The Games4Geo team and The SeriousGeoGames Lab are delighted announce The EGU Videogame Jam 2021, in collaboration with the European Geosciences Union, as part of vEGU21 . The theme for this game jam is ‘Geoscience’ and we’re looking for exciting videogames, old or new, of any style, with a theme relating to the geosciences, or an aspect of geoscientific research. In short, geoscience is the study of our planet (and sometimes others) so it is very broad! See list at the bottom of this page for the areas covered.

The Jam opens on Monday 1st February 2021 and closes on Wednesday 31st March 2021 at the end of Friday 16th April 2021. Entries will be judged in terms of science communication (how well it communicates a geoscientific topic), gameplay (how fun it is to play), accessibility (how accessible it is to all audiences), and design (how it looks). There will be a public vote, taking place from Monday 19th to Sunday 25th April, following which the top three entries will be judged by our panel of judges, with the winner announced on Thursday 30th April.

The EGU Videogame Jam 2021 is running concurrently with The EGU Game Jam 2021, hosted by the Manchester Game Study Network, which will be searching for new analogue games on the theme of Geoscience that can fit on 4 sheets of A4 paper.

THE RULES

Make any game you like within the following restrictions:

• Games must have a theme that is related to the geosciences, or an aspect of geoscientific research. 
• Rules and components must be in English.
• Designers must have full legal rights over the games entered. This includes the use of text and images. Games may include content protected by Creative Commons licenses providing they adhere to the rules regarding redistribution and derivative work.
• Games must adhere to and be within the spirit of the EGU Code of Conduct.
• Existing games and games that have been used in other Jams are welcomed, providing they adhere to the rules above.

What is Geoscience?

Below is a list of the topic areas covered by EGU - 

Atmospheric Sciences; Biogeosciences; Climate: Past, Present, Future; Cryospheric Sciences; Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics; Energy, Resources and the Environment; Earth & Space Science Informatics; Geodesy; Geodynamics; Geoscience Instrumentation & Data; Geomorphology; Geochemistry, Minerology, Petrology & Volcanology; Hydrological Sciences; Natural Hazards; Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences; Ocean Sciences; Planetary & Solar System Sciences; Seismology; Stratigraphy, Sedimentology & Palaeontology; Soil System Sciences; Solar-Terrestrial Sciences; Tectonics & Structural Geology.

If that list does not mean much to you, basically a Geoscience game could cover anything from games aimed to teach people about the geological structure of the Earth, games aimed at helping communities prepare for volcanic eruptions or flooding, to games that aim to persuade people to switch to energy efficient light bulbs to help reduce climate change. It’s a very wide scope and we want to be as inclusive as we can.