Games For Change challenges devs to pitch games about diversity & debt

The long-running Games For Change festival will once again take place this April in New York, and as part of the proceedings developers have some opportunities to secure funding for developing games that raise awareness about (among other things) diversity and debt.

If you have a pitch for a game that could potentially speak to these issues, know that Games For Change is working with sponsors to coordinate both a "Feed the Pig" game design challenge and a "Challenge of Diversity" interactive entertainment competition.

Feed the Pig

The former, which is sponsored by the Ad Council and the American Institute of CPAs, invites developers to compete for a $10,000 grand prize (as well as two $5,000 finalist prizes) and a potential $40,000 in additional production funding by pitching games which help educate young adults (25-34ish) about "the importance of saving for the future." Entries are due March 10th, and you can submit them here.

Challenge of Diversity

The latter is less explicitly aimed at game developers, but still potentially intriguing because it's sponsored by interactive media platform Interlude, which is trying to pitch its Treehouse interactive video authoring tool as a  sort of choose-your-own-adventure video....game.

It seems a bit like a mashup between Twine and YouTube, and Interlude is putting up its own $10,000 funding prize (with two $5,000 runner-up prizes) for game-like ideas that would work well on that platform and tackle "the opportunities, difficulties, complexities and challenges around race relations, sexual rights, and economic diversity in the U.S."

Entries (submitted here) are for that competition are due April 1st, and winners for both challenges will be announced April 18th during the Games and Media Summit at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Games For Change is split this year

However, it's worth noting that Games For Change is actually two disparate events this year, as the the two-day Games for Change Festival will now take place in late June. Last year it and the Summit happened in April alongside the Tribeca Film Festival, but this year the festival portion is being pushed into summer to make it easier for teachers and students to attend and speak.

For more details on the organization, its festival programming and the various game development support opportunities it facilitates, head over to the Games For Change website.