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{{Short description|Social community platform for content created by gamers}}{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2016}}

factoids

| commercial = Yes| type = Social community platform for content created by gamers| registration = Optional| founder = Yaprak & David DeCarmineGame Jolt is a social community platform for video games, gamers and content creators. It is available on iOS, Android, on the web and as a desktop app for Windows and Linux. Primarily for Gen Z,WEB, 2022-03-02, Game Jolt launches mobile app for Gen Z gamers and creators,weblink 2022-07-26, VentureBeat, en-US, users share interactive content through a variety of formats including images, videos, live streams, chat rooms, and virtual events.Game Jolt was founded by Yaprak and David DeCarmine.

Features

Crowd streaming

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.WEB, Game Jolt - Games for the love of it,weblink 2022-07-26, Game Jolt, en, On October 16, 2023, Firesides were removed from Game Jolt.WEB, Game Jolt - Share your creations,weblink 2023-11-19, Game Jolt, en,

Mobile app

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.

Desktop app

Game Jolt Client is a desktop application version of the website.

Game API

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.WEB, What is the Game API?,weblink December 13, 2015, WEB, Game Achievement System,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131205073644weblink">weblink December 5, 2013, November 30, 2013, October 13, 2013, live, mdy, 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 EXPWEB, Scoreboards Guide,weblink December 13, 2015,
• Award player's trophies which give user accounts EXP
• Store game data on Game Jolt's data serversWEB, Data Storage Guide,weblink December 13, 2015,
• Log whether a user is currently playing a game they're logged into via the GJAPI

Game Jams and Competitions

Game Jolt regularly hosts Game Jams where participants are encouraged to develop games for a chance to win prizes.Game Jolt hosted their first game jam in 2009, Shocking Contest.WEB, Game Jolt - Games for the love of it,weblink 2022-07-26, Game Jolt, en, In November 2014 Game Jolt announced the "Indies vs PewDiePie" game jam, partnering with the popular Youtuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg.WEB, Dimopoulos, Konstantinos, November 13, 2014, Indies VS PewDiePie: The Game Jam,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160708193957weblink">weblink July 8, 2016, September 1, 2016, Gamasutra#IndieGames.com, mdy, 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.WEB, Indies VS PewDiePie,weblink December 11, 2015, Game Jolt, January 17, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160117230128weblink">weblink dead, 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,WEB, DANCE PEWDIEPIE DANCE! INDIES VS PEWDIEPIE JAM WINNERS! - YouTube, https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMw6o7497To, December 31, 2015, YouTube, although later he played other entries.WEB, VIDEOGAME: THE GAME - YouTube,weblink December 31, 2015, YouTube, 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.Game Jolt partnered with Felix, Sean "Jacksepticeye" McLoughlin and Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach to host "Indies vs Gamers" in July 2015.WEB, Rad, Chloi, July 8, 2015, Game Jolt Prepares to Launch Indies VS Gamers Jam,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170628001136weblink">weblink June 28, 2017, September 1, 2016, Gamasutra#IndieGames.com, mdy, The requirements for entries were arcade games using the Game Jolt Game API highscore tables, to be made between the July 17–20WEB, Indies Vs Gamers {{!, Game Jolt Jams|url=http://jams.gamejolt.io/indiesvsgamers|accessdate=December 11, 2015|website=Game Jolt|archivedate=January 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104142624weblink|url-status=dead}} and the top 5 games were played on the partner's YouTube channels.WEB, BEAT UP KIDS! {{!, Indies Vs Gamers Gamejam - Top 5 Winners - YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtUCMeCqH1E|accessdate=December 31, 2015|website=YouTube}}WEB, Fans vs PewDiePie (Indies vs Gamers) - YouTube,weblink December 31, 2015, YouTube, 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.Today Game Jolt focuses on hosting and co-hosting game competitions with established brands in order to bring monetaryWEB, 2022-06-02, Game Jolt and LootLocker are announcing the 2022 Together Jam,weblink 2022-07-26, VentureBeat, en-US, 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",.WEB, 2024-04-15, The HighRise Game Jam has begun,weblink 2024-05-09, Game Jolt, en-US, Pocket Worlds had sold NFTs up until roughly 2022, causing a community outburst. The situation was addressed, and the situation started to disperse.WEB, 2024-04-16, We’d like to address the drama related to the Highrise Game Jam,weblink 2024-05-09, Game Jolt, en-US, WEB, 2024-04-16, Looking for a fun #gamedev challenge? (...),weblink 2024-05-09, Game Jolt, en-US,

Contests{| class"wikitable"

