Just Play:
A Game Jam
For Climate Futures

Our Climate Visibility Project uncovered a lot of opportunity to explore how we can rethink stories about the climate crisis. After the success of our first Just Play Game Jam, we wanted to see how video game developers would take those insights and create compelling prototypes that offer new ways of engaging with big questions about our climate futures. We made a narrative toolkit and launched a competition to see what it inspired.

After a panel of jurors from across the entertainment and narrative change industries reviewed the submissions, five finalists were showcased at the closing night party of the Hollywood Climate Summit. Our winner, Maybe We Saved the World, was a procedurally-generated narrative game narrated by the player’s future self after the climate crisis is solved. As a young activist, players gather glimmers or embers — hope or righteous anger — as they explore their community, making decisions that will have great impact on their future.