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The biggest arcjam to date: from theme reveal to playable stories in a buzzing weekend of creativity and collaboration
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! In just 72 hours, creators from around the world used Arcweave's intuitive branching system and built-in Play Mode to conceive, prototype, and publish rich interactive narrative games, without coding requirements.
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. Thanks to Arcweave's intuitive editor, smooth learning curve, and real-time play mode, participants focused on their narrative design, instead of setup and installations.
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 creators collaborate, test branching narrative paths, and publish their complete stories in just 3 days was a powerful testament to what this community can do when given space for expression and the right intuitive tool for support.
Premiere of our new feature: Play Mode embed
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.
The feature couldn't have had a better debut. The 120 creators embedded their games into the web pages of itch.io, without exporting or using third-party tools.
What's amazing is that 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 reception Arcweave had in the writers community.
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.
These valuable insights are now feeding directly into Arcweave improvements, because we can build with real creator feedback in mind.
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.
These games show what's possible with Arcweave: you don't need a team of pros or prior experience to start building your own playable stories today. Arcweave isn't just a tool for prototyping; it's a platform where ideas become playable games in hours, not months.
We're already looking forward to the next buzzing, story-filled event. Until then: keep writing, keep experimenting, and keep telling bold stories.