From meandering rivers to vast worlds: Visualisation Lab game jam results
20 August 2026
While most students take a break from studying in the summer, in August six curious minds challenged themselves to create a playable game in a week. This year’s theme of the game jam, organised by the Visualisation Lab, was ‘Meander’. The two teams were made up of two Bachelor’s students, one Master’s student, two PhD candidates and a designer from outside the UvA.
The teams took the theme in very different directions. The game Meandering Water was inspired by rivers winding through a landscape. In this challenging puzzle game, players help nature guide a river along its course. The team behind A Storm is Coming took a more free-form approach, inviting players to explore a vast world and meet its interesting characters.
The atmosphere throughout the week was relaxed and collaborative, with both teams working hard while also exchanging ideas and helping each other along the way. It was great to see two such different games emerge from the same theme.
