from the gaming-like-it’s-1929 dept
Right now, we’re kicking off our collection of posts about the winners of this yr’s public area sport jam, Gaming Like It’s 1929! We’ll be going by means of all six winners in no specific order, beginning immediately with the winner within the Finest Remix class: Accoutrements by Nora Katz.
Nora Katz is certainly one of our returning winners this yr, having beforehand received Finest Analog Sport in 2022 with Nude On A Yellow Sofa, in addition to receiving some honorable mentions since then. Accoutrements, a roleplaying and character-building sport utilizing a deck of playing cards, was a tricky entry for the judges to put, as there have been good circumstances to be made for it in a number of completely different classes. However in the end we determined that the one had been it stood out most in opposition to the competitors was Finest Remix, because it actually attracts from a large number of works to construct on its core basis.
That basis is 1929’s God’s Man by Lynd Ward, a wordless “novel in woodcuts” that’s thought-about a form of precursor to the graphic novel. Its story of a Faustian cut price supplies the narrative basis for Accoutrements: a bunch of 1 to 6 gamers tackle any roles they want and have interaction on this bargaining course of, to obtain an otherworldly boon within the type of a magical implement, be it software or weapon or talisman. Utilizing easy procedures and a deck of 52 customized playing cards, they may select the Hilt, Middle, and Level that comprise their boon — and it’s on this deck of playing cards that the sport’s supply materials opens up far past God’s Man.
The playing cards all function pictures from the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork’s Open Entry Assortment, depicting artifacts which might be extraordinarily public area, what with most of them being a whole lot or in lots of circumstances 1000’s of years previous. These are fastidiously paired with immediate phrases and questions for the roleplaying course of in a clear, photo-forward design.
As talked about, there are 52 of those playing cards, every of them distinctive. The gameplay course of has gamers participating within the remixing themselves, selecting and mixing these parts to explain their patron and construct their boon, fleshing out its which means and its influence on their character and the world. As famous within the rolebook, whereas Accoutrements can stand alone as a bunch storytelling sport, it could additionally make a implausible minigame for gamers in one other, bigger tabletop RPG marketing campaign: a solution to advance their characters and develop magic objects and new story instructions.
Though solely certainly one of its sources is a 1929 work, Accoutrements does a gorgeous job of mixing an enormous choice of creative works into a brand new and unified entire, whereas additionally incorporating the act of remixing into the gameplay, and likewise being a sport that would itself be combined into different video games. For that, and for a gorgeous deck of playing cards that can make you wish to give each one a better look, Accoutrements is that this yr’s Finest Remix.
Congratulations to Nora Katz for the win! You will get every thing you have to play Accoutrements from its page on Itch. That’s the top of our collection of winner spotlights, however don’t overlook to take a look at the various great entries that didn’t fairly make the minimize! And keep tuned for subsequent yr, once we’ll be again for Gaming Like It’s 1930.
Filed Underneath: game jam, gaming, gaming like it’s 1929, public domain