! rowspan="2" | Date! rowspan="2" | Theme! colspan="3" | Place! style="width: 20%" | 1st! style="width: 20%" | 2nd! style="width: 20%" | 3rd| 13–21 June 2009TITLE=SHOCKING CONTESTDATE=2009-06-12ACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, | ShockMaze| Infidels| Shocker: The Electrifying Hero| 1–31 AugustURL=HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/AD-REVENUE-SHARING-AND-CONTEST/8TITLE=AD REVENUE SHARING AND CONTESTDATE=JUNE 12, 2009ARCHIVEDATE=MARCH 7, 2016DF=MDY, HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/COMMUNITY/FORUMS/TOPICS/GAME-JOLT-AXIOM-CONTEST-CONTEST-IS-OVER/82>ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20140719045844/HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/COMMUNITY/FORUMS/TOPICS/GAME-JOLT-AXIOM-CONTEST-CONTEST-IS-OVER/82WEBSITE=GAME JOLTARCHIVEDATE=JULY 19, 2014URL-STATUS=LIVE, mdy, | Raimond Ex| Paul Moose In Space World| No Longer Apart| 1–7 November 2009TITLE=MINIMAL CONTESTDATE=2009-10-28ACCESSDATE=2013-11-30DF=MDY, HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/MINIMAL-CONTEST-RESULTS/17>ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20141222031337/HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/MINIMAL-CONTEST-RESULTS/17WEBSITE=GAME JOLTARCHIVEDATE=DECEMBER 22, 2014URL-STATUS=LIVE, mdy, | Spectrum Wing| Saut| Fetus| 24–25 January 2010TITLE=ROGUE CONTESTDATE=2010-01-10ACCESSDATE=2013-11-30DF=MDY, HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/ROGUE-CONTEST-RESULTS/20>ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20121005141025/HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/ROGUE-CONTEST-RESULTS/20WEBSITE=GAME JOLTARCHIVEDATE=OCTOBER 5, 2012URL-STATUS=LIVE, mdy, | Super Space Rogues| Tower Climb | Flood the Chamber| 1–8 July 2010TITLE=INDIE GAME DEMAKE CONTESTDATE=2010-06-28ACCESSDATE=2013-11-30DF=MDY, HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/INDIE-GAME-DEMAKE-CONTEST-RESULTS/24>ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20130928025723/HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/BLOG/INDIE-GAME-DEMAKE-CONTEST-RESULTS/24WEBSITE=GAME JOLTARCHIVEDATE=SEPTEMBER 28, 2013URL-STATUS=LIVE, mdy, | Warning Foregone| Sulkeis| Saucelifter 8-bit| 16 January–14 February 2011TITLE=INVENTION CONTEST- HOSTED BY NALDATE=2011-03-12ACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, | Fire With a Riot| Bun Dun| Monica| 20 August–24 September 2011TITLE=MUSIC INTERPRETATION CONTEST WITH...DATE=2011-08-13ACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, | Je Suis Le Diable| Rhythmical| Jeremy| 11–19 August 2012TITLE=FEAR CONTESTDATE=2012-08-07ACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/COMMUNITY/CONTESTS/3>ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WWW.WEBCITATION.ORG/6LXGRW4F5?URL=HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/COMMUNITY/CONTESTS/3WEBSITE=GAME JOLTACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, | The Room| Fragments of Fear| Nyctophobia| 1–11 March 2013TITLE=CHAOS CONTESTDATE=2013-02-22ACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/COMMUNITY/CONTESTS/5>ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20140327091233/HTTP://GAMEJOLT.COM/COMMUNITY/CONTESTS/5WEBSITE=GAME JOLTACCESSDATE=2013-12-01DF=MDY, | Void Rogue| Blues for Mittavinda| Stellar Zero| 9–18 March 2013ARCHIVEDATE=NOVEMBER 6, 2013WEBSITE=GAME JOLTURL-STATUS=DEAD, mdy-all, | Quantum Party Crasher| Super Clean Clean| Party Run| 21–24 November 2014| Fun to play and watch (Indies vs PewDiePie)| Lord of the Horde| Kid VS School| DANCE!DANCE! PewDiePie| 17–20 July 2015| High scores (Indies VS Gamers)| Racket Boy| Sushido| Super Nanny Sleepytime Ultra HD Alpha Omega|29 July–13 August 2021ACCESSDATE=2022-07-26LANGUAGE=EN, ACCESSDATE=2022-07-26LANGUAGE=EN, |OH NO! ALIENS STOLE MY WIFI won $7,000 USD|NETTIE AND SETTIE SAVE THE INTERNET won $3,000 USD|17 June–3 July 2022|Together Jam|TBD|TBD|TBD|5–8 August 2022DATE=2022-07-20URL=HTTPS://WWW.THEGAMER.COM/GIRLS-IN-GAMES-JAM-AWS-PLAYSTATION-SONY-EAWEBSITE=THEGAMER, en-US, |TBD|TBD|TBD

