NH Game Jam

Back in May, I decided to make a brand-new game with 2 strangers in 36 hours. Crazy, you say? Just a tad. The inaugural NH Game Jam sounded like a good idea and if not, at least a lot of fun. Even WMUR stopped by for a visit.

I work in software but not a start-up. That means some late nights or early mornings, but I have yet needed to work an all-nighter. And for that, I am very grateful. But even someone who loves sleep can get a bit jealous over tales of Hackathons or a least a bit curious.


So I signed up. 

The first night we were informed of the theme, the number 13. The video game designers can prepared with teams, but the board game folks draw names from a hat to determine with who we would be spending our next 36 hours. That's when I met Tony and Charles and got to work.

Through the night and day and the next night, we crafted what we thought was a quick, fun monster mash-up game. There are several kinds of monsters such as Bogzilla, Giant Ants, Werewolves and Dragons. It was important to us that it be playable by all ages. 

In the end, we wished we had more time and possibly a little more sleep. None of the folks on my team had ever designed a game before and I have to say I'm proud at what we were able to pull off. Also, a sweet touch was that all three of us hand drew the cards for our play-test deck. 

Although it had it's quirks, I think the first NH Game Jam was great. There are a few logistical tweaks, such as a more formal time for everyone to play test each other's games, to work through, but that's just first time event detail work. 

As for me, I'm hoping another one's somewhere on the horizon, now that I've had a chance to catch up on my rest.