What if we merge improvisation and game making?
This was the main idea behind the experiment we launched in Modena, Italy, last Saturday, in the 18th-century theatre of Fondazione San Carlo.
Rules of Videogiochi Improvvisati (Improvised Videogames):
- The audience choose. They pick the hero, the theme, the goal, the obstacles, the enemies, etc. and the improvisers have to follow their indications.
- We make 2D games using Construct 3.
- The show has the same duration as a movie, say a couple of hours.
- The game prototype can be tested by the attendees on the fly; a polished version with a bit of level design is published a little later on a specific page on itch.io.
After a few home tests, we were hosted by the Play Festival, a large annual event (with about 50,000 attendees) for board game enthusiasts in Modena. We were introduced by the famous radio speaker and improviser Francesco Lancia and supported by the local game expert Vincent Harker.
Dozens of people contributed with their ideas in an entertaining and often hilarious collective brainstorming, while we were working on stage. Jacopo created the art while I made the event sheets and edited the project. Our computer screens with our Construct 3 projects were displayed on a megascreen with the theatre's projector.
Decisions by the audience:
- The game is a platformer
- about an octopus
- on skates
- called Rolpo Pilato (?)
- who can jump
- and throws fish as a ranged weapon
- in a restaurant kitchen
- he's trying to escape from
- and whose enemies are evil potatoes
- that can jump too
- and get split in two smaller subpotatoes when hit
- and the final boss is a lookalike of an Italian chef celebrity called Antonino Cannavacciuolo
The game's title is Polpo vs Patate (Octopus vs Potatoes), which kind of sounds comical in Italian because there's a famous dish in Southern Italy with octopus and potatoes. Imagine Mac vs Cheese. You know the way we are with food.
You can play the game in your browser.
We are very satisfied with the outcome and we will definitely try again with this format. Drop me a line if you want to know more about the technical details or you wish to replicate this show somewhere else.
I believe this can be a fun way of introducing people to the craftmanship of video games, the indie scene, the game jams, and some fantastic tools like Construct 3 you can use to deconstruct many misconceptions about the job and the principles of game design.
I will let you know our next steps on this blog.
My name is Mauro Vanetti. I work in software and games, mostly in the indie scene and with serious/political/educational games but I have also worked as a developer or tech lead on commercial titles.
My friend Jacopo Rovida is an artist and game designer. He is the maker of games like Help Out with millions of downloads.
We both live in Pavia, Italy.