This past weekend at the California Academy of Sciences, nine teams of teens from across the Bay Area (including SF, Oakland, North Bay, and the peninsula) gathered to rapidly develop digital climate games on the topics of Bay Area food, water and energy for the 2nd annual Science Game Jam. The game jammers were ably assisted by our Digital Learning TechTeens, scientists from Solectria Solar, Stanford and the University of Washington, and games experts from EA, Glasslab and the Academy.
On Saturday, the teams met (some for the first time), chose their specific science topics, created paper prototypes, and started coding their games. The goal was for the teams to publicly demo their games in the Grand Hall by the next day. On Sunday afternoon, museum visitors young and old got to try out the games and give their feedback, before one final code sprint to close out the jam.
At 3pm on Sunday, the teams pitched the final projects to a panel of expert judges. Prizes were awarded for best game design, best science content and best overall. All youth received certificates of participation, and got to take their games they created home with them. There were many tired but happy faces at 4pm on Sunday when they departed the Academy.
BONUS: Screenshots of some of the awesome games created at the jam!
The Bottom Line: 3d multi-player resource management game!
Ursa: VR water use visualization game.
Hydroculture: farming simulator
Behind the Doors: renewable energy game