Tiggit is like Steam but for free indie games. Also like when Steam first launched it’s Windows-only so if your a Mac user like me then you’ll have to wait (or use Boot Camp). You can follow Tiggit’s progress on their blog.
With a total of 336 games (and demos) so far this should be a neat way to stay in the loop about indie games. The project is open source and if your next game is free and runs on Windows then you can have your game listed.
Here’s a brief on the features:
Features:
Contains over 300 freeware games (and a few demos)
The Watchers is an augmented board game, co-designed by a team of kids, which teaches online privacy literacy skills to children 8+. Learn more at Gaming Privacy. A really nifty part of this project is that it is an augmented board game, as in you need the board game and iPad to play it.
Found this good little description of the game on their website:
The Watchers takes place in an inter-dimensional town called Union City. Tasked with protecting the city is a secret arms-length government agency, made up of the top agents from each dimension. The team must investigate a number of mysterious events surrounding the town’s hat-based augmented reality network, known as Hatnet. Through these investigations, players learn a number of real-world privacy concepts as well as developing their critical thinking and risk assessment skills.
The game comes out mid-May and I’m really looking forward to it!
Skyrim has been on the Steam Workshop for a few months now and has seen some nifty things come out of it. Valve has announced that Portal 2 will get a level creator on the Steam Workshop too.
The Verge is reporting that May 8 will be the official release date for the creation kit. Of course, it’s Valve so don’t forget to adjust your clocks to Valve Time.
I haven’t had a good chance to explore the creation kits in detail but I’m interested in seeing how I can use the workshop to help teach game design.
Health care is an ever-expanding industry so it makes sense that the world of games and health will intersect.
For an introduction to the complexities of health care in the developed world and how we can start seeing how games can impact it watch this keynote by Ben Swayer at the most recent Games for Health – Europe conference.
General care
When it comes to general care there have been some attempts like WiiFit that brought the idea of games connected to health to the mainstream. The connection between professional game designers and health care practitioners can better bridge the divide between for-profit and for-health care. The ideal is people play games that are fun in itself, and it just so happens that the games are about (or for) healthy living.
Foldit is the most popular example of a game that uses players to research solutions that computers can’t solve. This game focus on the complexity of protein folding.
Phylo is another example of a game that uses the players of the game to compute complex information. The players assemble sequences of DNA for success!
*It’s also worth noting that health games and serious games (education) have a lot in common but I feel that is covered enough elsewhere on this blog.
Unfortunately I was not able to get down to GDC 2012, but I was following some of the chatter online and spoke to people upon their return. I’ve compiled a few things that I think are noteworthy and one should keep an eye on. If I was at the conference itself I’m sure the list would be quite different.
A procedural world generator called Outerra that can put Minecraft to shame .
It also looks like the world of mind reading is improving with a game of mental tug of war.
CryEngine, which powers the Crysis series and military simulators had a new tech trailer on display and it looks impressive – would you expect anything less? The new tech trailer for CryEngine3 can be seen on GameTrailers.
