I returned to Adventure Jam in 2017 with a new set of challenges. In 2016 we had joined as a team and always knew what to do and who would do it. We were all working together locally. In 2017 I did not have that luxury. At the time, contact with my old team for AWAKE had broken up and I was a solo developer.
Author: jens
This year’s Waterkant Festival was a very special time for us: not only did we have the chance to show our game ‘The Ransom‘ to…
Game jams are a magical thing. You get together with friends both old and new and create a video game in a very short timespan. In a way, jams are microcosms. While the jam is going your priorities are shifted, your whole life seems to circle around this tiny little game you are creating – and when the jam is over, what remains is usually a barely playable prototype, deep rings under your eyes and a huge pile of new experiences, lessons learned and treasured moments.
I decided to start this blog with a post about Dear Esther because it was the first game in the relatively new genre of ‘Walking Simulators’. It is revolutionary in many ways, most notably for getting rid of video game conventions and exploring what lies at the core of interactive experiences. What do we really need to present to the player to create a ‘meaningful’ experience?
This post will dive deep into Dear Esther’s creation, intention, and reception and try to draw conclusions from this unique video game experience. Note that this post does contain spoilers and a brief description of the ending, so if you have not yet played Dear Esther you should experience it yourself before reading this post.