itch.io

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the live premieres of the showcase reel!
You can now check out the (updated) Climate Jam 2026 Showcase Reel here:

If your game was not included and you would like to provide a clip for a future updated version of the reel, please let us know.

Voting Deadline Reminder
Public and jammer votes are due by end-of-day Sunday, August 23rd at 11:59pm (midnight) PDT.  Adjust to your local time zone. 

Hi everyone!

Climate Jam 2026 Showcase Reel The reel is set to premiere on YouTube twice over the next day. It is the same video for both times, the separate times are to account for our wide spread of time zones.

Premiere 1
Friday, August 21st at 7am PDT / 10am EDT
Local Time Zone Conversion.
Video link 1.

Premiere 2
Friday, August 21st at 4pm PDT / 7pm EDT
Local Time Zone Conversion.
Video link 2.

We encourage you to spread the word and to attend live so you can post about your project in the live chat when it comes up. The game clips run in alphabetical order and the reel is about 40 minutes in length.

Also, if your game does not have a clip in the reel, please send a clip ASAP and we'll make sure your work is represented in a final version of the video.

Submission Access
It's been reported that some submissions are missing project files or have project pages that are not publicly viewable. Please double check your submissions and project pages to make sure that the judges and the general public can properly play and rank your game!

Regards,
The Climate Jam Team

In this final sprint you will prepare to "release" your game.

The Sprint 4 Milestones are:

1. Create promotional materials and upgrade your project page.
2. Prepare your final submission.
3. Polish your build (do not add new features!).
4. (Optional) Stretch Goals

Please review the full Sprint 4 instructions on this page.

Sprint 2 Reviews
In case you missed it, the Sprint 2 review period has been extended by an extra day, so make sure to rate the other projects and please prioritize projects with no or few ratings!

Sprint 3 Kickoff
In Sprint 3: Full Production, you will build out your project into a playable game, swap out placeholders with final assets, and playtest, playtest, playtest.

Sprint 3 officially kicks off Wednesday, July 15th at 10:00 AM PDT. Join us on Zoom for the Sprint 2 intro session with special guest Elaine Gómez! (Zoom Link)

Beyond Blue Session
Then, on Thursday, July 16th at 10:00 AM PDT we will be hosting a conversation about the creation of educational underwater diving adventure game Beyond Blue! (Zoom Link)

Stay tuned for info about other upcoming sessions and show-and-tell signups!

-The Climate Jam Team

END OF SPRINT 2
Sprint 2 materials are due soon: turn them in before Monday, July 13th, at 11:59pm PDT. Convert deadline to your local time zone here.

Remember to submit your materials to the Sprint 2 itch.io page, not the main Climate Jam page.

If you run into technical errors while submitting, or won't make the submission deadline for any other reason, please let us know in the ⁠#jam-support channel on the Discord server before the deadline passes. Join Discord here.

SPRINT 2 REVIEW PERIOD
Once the Sprint 2 deadline has passed, you will be able to rate the the other teams' materials on the following criteria:

Rating Criteria:

• Concept – Is the project engaging and compelling? Would you want to play this concept?
• Theme – Does the project effectively engage with the Climate Jam themes?
• Impact – Is the project effective in communicating a meaningful, solution-focused call to action?
• Audience – Is there a clear target audience for this project and its message?
• Gameplay – Does the project have clear mechanics, win / lose conditions, and player progress / interaction?
• Aesthetic – Is there cohesive visual, audio, and/or narrative direction?
• Synergy – Do the game mechanics and artistic decisions support and enhance the project's intended theme and call to action?
• Scope – Is the scope of the project reasonable for the timeline of the jam?
• Production Plan – Is there a clear path to completing the project?

These ratings do not affect the final reviews at the end of Climate Jam.

We encourage you to provide written feedback for the other teams either on their submission pages or on Discord.

Hi everyone!

Join us on the IndieCade Discord server Monday, July 13th at 10:00am PDT for a Climate Science Session & Live Q&A with Climate Jam organizer Dargan Frierson! https://discord.com/channels/476904890216480787/1525143857052909738

Sprint 2 materials are due by Monday, July 13th at 11:59pm PDT. There will then be a rating and review period.

The itch.io page for Sprint 3 will be up soon with all of the details for your two-week Full Production sprint!

Sprint 3 will kick off on Wednesday, July 15th at 10:00am PDT with a sprint intro session on Zoom. Meeting link HERE.

Then, on Thursday, July 16th at 10:00am PDT we'll have a special show-and-tell session where teams can show off their progress and receive live feedback from science and gamedev mentors. Signup instructions will be posted soon.

If you've joined this jam late, or your team is behind, please keep participating! Either try to catch up with the sprint deadlines or let us know if you intend to follow along on a delayed timeline.

-The Climate Jam Team

Hi everyone,

It's great to see so many projects in Sprint 1! Here's a reminder and an update.

Sprint 1 Reviews
Remember to rate and review your fellow teams' projects. Please prioritize projects with no or few ratings. The deadline for the Sprint 1 ratings has been extended to this deadline: Wednesday, July 8th, at 11:59 PM PDT.

Sprint 2 Kickoff
In Sprint 2: Pre-Production, you will make a prototype / proof-of-concept of your game. You will test, iterate, experiment, throw stuff out, refine, and lock-in on the core idea and mechanics that you intend to complete for this jam.

