The Experimental Gameplay Project

[bapenguin]

The Experimental Gameplay Project (http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/) is a per semester project by 4 students at Carnegie Mellon University. Their goal? Create 1 game a week (each) for the entire semester.

In Spring 2005, four grad students at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center got together to create over 50 games in one semester. The philosophy behind the project was that complexity is not necessary for fun, and that it is possible to have fun even with simple primatives if given a compelling interaction and goal. The project gained a lot of exposure and positive response from gamers and people in the game industry, and was deemed a success.
Each game must be created by one person, including all artwork, sound, and programming. It's a good site to find some quick games to pickup and play. The project is now in it's second iteration, with 4 new students giving it a go.

I wonder what kind of college credit these guys are getting for this.
It was a blast in our Advanced Java class in college when we all got to create our own games and then present them. There was always a wide variety of gametypes and gameplay styles.

[Varsity]

Talk about a blast from the past. Tower of Goo and Super Tummy Bubble are my favorites.

[NoName]

And the industry is talking about longer development times and high costs. All you need is one man and a week.

Well, maybe we won't be getting uber graphics and hours of gameplay, but there's still a lot of wonderful indy work out there.

My favorite is Eyezmaze (http://www.eyezmaze.com/), if you've never seen that site before give it a try. Tons of fun and all done by one Japanese guy. I definately recommend trying Grow (the newest one is Cube). It's a small puzzle game but tons of fun, and very satisfying if you can finish it without cheating :D.

[bapenguin]

If anybody cares, here's the game (http://www.happyapplefarm.net/Missle.zip) I did for the project. It was a missle command clone. I think we had 3 weeks to do it though, not 1. :)

You need the Java runtime to run it. If it blows up your PC or neuters your dog....I'm not responsible.

[drakkarim]

"50 games in one semester" - so much for any hope of any new programmers revitilizing the industry. sounds like the EA programmer production line to me, not something >I< would be bragging about as a college/university.

[Varsity]

Just goes to show how little you know really. :p

[drakkarim]

i'll assume that was sarcasm in regards to your sig?

in any case, these microwave games probably are quite good as an excercise of under-pressure brainstorming, although that's still more to the benefit of the EA sweatshops then the actual programmers :)

[BigJonno]

There are some fun games there and many of them, especially the Kyle Gabler stuff, are a real triumph of style over power in the graphics department.

[AniAko]

There was a time I would give my spleen, liver, one testicle, and a leg to program Sony or BigN video games. :eek: That was about 10 years ago before the industry put on the glam and bling, making video game production parallel to movie productions. Now? :confused: I'd rather taste test mysterious powders in envelopes from the US postal service. I STILL desire to make games, just not in the competative console industry; not the way it is.

It's great to see innovative games, no matter how simple they may be. How many of us have spent time with Zooma, Rocket Mania, or other Pop Cap games like them? Most everyone has bowling and/or mini-golf at least on their cell phones. They're fun, they're addicting, and you don't see "Bejewled 2005", "Slingo 2005", or "Chris Barnes JamDat Bowling 2006". Kudos to the students of Carnegie, we'll remember who made those games; nobody cares who programmed Madden 2001. ;)

[The Iron Weasel]

I really enjoy tower of goo.