Welcome to Climate Jam 2025!
A five week game jam with sprints and deliverables where we’ll make games about the challenges of our changing climate!
We once again invite game creators from around the world to make games that explore solutions to address a rapidly changing planet. Together we can make a difference!
Climate Jam Sprint Structure video:
Welcome to Sprint 4: Release & Marketing!
Your assignments for Sprint 4 include:
- Debug and polish your project for release.
- Make promotional materials, upgrade your project page and create a marketing plan.
- Prepare additional submission materials and statements for the reviewers and for internal Climate Jam use.
IMPORTANT: Review this pdf for specific instructions on what materials you need to prepare as well as what the final voting criteria will be: https://www.indiecade.com/downloads/Climate_Jam_2025_Final_Sprint_Details.pdf
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SCHEDULE
- Sprint 4 begins - Friday, July 11th at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT
- Sprint 3 Voting Deadline - Monday, July 14th at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT
- Show-and-Tell Livestream - Thursday, July 17th at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT
- Final Submission Deadline - Tuesday, July 22nd at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT (Submit your final projects to this page!)
- Final Voting Deadline - Wednesday, July 20th at 10pm PDT / 1am EDT
Schedule times are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. Convert to your local time zone here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
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FINAL SUBMITTER VOTING CRITERIA
- Use of Themes - How effectively or uniquely does this project engage in the jam's primary theme (climate solutions) and/or this year’s specific theme (Natural and unNatural Disasters)? Does it have a reasonable call to action that aligns with the objective of the jam?
- Gameplay & Mechanics - Does this project have especially compelling, fun, or unique gameplay and mechanics? Would you want to play this outside of the context of the jam?
- Aesthetics - Does this project have especially strong, effective, or unique visual and audio elements? Are the aesthetic decisions cohesive?
- Writing - Does this project have especially strong, effective, or unique writing? This can include dialogue, narrative structure, written UI elements, or a specific message.
- Polish & Release - Does this project look and feel complete? Does it have a professional landing page and effective promotional materials? Does it seem ready to be released as a complete product?
- Overall (Submitters Choice) - Determined as an average of all rankings.
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Benjamin Tarsa's Intro to Marketing and Release:
Chris DeLeon's Intro to Game Polish:
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HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR FINAL MATERIALS
The entries for Sprint 4 are to be submitted to the main Climate Jam 2025 page (this page). Please submit your materials as early as possible so we can help you if you hit a technical error while submitting.
When you submit your final materials, you will be asked for additional information and written statements as described in the pdf linked above.
Every team should only submit once per sprint. All additional team members should be marked as Admins/Contributors. This is both for credit AND so that they can vote on the final submissions.
One member of your team should do the following to prepare for submitting:
- Login to your account on itch.io and create a new project.
- For Sprint 4 make sure to mark these options:
- Classification: Your choice
- Kind of project: Your choice
- Release status: Your choice
- Pricing: No Payments (this can be changed after Climate Jam voting has concluded)
- Go to Dashboard->Projects->and hit “Edit” for your Ideation project. Then, at the bottom of the page under Visibility & Access, select Public.
- In the project navbar go to More->Admins. Then add the rest of your team as admins, this will make it so that they are listed as Contributors on your jam submission.
- Finally, come to this jam page and submit your entry.
When? June 13 through July 22, 2025
Climate Jam 2025 runs from 10am PDT on June 13th to 6pm PDT on July 22nd.
Schedule times and dates are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. Convert to your local time zone here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Where? Online
Climate Jam is an online, international game jam. Scheduled sessions with speakers will be hosted on Zoom. We are using Discord as our jam community hub:
- Join the IndieCade Discord server here: https://www.indiecade.com/discord
- (If you are new to the server) Click the green checkmark in the #code-of-conduct channel to acknowledge the rules.
- Enter in the following command in #the-lounge channel to give you the Climate Jammer role: !climate
Theme? Natural & unNatural Disasters
Climate Jam is a yearly game jam devoted to making games that raise awareness and explore solutions to address our rapidly changing planet. Any game about climate change and related issues fits the spirit of this jam, but we strongly encourage games that explore this year's main theme: Natural & unNatural Disasters!
Format? One Month, Four Sprints
Climate Jam 2025 will be presented in the Greenlight Jam format; join us and work step-by-step towards a polished, releasable project!
The sprints ahead are Ideation, Prototype, Production, and Release and Marketing. To follow the spirit of the jam, we ask that you submit something for each of the 4 sprints.
