Key materials
These materials provide a good introduction into environmental and cultural sustainability, how games relate to it, and what game designers can do to promote climate action. Please watch/read the following before the Un-Jam starts (it’s best to do it in the order they are listed in):
- Iphigenia Taxopoulou “Environmental sustainability and culture”: a 20-minute talk that introduces the concept of sustainability and explains how it relates to culture and creative industries
- Arnaud Fayolle “Climate Games: The Developer’s Field Guide”: a 30-minute talk from the Game Developer Conference that covers the relationship between games, players, and environmental action
- Part 2 (Tactics) in the IGDA Environmental Game Design Playbook: an overview of approaches game designers can take to promote pro-environmental behavior. (The rest of the Playbook is also well-worth a read, but isn’t required reading for the Un-Jam.)
Additional materials
The following are additional resources that we find helpful. E.g., if you are new to game design and game jams, consider checking out the first three.
Game jams: what and how?
- Game Jams by Hanna Wirman (an article in the Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms): a concise introduction to what game jams are.
Game design fundamentals
- Gameplay design (a 7-minute video lecture by Mikhail Fiadotau): a basic introduction to key terms in game design such as game mechanics and dynamics, core loop, game economy, and a few others.
- Meaningful choices and player agency (an audio lecture by Victor Bankler): an overview of how to make your gameplay more engaging by utilizing meaningful player choices.
More on games and sustainability
- Sam Alfred: “Developing ‘Terra Nil’: A Strategy Game About Nature, Not Expansion”: a GDC talk reflecting on the design of the influential ecogame Terra Nil.
- Laura op de Beke, Joost Raessens, and Stefan Werning “Ecogames: An Introduction”: this introduction to a collection of articles about ecogames provides a good overview of the concept and research directions in the field.
- Playing 4 the Planet: this YouTube channel is part of UN’s Playing 4 the Planet initiative and contains many talks and workshop recordings dedicated to games and environmental issues.