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Game Jolt

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Game Jolt
Type of site
Social community platform for content created by gamers
Founded2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Country of originUnited States
OwnerGame Jolt, Inc.
Founder(s)Yaprak & David DeCarmine
URLwww.gamejolt.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Current statusOnline

Game Jolt is a social community platform for video games, gamers and content creators. Founded by Yaprak and David DeCarmine, it is available on iOS, Android, and on the web and as a desktop app for Windows and Linux. Users share interactive content through a variety of formats including images, videos, live streams, chat rooms, and virtual events.

Features

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Crowd streaming

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In 2021 Game Jolt revealed their own live streaming feature called Firesides. Firesides allowed multiple users to simultaneously livestream together with nearly no delay. The feature launched with a virtual concert showcasing its ability to accommodate multiple streamers.[1] On October 16, 2023, Firesides were removed from Game Jolt.[2]

Mobile app

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Game Jolt Social by Game Jolt Inc. launched on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in March 2022. "It's clear to us that Gen Z is tired of generic social media and they want a place specifically for gaming that supports all types of content they're creating–art, videos, thoughts, and livestreams all in one place." said Game Jolt founder and CEO Yaprak DeCarmine, in a statement to VentureBeat.[3]

Game API

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The Game Jolt Application Programming Interface (usually known as the Game Jolt Game API) allows any developer using a game development platform that supports HTTP operations and MD5 or SHA-1.[4][5] Game Jolt advertises that the API can:

  • Create multiple "scoreboards" which collect high scores from players made publicly available on the game's profile and give user accounts EXP[6]
  • Award player's trophies which give user accounts EXP[6]
  • Store game data on Game Jolt's data servers[7]
  • Log whether a user is currently playing a game they're logged into via the GJAPI

Game jams and competitions

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Game Jolt regularly hosts game jams where participants are encouraged to develop games for a chance to win prizes. They hosted their first game jam in 2009, Shocking Contest.[8]

In November 2014, Game Jolt announced the "Indies vs PewDiePie" game jam, partnering with the popular YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg.[9] Developers were given a weekend (21–24 November) to create a game with the theme of "fun to play, fun to watch" to suit the Let's Plays entertainment style.[10] Users could rate entries afterwards until December 1 when the scores were counted up. The prize to the top 10 rated games was Felix playing the games on his channel as a means of promotion for the developers,[11] although later he played other entries.[12] One of the participants of the jam, now known as Outerminds Inc. was discovered and hired by PewDiePie to develop his mobile game, Legend of the Brofist.[citation needed]

Game Jolt partnered with Felix, Sean "Jacksepticeye" McLoughlin and Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach to host "Indies vs Gamers" in July 2015.[13] The requirements for entries were arcade games using the Game Jolt Game API highscore tables, to be made between the July 17–20[14] and the top 5 games were played on the partner's YouTube channels.[15][16]

Following the "Indies vs PewDiePie" game jam in 2014, Game Jolt released their internal jam hosting tools public for all users to use as a service, to create their own game jams that integrated with the main site.[17]

Today, Game Jolt focuses on hosting and co-hosting game competitions with established brands in order to bring monetary[18] and educational opportunities to their users. On April 15, 2024, an announcement was made about a collaboration with Pocket Worlds for the "HighRise Game Jam",.[19] Pocket Worlds had sold NFTs up until roughly 2022, causing a community outburst. The situation was addressed, and the situation started to disperse.[20][21]

Contests

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Date Theme Place
1st 2nd 3rd
13–21 June 2009 Shocking[22] ShockMaze Infidels Shocker: The Electrifying Hero
1–31 August Axiom[23][24] Raimond Ex Paul Moose In Space World No Longer Apart
1–7 November 2009 Minimal[25][26] Spectrum Wing Saut Fetus
24–25 January 2010 Rogue[27][28] Super Space Rogues Tower Climb Flood the Chamber
1–8 July 2010 Indie Game Demake[29][30] Warning Foregone Sulkeis Saucelifter 8-bit
16 January–14 February 2011 Invention Contest[31] Fire With a Riot Bun Dun Monica
20 August–24 September 2011 Music Interpretation[32] Je Suis Le Diable Rhythmical Jeremy
11–19 August 2012 Fear[33][34] The Room Fragments of Fear Nyctophobia
1–11 March 2013 Chaos[35][36] Void Rogue Blues for Mittavinda Stellar Zero
9–18 March 2013 Party[37] Quantum Party Crasher Super Clean Clean Party Run
21–24 November 2014 Fun to play and watch (Indies vs PewDiePie)[10] Lord of the Horde Kid VS School DANCE!DANCE! PewDiePie
17–20 July 2015 High scores (Indies VS Gamers)[14] Racket Boy Sushido Super Nanny Sleepytime Ultra HD Alpha Omega
29 July–13 August 2021 Opera GX Game Maker Jam[38] OPERIUS won $10,000 USD[39] OH NO! ALIENS STOLE MY WIFI won $7,000 USD[39] NETTIE AND SETTIE SAVE THE INTERNET won $3,000 USD[39]
17 June–3 July 2022 Together Jam[18] TBA TBA TBA
5–8 August 2022 Girls in Games Jam[40] TBA TBA TBA