Sprint 2 officially kicks off Wednesday, July 8th at 10:00 AM PDT. Join us on Zoom for the Sprint 2 intro session! (Zoom Link)

Common Concerns

• Still don't have a team or project idea? Sign on to one of the projects in the #pitch-projects channel on Discord or respond to a post in the #team-looking-for-members channel.
• Not thrilled about your existing project idea? Sprint 2 encourages you to experiment and take your concept in new directions. You are also absolutely permitted to switch to an entirely new idea.
• Teams are still fairly flexible in Sprint 2. In past Climate Jams we've seen larger teams split into two, smaller teams merge into one, entirely new teams form, and sometimes jammers who bounce around, helping multiple teams.
• Are you just joining Climate Jam now, in Sprint 2? You are enthusiastically welcome to join us! You can join an existing team, sign on to one of the pitch projects, or team up with other new joiners. We advise you to review the jam kickoff sessions and especially the Sprint 1 page. 
• If you are starting a brand new project, you'll want to fast-track the Sprint 1 steps and catch up with the rest of the jammers as quickly as possible.

-The Climate Jam Team

This game jam aims to produce small, but polished and releasable "Climate Solutions" games.

The best "Climate Solutions" games will:

• Be grounded in real scientific evidence.
• Highlight positive climate solutions.
• Be engaging, immersive, and interactive.
• Make thoughtful use of game design and technology.
• Have a clear target audience.
• Include a solution-focused call to action.
• Foster community, collaboration, and social connection.

All submitters and contributors can now rate the Sprint 1 materials. We've also extended the period in which you can provide ratings for this sprint to Wednesday, July 8th, at 6pm PDT.

If you haven't already, make sure to add your teammates under More → Admins so they appear as Contributors and can vote on the other submissions.

Sprint 1 materials are rated on the following criteria:

• Concept – Is the idea engaging and compelling?
• Theme – How effectively does the concept engage with the Climate Jam themes?
• Impact – Does it include a meaningful, solution-focused call to action?
• Audience – Is there a clear target audience for this project and its message?
• Aesthetic – Is there cohesive visual, audio, and/or narrative direction?
• Scope – Is it achievable within the duration of this jam?
• Production Plan – Is there a clear path to completing the project?

The Sprint 1 ratings are meant to help highlight effective project concepts and to give guidance to the other teams. These ratings do not affect the final reviews at the end of Climate Jam.

We encourage you to provide written feedback for the other teams either on their submission pages or on Discord. For Sprint 1, consider touching on the criteria above and also providing suggestions for other directions these teams might consider for their projects or advice for their next production steps.

You can now rate the the other teams' materials on the following criteria. 

• Concept – Is the idea engaging and compelling?
• Theme – How effectively does the concept engage with the Climate Jam themes?
• Impact – Does it include a meaningful, solution-focused call to action?
• Audience – Is there a clear target audience for this project and its message?
• Aesthetic – Is there cohesive visual, audio, and/or narrative direction?
• Scope – Is it achievable within the duration of this jam?
• Production Plan – Is there a clear path to completing the project?

The Sprint 1 ratings are meant to help highlight effective project concepts and to give guidance to the other teams. These ratings do not affect the final reviews at the end of Climate Jam.

The deadline for these ratings has been extended to this deadline: Wednesday, July 8th, at 11:59 PM PDT.

We also encourage you to provide written feedback for the other teams either on their submission pages or on Discord. For Sprint 1, consider touching on the criteria above and also providing suggestions for other directions these teams might consider for their projects or advice for their next production steps.

We were asked whether the sprint submission versions of projects should be publicly downloadable. Generally yes, because we want all of the jammers and mentors to have easy access. However, if your team does not want them to be public you can instead make it password protected and make the password available to the organizers.

Reminder: teams with IndieCade interns are required to submit for each sprint, for non-intern teams it is strongly recommended, but ultimately not required.

Opening Videos
Climate Jam Welcome and Climate Keynote
In-person Kickoff and Designing Games for Impact
What is Ideation?
Climate Jam and Sprint 1 Logistics
Making the Most of Game Jams (please refer to our itch.io pages for final deadlines and assignments)

Team Forming
Join the jam community on Discord.
Generate a "Looking For Team" graphic.
Register your jam team to receive a dedicated team channel on the Discord server.

If you want us to manually assign you to a team, first complete the "Looking For Team" form then add your name to this spreadsheet.  Please get started on Sprint 1 as an individual while you wait for our response.

Sprint 1: Ideation
Sprint 1 itch.io page (full instructions and where you turn in your Sprint 1 materials)
Sprint 1 materials are due on July 6th before 11:59pm PDT (convert deadline to your local time zone)

Pitch Projects
These are mentor-pitched projects that jammers (as individuals or teams) can sign up to make into games.
If you or your team is interested, reply directly in the #pitch-projects forum on Discord.

