Crunch, lay-offs, lack of diversity, loot crates - capitalism is sucking the joy out of games. But it doesn't have to be this way…

Join anti-capitalist festival The World Transformed and the trade unions IWGB Game Workers and UTAW in a game jam to imagine a world - and a games industry - that's better for everyone!

Last year, Jeremy Corbyn provoked outrage in the press and the Tory party when he played the custom-built Thatcher’s Techbase arcade machine at the The World Transformed festival. This year, the team behind the arcade cabinet are looking to build another and are inviting YOU to fill it with new and exciting anti-capitalist games!

The Games Transformed jam runs from 1st - 27th May and will culminate in an in-person day festival in London on Sunday 28th May! The jam is open to submissions of games both digital and analogue, and will be centred on a theme to be voted on by participants - think redistribution, revolution, utopia. We want games that are artistically and mechanically exploring ideas that help us understand and think about important ideas in progressive politics. But of course, they mostly need to be fun! No matter who wins, all games submitted in time will be playable at the event by members of the public, showcased alongside a whole programme of game-centric discussion, education and arts. Oh, and there will be a party!  

The Games Transformed one day festival

The jam will culminate in a one day festival at Pelican House, London on Sunday May 28, open to both jam participants and the public. There will be plenty of chances to play the games, as well as talks, workshops and a party. Tickets are available here.

The World Transformed festival

The World Transformed is a festival of radical politics, art and music that will take place in Liverpool 7 - 10 October. We will be bringing a custom-built arcade machine loaded with the games produced in the jam to sit alongside the Thatcher’s Techbase arcade machine we built last year. The games that fit the technical requirements will be playable on the machine, with the winner of the public vote headlining the artwork on the cabinet. We aim to make some of the analogue games from the jam playable too!

Theme

The theme of the jam, as decided by community vote, is:

COLLECTIVE ACTION

The micro-themes, which are optional side-themes you can use to inspire you, and were suggested by the community, are:

• ⚔ The Violence Inherent in the System
  
• ⚖ Balance and Unbalance 👹
  
• 🏴‍☠️ Piracy

Awards and voting

The People’s Choice Award will be decided by public vote on itch.io. All games that meet the technical requirements will be included on the arcade cabinet at The World Transformed. The winner of the public vote will be displayed as the headline game on the cabinet. There will be some additional awards voted on by attendees of the in-person Games Transformed festival. The categories for these awards will be decided on the day!

Rules

• The first and most important rule is to be kind! This is a progressive jam, we're looking for cooperation and collaboration over competition. Keep it civil.
• Follow the technical requirements if you would like your game to be included on the arcade machine or at the festival.
• Games should not be worked on prior to the beginning of the jam. Using tooling, such as engine plugins, code frameworks and similar, that is produced before the jam is allowed, but no game logic or key art may be made first.
• We reserve the right to reject any submission for any reason, including barring offensive material. No violence depicted against real, living individuals. Ask on the Discord if you're unsure, we're happy to discuss limits with teams.
• External assets from the Unity store or similar platforms are allowed, but preferrably code assets and gameplay logic should be as original as possible.
• Teams of any size or solo developers are allowed.
• Participants keep the rights to the games they produce.
• Between the Games Transformed event and The World Transformed, participants may make tweaks and bug fixes to the itch.io submission but not add new features, levels, etc.

Video Game technical requirements

• Control scheme: The arcade machine will have 6 buttons and an 8-way joystick, mapped to Xinput, such as an Xbox controller, as follows:
  
  If your game is playable with an Xbox controller using only the buttons specified above, then it will be playable with our arcade controls.
• Controls will be digital and not analogue, so do not rely on precise movements of the analogue stick.
• Games must be browser-based and playable on their itch.io page
• 2-player games with multiple controllers are allowed and will be supported on the arcade machine via a plugged-in USB Xbox controller, only one set of arcade style controls will be available on the final machine.

If you have any questions, please ask on the Discord.

Games that are playable in the browser but don’t meet the control requirements can still be shown at the Games Transformed day festival but won’t make it to the arcade machine for The World Transformed festival.

Analogue games

We will accept submissions in the form of printable tabletop games that will be played at the main event and submitted alongside the video games for prizes. Get in touch on the Discord for more information.

Streamers

We will be encouraging streamers to play the games produced in the jam. Please get in touch with us if that’s you and we can promote your stream!

Contact

Discord is the main channel of communications for this event - please join and we will be happy to answer any questions there! You can also email gamestransformed@gmail.com

The World Transformed is on Facebook, twitter and instagram.

FAQ

Will there be free tickets to the event?
Free tickets are available for anyone who needs them.

What is The World Transformed?
The World Transformed is an annual festival and year-round political education project. Our first festival took place in 2016, as an attempt to revitalise the left’s presence at the Labour Party conference, bridge the gap between the parliamentary and social movement left, and develop a space for radical, participatory and creative political education. Since then the festival has grown to become the biggest leftwing multi-day event in Britain, and we have seen the emergence of dozens of local Transformed groups across the country, as well as TWT launching a number of other year round educational projects from short courses to organising schools, podcasts, trainings and pedagogical research.

To find out out more about The World Transformed, visit our website and follow us on Twitter.