So, we have just come back from a very exciting meeting about the first ever Bristol leg of the Extended Play Games Jam! Don’t know what it is? Read on, intrepid traveller…

The Extended Play Games Jam is a ‘hack-a-thon’ where a team of random creative/programmy/interested people come together and try and smash together a wicked good game out of the milieu of their minds, computers, beer and pizza in only 24 hours. It is a subset of the already pretty cool Extended Play Festival, held this year on November 3^rd-5th

The teams are given an overarching ‘theme’ which is only revealed at the beginning of the challenge, so it’s a little like (insert TV gameshow simile) gone mad! These games are then taken to the Extended Play festival itself, where people ooh and aah at how amazing/crap something is when made in only 24 hours. There might also be a prize, but by then someone had brought out mini rolls so we stopped taking notes…

Sounds good ey? For the first time ever this year they are running ‘pre’ events in (at the time of writing only Bristol and Plymouth, but hopefully others) which will again be 24 hours to rub together and create something cool at satellite sites on October 1st. These pre events will be live linked by Skype/Google+, enabling all manner of idea stealing and e-flirting fun.

Given the rich heritage of games development peeps in our fine city (Mobile Pie, Red Wasp Design and Mubaloo were all also at the meeting, amongst others) there was a general consensus that Bristol are going to SMASH this competition into West Country winning chunks.

We are also particularly excited by the idea that 29 creatives and just one developer will turn up, and what sort of games will manifest from the resulting 3000 mood boards (mood board bingo anyone?) But it’s also a great opportunity to get together with some of our local colleagues and have a few beers and a laugh.

Coming? See you on the games floor…

If you want get involved with one of the existing pre-Games Jam Jams:

Bristol – Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol
Contact: Tomas Rawlings - tomas.rawlings@redwaspdesign.com

Plymouth – Plymouth College of Art, Tavistock Place, Plymouth PL4 8AT
Contact: Dan Stubbs – dan@explay.co.uk

Or if you want to organise your own:  ben@explay.co.uk

There’s been some fantastic stuff coming our way to check out, some games and free postcards!

Online gaming – loads o’ press

Mobile Pie let us in on a cool site they’ve been ‘researching’ recently, it’s called ImInLikeWithYou which is a painfully addictive social on-line gaming site. It’s got a really simple suite of games, keeps you updated with who’s playing now, and the barrier to entry for playing is so low, you’re going to follow the link and not come back for hours. Interestingly and obviously they’ve just close 1.5million of investment to advance the online gaming cause!

PeaceMaker – play the news

All the boys have played games where we fight in WWII battles against the baddies and we’re all used to playing history, but what about a game that let’s you control a conflict which is much closer to our time. PeaceMaker allows us to play the Israeli & Palestinian government

“PeaceMaker challenges you to succeed as a leader where others have failed. Experience the joy of bringing peace to the Middle East or the agony of plunging the region into disaster. PeaceMaker will test your skills, assumptions and prior knowledge. Play it and you will never read the news the same way again.”

Sounds good dunnit!

Real physical stuff off Facebook – not just a gif!

Hippopost have started allowing users to send free personalised postcards to anyone they want! They offer to pay the postage and send it for you, but how’s it free? It’s clearly being paid for with a big shiny advert getting included on every card sent, also I wonder if they have a cheeky tick-box for adding you to a 3rd party mailling list?