Serious games for climate change: Game design competition
Games have a potential to educate and raise awarness of important topics while also being fun and entertaining. We invite you to join an online design competition and create a game focused on a topic related to climate change.
What to expect
The competition will run between 3-17 September 2022, but you can work on the game in your own time. There will be two scheduled online events you need to attend.
Hackathon-style, the main challenge and the specific topic of the game will be revealed during the kickoff meeting. The teams will then have 2 weeks to design a game. The game can be of any format: a browser game, a mobile game, a physical board game, a card game… As long as it’s a game, you’re good! It doesn’t have to be fully playable – you will be presenting your ideas in a form of a 5 minute video clip.
The teams should have 2-4 members. You can sign up here – please remember that each team member has to register, although you don’t all need to do it at the same time. If you don’t have a team but would like to join, you can still do it, just let us know that you’re looking for a team.
Awards
✨ Over £800 Amazon vouchers for grabs. ✨
A panel of game designers and climate change experts will select top 3 games. All teams will also vote on a People’s Choice Award that will be announced during the GamEngage conference (conference attendees will also have a chance to cast their votes).
Key dates
- 3 September 2022 (Saturday), 10am BST / 11am CEST / 5pm UTC+8, Online/Zoom – Kickoff event. The session will provide all information you need you to get started. We will reveal the specific challenge/topic the games should focus on, which will be followed by short presentations from experts on designing serious games and the game’s topic. The teams will then have a chance to start brainstorming early ideas and get feedback from the presenters and organisers.
- 10 September 2022 (Saturday), 10am BST / 11am CEST / 5pm UTC+8, Online/Zoom – Drop-in feedback session. An optional session during which teams can get feedback on their game idea and seek answers to any questions.
- 17 September 2022 (Saturday), 10am BST / 11am CEST / 5pm UTC+8, Online/Zoom – The grand finale. The final session during which teams will present their games to a panel of game design and climate change experts. It will conclude with an award ceremony.
- 22 September (Thursday), 12 noon BST / 1pm CEST / 7pm UTC+8 – People’s Choice Award announcement. The winning team will be announced during the GamEngage conference.
