There is a critical need to raise awareness about the current status of modern slavery in Africa because slavery has a long and tragic history. More than 49 million individuals are thought to be living in some form of slavery at any given time, whether it be forced labor, forced marriage, or slavery based on descent and roughly one-fourth of all slave victims are children.

We wish to raise awareness of the current situation and give people the tools to combat it through games along with other educational and awareness projects.

So in collaboration with the organisation Donkosira, a physical game jam was hosted in Bamako, Mali, in December 2022. Locals came from all 8 of the country’s regions to participate and share their experiences from below.

This month Jiwe Studio will organize an online game jam this February 24–28 continuing with the theme of “Gaming Against Slavery” to create prototypes based on the concepts created in Mali.

The four-day Game Jam will be played online on Jiwe’s Discord server and will be limited to a maximum of 20 teams of four players. The top three prototypes will be recognized with rewards totalling US$1000 (1st Place – 500USD, 2nd Place -300USD, 3rd Place 200USD)

Game Jam Rules:

During the Jam, teams will be tasked with creating a gameplay loop and a usable prototype that adheres to the subject for which they will receive a brief explaining the particular topic.

  1. 4 basic concepts have been established, and each team will be given one to work with during the game jam on a first come first serve basis.
  2. You can signup as an individual or as a team [Register here]
  3. All gameplay created must be unique work created specifically for this game jam

Online Presence:

  1. All game creations will be hosted on www.jiwe.io
  2. The Game Jam will be hosted and coordinated online on Jiwe’s Discord server

Program:


Day 1

  • Opening of the Game Jam on Discord (Welcome, Intros by teams, and members)
  • Breakout session (Ice breaker)
  • Game Jam overview plus theme announcement (Instructions, expectations)
  • Team Announcements
  • Keynote
  • 10min break
  • Start Jamming around the themes (Game development begins)
  • Into private team discord channel/ Miro board
  • Checking with Teams before End Of Day (Check in to be added schedule 5min per team)
  • First Day Concludes

Day 2

  • Check in with all teams  – Main presentation stage
  • Teams Standup (Assigning Daily Tasks etc) – Team discord voice channel
  • Day 2 Jamming/Game Development
  • Checkin with Max at EOD

Day 3

  • Check in with all teams  – Main presentation stage
  • Teams Standup (Assigning Daily Tasks etc) – Team discord voice channel
  • Day 3 Hacking/Game Development
  • Teams Check-in

Day 4

  • Check in with all teams  – Main presentation stage
  • Teams Standup (Assigning Daily Tasks etc) – Team discord voice channel
  • Play testing and Game Refining (Each teams can share their work with other teams and give comments)
  • Play testing schedule
  • Submissions from at 5pm EAT, teams should include a 5 minutes trailer of the game/working prototype.
  • Closing of the Jam 5.30pm EAT

Day 5

  • Panel of diverse Judges to score the games (Judges to be announced)

Register here