Oh hi there! You know, we here at the Gamecraft organisational hive mind have been thinking recently that, with all the fancy digital tom foolery and electronic doohickeys going on in game development these days, we’ve lost touch with what it’s like to do some pure game design. You know how PopPop used to make games? Little bits of paper. And a stick! And sometimes he’d get so involved in what he was doing that he’d wander off and we’d find him standing in the neighbours paddling pool. Without his clothes on. Ah PopPop!

So with Gamecraft Unplugged, we’re going to try something different. Leave your Three Dimensional Studio Maximum, your fancy text editors, and your noise machines at home, and come along with just your mind and some pen and paper. And maybe a stick if you’re so inclined. Some dice might also be useful. The rules are simple. We’ll announce a theme, as per usual Gamecrafts, and you’ll then have 6 hours to design a board game, a card game, a pure numbers game, anything you like really, so long as it doesn’t require electricity to run it.

Similar to previous GameCrafts, a theme will be announced at the beginning, form teams, make games, panic, rush to finish the game… and BOOM! It’s the play and judging part of the jam.

Details

When

Sunday 10th November (12PM – 6PM)

Where

Studio 1 & 2, Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin (map)

Registration

Sponsors

Venue thanks to Science Gallery

The Science Gallery is a world first. A new type of venue where today’s white-hot scientific issues are thrashed out and you can have your say. A place where ideas meet and opinions collide. — sciencegallery.com

FAQ

Q: Can I bring a computer?

You can if you want for looking up ideas, drawing up designs, etc., but you won’t be making the game on your computer.

Q: What to bring?

That depends on what you’re gonna make – we won’t be able to provide all the fiddly little bits you need to make your game, so if you’ll be making a board game, take along the components you’ll need – card, tape, dice, avatars, etc.

With that in mind, you’ll probably want to take a bit of time and figure out what one or two types of games you reckon you’d like to make, so that you can prepare your toolbox in advance. (I have my battlemat, markers and heroclix ready myself).

The theme for this jam will be a bit less restrictive than at others, so that you can adapt it to your game-type of choice.

Get thinking now so that you can be prepared for the tinkering then!

Q: What kind of games are we expected to created at this event?

Table-top games, Role Playing Games, street games, and other pervasive games.