Category «Game Jam»

Global Game Jam, once again

Hey! As you might have noticed already, since December the Rat King is back in Germany, after their long trip to Brazil. It was a very event- and insightful stay, and we are glad that the Kunststiftung Saxony-Anhalt and the Goethe-Institut in Salvador de Bahia offered us this opportunity.

While we're back at working on various stuff, including contract work, we also prepare for the upcoming Global Game Jam in our city. Just like last year Friedrich is going to organize a GGJ site at the Designhaus Halle, and if you're around from 31st January till 2nd February you're invited to take part!

Last year we were around 15 people, which is a nice cozy number, and we hope for a similar, if not higher amount of participants this year. Someone even created a board game within the 48 hours, which was one of our highlights.

Forest Poems

The Climate Change Jam we hosted on Alakajam has ended, and we actually managed to submit an entry too. Our idea was to bring the need for our planet's reforestation to people's attention. Ultimately, Forest Poems became less of a game but a collaborative forest where participants can create and add their own small soil patches with trees which also form a poem.

The texts are semi-randomly generated from a list of words, chosen from five different nature-themed poems by five different authors (you can find the credits in the game). Prominently on Forest Poems' start screen are three links to various sites concerned about planting trees.

We like how players are have to place their trees in a pleasant composition while also thinking of a somewhat meaningful poem. And afterwards it has to fit to the already existing patches, slightly challenging creativity a third time. And of course, seeing the virtual forest grow over time is a joy to watch.

Ten projects were submitted to the Climate Change Jam - more than we expected! Mostly because the theme is hard and does not spark "fun"; which is the reason we wanted to do it. Game jams are awesome, and we think they could be inspiration for "more" than just throw-away projects. In any case we want to thank all the participants (and those who tried)!

By the way, this week the gamescom in Cologne starts. Jana will be there for a few days - if you see her, say hi!

Climate Change Jam announced

Over at Alakajam!, the site for excellent game jamming, we will host an event with a bit more significance than usual. We were thinking about how people have so much creative energy when participating in game jams, and how this energy could be used for an important topic, maybe the most important one of our time. So, here it is now:

It would great if more people see the urgency of our planet's climate crisis too and submit a statement - it doesn't even have to be a game - to the Climate Change Jam next month. While the event probably won't make a big difference in itself, it would be a symbol.

Climate Change Jam is officially happening from August 10th to 18th, 2019. The official announcement post is here, where you will also be able to submit your entry.

Let's make this happen!