Indie Speed Run judges include Notch, Kellee Santiago, Ron Gilbert

The organizers of Indie Speed Run, a global online game jam, announced today a judging panel featuring such well-known game industry figures as Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson, thatgamecompany co-founder Kellee Santiago and famed adventure game designer Ron Gilbert.

Here are the five other judges, all of whom are similarly renowned:

• Trent Oster, co-founder of BioWare and creative director of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition at Beamdog
• Dino Patti, CEO of Limbo developer Playdead
• Vander Caballero, co-founder and creative director of Papo & Yo studio Minority Media
• Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, game critic and creator of Zero Punctuation
• Jason Rohrer, indie developer of games including Passage, Gravitation and Sleep Is Death

Entry to Indie Speed Run, which requires a $25 fee, is now open on the game jam's website. The online exercise asks teams of one to four developers to conceive and create a game in 48 hours, with the makers of the winning entry — as decided by the aforementioned panel — receiving a $2,500 cash prize.

Game jams are usually restricted by geography, but like the MolyJam, the Indie Speed Run will take place worldwide. It just won't happen at one particular time: Developers are able to choose any 48-hour span during the entry period, which runs from now through Jan. 6, 2013. Judging will take place from Jan. 7 to Jan. 31, during which time all of the submissions will be publicly playable on the Indie Speed Run website for free. The winner will be announced on Feb. 5.