This website is powered by a solar panel in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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We are looking for up to 8 mid-career or established game developers from around the world to participate in a virtual artist residency. Over the course of 2 months, each participant will create a game intending to use low-carbon techniques. The residency is fully online and will have collaborative check-ins to see how others are navigating the challenges of the design process. The games will be virtually exhibited on Solar Server and physically exhibited at A MAZE. / Berlin 2027 - 16th International Games and Playful Media Festival, May 5-8.
Greenhouse Games Residency is supporting the creation of games that use environmental and low-carbon tactics of any kind. The games can be browser-based or downloadable digital games, print and play games, TTRPGs—or whatever you think would work well being hosted and distributed on a small website! We’re interested in games that use radical production styles, weird lo-fi computation, or that lessen energy consumption on the player side. We are less interested in games whose goals are educational or purely thematic. We just ask that each game be 1GB or less!
Application Deadline: December 4th 2026, 11:59pm MT
Successful Applicants Announced: January 2027
Residency Duration: March - May 2027
Virtual Exhibition: June-September 2027
Honorarium: $2,166 CAD (see FAQ for details)
About Solar Server:
Solar Server is a solar-powered website that lives on an apartment balcony in Calgary, Canada. Created by Kara Stone, it is designed to host a series of low-carbon games. The first game made for it is Known Mysteries, with a second one forthcoming shortly. Greenhouse Games Residency will be the first opportunity for other game designers to make a game for the small solar-powered web server.
Requirements:
-----This residency is looking for mid-career or established game designers and not emerging or new designers. It is expected you will have released at least one game previously.
-----Artists will be present for weekly discussions and updates about your work, interviews about your game, and a virtual talk about your created game.
-----This is an environmentally driven endeavour so the use of Artificial Intelligence is not conducive to the goals of the project. GenAI is prohibited in any part of the development of the game, including concept art, dialogue, code, voice over, and more.
-----Fluent communication in English.
Greenhouse Games Residency is both an artist residency and a research project. The research team will conduct interviews about the artists’ processes, as well as participate in weekly check-ins and updates for the purpose of documenting the challenges and strategies relevant to making a low-carbon game. The information gathered throughout this process will be used to write academic articles about the process and restrictions of designing low-carbon games.
A group project is welcome; however, the pay is limited to one person, meaning that the group would receive the same total payment as one individual participant.
This residency is focused on how small, experimental art games can be created to be low-carbon through design and creativity. As such there aren't limitations to the content of your game.
2 Interviews: $391
Screening Introduction: $89
Presentation in Group Exhibition, 3 months: $686
Residency: $1000 ($500/month for 2 months)
This totals: $2166 per participant, including the residency, interviews, presentation, and exhibition of your work. The rates are based on current Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) fee recommendations.
Pay is through the Alberta University of the Arts. Billing information will have to be submitted directly to the University. We will facilitate this process.
If you have any questions, please contact kara.stone[at]auarts.ca.