Mentor Pitch: Mālama Hawaiʻi: Restorative Tourism
Players transform Hawaiʻi's tourism industry from one centered on consumption to one built on restoration. Visitors become volunteers, scientists, and cultural learners who help restore native forests, mālama fishponds, remove invasive species, rebuild coral reefs, support local agriculture, and participate in authentic cultural stewardship. Players balance visitor satisfaction, community well-being, environmental health, and economic prosperity while responding to climate-driven challenges, including sea-level rise, drought, wildfires, coral bleaching, and extreme weather. Every choice demonstrates that tourism can leave Hawaiʻi healthier than it was found, inspiring players to rethink what responsible travel can achieve in a changing climate.
https://www.gohawaii.com/malama

Mentor Pitch: RECLAMATION
"Reclamation" is an initiative out of the ASU Narrative and Emerging Media Program and founding director Nonny de la Pena to help homeowners affected by the L.A. Fires to replant their landscaping using a simple 3d "sketchbook." We are building a library of Southern California native trees, shrubs and grasses that users will be able to drag and drop into a simple 3d environment that they can then view through a VR headset, walk around in, and eventually plant. We will teach them how to use simple scanning apps like Scaniverse to capture their parcel or assets from the garden store, such as benches and pavers so they can envision how they might look. We are building on a WebXR platform "REACH" but we are interested in gamifying this and helping people learn principles of Spatial Design in an accessible, fun way!
https://try.reach.love

Join our Discord Server

We use Discord for our online jam community hub.

1. (if you are new to the server) Join IndieCade’s Discord server: https://www.indiecade.com/discord
2. (if you are new to the server) Click the green checkmark in the #code-of-conduct channel to acknowledge the rules and access the general server channels.
3. Enter in the following command code in the #lounge channel to receive the "Climate Jammer” role: !climate

Looking For Team Card

We’ve created a standardized “Looking For Team” graphic to quickly introduce yourself and your potential team roles on Discord.

Instructions for generating and posting your Looking For Team card:

1. Complete the Looking For Team form.
2. This will automatically generate your Looking For Team card and email it to you as a JPG.
3. Post your card in the #looking-for-team Discord channel, along with any additional information you'd like to share about yourself.
4. Browse the #looking-for-team channel for potential team members.
5. Chat with potential team members in the jam text or voice channels.

Example LFT Card:

Climate Jam 2026 begins this week!

To get started, please do the following:

1. Join our Discord server.
2. Form a team.
3. Get ready for the Climate Jam 2026 kickoff!

Instructions for each of the steps above can be found HERE.

Regards,

The Climate Jam Team

Thanks for joining Climate Jam! We'll be providing a space on Discord for jammers to meet and form teams very soon.

Hello jammers and friends!

With 378 submitter and contributor ratings, the Jammer ranking results are here! Congratulations to the teams with the top games, your fellow jammers were wowed by your work! 

The Judge voting results, decisions about Compilation inclusion, and the Climate Jam 2025 highlight reel are still to come, so stay tuned. See the full Jammer results here: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025/results

Jammer Rankings

OVERALL
1st - BluEyes
2nd - No Hope
3rd - Against the Tide: Stories of Kiribati's Climate Resilience
4th - Pawsitively Hot
5th - Orbyter

USE OF THEMES
1st - Against the Tide: Stories of Kiribati's Climate Resilience
2nd - Sea of Troubles
3rd - Pawsitively Hot
4th - Purr Force: Scratch & Rescue
5th - No Hope

GAMEPLAY & MECHANICS
1st - BluEyes
2nd - Pawsitively Hot
3rd - Ende Gelände - We shut shit down!
4th - No Hope
5th - Crisis Crunch!

AESTHETICS
1st - No Hope
2nd - BRUSHFIRE
3rd - BluEyes
4th - Against the Tide: Stories of Kiribati's Climate Resilience
5th - Orbyter

WRITING
1st - Dearth
2nd - Orbyter
3rd - No Hope
4th - BluEyes
5th - Olepi and the Willow

POLISH & RELEASE
1st - BluEyes
2nd - No Hope
3rd - Pawsitively Hot
4th - Against the Tide: Stories of Kiribati's Climate Resilience
5th - Ende Gelände - We shut shit down!

-The Climate Jam Team

Hello jammers!

Congratulations to the 30+ teams who submitted to the final sprint of the jam, we're so proud of you, and a special word of appreciation to all of the jammers who joined us this year but did not complete final projects, we hope you all join us again!

—-------------------------------

Technical Issues / Late Submissions
If your submission has a game-breaking issue, that you can quickly resolve, let us know immediately in the #submission-problems channel on Discord.

If you missed the final deadline, we’d still like to see your final work (it just won’t be eligible for the top award categories). Let us know in the #submission-problems channel.

—-------------------------------

Final Voting Instructions
All submitters and contributors can now access and vote on the final Climate Jam 2025 submissions. Reminder: Whoever is hosting the project on their itch.io account needs to go to the project navbar, go to More->Admins, and add the rest of your team as admins. This will make it so that they are listed as Contributors on your jam submission and allow them to vote.

You have one week. The voting deadline is July 29th at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT. We ask that you prioritize entries without votes and do not vote on your own projects. Please vote on as many submissions as you can!

Vote here: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025/entries

If you want to remove your project page from public view please wait until after the final jam stream where the top games in each category are announced. For example: if you want to keep it unreleased while you continue working on it.

Separately, we have external judges reviewing the games as well.

Enjoy the games!

—-------------------------------

Voting Criteria for Submitters and Contributors
Please consider the spectrum of interpretations for each of these criteria as you assess the games.

• 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?
• Submitters Choice - Determined as an average of all rankings, listed on itch.io as “Overall”.

—-------------------------------

Highlight Reel & Promotion
We’d love to include your project in our Climate Jam 2025 highlight reel. If you would like your project included please provide (at minimum) a 2-3 second video clip of your game or a still or animated image we can include in the highlight reel.

