PETAL — Blog — IGDA Chicago

A diverse lineup of games was shown at the Global Game Jam Play Party this year, hosted once again by DePaul CDM. Dozens of people had fun scrambling for supplies in space stations, exploring a sequence of surreal vignettes, and wearing different hats. Six out of the twenty six games developed in Chicago were presented at the event, including:

Alone with Hats – A quirky 2D platforming game where players gain different abilities from wearing different hats
Cosmic Equalizer – A surreal 3D game that is “a space symphony about the inevitability of death” (play it here)
Project 2201 – Players memorization and hand coordination skills are put to the test in this top-down action game, where the input keys are randomized each playthrough (play it here)
Space Scavengers – In this 2D co-op game, players race to collect enough supplies from abandoned space stations before its imminent destruction
Two Rats, One Cage – A 2D puzzle game where players simultaneously navigate two rats out of a series of dangerous experiments (play it here)
Vision Quest – Players guide a fox, an eagle, and a fish in search of the sacred totems in this 3D adventure game (play it here)

Thank you to everyone who came by or presented their game, and to Allen Turner for helping to co-organise and photograph the event! Check out the photos for the party on IGDA Chicago’s Flickr page!

There was a fantastic line-up of games at the Global Game Jam Play Party last Thursday. Some were artistic, others experimental, while still some others were quirky and innovative in their own right. Most, if not all of them, gave their own take on this year’s GGJ theme: “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

Hosted by DePaul CDM, the Play Party featured 11 games, which were developed at both DePaul University and PETAL et al. during the Global Game Jam. From surreal Jean Giraud-inspired environments, to procedurally generated mazes, there was a wide range of games that kept people entertained throughout the night.

You could communicate with characters using a physical microphone in games such as A Night on the Town, frantically prepare for a party through a multi-perspective layout reminiscent of graphic novels in You Call This a Party?, and go on an auditory journey through 1980s America in the Choose Your Own Adventure-inspired game Precinct Midnight.

All in all, the Play Party was a huge success, just as the Global Game Jam was at DePaul University and PETAL et al. A huge thank you to everyone who came by and to Allen Turner for helping to co-organise the event!