Downtown Orlando Global Game Jam

IDEAS recently attended the downtown Orlando Global Game Jam, which is an event that thousands of game developers, artists, musicians, and even game enthusiasts attend to create a game within 48 hours. This year was a record breaking year according to their official website, noting that 28,837 people registered for 518 jam sites in 78 countries. This event is truly a global event that continues to grow each year. The purpose of the event is to bring the community together and make fun games and meet new people. Friendships have been forged and great games that have pushed the envelope of what is possible have all came out of these events.

Our team arrived at the Melrose Center downtown at the Orange County Public Library to begin their 48 hour adventure. The Melrose Center is an awesome environment that caters to creativity. Resources such as 3D printing, recording studios, simulators, interactive display walls, and a range of computers were made available to us by the Melrose Center. These same resources are available to everyone living in Orange County as well, so you should check it out if you are interested.

Here at IDEAS, everything we do revolves around story. We used this same thinking to drive the creative for the game we created at the Global Game Jam. We were given a secret theme that we had to use to drive the creative for the game we were to create. The secret theme took the form of a question, “what do we do now?” We also knew that we wanted to make a party game that allowed everyone playing to use their imaginations and come up with their own story. We took those directions and ended up creating a hilariously fun physical card game called Mullets & Mayhem.

The premise of Mullets & Mayhem is that you and everyone at the table are playing secret agents working for the Cockatrice Foundation. You and the other agents will constantly be thrown into ridiculous situations where you will need to use your wits and the items around you to prevent a catastrophe. Unfortunately, there can only be one hero of the day. Be warned that agents have the ability to foil your plans, so be careful who you trust. Sabotage is a two-way street, so you’ll have the ability to foil their plans as well. The goal of the game is to complete your escape plan first.

The main inspiration for the game came from the 80’s hit TV show MacGyver. The main character, MacGyver, would somehow always escape life or death situations using random objects that he would find around him. Our game is no different, the group will be given a random setting and a random conflict to set the location of the story. An example of a setting would be a hospital room, while an example of a conflict may be that there is a deadly toxin slowly filling the building via the ventilation system. The goal is always to distract the villan of the conflict, diffuse the source of the conflict, and escape. The first agent to complete his or her escape plan will be the winner!

We had a lot of fun making Mullets & Mayhem at the Global Game Jam, and we met some really talented individuals that were making some great games as well. We are excited for the future of gaming and to see how it changes the world we live in. We are continuing the develop Mullets & Mayhem so stay tuned for an official release in the near future! We had a lot of fun at the Global Game Jam and can’t thank the community and sponsors enough for coming together to be part of a such an awesome event. Here’s to the future!