Culture Bytes is back! A series of game jams aimed at creating unique interactive experiences, under the context of ideas, perspectives, issues, and themes relevant to members of various Diasporas, over a 1-2 week period. Exploring the African Diaspora is the current focus of the jam series. Along with featuring a specialty food dish from the diaspora.
The purpose of this jam series is:
- To create experiences centered on themes relevant to members of Diasporas (i.e. African Diaspora, Indian Diaspora, Chinese Diaspora, etc.);For the African Diaspora that means: African American, African, Afro-Latin, Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, Jamaican, and many other groups.
- To give creators more time to make something interesting without being as stressed/pressed for time.
- To collaborate and foster creative friendships in our journeys for self expression and our collective futures.
Creative Theme (Must Use): Winds Of Change
Create a game that explores the concepts of Change and Transition - out with the old, in with the new. Change is the only constant in life and as time moves forward, the birth of new things must happen to push us forward. The question is, what direction should things go and how can we influence this direction?
Food Dish: AJ's "Famous" Fried Chicken
Theme Ingredients (Optional):
- Paprika - Make your game spicy! Surprising or thought-provoking dialogue. Weird, attention grabbing art. etc.
- Black Pepper - Sometimes simple is best. Make a game that only uses one button OR only has two mechanics OR takes place on only one screen. (no screen scrolling or large map)
- Honey - Increase the sweetness of your game, by focusing on the aesthetics. Nice play gameplay, but unique aesthetics.
- Old Bay - Finish Line. Pick up a previous project or current project and finish it! Implement a new feature from start to finish. Complete a project that you started a while ago. Polish a project with animations, VFX, SFX, and juice it up to take it to the next level!
(Ingredients are additional ideas related to the theme to help focus your creativity. )
Rules & Key Info
What platform can I use? This jam is open to both digital and analog interactive experiences – choose the medium that excites you!
Important!
- All games submitted to the jam are required to be made within the time frame of the jam. We will not accept games made prior.
- All participants must follow our Code of Conduct (see below)
Who Can Participate?
This jam is for creators of all relevant skills and experience levels, regardless of whether you have made interactive experiences before or not. Writing, art, design, music/sound design, programming, playtest expertise, etc. There will be mentors in the discord that can help out when you need.
We highly recommend submitting your in-progress game even if you don't finish over the course of the jam, as you can always submit a more complete version later. And we love to learn more about what everyone worked on! We hope to share everyone's progress, regardless of full game completion, during our closing showcase stream.
How to Participate?
- We highly recommend you join our Discord to find team members, work together, share resources, and discuss the theme! Collaboration is a key part of our culture. Most community conversation for this jam will happen via the MGK Discord
- We encourage you to jam with new people or on a team, but it is not required. We will be providing resources for team forming at the jam kickoff and throughout the jam timeline.
- During the Showcase/Feedback Session, constructive feedback and positive reinforcement will be the focus. Building for the future and collaboration are about lifting everyone up together.
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/cbVpD5mkrd
Code of Conduct
We will not tolerate sexism, racism, or discrimination of any kind. This means, in our community and in the games you create.
Jam Schedule
Schedule may change until October 25th
We will be hosting online activities to support jammers in meeting and preparation. This list will update over time.
Pre-Jam
- Sunday, October 27: Theme Discussion 1
- Saturday, November 2: Pitch Day - Pitch Your Jam Ideas to the group and potentially form teams. Icebreakers
- Friday, November 8: Tech Prep + Theme Review
During Jam
- Sunday, November 10: Jam Kickoff Day!
- via YouTube @ 1:00pm pst - Jam Kickoff
- via Discord @ 1:30pm pst: Team Forming Session + Icebreakers
- Friday, November 15: Office Hours/Co-Work Session @ 4pm pst
- Mentor(s): Jonny, Jarory
- Saturday, November 16: Office Hours/Co-Work Session @ 11am pst
- Mentor(s): Troy
- Friday, November 22: Office Hours/Co-Work Session @ 4pm pst
- Mentor(s): Jonny, Jarory
- Saturday, November 23: Office Hours/Co-Work Session @ 11am pst
- Mentor(s): Troy
- Sunday, November 24: Submissions Due @ 3pm pst
- Sunday, November 24: Showcase & Feedback Session @ 5pm pst - Showcase games and live interview sessions with jam teams
Want to help out? - Volunteers & Mentors SIGN-UP HERE
Theme Works/Resources
(more coming!)
Readings
- Chinese Medicine 5 Life Stages - https://www.phyto5.us/blog-1/the-five-phases-of-the-aging-process-according-to-traditional-chinese-medicine
- Egyptian Seasonal Almanac
- Seasonal Physical Activity, how our physical activity is affected by the seasons - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1XxyugXJck
- Traditional African Coming of Age Rituals and how they’ve changed over time - https://www.annikahipple.com/writing/coming-of-age-rituals-in-africa/
- A major cultural-shifting United States Election is happening now - https://www.npr.org/2024/01/13/1224412456/2024-election-american-values
- Current Astrological movements - Pluto Transitioning to Aquarius
- Africana Studies Concept: Cultural Meaning Making
Videos
- Everything Everywhere All At Once (Movie)
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Movie)
Works
Recipes
General Cultural Works
- https://thewagaduchronicles.com/ - An upcoming Afrofantasy Online RPG & DnD Setting by Twin Drums
- https://motherlandsrpg.com/ - POC focused sci-fi RPG on twitch
- https://www.organizingforpower.org/ - In-Depth site with resources, tools, and readings for anyone that is interested in creation positive social change.
- https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics - The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s site detailing in-depth learning resources related to the history of race in America and how that affects our society now.
- www.knarrative.com - Web platform for the largest African Studies courses in the world. A great resource for learning history through an Pan-African lens.
Recommended Tools/Engines/Platforms
Here are some common tools/engines:
- Digital
- Unity
- Unreal Engine 5
- Game Maker
- Godot Engine
- RPG Maker
- Twine
- Storyspace
- Bitsy
- Pico-8
- Analog
- Tabletop RPG
- Board Game
Resources
Visit our Game Jam Guide to see find even more tools, resources, and free assets. See a sample below as well.
Game Jam Guide + Resource List
Art
- OpenGameArt (2D + 3D)
- Kenney (2D + 3D)
- Game-Icons (2D)
- Textures.com (Textures)
- Poly.pizza (3D)
- TheBaseMesh (3D)
Audio
- Incompetech - Royalty Free Music (Music)
- Free Music Archive (Music)
- lmms
- Freesound (SFX)
- OpenGameArt (Music + SFX)
- Kenney (Music + SFX)
- Soniss (SFX)
Tools
- BitFontMaker2 (Fonts)
- Photopea (Art)
- Paint.NET(2D Art program)
- Asesprite (Sprite Creator)
- Krita (2D Art Program)
- Blender (3D Art Program)
- sfxr (SFX Generator)
- Chiptone (SFX)
- Tiny Tools (More!)
Submissions(2)
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