Fill out a row for your team here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jr6RLubJyNyZyt51FSj_scdXHEz1O_qJwuucc-evcfo/edit?usp=sharing

The deadline for these materials is July 29th at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT.

You are also invited to provide other promotional materials for Climate Jam promotion using the same spreadsheet.

Teams that participated but did not submit a final project are also invited!

—-------------------------------

Climate Solutions Compilation
We will take the voting results into account as we decide which projects to include in this year’s compilation project. You may be contacted before voting ends but we will make sure to notify the selected teams shortly after that deadline. 

Whatever the case, we strongly encourage you to continue polishing and improving your project.

—-------------------------------

IndieCade Summer Game Design Interns
The game design interns will receive a separate email about their final week of assignments shortly. In the mean time we ask that they begin ranking the final submissions.

-The Climate Jam Team

Hello Jammers!

We have lots of important news and information for you as you begin the final sprint of Climate Jam 2025.

-The Climate Jam Team

----------------

Sprint 4 Deadline Extension You now have until Tuesday, July 22nd at 10am PDT to submit your final projects! Make sure to submit on time.

----------------

Sprint 4 Criteria and Materials Your assignments for Sprint 4 include:

1. Debug and polish your project for release.
2. Make promotional materials, upgrade your project page and create a marketing plan.
3. 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

----------------

Climate Solutions Compilation now open to projects from any game engine! We have updated our approach to the Climate Solutions Compilation so it is no longer limited to only Unity-made games.

The new criteria for eligibility: 

• Must be in English
• Must own rights to all materials used
• Cannot contain inappropriate content

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.

----------------

Show-and-Tell Livestream Global Game Jam is teaming up with Climate Jam for a Show-and-Tell Livestream! This session will be held Thursday, July 17th, at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT and run for 1-2 hours.

This will be structured similarly to the Midpoint Show-and-Tell where teams sign up in advance, present their projects, and receive feedback from a panel of mentors. Only this time we will be streaming to Twitch and YouTube.

Sign your team up by Tuesday morning! https://form.jotform.com/251894138745165

----------------

Sprint 4 Intro Videos Benjamin Tarsa has provided an introduction to Marketing and Release and Chris DeLeon has advice on Polishing your games!

Sprint 3 (Production) Begins!

Welcome to the Production Sprint, it's time to fully make your game! Instructions, deadlines, and more can be found below.

------------------------------------------------------------

General Updates, Reminders, and Clarifications

1. If you have issues submitting, need to resubmit, or miss a sprint deadline but want to still share your work, please let us know in the #submission-problems channel on Discord.
2. Jammers are now invited to directly post to the #mentor-questions and #jam-resources channels.
3. We love seeing your work in the #works-in-progress channel, keep posting!
4. Game Design Interns are required to participate in the Cohorts. We encourage you to post questions and surveys for the other teams to provide you with helpful feedback for your project and for you to review and provide feedback for theirs. Voting on their game in itch.io is not a requirement.

------------------------------------------------------------

Feedback Sessions
On Wednesday, July 2nd at 10am PDT we will hold a Mid-jam Progress Show-and-Tell and Feedback session on Zoom. Each team will get 10 minutes to present their projects and receive direct feedback from science and game design mentors.

Every interested team should sign up by Monday, June 30th at 10am PDT to show off their work and receive valuable feedback from the mentors: https://form.jotform.com/251756020570148

Signups are also open for a Community Workshop session with MJ Johns on Thursday, July 3rd at 10am PDT. This is an interactive discussion about how communities are impacted by natural hazards and disasters, and how to involve them in the design process with the opportunity for direct feedback and advice. 

If you are interested in participating, please respond to the Community Workshop post in the #mentor-questions forum on Discord with your Team Name or Team ID.

------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 3 Information
Info and submission page for Sprint 3 can be found here: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025-production
Kickoff session can be watched here: 

Sprint 3 Schedule

• Sprint begins - Friday, June 27th at 10am PDT 
• Submission deadline - Thursday, July 10th at 10am PDT 
•  Voting deadline - Monday, July 14th at 10am PDT

------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 3 Goals
Implement what you’ve learned from Ideation and Prototyping, solidify mechanics, and flesh out your projects into fully playable games.

As you build out your projects, keep in mind how each individual choice you make in game mechanics, aesthetics, and writing might further complement and engage with the themes of the jam.

------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 3 Submission Format and Requirements  
Submit a fully playable game.

• Include a statement on your itch.io page: what is the topic you're addressing and what is the call to action?

------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 3 Criteria for Ranking:

• Use of Themes - How effectively or uniquely does this concept engage in the jam's themes? How interesting is the concept? In a perfect world where all development goes as planned, would you want to play this concept?
• Call to Action - Does the game have a reasonable call to action that aligns with the objective of the jam?
• Playability - Does the project have clear mechanics and win/lose conditions or player progress?
• Compelling Gameplay / Fun
• Aesthetic / Art / Sound - How cohesive is the aesthetic? Is there a clear theme? Is there concept art and does it help portray the game's intent?
• Likely to Release

-The Climate Jam Team

Climate Jam 2025 has different guidelines in place for different aspects of the jam, so for clarity we've broken them down here. This page will be updated and expanded on as needed.

