About

Have you ever thought about DESIGNING A GAME? Even if you never considered designing a game, you are looking at this website and thinking, “I’m curious! I got this! I can totally do it!” And to add some icing to the cake, you can actually build something that has a positive social impact. Oh, yeah, and there are prizes! And free food! And the event itself is free!

What the heck is a game jam?

According to Wikipedia, a game jam is a gathering of people for the purpose of planning, designing, and creating one or more games within a short span of time, usually ranging between 24 and 72 hours. Participants are generally composed of programmers, game designers, artists, writers, and others in game development-related fields.

When is it?

  • Friday, October 6, 2023.  6PM – 9PM. Orientation, team registration, keynote, talking to people, etc…
  • Saturday, October 7, 2023 – 9 AM through Sunday October 8, 12 PM – Game Jam
  • Sunday, October 8, 2023. 12PM – 4PM. Judges and jammers evaluate games
  • Sunday, October 8, 2023. 4PM – 6PM. Awards Ceremony

Where is it?

University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information
135 North Bellefield Avenue, 3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Who can participate?

Games4SocialImpact is open to any university student 18 years of age or older. You DO NOT need to be a programmer to participate – we need artists, storytellers, sociologists, psychologists, historians, political scientists, and pretty much anyone who likes games. And, of course, programmers

I don’t have a team. What do I do?

You can either find teammates at the kick-off event on Friday, October 6, or you can join our Discord server and find like-minded teammates on Discord. Here’s the link to the Games4SocialImpact Discord server: https://discord.gg/d5U2ZCZN

Game Submissions

All games must be submitted via our itch.io jam page by Noon on Sunday, October 8nd.

What Style of Game Can I Design?

You can design any style of game, including card, tabletop, live role-playing (LARP), alternate reality (ARG), mobile, desktop, AR, VR, XR, and any other acronym that tickles your fancy.