Game Writing SIG Arcjam 2025 retrospective

The biggest arcjam to date left the Arcweave team with feelings of gratitude and a thirst for more

It's been almost a month since the closure of the Game Writing SIG Arcjam. Enough time for the post-jam adrenaline to wear off, for everyone to catch their breath, and for us to look back with a bit of perspective.

And wow! What a blast that was!

Now that the dust has settled, we wanted to reflect on what we experienced, what we learned, and what made this jam such a meaningful moment, for Arcweave and for the game writing community as a whole.

About the Game Writing SIG Arcjam

For those who might have missed it: the Game Writing SIG Arcjam was a 72-hour online game design event dedicated to story-driven games and the craft of interactive writing. Organized by the IGDA Game Writing SIG and Arcweave, the jam ran from November 21st to 25th, 2025, with a few clear goals in mind:

• Empower writers, narrative designers, and collaborators to create bold, inventive portfolio pieces.
• Strengthen the game writing community and boost morale during a particularly tough job market.
• Offer a space to experiment, collaborate, and—most importantly—have fun telling stories.

All entries were created in Arcweave and submitted through Itch.io.

The response exceeded even our most optimistic expectations:

• 120 entries submitted
• 7 judges, all seasoned professionals from the game industry
• 8 prizes, awarded across multiple categories (you can check out the winners and awards in detail on the IGDA Game Writing SIG blog)

For a writing-focused jam, the scale, engagement, and overall energy were genuinely remarkable.

A rich harvest of stories

The creativity, ideas, and sheer craft on display left a strong impression on our entire team. The range of voices was impressive in variety, confidence, and quality of writing.

Equally striking was the volume. Seeing so many writers and designers show up, collaborate, and deliver complete experiences in just 72 hours was deeply inspiring, and a powerful reminder of what this community can do when given space for expression.

Premiere of our new Play Mode embed feature

The jam also marked the first real-world test of a brand-new Arcweave feature: the ability to embed your game's Play Mode directly into any HTML page.

It couldn't have had a better debut. Participants didn't just routinely use the feature; they pushed it creatively, combining embedded Play Mode builds with custom CSS and layouts crafted in Arcweave's Style Editor.

The result was a wide variety of unique presentation styles that showed just how flexible this workflow can be.

For us, it was invaluable to see the feature used at scale, in the wild, by so many different creators.

Positive community reaction

Another highlight was the enthusiastic response from the writers community, beyond the jam itself.

Many participants took to LinkedIn and other platforms to share their finished games, talk about their experience, and reflect on what they enjoyed about working in Arcweave and participating in the jam.

Seeing that enthusiasm emerge organically—unprompted and shared publicly—was a moment of genuine satisfaction for our whole team.

Bumps overcome and lessons learned

Of course, no event of this size comes without hiccups. For us, the jam was also a UX design lesson; the kind you only fully learn once dozens of people stress-test a process all at once, under deadline pressure.

We're genuinely grateful for that feedback. It's already helping us refine the experience, and it means future jams will be smoother and more intuitive for everyone involved.

Congratulations to the writers

Huge congratulations to the winners, whose games truly stood out for their craft and creativity.

And just as importantly: kudos to everyone who made it to the finish line! Completing a project under jam conditions is no small feat. Every finished game represents resilience, creative problem-solving, solidarity, and care. We were moved by this vibrant writers community that buzzed as they helped each other finish their submissions.

If you haven't explored the entries yet, we can't recommend it enough. Play the games, celebrate the winners, and take some time to appreciate what this vibrant community created together.

Thanks to judges and community

Above all else, this jam was about community and bonding.

A huge THANK YOU to the IGDA Game Writing SIG community for welcoming this collaboration and opening the door to such an incredible wave of talent. We were humbled by the quality and diversity of the work created in Arcweave.

And another massive thank you to our judges: C.J. Kershner, Frances Wakefield-Harrey, Jarory de Jesus, Kelly Bender, Konstantinos Dimopoulos, Natasha Skult, and Christina (Chride) Lassheikki. Your time, insight, and thoughtful feedback meant the world to us—and to the participants.

We're proud of what came out of this Arcjam; the games, the sense of momentum, generosity, and creative confidence they represent.

We're already looking forward to the next buzzing, story-filled event. Until then: keep writing, keep experimenting, and keep telling bold stories.