Gamecamp

[undyingking]

On Saturday I was at Gamecamp 6, which I thought a few people here might be interested in.

(I seem to have degenerated to LJing solely about games just lately. Sorry about that… although in my defence, they are occupying almost all my work and leisure time at the moment.)

Comments

[bateleur]

Regarding Twine - It's turning into quite an important tool for a reason which I suspect is very much in line with its design goals: it's easy to use. People who not only aren't programmers but wouldn't even be able to handle a non-code-based game design tool can pick up Twine and tell interactive stories. The people complaining about Twine's many shortcomings tend to miss the point that even if Twine is always the worst tool for the job it can still be very useful because sometimes it's the only tool for the job! (And it isn't really always the worst, either. At least not IMO.)

[bateleur]

(Anyone reading this who has always wanted to write an interactive story but never felt able to, I recommend giving Twine a quick look.)

[pengshui_master]

Actually twine's not powerful enough - at least not obviously for the IF in my mind. But that's because it needs to have a hideous amount of hidden state tracking embedded.

Having just looked at twine (well the video and the SVN repo) it looks like a well designed system , if anything that simplicity is a bonus for it's target audience.

There are UI elements I want to (and may well) rip out and use in my own MysteryMachine project , but MysteryMachine deliberately has a much greater scope, is less usable at the moment, and less complete.

It is very definitely food for thought though.

[bateleur]

Yes, indeed.

I think there's quite a bit of room for all sorts of different tools between Twine and Inform 7, which I've also played with and enjoyed.

Another system I've been playing with recently is the (pre?) alpha version of thickishstring, which seems to be trying to bring some measure of accessibility to multi-user dungeons.

What is MysteryMachine? I'm having trouble websearching it for obvious reasons!

[jvvw]

I went to the first GameCamp though haven't been to any since for various reasons - and rather enjoyed the mix of different kinds of games and people. Interesting to hear about your experience!

[undyingking]

Hope you will be able to again in future!

[squirmelia]

I've really enjoyed GameCamp the times I've been. Wished I had been able to make it this year.

[undyingking]

Sorry that you weren't able to (and about the reason why) - hope things are getting better.

[jiggery_pokery]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing the write-up.

Did you get any inkling that another BoardGameCamp might be held at some point, as distinct from a non-specific but as you say mostly digital GameCamp? The GameCamp web site hints at a possible second 2013 GameCamp in the autumn and when they held a GameCamp in Autumn 2010 then it had the board nature, so...

[undyingking]

I had a bit of a chat with James Wallis at the weekend and he was keen to have another GameCamp in the autumn, but probably again of a general nature. However he did talk about extending the GameCap brand to other events than unconferences: for example a seminar/design sesh, pencilled in for August, at which the guests would be Messrs Knizia, Tresham and Parlett. Which might be of interest.

[jiggery_pokery]

Couldn't they get anyone better?