Not Just Video Games

Creating a video game in 24 hours can be a daunting task, no matter what your skill level.  The creators of the GGJ have always recognized this as a strong barrier to entry, and this year they have added a new “track” to GGJ to try and address that issue – Paper Prototypes, AKA Board Games!

At first board games might not feel as sexy as the latest trailer for DeadSpace 2, and your mom might actually like some of them, but that by no means indicates they aren’t as good, if not far better games than some of the top video games out there.  In fact, many excellent computer games started off with paper prototypes in the first place.  My still-dear favorite in the RTS genre, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War (not the sequel) had its roots in a paper prototype, and that’s just one of thousands of examples.

Now, the GGJ site says all you need is a pen, paper and some glue, but I’d personally recommend some other things.  Being realistic – you’ll need dice, and lots of them. I’d also highly recommend notecards, postcards, just some nice hard paper products that can stand up to some abuse – and a variety of sizes is also a good idea. Some things you can use for “counters” are also good (if you bring lots of dice they work fine) for keeping track of resources your game might have, score, etc.

Now board games will be new to the 2011 GGJ, but an interesting point that one could argue is that if your personal goal for the GGJ is to get the ball rolling on something you’d like to take farther – a paper prototype can make a lot more sense than trying to hash out a bunch of code and graphics.  The focus will be entirely on gameplay and interaction, and after 24 hours you might decide you’ve got something good enough you want to take digital.

Whatever your goal, there’s really no excuse not to come  and give the global game jam a spin this year.  Looking forward to seeing you all there!

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