Monaco Windows game

We've had global game jams inspired by single themes, we've seen Molyjam – a game jam inspired by the ideas of Twitter parody account Peter Molydeux, and now the Australian city of Sydney brings us Stealth Jam: the world's first stealth game jam.

Organized by Sneaky Bastards: The Stealth Gaming Blog, iFEST: The Independent Games Festival, and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE), Stealthjam will be a 48 hour game jam that runs from June 22-24.

We've had global game jams inspired by single themes, we've seen Molyjam – a game jam inspired by the ideas of Twitter parody account Peter Molydeux, and now the Australian city of Sydney brings us Stealth Jam: the world's first stealth game jam.

Organized by Sneaky Bastards: The Stealth Gaming Blog, iFEST: The Independent Games Festival, and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE), Stealthjam will be a 48 hour game jam that runs from June 22-24.

The jam will kick off in Sydney at a yet to be announced location hosted by AIE. The jam will also be taking place in Ontario, and Darmstradt, with more cities around the world to be added to the list.

The editor of Sneaky Bastards and event organizer, who is also the deputy editor of PC PowerPlay magazine, Daniel Hindes, says he got the idea for Stealth Jam when he interviewed Harvey Smith, lead designer on the original Deus Ex and co-creative director on Dishonored.

"He mentioned off-hand that a really cool way to see what the future of stealth gameplay might be would be to hold a stealth game jam, so I though: yes. I will do that," Hindes says.

"It's so obvious now that I think about it, but it's probably not something I would have thought of doing had Harvey not mentioned it.""I'D LOVE TO SEE GAMES THAT EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF STEALTH BEYOND THE MECHANICS THAT HAVE BEEN DEFINED BY TRIPLE-A STEALTH TITLES."

The event will feature video presentations from prominent independent stealth game developers like Andy Schatz (Monaco), Nels Anderson (Mark of the Ninja), Tom Francis (Gunpoint), and Dan Silvers (Children of Liberty).

Hindes expects participants to interpret the theme broadly and come up with varied games."I'd love to see games that explore the concept of stealth beyond the mechanics that have been defined by triple-A stealth titles like Splinter Cell, Thief, and Metal Gear Solid," he says.

"As Much as I love those games, I feel like stealth as a genre has quite a lot of wiggle room that hasn't been explored because it's so easy to screw up. To me, stealth, at its core, is about using subterfuge and superior information to overcome a superior force. Taken back to those basics, there's a lot of room for stealth to grow."

Participants can pre-register for the Sydney Stealthjam by visiting the official website.