Hey! Hi!
As you may know (or not) for this year Narrascope we hade some bootcamps previous to the events, where attendants could learn Inform 7 or Twine, and proceed to present what have they learned in the form of new Interactive Fictions for Narrascope. Well, so this year I hosted the Platypuses Jam!, inviting the participants to have some fun thinking on games around platypuses, zorkian, real or methaphorical, or don’t use the theme at all.
This year we had 5 games, only 5, but they are so promising and so funny, that I want to make a thread highlighting them.
But first, idulge me with some words on the making of the jam, and a reflection on organising jams. Let’s go!
I organise jams like Rayuela de Arena jam or ECTOCOMP (the spooky IF competition returning every October). This experience has led me to design the Platypuses jam as an out-of-stress jam. There’s no obligation to follow the theme, even there’s no obligation to present a complete game. This jam is meant for the bootcamp participants to show what they have learned.
This is something I’ve been considering for years, that feeling that jams are too restricting. I mean, the nature of original musical jams is to go to the pub, jam with musicians, and just get something of it. It does not have to be completed in form. So as a jam organizer, I started doing exactly that, “Jam jammy jams” where there’s no need to complete a game, or start a new one, just hang around and get something done, share it with others, meet people, share experiences, etc. Who cares if you did not get time to finish a complete game?
I had this itch just some years ago when I crunched myself till 5 am, drinking a lot of coffee, I noted as my heart was fainting! It was quite scary and I said: nevermore. Also, one thing a friend says resonated with that moment:
QUOTE: “I see jams as a way to train game devs to the crunch culture.”
That really hurt and kept me thinking. I organize some ranked jams because if not the games go unplayed and uncommented, so it is like a lesser evil. So… this platypuses jam has been an advance of all those feelings.
The platypus theme was inspired by @kamineko, “discovery” that the royal family mentioned in the Zork lore were platypuses, in this great post:
So, for this jam, I like to make references to classic text adventure topics but with a twist. Past Narrascope jam we had Time for Adventure, suggesting classic themes but at the same time with a nod to Adventure Time. So for this year, Zorkian platypuses were just too funny to let them pass!
Also, for the Visual design of the jam web page, I went to something nostalgic, and I thought, what’s the best retro feeling of the Infocom games? Yes, playing them on a Macintosh, is something I’ve not experienced, but I love that aesthetic. So that is, the background is a monochrome pattern mimicking the Mac one, with public domain platypuses fitted.
Thank you for reading, and with that. On to the games!