Events

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Photograph from one of the events, known as "The Other Party"

Game Jolt hosts both physical and virtual events to entertain and prank its users, which consists of the following:

Year Event Name Location
2016 Game Jolt Develop: Party![41] Brighton, United Kingdom
2018 The Other Party at GDC by Game Jolt, DreamHack, Devolver Digital, Good Shepherd[42] San Francisco, California, USA
2019 Indiepocalypse at GDC by Game Jolt, Devolver Digital, Good Shepherd and DreamHack[43][44] San Francisco, California, USA
2019 Indie Forest PAX West Party by Game Jolt, DreamHack and Devolver Digital[45] Seattle, Washington, USA

History

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Game Jolt has supported independent creators with a central platform to manage their content and communities since its start in 2002. David DeCarmine began development of Game Jolt at the age of 14 for a group of hobbyists, making games and sharing on forums in an early iteration known as Holo World.[46] The original intention was to create a platform for gamers where new games could be discoverable and quickly playable, and where feedback could be provided directly to the creators, allowing them to continue improving their games.

In 2008, Game Jolt was registered as an LLC,[47] then incorporated as Game Jolt Inc. in September 2020.

A new site launched in 2015 featuring a responsive design, automated curation for both games and game news articles which weighs how recent a game was uploaded and how popular it is ("hot") and filtering options on game listings for platform, maturity rating and development status.[48]

In March 2022, Game Jolt launched a mobile application simultaneously on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store targeted at Gen Z gamers and creators. While in beta, the mobile app had 100,000 installs pre-launch.[3]

Game store

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Game Jolt continues to host a large library of independent games. Game developers can upload their games directly to the site to share or sell.

They would allow distribution for downloadable games, later adding support for Adobe Flash, Unity and Java games[49] which allowed support for browser based games. In February 2013, Game Jolt built support for browser-based HTML5 games as well.[50][51][52] A user levelling system was released into public beta in April 2013, incorporating the GJAPI trophies and highscores, as well as site activity, to generate 'EXP' (experience points).[53]

Game Jolt Jams released in early 2014 as a service to allow users to create their own game jams that integrated with the main site.[17][54]

In April 2016, an online marketplace was announced[55] and released the following month with an exclusive set of game titles, including Bendy and the Ink Machine, allowing developers to sell their games on the site.[56]

In January 2016, Game Jolt released source code of the client and site's front end on GitHub under MIT license.[56][57]

In January 2022, Game Jolt banned adult games from appearing on the site, stating in an email to developers that the site had become "social media platform" and they "had to make decisions around the direction and future of the brand which has now included the removal of hosted games with explicitly adult content." In response to a tweet by Itch.io saying the site is not for prudes, they wrote in their own tweet: "Game Jolt is a platform with a large audience of 13-16 year olds. Our users asked us to clean up, so here we are."[58][59]

Investments

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After bootstrapping Game Jolt with revenue earned from ads on the website for years, the DeCarmines secured venture capital in 2020 from SoftBank,[60] doing so again in 2021 from founders of Twitch, Rec Room, Modio and more.[61]