Events

Game Jolt hosts both physical and virtual events to entertain and prank its users.(File:The Other Party.jpg|thumb|445x445px)

Physical Events{| class"wikitable"|+

!Year!Event Name!Location|2016ACCESSDATE=2022-07-26LANGUAGE=EN-US, |Brighton, United Kingdom|2018ACCESSDATE=2022-07-26LANGUAGE=EN-US, |San Francisco, California, USA|2019ACCESSDATE=2022-07-26LANGUAGE=EN-US, {{Citationurl=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QVt5WNTq5Eaccessdate=2022-07-26}}|San Francisco, California, USA|2019ACCESSDATE=2022-07-26LANGUAGE=EN-US, |Seattle, Washington, USA

History

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.WEB, 2002-11-23, Holo-World! Quality Freeware games!,weblink 2022-07-26,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20021123214205weblink">weblink November 23, 2002, 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,WEB, Lucent Web Creative, LLC - Hershey , PA - Business Information,weblink 2022-07-26, www.dandb.com, 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.WEB, July 9, 2015, Gamejolt Next :: Nuevo diseño, nuevas posibilidades,weblink dead,weblink May 28, 2016, September 1, 2016, mdy, In March 2022, Game Jolt launched a mobile application simultaneously on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for Gen Z gamers and creators. While in beta, the mobile app had 100,000 installs pre-launch.

Game store

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.Game Jolt supported distribution for downloadable games then added support for Flash, Unity and Java games{{citation|url=http://www.gamejolt.com|title=Game Jolt Main Page|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225141040weblink|archivedate=December 25, 2008|accessdate=November 30, 2013}} which allowed support for browser based games. In February 2013, Game Jolt built support for browser-based HTML5 games as well.WEB,weblinkweblink Newgrounds now accept HTML5 games, September 24, 2013, October 19, 2016, September 1, 2016, live, mdy, WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160912011412weblink">weblink GameJolt Html5, February 13, 2013, September 12, 2016, September 1, 2016, live, mdy, NEWS, David, DeCarmine,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131205065424weblink">weblink Distributions and HTML Integration, Game Jolt, February 11, 2013, December 5, 2013, November 30, 2013, live, mdy, 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).WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130423070046weblink">weblink New Experience/Level system, Game Jolt, April 23, 2013, April 16, 2013, November 30, 2013, live, mdy, 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.WEB, Alex, Wawro,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160811115312weblink">weblink Gamasutra, Run your own game jams with Game Jolt's new manager, July 16, 2014, August 11, 2016, September 1, 2016, live, mdy, WEB, We Launched the New Site - Fireside by GameJolt,weblink December 13, 2015, October 13, 2013, In April 2016, an online marketplace was announcedWEB, April 21, 2016, Selling Games on Game Jolt,weblink September 2, 2016, 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.In January 2016, Game Jolt released source code of the client and site's front end on GitHub under MIT license.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160819072059weblink">weblink Gamasutra - Gamejolt announces indie games marketplace, Bryant, Francis, Gamasutra, 2016, August 19, 2016, September 2, 2016, live, mdy, WEB, Kerr, Chris, 2016-01-13, Indie marketplace Game Jolt releases open source desktop client,weblink Game Developer, 2023-02-03, 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."WEB, Indie Hosting Platform Game Jolt Suddenly Bans 'Porn Games',weblink 2022-01-17, www.vice.com, January 5, 2022, en, NEWS, Mollie Taylor, 2022-01-06, Indie store Game Jolt's porn ban has hit games with no sexual content, en, PC Gamer,weblink 2022-01-17,

Investments

After bootstrapping Game Jolt with revenue earned from ads on the website for years, the DeCarmines secured venture capital in 2020 from SoftBankWEB, WeWork and SoftBank unveil the first 14 startups in their Emerge accelerator for underrepresented founders,weblink 2022-07-26, TechCrunch, May 14, 2020, en-US, {{Dead link|date=August 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} then again in 2021 from founders of Twitch, Rec Room, Modio and more.WEB, 2021-10-01, Game Jolt raises $2.6M to expand social platform for Gen Z gamers,weblink 2022-07-26, VentureBeat, en-US,

References

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External links

• {{Official websiteweblink}}

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