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Space MMO Juggernaut EVE Online Designer brings expertise to Institute of Digital Games

Game Designer, will keynote and mentor the participants of the Malta Global Game Jam hosted by the Institute of Digital Games - University of Malta from 30 January until 1 February. 

The game jam, a creative hackathon where participants form teams and make a finished game in 48 hours, will kick off with Bayer’s keynote ‘Designing Multiplayer Games to Encourage Strong Social Connections.’ In order to help the participants get the most out of their game Josh will also join an expert panel including a founder of , of Hand Rock Studio, and Prof. Antonios Liapis of the Institute of Digital Games that will mentor them throughout the jam.

EVE Online, where Josh designed group PVP warfare and player-built space stations as well as working on game balance and economy management, was recently included in PC Gamers list of along with Dune: Awakening and Helldivers 2. The Malta Global Game Jam offers a unique opportunity for aspiring developers to learn from a veteran working on one of the most expansive virtual worlds in existence, boasting over 7,800 different star systems.

“The game jam offers an opportunity for students and designers in Malta to experiment with making games in a short time-frame,” said Dr Daniel Vella, Director of the Institute of Digital Games. “We ensure our students are exposed to a wide range of designers. Last year, we had a keynote by the Palestinian designer Rasheed Abueideh about using games to tell personal stories. This year, we’re excited for jammers to experience a different angle on the massive scale of EVE Online with Josh Bayer.”

The Institute has organised the Malta Global Game Jam since 2013, with the event growing in prestige every year. Past speakers and mentors have included Tomasz Kisilewicz (Lead Artist, 11 bit studios – This War of Mine, Frostpunk), Matt Binkowski (Lead Designer, Dying Light), and Emily Short, widely considered one of the world's best Interactive Fiction writers. The Institute of Digital Games is particularly pleased to welcome Josh Bayer and strengthen ties with CCP Games, having previously collaborated with the studio on the

The Malta Global Game Jam is only one jam site in the world's largest game creation event. The Global Game Jam boasts tens of thousands of participants at hundreds of physical and virtual sites in over one hundred countries around the world. In 2025, the game jam saw 35,000+ people at 803 locations in 97 countries create 12,000 games in 48 hours.

The Malta Game Global Game Jam is sponsored by and this year and organised in collaboration with and .

About the Institute of Digital Games

Our work is at the forefront of innovative games research. We explore games and play, uncovering new playful and generative possibilities in game design and technology. We delve into everything games can teach us about ourselves.

Our multidisciplinary academic team spans computer science, literature, game design, philosophy, media studies, and social sciences.

Since the foundation of the institute in 2013, we have been involved in a number of funded research projects. Together, we have published over 130 academic publications including conference papers, journals articles, books, and book chapters.