Table of Contents

• How to participate in Climate Jam 2025
• Sprint Submission Deadlines
• Final Climate Jam Voting
• Qualifying for Top Ranking Categories
• Judges Rubric
• Climate Solutions Compilation

-----------------------------------------

How to participate in Climate Jam 2025
By the end of the jam you should have a releasable (even if small) Climate Solutions project, including marketing materials and a tentative release plan. Jam participants are expected to:

1. Make a game during the duration of the jam that utilizes the jam themes (climate change and disaster actions, strategies, and solutions).
2. Follow the four sprints (Ideation, Prototyping, Production, Release and Marketing) during their designated times. 
3. Turn in the required materials for each sprint by each sprint's deadline.
4. (strongly encouraged) Attend the Zoom sessions, provide feedback to your fellow jammers on Discord, vote on the other team's submissions after each sprint deadline.

Note: your project is not required to be built in Unity or even be a digital game!

-----------------------------------------

Sprint Submission Deadlines
Schedule times and dates are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. Convert to your local time zone here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

1. Sprint 1 (Ideation): Due Thursday, June 19th at 10am PDT
2. Sprint 2 (Prototyping): Due Thursday, June 26th at 10am PDT
3. Sprint 3 (Production): Due Thursday, July 10th at 10am PDT
4. Sprint 4 (Release and Marketing) / Final project submission: Due Friday, July 18th at 10am PDT

-----------------------------------------

Final Climate Jam Voting
Your submission for Sprint 4 (Release and Marketing) is ALSO your final project submission for Climate Jam 2025. You and your fellow submitters and contributors will have just over a week to review and rank the final projects. A group of judges made up of jam organizers, speakers, and mentors will also review and vote on the final projects.

-----------------------------------------

Qualifying for Top Ranking Categories:
Projects that do not meet these requirements may still be submitted and voted on, but are disqualified from the top ranking categories. Note: your project is not required to be built in Unity or even be a digital game!

1. Make your game during the duration of the jam.
2. Submit to at least 3 of the 4 sprints by the sprint deadlines.
3. Game must utilize / relate to the jam themes

-----------------------------------------

Judges Rubric
The final projects will be ranked on a number of criteria for overall game quality and releasability. The judges will also rank the games using the following metrics:

1. What real scientific evidence is it based on?
2. What positive climate action strategies are included?
3. How engaging, experiential, and immersive is it? How does it use the capabilities of games media technology and design to its advantage?  
4. Does it have a realistic and accessible target audience?
5. What is the solution-based call to action? And is this clear?
6. How does the game inspire social connections and collaboration? In what ways does it listen to and involve the community?

-----------------------------------------

(optional) Climate Solutions Compilation
This is an entirely optional extension to Climate Jam 2025. Our judges will invite some of the top games for inclusion in a Climate Solutions Compilation. This is a project where multiple games will be imported into a single project, provided with a title screen and directory, and ultimately release on Steam. Additional details and paperwork will be provided for the invited teams.

Although any kind of game can be submitted for Climate Jam 2025, only games that fit these specific parameters will be considered eligible for inclusion:

• Project must be created in Unity, Version 6.1
• Project must use unique file names. Designate a short identifier that you can add to each of your project files.
• Use the default render settings.
• Use no or minimal plugins.
• 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.

Greetings jammers!

We have a lot of important information to share with you as Sprint 1 wraps up:

New Jammers:  Haven’t started yet? You are still invited to join us! You can find an existing team to join or support at any time throughout the jam. Alternatively,  you can start a new project. We ask that you work on a condensed version of the Ideation phase at the beginning of Sprint 2 before you switch to Prototyping.

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Sprint 1 (Ideation) Deadline Your Sprint 1 materials must be submitted before tomorrow, Thursday, June 19th, at 10am PDT.

Ideation materials must be submitted here: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025-ideation

Preparing your submission:

1. Login to your account on itch.io and create a new project.
2. For Sprint 1 make sure to select these options:
   1. Classification: Other
   2. Kind of project: Downloadable
   3. Release status: In Development
   4. Pricing: No Payments
3. Go to Dashboard->Projects->and hit “Edit” for your Ideation project. Then, at the bottom of the page under Visibility & Access, select Public.
4. 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.
5. Finally, go to this jam page and submit your entry.

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Team Submissions Each team should only submit once. Make sure to add your other team members as admins so that they are listed as Contributors and can vote on the Sprint 1 submissions.

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Technical Issues / Submission Problems Please submit as early as possible. If you run into technical issues AND let us know before the deadline, we will work to get your materials submitted and they will not count as late. Send all urgent submission questions to the #submission-problems channel on Discord.

------------------------------------

Late Submissions If you miss the deadline, but have materials ready to submit within 24 hours, please let us know immediately. We will get your materials submitted but they will be marked ineligible for any of the voting categories for Sprint 1. Send your messages to the #submission-problems channel on Discord.

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Sprint 1 Voting Voting on the Sprint 1 submission materials will begin as soon as Sprint 1 ends. All Sprint 1 submitters and contributors may vote on the other projects. The Sprint 1 voting deadline is Monday, June 23rd at 10am PDT.

------------------------------------

Sprint 1 Peer Reviews All IndieCade Summer Game Design interns, as well as any other jammers who wish to participate, have each been assigned to a cohort of 3-4 teams each on the Discord server and are expected to provide peer reviews for the other teams in their cohort. 

