Play Make Learn Zine Jam!

I’ve been looking over my convention opportunities this year, and I am coming to the conclusion that there’s not many I will be attending. I don’t anticipate a big release this year, unless something dramatic happens, so that means most conventions can’t be justified. I’m still considering Metatopia, as it’s my favorite, but the only one I am attending is the Play Make Learn Conference in Madison, WI, in July.

I’ll be running the Zine game jam: Making tiny games, which is a hands on workshop where I will be supplying templates for a zine which attendees will then fill with their game. It’s the first time I’m running it, and I’m very excited. I’ll be bringing copies of some of my zines, like The Maiden and The Rake, Savage Garden (with adult content warning), and Goatmother, as well as some other people’s zines to show as examples.

The formats I’m planning will cover a small PbtA game, a Tarot based game, and a d6 journaling game. The Maiden and The Rake is an example of a Tarot based game, where you react to the Tarot card pulled from a deck, but the template will be simplified.

The zine jam is only 75 minutes long, which isn’t a lot of time to make a game, and also to make a zine on top of that. So most attendees may not finish during the workshop, but I hope they’ll finish their games either during the convention or after.

You can see the session here.

Zine game jam: Making tiny games

Zines are having a renaissance in games right now, and it’s no wonder. Tiny games that can be played in an hour, a day; alone, or with several others, bundled up in just a few pages - what’s not to love?Participants will be creating their own tiny game in zine format. Several pre-formatted zines will be available, as well as blanks. Participants will have access to art supplies including paint, collage, and other mark making materials. Short lecture will include examples of tiny games along with emphasis on how visual art components support or subvert the game’s theme. Each participant will summarize their game for the group.

Hope to see you there!