Summary from the Virtual Game Jam
in Second Life on April 21-22, 2007

The Virtual Game Jam was held on TC Educator Island on April 21 to April 22, 2007, and organized by Carla Coppens. It was an opportunity for game developers (professional, hobby, or aspiring) to gather for 24 hours and create games in Second Life. (View the original announcement.)

When the participants arrive on the island, they were told the theme for the game jam – trick. The goal was to create a game of any type around the idea of trick (be it card game, strategy, magic, or otherwise) and be ready to share it by 10am SLT on April 22.

The resulting games (including working copies of games, idea descriptions, or puzzle pieces) are described below, and almost all of the games are in this display on TC Educator Island.

Teachers College Second Life (TC Educator Island http://slurl.com/secondlife/TC%20Educator/125/194/25) is a place where members from the TC community and others can visit to explore a virtual environment, teach a class, visit with friends, practice their designing and building skills, and conduct research on and about virtual spaces.

If you have questions or comments about the Virtual Game Jam, please contact Carla Coppens in world or at carlaeng <at> gmail <dot> com.

Chat Game
By Carla Coppens and Tristan Curtis

In this game, players carry on a conversation while avoiding restricted letters that are randomly chosen by the game engine. For example, if the restricted letter is t, you cannot use the letter t in anything you say. As the game progresses, more letters are restricted from use. The last player chatting wins. Strategies to win currently include tricking others into saying restricted letters or work-arounds like @ for a.

The game is for two or more players.

Lineup
By Gus Andrews

Lineup is a game designed to test whether gesture, posture, facial expressions and other physical cues can do the same "work" in helping us understand -- and trust -- each other in Second Life as they do in the real world.
The objective is to guess who is in the crime syndicate before all the "innocent" parties are killed. But the crime syndicate will try to trick you into believing they're innocent. The game is basically a SL port of "Mafia," if you've ever played that game.

The game is best with four or more players.

New Door Anagram
By Lyr Lobo

This puzzle presents participants with blocks that spell "New Door." The goal is to rearrange the letters into one word.

Unnamed game (inspired by the shell-game)
By Satchmo Prototype

This game is based on the shell-trick game that you might see on a boardwalk. Each of the six boxes will flash a number and you have to pick which box didn't show 0. The game can also be extended to colors or cards.
The game is for one player, but may be extended to multiple players.

Murder Mystery
By Moongoose Schwartzman

The game engine randomly chooses one of the players to be the murderer. That person has to trick other players into believing that one of the other players is the guilty person.

The game is currently for four players but will eventually work for up to eight players.

Battle Squares
By Moongoose Schwartzman

Each player sits at one side of the gameboard and chooses five squares on a grid. The game board is set so that the players cannot see each other's choices, but the players also have to promise not to peek. Players then take turns guessing what squares the opponent chose. But either person can lie or pull out a few tricks.
The game is for two players.

© 2007 Carla Engelbrecht