We believe games can be powerful tools to address crucial issues.

With Just Play, we are excited to bring to the game development community insights that emerge from Cinereach’s research into narrative change. Each Game Jam centers around a new theme related to social issues where we believe story has the potential to make an impact. 

The challenge: produce a compelling game that creatively incorporates principles from our narrative toolkits. We look for games that can potentially inspire thought, conversation and even action. Games can be either in development or completed. Submissions can be varied in technique, subject matter, and approach, but most importantly they must be impossible to ignore. 

We look for games and prototypes that embody the powerful confluence of interactive media, social impact, and great storytelling to open minds and spark deeper understanding. Just Play challenges creators to weave narratives, aesthetics, and gameplay that explore different aspects of our themes into experiences that can challenge the status quo and inspire new perspectives*.

Participating in Just Play provides a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations at the intersection of media, art, and social impact. Our mission is to engage with the voices in video games that are invested in narrative change and help amplify their impact.

*The status quo refers to the ways in which various groups across lines of difference have been made more proximate to or distant from societal advantage as a direct result of systems and structures.