The present study explores how the Óbidos EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jam #2 (2025) empowered 45 students (26 university students and 19 high school students) to create 14 games that reflect cultural references through an applied game design model. This model integrates workshops and educational activities that encourage students to create games with a critical game design approach. In this specific study, the aim was also to promote a sense of belonging through cultural game jams. Lastly, students’ feedback on the event was collected via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.

The research team organized the game jam according to the Applied Jam Framework proposed by Donald et al. (2020) and analyzed the developed games based on:
(1) The thematic areas of the Sustainable Development Goals (Leal Filho et al., 2017) specifically, 14 - Life Below Water and 15 Life on Land.;
(2) The conceptual framework of games for civic learning (Raphael et al., 2010), with the participation of a cultural heritage institution that proposed the Óbidos Lagoon theme;
(3) The categories of design principles for moral learning (Schrier, 2019), used to evaluate the 14 games that resulted from this event.

In order to account for the research activities necessary for the study, the jam was designed to have 56 hours in the span of 4 days, while the participants were fully immersed and housed in the Óbidos village. A digital and thematic adaptation of the VNA cards (Kultima et al., 2008) was used to aid with the ideation process, although participants were free to ignore this process outcomes. A framework was developed to introduce Unity to the high school participants with little to no game development skills. Facilitators engaged with participants in specific scheduled activities (2 SDG and Cultural domain, and 4 Game development facilitators) and also non time-boxed consultations, that aimed to provide feedback on the ongoing development of the games. Participants organized in teams (3 to 5 members), in a self-directed manner, and worked on their own vision of the games based on the shared topics surrounding the Óbidos Lagoon theme.

This work outlines the development of a research protocol, which includes student recruitment, a Pre-Game Jam phase, Game Jam activities and logistics, a Reflection Day, data collection and a Post-Mortem analysis for the evaluation of SDGs games developed. Despite the limitation of the SDGs theme, the 45 participants reported a high level of satisfaction, as indicated by the final survey. Several improvement suggestions were gathered, providing insights for enhancing future CGJs to create games that explore the themes in greater depth.

Keywords: Applied Game Jam, Cultural, Critical Game Design, Education.