Learn more about this format in our post in the jam's community message board.
Jam Schedule
Run of the Jam:
- June 13th - June 19th: Sprint 1 (Ideation)
- Sprint 1 info and submission page: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025-ideation
- June 20th - June 26th: Sprint 2 (Prototyping)
- Sprint 2 info and submission page: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025-prototype
- June 27th - July 10th: Sprint 3 (Production)
- Sprint 3 info and submission page: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025-production
- July 11th - July 21st: Sprint 4 (Release and Marketing)
- July 21st: Jam Submissions Close / Jam Ends
After the Jam:
- July 21st - July 30th: Submitter, Contributor, and Judge Voting
- August 4th - Jam Results Announced
Schedule times and dates are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. Convert to your local time zone here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Core Rules
Participants will be tasked with creating a game between 6/13/2024 and 7/18/2025, in whatever format they choose, while using the themes as guidance.
To follow the spirit of the jam, we ask that you submit something for each of the 4 sprints. Sprints 1-3 will have their own itch.io jam pages for submitting your work. Your final project will be submitted here at the end of Sprint 4.
You may also share Climate Solutions games that were made previous to the jam. These games will not be eligible for the ranking categories. Please only submit these games during the final sprint of the jam.
More information can be found in the FAQ post on this community message board.
*Climate Solutions Rubric
Our rubric for successful games. Judges will rank the final end-of-jam submissions using these metrics, in addition to overall game quality releasability:
- What real scientific evidence is it based on?
- What positive climate action strategies are included?
- How engaging, experiential, and immersive is it? How does it use the capabilities of games media technology and design to its advantage?
- Does it have a realistic and accessible target audience?
- What is the solution-based call to action? And is this clear?
- How does the game inspire social connections and collaboration? In what ways does it listen to and involve the community?
Climate Solutions Compilation
Our judges will select a number of games for inclusion in the Climate Solutions Compilation, a project into which multiple jam submissions will be imported and ultimately released on Steam as a single product. Additional details and paperwork will be provided for the invited teams.
We have expanded eligibility for compilation consideration! These are the new criteria:
- Must be in English
- Must own rights to all materials used
- Cannot contain inappropriate content
Ask questions and discuss plugin use, etc., in the #compilation channel on Discord.
Eligibility does not automatically mean your project will be invited for inclusion. The final projects will be reviewed by our judges for quality, innovation, and adherence to the climate solutions rubric.
Jam Community
This year's jam will be hosted on the IndieCade Discord server. There will be mentors there to help with your creations and resources available for you to use during the jam and beyond. It is also a great place to ask questions, chat and meet other jammers.
- Join the IndieCade Discord server here: https://www.indiecade.com/discord
- (If you are new to the server) Click the green checkmark in the #code-of-conduct channel to acknowledge the rules.
- Enter in the following command in #the-lounge channel to give you the Climate Jammer role: !climate
We have a few ways you can meet other jammers this year:
- A #team-forming text channel on Discord
- A #looking-for-team forum on Discord
- Climate Jammer Meet-and-Greets in Zoom Breakout Rooms
Once you've formed your team, we invite you to participate in the Climate Jam Cohorts. Teams will be placed into cohorts of 3-4 teams each, with a dedicated cohort channel and assigned jam mentor. These cohorts will be there to provide peer reviews and ask mentor questions.
If your team would like to be assigned a cohort, please register here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z0rb6jKxWwUbWPyalGPsu5V6T4805X8RTjiXHhcR...
- Select an unused team ID and fill out that row for your team.
- Have each of your team members enter in the command code for your team ID in the #jam-lounge channel on Discord to receive the related server role.
- During Sprint 1 we will place teams into cohorts of 3-4 teams, with a dedicated cohort channel for each and an assigned mentor.
Jam Resources
Jam resources can be found in our post in this jam's Community Message Board.
We’re also going to have mentors and other contributors relating to game development, climate change, and this year’s theme during the run of the jam!
If you are interested in being a mentor, judge, or other contributor this year, please apply here: https://form.jotform.com/250436943003147.
Looking for inspiration? Check out last year's Climate Jam games: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2024
Sponsors and Partners
IndieCade Horizons
Seattle Indies
EarthGames
Global Game Jam
IGDA Climate SIG
Interested in partnering with Climate Jam? Contact us at jams@indiecade.com.
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