Off I Go

(This post is from my phone, so sorry if there’s typos.) In 9 hours I’ll be on a plane to California, where for the next 4 days I will be participating as an intern in the Indie Game Jam. I’m really excited to be working with a bunch of way cool people to make a whole lot of innovative little games. This year we have a theme (instead of a technology prompt). That theme is “human interaction.” This is a high-risk Jam theme with potentially high payoff if we do something cool. I must say there have been some pretty neat ideas for Jam games thrown about so far, but I’m keeping my mouth shut until after we present at GDC (or until Chris Hecker says otherwise!).

I will say that I’ve been toying with a nonviolent protest game idea, but I’m not sure what the actual gameplay will be. I was thinking of maybe a blockade-style protest, though something tells me that there’s a game to be had in “nonviolently resisting arrest,” as well. Jeremiah suggested that I look into a user interface of indirect control over the characters, so something more tactical rather than strategic. Oh well–I’ll mull this over on the plane.

Stay tuned for updates on the Game Jam after I get there. Also stay tuned for my report on the Game Developers Conference, which starts Monday in San Francisco. I’ve been attending GDC since 2003, and it’s consistently my favorite week of the year. I can’t wait to see what happens this year!