Open Data + Video Games = Win

Slides from our presentation on using open data, mostly from government, to make video games. Presented at the Open Knowledge Miniconf at Linux.conf.au 2016, in Geelong.

Transcript

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2. Hi!
   

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3. @desplesda @parisba
   

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4. We make games, and
   write books.
   

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9. Open Data + Video
   Games = Win
   

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10. The Situation
    

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11. Governments like the idea
    of open data
    

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12. Hackathons are
    fashionable
    

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13. The idea:

    1. Put a bunch of nerds in a room
    2. Stew for 24-48 hours
    3. Extract innovation
    

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15. Australia/New Zealand-wide 

    "open government data sources" hackathon
    

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16. Some really great stuff
    gets made
    

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18. The problem with hackathons
    

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19. Often very oriented around
    producing product-like results
    

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20. But they're almost never
    followed up on
    

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21. Game jams know this
    

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22. Game jams aim to do
    two things…
    

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23. 1. Make something
    

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24. 2. Show something cool
    

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25. Game jam games are made quickly
    and abandoned immediately.
    

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27. Game jams are for practice,
    and for honing skills.
    

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28. Why games?
    

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29. Games matter.
    Even in serious environments.
    

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30. Games teach.
    

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31. Games are engaging.
    

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32. What We Did
    

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33. Twisted the concept into an
    excuse to have a game jam
    

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34. … without being jerks
    

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35. Conceiving of Game Ideas
    

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36. Anything can be a game
    

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37. Example: 

    Global Game Jam
    

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38. • 2009 - "As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems"
    • 2010 - "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain" and "Deception"
    • 2011 - "Extinction"
    • 2012 - An image of Ouroboros.
    • 2013 - Sound of a Heartbeat
    • 2014 - "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."
    • 2015 - "What do we do now?"
    

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39. Every one of those resulted
    in awesome games
    

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40. There’s no reason “taxes”
    can’t be an awesome theme
    for a game
    

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41. Or census info
    

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42. Or the energy efficiency
    ratings of household
    appliances
    

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43. That last one is what
    we did …
    

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45. “Appliances all have these
    stats on them…”
    

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47. … and the Department of Industry,
    Innovation, and Science collects the
    stats for every device sold in Australia.
    https://data.gov.au/dataset/energy-rating-for-household-appliances
    

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48. “Why don’t we make a
    Pokémon style creature-
    battle game?”
    

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53. “A game in which players yell
    at each other about whose
    fault the problems are”
    

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60. Actual politicians are
    really good at this game
    

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61. https://twitter.com/parisba/status/498395309089648641
    A real-life politician
    

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62. “A quiz game about how
    elected politicians vote on
    the issues.”
    

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64. Hansard
    

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65. TheyVoteForYou
    

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68. Also: Hansard is
    AMAZING DATA
    

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71. Creating engaging
    games from dry concepts
    

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72. Games are built out of
    systems
    

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73. The world is built out of
    systems
    

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74. Find the similarities and
    play with them
    

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75. Preserving the spirit and
    meaning of your games
    

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76. Don't try to model real-
    world processes
    

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77. Taking liberties is
    absolutely fine
    

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78. But not so far as to make the
    player lose sight of the
    underlying theme
    

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79. You need to engage
    three groups of people
    

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80. The player
    

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81. Fellow participants
    

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82. Whoever deals out the
    prizes
    

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83. Multiplayer is the best
    way to do this
    

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84. It's much easier to be
    fun
    

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85. Removes a need to
    create an AI player
    

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86. Fun to show in person
    

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87. People want to see a
    game between players
    

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88. Fun to show in demo
    videos
    

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89. That said, multiplayer is
    HARD
    

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90. Do local multiplayer if
    you can
    

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91. Don't ever try to do
    stuff over the Internet
    

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92. Turn based is easier
    than real time
    

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93. If you must do real
    time, keep it simple
    

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94. Don't get clever
    

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95. Make assumptions about
    the environment
    

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96. Ignore latency.
    You have unlimited bandwidth.
    Poll the server.
    

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97. Don't try to prevent cheating.
    

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98. Trust the client.
    

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99. Forget long term balance and
    replayability.
    

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100. Your players will spend no more
     than 15 minutes in the game.
     

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101. You will never return to
     this code.
     

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102. Make it work at all.
     Forget about making it work right.
     

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103. Staying on-message
     

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104. You need to remain relevant
     to the context of the event.
     

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105. You're subversive enough
     just by doing a game
     

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106. Don't get too weird with
     your idea…
     

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107. This also helps to keep
     your design simple
     

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108. Cut mercilessly
     

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109. Cut often and early
     

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110. Cut in the direction of
     the theme
     

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111. Audio is absolutely vital
     

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112. Jam Advice
     

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113. Time is your enemy, but
     not in the way you think
     

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114. Time limits foster
     deadline-oriented thinking
     

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115. "We only have 48 hours!
     Engage crunch mode!"
     

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116. All nighters are
     deceptive
     

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117. You will never do your
     best work on an all nighter
     

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119. Go home at night
     

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120. Get a good night's
     sleep
     

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121. Arrive rested at a
     decent time
     

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122. Quality of the result is better
     than quantity of work
     

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123. This is also another reason
     for cutting mercilessly
     

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124. Preserving meaning
     with games
     

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125. … you often don’t
     actually need to …
     

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126. Raising engagement in the topic, rather
     than going in depth, is often enough.
     

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127. Why do any of this in
     the first place?
     

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128. We get asked
     “how do you make games”
     pretty often
     

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129. The best way to do it is
     to make games
     

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130. Problem is, games are
     hard to make
     

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131. Part of that problem is games
     are often seen as “big” projects
     

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132. Use the external pressure
     to constrain yourself
     

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133. It’s fun for you, it’s fun for
     players, and it’s fun for event
     organisers!
     

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135. @desplesda @parisba
     @thesecretlab
     

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