• Teams are encouraged to ask for specific types of feedback or provide questionnaires for the other members in their cohort (especially in the later sprints).
• All Game Design interns (and any other cohort participants) are required to review the Sprint 1 submission materials of the teams in their cohort and provide feedback in their cohort channel by end of day Friday, June 20th.
• Review and consider the feedback provided for your project as you prepare for the next sprint of the jam.

You can learn more about the expectations and benefits of peer reviews in this session: https://youtu.be/deFm7lDnFvs?feature=shared

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IndieCade Horizons / Climate Jam Joint Session Join us Thursday, June 19th, at 6pm PDT for June's monthly Horizons conference session, which also highlights issues related to Climate Jam 2025. 

Making (Good) Games for Good How can games drive positive change? And how can designers create games that educate, inspire, or heal (while still being fun to play)? In this Third Thursday session, three designers (Erica Cruz, Carrie Heeter, Maura Philippone) will discuss their experiences creating “games for good” in areas such as health and education, showcase demos, and answer your questions about the many ways games can be designed for positive impact as well as engaging gameplay.

As this is part of the IndieCade Horizons program, we will be using a separate Zoom meeting room from the other Climate Jam sessions. 

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84293174831?pwd=ZLIygmKfSugajxPjOi6CbAA4RuTXa0.1 Passcode (if requested): 2025

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Sprint 2 (Prototyping) Kickoff Although you are permitted to begin working on Sprint 2 immediately, the next sprint of the jam officially begins Friday, June 20th, at 10am PDT with an introduction to Prototyping presented by MJ Johns. This session will take place in our regular Climate Jam Zoom meeting room.

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87398956665?pwd=pt7a7xaUVb0Zi2X0TL7dB9KjGNBMXh.1

Passcode (if requested): SUMMER

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Climate Solutions Compilation (Optional) Again, let us clarify that any kind of game may be created for Climate Jam 2025. Separately, we have an optional opportunity to be considered for inclusion in a Climate Solutions Compilation, a project to be released on Steam. If your final project meets the parameters of the Compilation it will be reviewed for possible inclusion, but this is an entirely optional extension to Climate Jam itself.

-The Climate Jam Team

Welcome jammers to Climate Jam 2025!

Climate Jam 2025 begins with Sprint 1: Ideation. You can learn specific details about this sprint on the Sprint 1 jam page, this is also where you will submit your materials (do not submit to the main Climate Jam page).

Sprint 1 Submission Deadline: Thursday, June 19th at 10am PDT Learn More and Submit: https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2025-ideation

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Join us for two kickoff-day Zoom sessions! Today, June 13th, at 10:00am PDT, we have:

• Welcome
• Jam Structure
• Community Climate Game Creation Framework
• Introduction to Sprint 1 (Ideation)
• Q&A
• Meet-and-Greet

Today at 6:00pm PDT, we will introduce the Climate Solutions and Disaster themes of Climate Jam 2025.

Zoom Meeting Room and Times All sessions will use the same Zoom meeting room. All Zoom sessions will be recorded and shared. Schedule times are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. Convert to your local time zone here: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Zoom meeting room link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87398956665?pwd=pt7a7xaUVb0Zi2X0TL7dB9KjGNBMXh.1 Zoom Passcode (if requested): SUMMER

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Core Jam 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 on the main Climate Jam 2025 page.

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.

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Final Project 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?

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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.

Although any kind of game can be submitted for Climate Jam 2025, only games that fit these specific parameters will be considered eligible for inclusion:

• Project must be created in Unity, Version 6.1
• Project must use unique file names. Designate a short identifier that you can add to each of your project files.
• Use the default render settings.
• Use no or minimal plugins.
• 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.

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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. 

1. Join the IndieCade Discord server here: https://www.indiecade.com/discord
2. (If you are new to the server) Click the green checkmark in the #code-of-conduct channel to acknowledge the rules.
3. 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...

1. Select an unused team ID and fill out that row for your team.
2. 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.
3. During Sprint 1 we will place teams into cohorts of 3-4 teams, with a dedicated cohort channel for each and an assigned mentor.

We're so excited to see your games!!!!

The Climate Jam Team

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. 

Use of pre-made code/assets is allowed as long as they are credited to the proper source. 

To follow the spirit of the jam, we ask that you submit something for each of the 4 sprints. In order to be eligible for the top rankings at the end, you need to submit to the final end-of-jam submission as well as at least 2 of the previous sprints. Other entries will still be ranked by the submitters and contributors.

Sprints 1-3 will have their own itch.io jam pages for submitting your work. Your final project will be submitted to the main Climate Jam itch.io page at end of Sprint 4.

This jam is open to people of all skill levels; newcomers are always welcome. Our Discord community will help you find a team to join that fits your skills and interests. You may work in a team or work solo.

More information can be found in the FAQ post on this community message board.

Do I have to work the whole time? No, of course not! These time frames are longer than we expect you to work on the game, just to allow for a variety of schedules. We’d recommend anywhere between 8-16 hours a week per jam session, but whatever you have time for, you do you! 

Can I work in teams? Of course, we’d recommend it! During the week before the jam starts there will be teambuilding on IndieCade's Discord server.

Can I start working on X part of the project before the listed time frame? We’d recommend you spend the time developing the game per the schedule provided, but we won’t require you to stay on our recommended schedule. As long as you start with the opening of the jam and submit with the milestone jams, you can be malleable with your changes of production. 

Is there a theme? This year's primary theme is Natural and unNatural Disasters. More details coming soon.

