Front Row on Games

I while back I posted about how the BBC Radio 4 program Front Row doesn't cover video games. On Friday they ran this show:

Front Row - Naomi Alderman on video games

It is well worth the time to listen to it. Molyneux, as usual, gets a bit carried away! I always find these shows part reassuring and part frustrating. They have so much ground to cover and have to touch on so many issues that, as someone who is invested in all this, find infuriating that they spend so little time on things that warrant entire shows. However, the closing point is fantastic: Probably the main reason games don't get the cultural recognition they deserve is simply because critics find them too difficult. But instead of saying games should be made easier, she instead concludes that people should invest the time now so they don't miss out on the future of the most exciting art form of the moment.

Anyway, apologies for not posting, very busy with uni stuff. I took part in Global Game Jam 2012 and worked with a team of people from Lionhead which was very exciting. You can play Gloop here. It is a racing game made in UDK where the path you took on the previous lap determines the next lap. You are only allowed off the track for a certain amount of time. The aim is to race for as long as possible - you can increase your time by collecting power ups that are off the edge of the track. Sometimes they will be too far off to drive to collect and instead you must morph the track towards them.

I also took part in the Warwick Game Design Societies game jam where we made games for the Pirate Kart 2012. We made two games. The first: Magic Mooshrooms is a snake-esque game where you control and cow and the more mushrooms you eat, the more trippy the game becomes. The second (not yet published) game was called mad Cow Stacking Attacking defender (or something) and you had to fight off oncoming cows who would form a set of stairs to climb over your wall. These are both proof of how could XNA is at a tool - I worked with two people who hadn't made a game (certainly not in 48 hours) and we were able to produce two games that I am very proud of.

I will try and write up a post mortem for both jams but currently super busy. I am working at doublesix for my internship next year and hopefully, since I won't have piles of home work, will be able to blog a little more