Science in the City Post Festival: minAI Game Jam: Create to Escape

Escape a digital museum and design your own game!

Science in the City Post Festival: minAI Game Jam is a free online event taking place on Saturday, 14th March at 12pm via Zoom, aimed at young people aged 14–16. 

During the session, participants move through a series of hands-on challenges. You’ll explore a visual “culture web” showing everyday life, traditions, rituals, music, food, and social relationships from around the world, and reflect on how culture connects people rather than separating them. You’ll examine artworks and images and try to tell which ones were made by humans and which were generated by AI — and, more importantly, what feels missing when culture is reduced to something generic.

You’ll then open a set of “culture chests” filled with objects from daily life — tools, textiles, toys, musical instruments, and other items that carry stories. Instead of naming where they come from, you’ll focus on how they are used, who uses them, and what would be lost if their meaning disappeared.

Once the escape room challenges are complete, the room becomes a game studio. Working in small teams, you’ll design your own game inspired by the cultures you explored. You’ll create a title, characters, setting, and story, decide what the player does, and define the role AI plays in the game. You can sketch scenes, remix objects, or generate visuals, always thinking about how to represent culture as lived experience rather than stereotypes.

The session ends with short presentations, where teams share their game ideas and explain how their design respects cultural meaning and helps players see culture with more depth and care.

Come join the digital escape room and explore your creativity!

This event is a collaboration between the Science in the City team, Institute of Digital Games (University of Malta) and Yvonne Galetaki.

Agenda

Saturday, Mar 14 from 12:00 pm to 13:15 pm CET.

The activity will be in English.

Registration

Online via Zoom (link sent after booking a free ticket).