A few weeks ago, 180+ people gathered at George Brown College in Toronto to make games over the weekend.

Mike Nguyen, artist extraordinaire, greeting me to the 2010 TOJam.

The TOJam event has been going strong for quite a while now, and, having doubled its attendance since last year, shows no signs of slowing down. All three of us were interested in attending, but the date fell on one of our project milestones. I still managed to drop by on the last day, though, and got a chance to check out some of the finished entries.

While at the event, I ran into a few old coworkers and some other colleagues, but the majority of the crowd consisted of (some very enthusiastic) students. It reminded me a lot of my own week-long crunch to start and finish a full game for a contest back when I was in school. The atmosphere was great, and everyone I talked to found it a positive experience.

One of the 4+ classrooms where large groups of people probably spent a little too much time. All for a good cause, of course.

TOJam also received quite a bit of media love, and I’m definitely looking forward to its next iteration. And if we’re once again unable to participate, then we’ll at least try to sponsor some of the food and drinks!