Can I make a physical game? Yeah! Absolutely, we love board / card/ tabletop games and this would be the perfect scope to make a first version. 

Am I required to sell my game after, or can it still be free? You can put it up for free, but we'd love to see you add a suggested price tag! Your work is amazing and you deserve it. Also, some of the teams will be invited to combine their games in a Climate Solutions Anthology project to be shared on Steam. More details coming soon.

Can I work on a game I previously made, or am currently in the middle of developing? We ask that you not use the jam as a continuation of a previous project. You may take a new approach on the idea of a previous game of yours, but the whole process from concept to completion should be new. 

Why 'Greenlight'? We have seen that the games coming out of Climate Jam have incredibly important messages and innovations in approaching climate solutions. We opted to use our Greenlight Jam format for multiple reasons, one is to allow a production path that will provide more depth and more support in the creation work, and the second to enable  jam participants to have prototypes or small games that have the potential to get to the next level and a broader audience. 

What is the Climate Solutions Anthology? Every year, Climate Jam participants create meaningful and informative games related to the challenges of our changing planet. This year, we plan to select some of those games and incorporate them into a single project that can be listed and sold on Steam, including being highlighted at future IndieCade Steam events. Inclusion of your game is voluntary. More details about qualifying for the anthology will be provided closer to the jam.

What is IndieCade Horizons? IndieCade Horizons is an original online event showcasing & supporting new work and talent emerging from game design programs. Horizons connects diverse and highly qualified students and faculty with one another, industry representatives, and to a worldwide community. Climate Jam 2025 is incorporated into the IndieCade Horizons summer game design internship program. 

Do I need to be part of IndieCade Horizons participate in this jam? Jam participation is open to anyone and everyone! You do not need to be an IndieCade Horizons intern to participate in this jam and Horizons involvement does not affect rating and ranking for the final submitted projects.

For first-time jammers, we've assembled a list of resources to help you get started. Don't hesitate to ask us any questions you might have in the discord! Be sure to check out the Environmental Game Design Playbook from the IGDA Climate SIG.

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 more inspiration? Check out some of our past Climate and Greenlight games: 

Results from Climate Jam 2024
Results from Climate Jam 2023 
Results from Greenlight Jam 2023 

Please use the Time Zone Converter to see your local times and dates: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Additional sessions and jam schedule listings will be announced and posted closer to or during the event.

Pre-Jam

• June 6th (time TBA): Jam Community Teambuilding

Run of the Jam

• June 13th at 12pm PDT / 3pm EDT / 9pm CEST: Sprint 1 (Ideation) Begins
• June 20th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 3am CEST (June 21st): Sprint 2 (Prototyping) Begins
• June 27th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 3am CEST (June 28th): Sprint 3 (Production) Begins
• July 11th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 3am CEST (July 12th): Sprint 4 (Release and Marketing) Begins
• July 18th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 3am CEST (July 19th): Jam Submissions Close

Post Jam

• July 18th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 3am CEST (July 19th): Ranking and Review Period Begins
• July 28th at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT / 3am CEST (July 29th): Ranking and Review Period Ends
• August 4th  (time TBA): Jam Results Announced

Climate Jam 2025 will be presented in the Greenlight Jam format; join us and work step-by-step towards a polished, releasable project! 

This format means you are participating in a five-week jam broken up into sprints. Each sprint has its own focus and deliverables with the aim to work step-by-step towards a polished, releasable project.

To follow the spirit of the jam, we ask that you submit something for each of the 4 sprints. In order to be eligible for the top rankings at the end, you need to submit to the final end-of-jam submission as well as at least 2 of the previous sprints. Other entries will still be ranked by the submitters and contributors.

The concept of “greenlighting” a project is giving it the clearance to be fully developed in a released project. For this jam, it only means taking the concepts from the first week and giving them the “all clear” to be made into a title worth selling!

The sprints ahead are Ideation, Prototype, Production, and Release and Marketing.

• Ideation: Brainstorm and work out what you will make. Do not start making a game, but work out your ideas with brainstorming, some research, and lots of prototyping (things you can throw away later!). For those of you that jam regularly, you might find it challenging to not jump right in. But the extra time spent ideating and planning will pay off in the upcoming jam series. If this was a typical 48 hour jam, this is the "end of Friday night" for where you should be. 
• Prototype: Make the initial prototype of the game. It can be buggy, messy, and all sorts of placeholder, but you should have a playable experience by the end of this sprint!
• Production: Two weeks of production based on what you discovered during the concept and prototyping weeks. 
• Release and Marketing: Fix the bugs, add some juice, make your polished masterpiece! This is the final sprint of this jam.

Greenlight Jam co-creator Tyler Coleman explains why we chose this style of jam: 

We are looking for mentors to inspire and provide feedback to our jammers, judges to review and rank the top games of the jam, as well as production facilitators to help our IndieCade Horizons interns compile some of the top games into a Climate Solutions Anthology to be released on Steam. Please complete this form to apply or learn more: https://form.jotform.com/250436943003147

Hello jammers!

A word of appreciation for all 50+ teams who joined us this year and congartulations to the nearly 50 teams who completed the final sprint of the jam!

