(Wired.uk) This year’s Quantum Game Jam in Helskini on February 167-17, will blend a crowd of game developers and quantum physicists with one single goal: creating video games on a five and 16-qubit IBM quantum computer. The Helsinki Quantum Game Jam has been going on since 2014, this year for the first time developers will be making games using a real prototype quantum computer – accessing the IBM Quantum Experience (or Q Experience for short) at the tech giant’s quantum lab in New York via the cloud. Gamers will use Qiskit – short for Quantum Information Science Kit – the open source framework launched in 2017 and based on IBM’s quantum computing programme.
A number of high-profile game developers and jammers are expected to attend, including developers from Epic Games Helsinki, Housemarque and Supercell. They have two venues to do their programming in 2019: Helsinki’s most popular sauna with an open-air swimming pool, the Sea Allas Pool, or sitting in a pod on the Helsinki Skywheel. The unusual location choice isn’t a first: previous quantum game jams have taken place at an astronomical observatory, at a science exhibition with full dome projectors and at a quantum lab.