National Game Development Month

The month of June is National Game Development Month!! Here's the general idea from the website (here):

Have you always wanted to make a game?
Do you already make games, but feel stuck in a rut?
Have you tried to make games before, but have no idea where to start?
Do you like the energy of game jams, but want more time to actually finish your work?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should participate in National Game Development Month in June!

We're building a community of game makers who can encourage you to start and help you finish the game that's been dancing in your imagination for years. Come give it a try.

So, by the end of June I am going to have a pretty well finished game, and I'm going to do the best that I can to document the process, even though I am traveling and on vacation. I've always wanted to design a deck-building game (here's an explanation of what that kind of game entails), so that is where I am starting. I'm also pretty excited about The Book of Jer3miah (here) online web series, recently released by Deseret Book on DVD, so I am thinking that will serve as the theme for the game.

The plan right now is to give quick updates via Facebook, with weekly updates popping up here on the blog. I'll do my best to document my thought processes, the methods I use to test the ideas, etc. I am very interested in getting others involved as playtesters, and am not completely opposed to the idea of collaborating with someone on the design itself. That being said, if you have any inkling to contribute, please let me know. I would also love to hear from others who are interested in participating by designing their own games during the National Game Development Month.

Book of Jer3miah

Two BYU professors and an on campus club wrote and produced an online video series called the Book of Jer3miah (here). The first season is cut up into 20 online episodes that last anywhere from 4 to 14 minutes. The series has quite an interesting storyline: a cool, mysterious little box is given to Jeremiah, who must protect it and not let it fall into the wrong hands. As the episodes progress viewers learn all sorts of new things about Jeremiah, his past, and his future.

It's received several accolades, such as "A tight, suspenseful series..." from the New York Times; selection as one of the official honorees for the 2010 Webby Awards.

So, at this point you may be asking yourself, "how does this fit into LDS themed games?" This is the coolest part of the series: they wanted to provide viewers with not only an interesting story to watch, but they also wanted to provide a sort of alternate reality gaming experience! So, there are clues given throughout the first season that lead viewers to, among other things, places on BYU campus. There's a Professor Davenport character included in the episodes and to go along with that there is a website: The Davenport Papers (here). This is a place for viewers to congregate and share their insights and ideas about the series and the clues.

Also, the supposed "evil" people in the series are part of what is called Zooby News. There is also a website associated with that (here), where you can watch special, extra interviews and things that provide more clues. The season 1 finale was posted to the website in the middle of last year, so things have died down, but there is still hope of there being a 2nd season. I wish I had known about this as it was being released (not that that would have changed much for me, as I live in Logan and don't have an easy way of getting to BYU to search for clues), but it's still fun to go back and see what kinds of things people were finding.

This, in my opinion, is a great thing for LDS film and I hope to see more things like this in the future, not to mention seeing a second season of the Book of Jer3miah!