References

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  1. ^ "Game Jolt - Games for the love of it". Game Jolt. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  2. ^ "Game Jolt - Share your creations". Game Jolt. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Game Jolt launches mobile app for Gen Z gamers and creators". VentureBeat. March 2, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  4. ^ "What is the Game API?". Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  5. ^ "Game Achievement System". October 13, 2013. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Scoreboards Guide". Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  7. ^ "Data Storage Guide". Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  8. ^ "Game Jolt - Games for the love of it". Game Jolt. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  9. ^ Dimopoulos, Konstantinos (November 13, 2014). "Indies VS PewDiePie: The Game Jam". Gamasutra#IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Indies VS PewDiePie". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  11. ^ "DANCE PEWDIEPIE DANCE! // INDIES VS PEWDIEPIE JAM WINNERS! - YouTube". YouTube. December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  12. ^ "VIDEOGAME: THE GAME - YouTube". YouTube. December 20, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  13. ^ Rad, Chloi (July 8, 2015). "Game Jolt Prepares to Launch Indies VS Gamers Jam". Gamasutra#IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Indies Vs Gamers | Game Jolt Jams". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on January 4, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  15. ^ "BEAT UP KIDS! | Indies Vs Gamers Gamejam - Top 5 Winners - YouTube". YouTube. August 13, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  16. ^ "Fans vs PewDiePie (Indies vs Gamers) - YouTube". YouTube. August 27, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  17. ^ a b Wawro, Alex (July 16, 2014). "Run your own game jams with Game Jolt's new manager". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  18. ^ a b "Game Jolt and LootLocker are announcing the 2022 Together Jam". VentureBeat. June 2, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  19. ^ "The HighRise Game Jam has begun". Game Jolt. April 15, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  20. ^ "We'd like to address the drama related to the Highrise Game Jam". Game Jolt. April 16, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  21. ^ "Looking for a fun #gamedev challenge? (...)". Game Jolt. April 16, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  22. ^ "Shocking Contest". Game Jolt. June 12, 2009. Archived from the original on May 19, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  23. ^ DeCarmine, David (June 12, 2009). "Ad Revenue Sharing and Contest". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  24. ^ "Axiom Contest". Game Jolt. July 25, 2009. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  25. ^ "Minimal Contest". Game Jolt. October 28, 2009. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  26. ^ "Minimal Contest Results". Game Jolt. November 19, 2009. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  27. ^ "Rogue Contest". Game Jolt. January 10, 2010. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  28. ^ "Rogue Contest Results". Game Jolt. January 31, 2010. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  29. ^ "Indie Game Demake Contest". Game Jolt. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  30. ^ "Indie Game Demake Contest Results". Game Jolt. July 17, 2010. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  31. ^ "Invention Contest- Hosted by NAL". Game Jolt. March 12, 2011. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  32. ^ "Music Interpretation Contest with..." Game Jolt. August 13, 2011. Archived from the original on December 23, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  33. ^ "Fear Contest". Game Jolt. August 7, 2012. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  34. ^ "GameJolt Fear Contest". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  35. ^ "Chaos Contest". Game Jolt. February 22, 2013. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  36. ^ "Game Jolt Chaos Contest". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  37. ^ "GameJolt Contest 10". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  38. ^ "Game Jolt - Games for the love of it". Game Jolt. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  39. ^ a b c "Game Jolt - Games for the love of it". Game Jolt. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  40. ^ Liang, Lu-Hai (July 20, 2022). "August's Girls In Games Jam Has Speakers From Sony And EA". TheGamer. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  41. ^ "Game Jolt Develop: Party!". Eventbrite. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  42. ^ "The Other Party". Eventbrite. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  43. ^ "Indiepocalypse by Game Jolt, Devolver Digital, Good Shepherd and DreamHack". Eventbrite. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  44. ^ GDC 2019, February 9, 2021, retrieved July 26, 2022
  45. ^ "Indie Forest by Game Jolt, Devolver Digital and DreamHack". Eventbrite. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  46. ^ "Holo-World! Quality Freeware games!". November 23, 2002. Archived from the original on November 23, 2002. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  47. ^ "Lucent Web Creative, LLC - Hershey , PA - Business Information". www.dandb.com. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  48. ^ "Gamejolt Next :: Nuevo diseño, nuevas posibilidades". July 9, 2015. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  49. ^ Game Jolt Main Page, archived from the original on December 25, 2008, retrieved November 30, 2013
  50. ^ "Newgrounds now accept HTML5 games". September 24, 2013. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  51. ^ "GameJolt Html5". February 13, 2013. Archived from the original on September 12, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  52. ^ DeCarmine, David (February 11, 2013). "Distributions and HTML Integration". Game Jolt. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  53. ^ "New Experience/Level system". Game Jolt. April 16, 2013. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  54. ^ "We Launched the New Site - Fireside by GameJolt". October 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  55. ^ "Selling Games on Game Jolt". April 21, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  56. ^ a b Francis, Bryant (2016). "Gamasutra - Gamejolt announces indie games marketplace". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  57. ^ Kerr, Chris (January 13, 2016). "Indie marketplace Game Jolt releases open source desktop client". Game Developer. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  58. ^ "Indie Hosting Platform Game Jolt Suddenly Bans 'Porn Games'". www.vice.com. January 5, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  59. ^ Mollie Taylor (January 6, 2022). "Indie store Game Jolt's porn ban has hit games with no sexual content". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  60. ^ "WeWork and SoftBank unveil the first 14 startups in their Emerge accelerator for underrepresented founders". TechCrunch. May 14, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  61. ^ "Game Jolt raises $2.6M to expand social platform for Gen Z gamers". VentureBeat. October 1, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
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