Singapore and Indonesia teams turn in strong performances at Green Game Jam for Youth

Southeast Asia (SEA) teams notched strong performances at a global online competition hosted by Tencent, through TiMi Studio Group (TiMi) and Tencent Institute of Games.

Out of 11 winning teams, student teams from Indonesia and Singapore walked away with a Bronze Award and an Honorary Award respectively. Overall, “Green Game Jam for Youth” saw submissions from more than 200 university students and teams across the globe.

As an important contribution to the global effort of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)-backed Playing for the Planet Alliance (P4P), the Green Game Jam for Youth challenge had participating teams submit games they developed featuring environment-focused elements. 

Representing Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Team BlueCat from Indonesia created a mobile game named “Clogged Sink Fishing” focusing on raising awareness on the importance of waste reduction while promoting recycling.

“We hope to further educate communities on the awareness of ocean conservation and waste reduction. This competition has allowed us to cultivate our skills for a good cause and has been a great learning experience for us as visual communication design students in the game design field,” said Nasrullah, team leader of Team BlueCat. 

Nasrullah added, “We are truly grateful for this opportunity. Throughout the competition, we had the opportunity to receive guidance from our professor, Dr. Alvanov Zpalanzani Mansoor, Rahma Utami as well as mentors from TiMi and UNEP.”

Meanwhile, Team Traveller, an individual participant from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) created a game that aims to inspire and create awareness on urgent climate change issues. The game is targeted at the youth of today to inspire them to take action. “I’ve decided to use Virtual Reality (VR) technology for my original game, Traveller VR, to transport players into virtual worlds. In these immersive worlds, they are able to travel to places suffering from climate catastrophes and witness the effects of climate change authentically,” said lead developer Zhen Wei Lee. “I believe we all have a part in promoting climate awareness and encouraging climate action.”

“Youth is the next-generation game creators, and also the game changers of the industry with their imagination and creativity.” said Colin Yao, vice president of Tencent and president of TiMi Studio Group. “Games, as the ninth form of art, can change people's perspectives through interactive gameplay and immersive simulation, and thereby to promote social value. That's why we always find ways to engage youth to contribute with their creativity.”

Proposals underwent a stringent review process at global standards. The 11 winning teams share a prize pool of USD21,500 in total and each team member will be presented with a certificate. Team BlueCat, who won the Bronze Award, takes home USD1,000 while Team Traveller takes home USD500 for its Honorary Award. 

In addition to two winning teams representing SEA, three more teams made it to the final round and received token of appreciation and participation certificates, including Indonesian team Wolf Pack, who represented Universitas Indonesia (UI) and designed a game that depicts a story of a last, sacred forest in a post-apocalyptic world where players help restore the forest. Two teams from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) were also shortlisted for the final round. Team 200 Success created an original game called Seastoration Tower, which aims to raise awareness about marine wildlife conservation. Another finalist, Ahkshara Sankar created Forest Warrior, a game that addresses the issue of deforestation. 

For more about Green Game Jam for Youth, visit TiMi Studios’ official website at https://www.timistudios.com/green-game-jam-for-youth/.