The 2019 Water Challenge Game Jam
No previous gaming experience needed!
Join us for a new game jam that challenges students, educators, scientists, and game designers to develop games that help people learn about water resources, conservation and quality in Iowa. The event is open to students in grades 3-8. The competition will be split among analog games (card games, board games, role playing games) and digital games, and judged according to age group (grades 3-5 and grades 6-8). Teams will be made up of a maximum of 5 students. The games should help people better understand local water resources. Register your classroom or afterschool program at https://bit.ly/2HK8AlR !
The Water Game Jam is sponsored by the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition through an Iowa STEM Innovation Grant from the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.
Game formats
Analog game - Game must involve only non-digital components. Typical examples can include board games, card games, or role-playing games. Game must be in a playable form at the end of the event. This category is useful for either short or long events and also works for locations with limited technology.
Basic digital game - These tools result in generally simple platform-style games and require a narrative be included. Games must be designed using simple tools or remixed from an existing game in the community (e.g., Scratch, Gamestar Mechanic, Pixel Press’ Floors and Bloxels, Roblox, GameSalad). Minecraft can be used if there is a clear designed game experience within a Minecraft World and there is a clear goal for a player to achieve within the Minecraft world with clear constraints. Teachers can also use interactive fiction tools to create a text adventure using a Water theme. (Twine, InkleWriter, Episodes).
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How Do Game Jams Work?
Game ideas are submitted via a 2-minute video to be considered for recognition. A panel of game and science experts will use a scoring rubric to determine top analog and digital games in two age categories (Grades 3-5 and 6-8).
Registered educators will be provided with the link to the Google form for submission of team names, game prototype description and the link to your 2-minute video.
The deadline for submitting your 2-minute video and game description will be April 8th, 2019.
You can see examples of videos from previous game jams:
2-minute videos submitted by previous Climate Game Jam participants, 2015 and 2016
Examples of 2-minute videos from the White House Education Game Jam, 2014