The Peter Molydeux Game Jam Gets Real

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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The Peter Molydeux Game Jam Gets Real


Peter Molydeux, the brilliant Twitter parody of famed game designer Peter Molyneux, is getting his very own, real-life game jam.

"You play a father whose family dog has gone missing. You die looking for it and return home in the body of the missing dog." That's one of the many amazing ideas for a videogame to come from Peter Molydeux [https://twitter.com/#!/petermolydeux], a Twitter parody account of Peter Molyneux, a man of wild inspiration that sometimes, and only sometimes, leads to great videogames. A few others of note:


"You have to bake your enemies correctly before feeding them to your master. The oven? Only accessible during the 'game over' screen"
"What if you played a game where the enemies had their children chained to them?"
"What if NPC's could load and save your game? You have to keep on their side otherwise they won't save your game, load old saves etc"
"Romantic parkour game in which you and the love of your life must hold hands and jump around a city evading death and injury"


Molydeux's ideas are usually outrageous, sometimes hilarious and, as Anna Kipnis of Double Fine Productions pointed out, occasionally kind of intriguing. "has there already been an indie game jam where each team picks an idea from @petermolydeux and goes for it?" she tweeted [https://twitter.com/#!/doubleanna/status/179660697163137025] a couple days ago. "it needs to happen."

And now, thanks to the magic of the internet, it is happening. The two-day MolyJam2012 will become a real, live thing on March 31, with more than 160 people signed up to attend events in San Francisco, Brighton, New York City, Boston, Melbourne, Seattle and Montreal. Molydeux, sadly, won't be able to attend but in a very cool twist, Molyneux himself has signed up to follow the jam online and may actually go to the Brighton gathering.

"You control a mystical rabbit at a bus stop during Winter. You must find as many creative ways as possible to make people miss their buses." Who wouldn't leap at the chance to play that? You can find out more about the MolyJam2012 and grab some signup links at Google Docs [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhmSHS9S3JZvdGFqS1lvRVA4VGotU3ItSUZMZ1JmTXc#gid=0].

Source: Kotaku [http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/3/14/2871189/fake-molyneux-game-design-challenge-may-include-real-molyneux]


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putowtin

I'd like to purchase an alcohol!
Jul 7, 2010
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Brillant, can't get to Brighton this year, but good luck (and lot's of laughs) to everyone involved!
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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latenightapplepie said:
HA! This is amazingly wonderful.

I can't wait to see the results.
It will be funny, but no production will live up to the humor inherant in this because nobody is going to develop any of these ideas as AAA titles, and in the end thinking of them that way is exactly what makes it funny.

Personally I want to see that Survival Horror Bowling game developed at a AAA level. Most of the Molydeux stuff is too surreal and silly to take seriously, but that one (along with the video) apparently actually had interested devs contact the real Molyneux before they were in on the joke. Probably because as utterly ridiculous as it was, you could almost see people playing that one. :)
 

redisforever

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Oct 5, 2009
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"You control a mystical rabbit at a bus stop during Winter. You must find as many creative ways as possible to make people miss their buses." I want this game now! Seriously, this is brilliant!

May end up going to the Montreal one, we'll see.
 
Jan 27, 2011
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LMAO!!!! That sounds awesome!

If I had proper coding experience (I haven't had a programming class in a YEAR, plus I'm too busy with all kinds of other stuff to practice on my own), then I would LOVE to attend something like this.

Not only is it a game jam, but it's an utterly ridiculous one!

Captcha: Describe "Hennessy" brand with any words. .....Well...It has the word "hen" in it.......*writes "Tastes like Chicken" in the captcha*
 

Micalas

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Mar 5, 2011
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Andy Chalk said:
"What if NPC's could load and save your game? You have to keep on their side otherwise they won't save your game, load old saves etc"
"Romantic parkour game in which you and the love of your life must hold hands and jump around a city evading death and injury"

"You control a mystical rabbit at a bus stop during Winter. You must find as many creative ways as possible to make people miss their buses."
I have no problem with any of these ideas.
 

sir.rutthed

Stormfather take you!
Nov 10, 2009
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That one with the bunny and the bus? I'd play the shit outta that. Even if the games get no budged, ideas like that are the kind of thing that actually will work better in an Indie setting than a AAA setting. Can't wait!
 

DEAD34345

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Aug 18, 2010
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As hilariously stupid as they are, I'd actually love to play every one of the games quoted here. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them turned out to be genuinely good, and even if they didn't they'd be worthwhile to play simply for the novelty. If an AAA publisher ever actually made one of these they'd certainly earn some respect (and money) from me.
 

BrotherRool

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Oct 31, 2008
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Molyneux is amazing for not only being good-natured about this, but even following it himself