Unlikely Collaborators Announces Winners of 2026 Game Jam

LOS ANGELES, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Unlikely Collaborators is proud to announce the winners of its second annual Game Jam, a nationwide creative challenge inviting developers to build games exploring awe, wonder, and the expansion of identity. (Watch the theme introduction video here.)

In partnership with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the IGDA Foundation, and the Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund, this year's Game Jam pushed participants to go beyond traditional gameplay and storytelling, creating interactive experiences that shift perspective and explore awe and wonder as a theme.

Over the course of nearly three weeks, teams from across the United States developed original PC-based prototypes inspired by the idea that awe expands our Perception Box^TM (see explanation on the Perception Box framework below) transforming how we see ourselves and the world. The result: a diverse, imaginative collection of games that blend emotional depth, experimental mechanics, and bold creative vision.

After careful review by a panel of 40 industry experts, the winners were revealed today. The first place team is awarded $5,000 to split among creators with the runner-up teams each receiving a $1,000 prize to split among members.

First Place

Haiku Hike
Recovering from an illness and feeling stuck in her life, Ari decides to take a trip to Mount Awareness in the hopes that reaching the peak will shift her perspective. Haiku Hike is a poetic adventure created for the 2026 Unlikely Collaborators jam. Hike the mountain, meet fellow hikers, and solve puzzles to clear out the brain fog so you can write haiku about the awe-inspiring beauty of the mountain.
https://youtu.be/lfrQR2HWpNY

Runners Up

In 2nd Place: Time's Tokens
You are the Principal of North Greenville High School. Every 20 years, the student body gathers to bury a time capsule. It's a small snapshot of everyday life, preserved for the future students. The students have brought all kinds of wonderful things to contribute. Now it's your turn to choose what makes the cut!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM68sXE7y0I

In 3rd Place: Field Study
A non-narrative documentary game about parallel consciousness awe shapes identity and perspective, yet we share circadian rhythms, the struggle to survive, eating, violence, growth, and triumph.
https://youtu.be/6Ef7F6TDXYA

In 4th Place: When We Found Us
This a game about the quiet, awkward, and ultimately heartwarming journey of finding a kindred spirit when you feel most alone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej_5Wjl-S3M

In 5th Place: Anne
Anne is a short game about artistic growth, identity, and self-discovery. Follow a young artist through the strokes they draw, moving from imitation to individuality. Capture fleeting inspiration, assemble evolving artworks, and experience how Anne shapes her creative voice.
https://youtu.be/WesMgCGE4kg

In 6th Place: Sprite & Sprout
You are a tiny sprite on an island. You are all alone. You encounter a little sprout to help it grow.
https://youtu.be/az0HO8afONY

Rounding out our top 10 games are these four honorable mentions:

Sight and Sound
Stay in the evolution ring to evolve visually and audially. Time key-presses to the beat to push projectiles away.
https://youtu.be/Ariif2X2Fog

Painted Paths
Painted Paths is a puzzle platformer game about an artist who has recently been in a block. Help them recover inspiration by revisiting their old paintings.
https://youtu.be/SFPHUMnnEVs

Bunniemoon
Bunniemoon shows what happens when you take a leap of faith; a child's awe and imagination come together and help her accept the reality of moving and losing her friends. By helping out her bunny friend, she's able to shift her perspective on and see the hope in a new beginning.
https://youtu.be/zmeEIjUfcNQ

Celestial Currents
Play as Raindrop, a young water spirit learning how to guide the planet's rivers to nourish life. Guided by Terra, an ancient earth spirit, embark on a story of life, nature, and the cycles that connect us all.
https://youtu.be/6yR8n7gMiBc

These winning projects highlight the power of games as a medium not just for entertainment, but for transformation by inviting players into experiences that expand identity, deepen reflection, and inspire new ways of seeing.

Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit organization, founded and chaired by Elizabeth R. Koch, dedicated to fostering transformative storytelling, developing human connection, and resolving internal conflict.Central to this mission is the groundbreaking Perception Box™ framework developed by Koch, which explores the mental models we use to understand and navigate the world. Shaped by our beliefs, life experiences, education, values, and traumas–along with the meaning we have made out of those traumas, genes, physiology, and unconscious patterns–our box filters and distorts everything we perceive. When individuals begin to recognize this box, even briefly, the walls expand, giving us room to experience greater curiosity, tolerance for difficult emotions, and more generosity in relating to others.

For more information about:

Game Jam and to explore additional submissions, visit the IGDA Foundation website here;

IGDA, visit their website here;

Girl Make Games, visit their website here;

Unlikely Collaborators and Perception Box, visit their website here.

SOURCE Unlikely Collaborators