveJam

Join us at The HiveJam for a buzzing weekend of developing games! Bring out your best honey and show bee what you got.

The HiveJam brings the game developers of Turku together and marks the start of 10th year anniversary of Turku Game Hub as an association.

This October from 23rd at 17:00 we start jamming until 25th we finish approximately 16.00 to a demo showcase of developed games throughout the weekend.

This event kickstarts 'The Hive Week', which Turku Game Hub is hosting at their premises from 23rd until 30th of October. More information about 'The Hive Week' can be found on our discord.

Our premises are located at Pharmacity Kupittaa, Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4, A section at third floor. There are guides throughout the building to lead you to The Hive.

Most of the common questions are vaguely opened at the FAQ, but about the jam & premises:

First and most important: What is a 'GameJam' or 'HiveJam'?

For some 'GameJam' as a concept is fairly known - for others it might be their first time so:

A Game Jam brings together all types of game developers, amateurs, professionals and students to make a game in a fairly short period of time. Participants work in small teams, to create a game with limited time and resources, but unlimited creativity!

It's fairly common that the jam has a theme/themes that are being revealed when the jam starts where you can or won't take this theme as a base of your game; it's all up to you and your team.

The HiveJam is not a competition by any means. Be creative and try new things that you would not otherwise try; collaborate with new people, make a board game.. As coder try to make some pixel graphics this time..? 2D artist making sound effects..? That's what jamming is all about: Trying new things, with new people, low bar. It's absolutely cool to make a concept to reality as well if you are prototyping with well-knit team.. No right or wrong here!

Snacks, food, beverages?

We offer a variety of light snacks, candy and beverages at the premises for all on-site jammers.

Unfortunately no actual meals can be found, but you can always bring out your own as we do have 2 fridges, freezer, an electrical oven and a microwave; just remember to mark your personal items with a tag when storaging.

There's also a student restaurant located in the first floor of Pharmacity building among vast range of pickup/delivery restaurants around Kupittaa area. (Pssst... Delivery with other participants = lower costs, mingling with soon-to-be new friends/colleagues == Double win + more time for Jamming)

We also provide limited amount of different beverages ranging from soda to carbonated water, coffee, tea and hot chocolate straight from our coffee machine.

Our intentions are to take into account most common diets when choosing the snackies and goodies; unfortunately not all can be taken into account. :c We still try our best and ask the allergies while purchasing the ticket.

Accessing premises and overnight stay

Technically the premises are 24/7 accessible.. here comes the but: As Turku Game Hub only has so many members with a badge on site we cannot promise you access to the site at all times, nor that even we get (a) volunteer(s) with a badge that specifically time X you could enter the premises after fixed hours. For now we can safely promise:

Friday: 16:00 - 21:00

Saturday: 08:00 - 21:00

Sunday: 08:00 - 16:00

No other than a person with a badge with clear instructions on how to behave in this building is to open the doors for anyone after hours (which may be longer, we'll inform these before the event starts). This means no smoke breaks, no getting snackies etc etc. be prepared for that. There is a slight chance on alarms and worst case that's hundreds of euros away from anyone's pocket that activates it and does not know what to do or has the legality to do anything about it.. so yeah, better safe than sorry.

Our discord (in the time of the jam) has a specific channel to ping door openings since the main doors will be locked after certain time of the day - depending on the week day.

Our contract and rules with the owner of premises also prohibits sleeping at the premises. But as we know, joining a jam is about dedication and time just might disappear somewhere as you realize it is 4am and your eyelids just weigh a ton while thinking: "Just for a second.. I'll close them for just a second.." It happens, nobody can stop that. Be mindful that in the worst case scenario it's a walk home (security rarely patrols the areas).

Storaging personal items in the time of jam

We can provide relatively safe area to storage your personal belongings. As the premises are behind few locked doors there shouldn't be no fear of outsiders getting in; inside at The Hive there's a specific room that can be locked if it seems necessary in your case. Space is limited, but can hold fairly small items even if all on-site jammers would want something to be held under locked door.

We do not take responsibility for items left unguarded, that being said we do gather around all items after the event that are left behind and storage them for 1 month after the event. If you need more time for reasons unknown to collect said item; contact us.

Turku Game Hub events follow IGDA:s code of conduct.