Lucas Debes

Lucas Jacobsøn Debes (1623 in Stubbekøbing - 1675) was a Danish priest, topographer, rocket scientist and celebrated writer about the Faroe Islands. In 1673, he built the first rocket-powered aircraft in the world, with the purpose of escaping the local bailiff's clutches. When he finally reached Denmark (after mistakenly landing in Northern England), Debes was barely conscious and all of his limbs had suffered severe frostbite from the lack of frost shielding in the craft. He was then promptly wheeled into the Dutch Parliament, little more than a stump, and reported the bailiff's numerous abuses and saved the Faroese.

Comatose

"Comatose" is a single player HL2 mod by Aspik where you're bleeding uncontrollably, so you have to take all these pills (clotting agents?) as you try to escape a building in some sickly yellow apocalyptic city -- a great summation of my daily life in New York City.

 Warning! Mechanics spoilers / design analysis after the jump...

Not dead, just busy. I have a few posts in the works (manifesto for single player layout design, Dark Past pt. 3, documentation of my board game about open-pit mining) but I've actually been spending my time working on projects instead of blogging about them, which is an interesting shift in habit...

Kentucky Route Zero

Just wanted to remind people about the Kickstarter drive for Kentucky Route Zero, ending in less than 3 days. It has some very talented talent behind it. And, well, just watch the trailer and prepare to be amazed. (The $40 USD donation level looks the most "optimal" -- you get postcards, a poster, as well as the game. Oh, and good vibes / karma, I guess?)

Global Game Jam 2011: Thoughts / Post-Mortem

• "Extinction" wasn't a good theme. Too many people easily rationalized it to "any mechanic where you kill NPCs" which is, like, every single game ever?
• Non-digital games were tolerated, but not really accepted. It was impossible to adequately demo a board game during the 2 minute final presentations at the end. In this case, it really encourages bigger games where players actively stand up and move around / perform... which might've been interesting to make. Damn.
• There should be semi-mandated playtests / progress checks. Just sayin'. As it is, people talk sometimes but mostly just stay in their groups to work.
• Keita Takahashi's keynote was pretty awesome, though.
• Two games is easily doable and I highly recommend making two to everyone... Unfortunately, me and my teammate were a little too relaxed and ended up working only for 24 of the 48 hours. Oh well. 
• Here are my entries, collabs with Eddie Cameron: a 2 player board game about the extinction of love and trust in a marriage (Polymer) and a Unity-powered FPS about the extinction of print media (Goldblum).

BRB

Global Game Jamming @ NYU.

20 Brush Challenge @ MapCore: Vote Now!

"Ludonarrative Dissonance," by Matthew "Lunaran" Breit

The MapCore 20 Brush Challenge (as previously mentioned) has wrapped up and we saw some really awesome turnout (as well as some really talented new users!) submit maps. There are four (4) categories: best overall, coolest visuals, awesomest layout, and most creative brushwork. Guidelines / advice for voting is included in each thread.

Voting is open to the public (though I think you'll need an account) and it's more or less a screenshot contest -- but some of these entries really do deserve to be played, if not simply just to see them in motion, as with Lunaran's "Take On Me"-esque entry pictured above.

Anyway, please have a look and vote! You have 47 hours! (And stick around MapCore too, you might enjoy yourself...)

(Oh, and credit for running everything / being awesome goes to Mr. Weldon)

Can you find the fine line between a reward that encourages players to have fun and an incentive that enslaves them?

Then you should be a "Player Investment Designer," possibly the most evil-sounding game job ever? (via @witnessgame) Let's enslave all our players!