1. What’s Next? Final Voting: Submitters and contributors have 1 week to rank the other games. Please rank as many as you can. More details about voting below.
2. (optional) Cohort Feedback: We have reshuffled the cohorts on Discord. They are now a place to give direct feedback to the other developers. They are also "open" now so anyone can pop in and comment on any of the games. If your team is not assigned a cohort and would like to be let us know.
3. (optional) Charities and Orgs Challenge: This week's challenge is to find charities and other organizations that relate to the subject or message of any of the games and post about them in the #charities-and-orgs channel on Discord. We're looking for groups that might be interested in a particular game and worth reaching out to.
4. (optional) Jam Ideas: You can post an idea for a future Climate Jam theme or any other ideas for IndieCade game jams (especially using the 5-week Greenlight Format) in the #jam-ideas channel on Discord.
5. Keep working on your games! You've all done such great work in so little time. We encourage you to continue debugging, polishing, and expanding your games for future release.

Notes If you want to remove your project page from public view please wait until after the final jam stream where the top games in each category are announced. For example: if you want to keep it unreleased while you continue working on it.

Also, if you realize you made a mistake with your upload or have a game-breaking glitch it's too late to update your submission, but you can add a comment to your submission with links, corrections, etc.

Final Voting Instructions All submitters and contributors can now access and vote on the final Climate Jam 2024 submissions. We have a panel of judges voting as well!

The voting deadline is July 29th at 6pm PDT. The ranking results will likely take another week as we are preparing a results video to officially end this jam with. 

We ask that you prioritize entries without votes and do not vote on your own projects. Please vote on as many submissions as you can!

https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2024/entries

Reminder: all of your team members should be listed as contributors on your submitted project. Whoever is hosting the project on their itch.io account needs to go to the project navbar, go to More->Admins, and add the rest of your team as admins. This will make it so that they are listed as Contributors on your jam submission.

Separately, we have external judges reviewing the games as well.

The FINAL RANKING CATEGORIES are more in-depth than the previous sprints:

• Engagement with the main theme: "Change the Story" - how well does this game engage with or implement this year's theme, "Change the Story". This theme is about telling the stories of climate justice that aren’t often told, countering the history of disinformation, and breaking out of the dialectic of pessimism (too gloom and doom) vs. optimism (too rosy).
• Engagement with the overall theme: how well does this game engage with or implement climate change and related issues?
• Gameplay / Mechanics - are the gameplay experience and the mechanics of the game novel, fun, or impressive? Do they support the jam themes? Are they effective for the specific topic or message of this game?
• Writing / Narrative / Storytelling - is the writing or storytelling immersive, compelling, or novel? Do they support the jam themes? If this game has a message, is it clear and effective?
• Visual Design / Art - are the visual elements of this game novel, effective, cohesive? Do they support the jam themes? Are they effective for the specific topic or message of this game?
• Sound Design / Music - are the audio elements of this game novel, effective, cohesive? Do they support the jam themes? Are they effective for the specific topic or message of this game?
• Innovation - does the game feel fresh, new, innovative in some way?
• Presentation - is the game's main itch.io page captivating and engaging? Is it well presented? Will it draw players in? (make sure to click through to the game's itch.io page, not just the jam submission page)
• Ready to Release for Money! - is the game truly polished and ready for release?
• Wishlisted! - is this game impressive, but not quite polished or ready for release?
• Can't Wait For More! - is this a game/team you want to see more from? Do you want a DLC or sequel?
• Overall: consider all of the criteria above and how well it stands out as a whole.

Enjoy the games!

Regards, The Climate Jam Team

Hi everyone!

Here are some quick updates about the remainder of the jam, but first we'd like to introduce the Climate Jam Bundle!

Climate Jam Bundle
An important goal for the Climate Jam is to make an impact by not only creating games, but getting them out to the public.  

 This year we have an incredible opportunity to create a Climate Jam Bundle that will be featured at the IndieCade Festival on Steam this November. With this bundle, not only will our messages reach a wide audience, it will concretely make an impact by donating a portion of the proceeds to a climate non-profit that all of us select! 

 We welcome participation from all jammers.  If you are interested please indicate in the "Climate Jam Bundle" field when you submit your game at the end of the jam and we will follow up with you directly. Please note that participation may entail further work and polish on your game leading up to the release.

Final Deadline Details and Extension
Reminder that your final projects are to be submitted to the main jam page. 

https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2024

Also, there are a large number of elements to add to your project page and to have ready for your final submissions. Read through them in advance here: https://www.indiecade.com/downloads/climate_jam_2024_materials.pdf

Due to some technical issues on our end, we've extended the final deadline for your last submissions to Climate Jam 2024.

Submissions to Sprint 4 are now due at the following time (adjusted for time zone). Please submit your materials before the following times/dates. 

• Pacific Daylight Time: Sunday, July 21st at 6pm
• Eastern Daylight Time: Sunday, July 21st at 9pm
• Central European Summer Time: Monday, July 22nd at 3am
• India Standard Time: Monday, July 22nd at 6:30am
• China Standard Time: Monday, July 22nd at 9am
• Australian Eastern Standard Time: Monday, July 22nd at 11am

Production Submission Voting
Voting is still open for the Sprint 3 submissions, please rank the games with few or no votes so far! 

https://itch.io/jam/climate-jam-2024-production/entries

Polish and Launch Session In case you missed it, here is the session where Benjamin Tarsa, longtime IndieCade contributor and Director of Business Development at indie.io, discussed and answered questions about polishing and launching games.

Sincerely,
The Climate Jam Team