Nearly 300 games have emerged from the recent What Would Molydeux? Game Jam.
Held this past weekend, What Would Molydeux? was a game jam with a twist. Participants from around the world were given 48 hours to create games based on tweets by Peter Molydeux, a Twitter parody of famed designer Peter Molyneux. Back in March, Anna Kipnis of Double Fine Productions noticed that some of Molydeux’s ideas for games were actually pretty good and before long the idea had sprung to life, attracting participants from at least 28 cities around the world, plus Molyneux himself, who attended the London event.
The fruits of those labors are now available for all to sample, like Apocalypse Grandpa: Geriatric Overload, “a side-scrolling action platformer with truly emotional gampelay” inspired by the tweet, “What if your 99 year old grandfather was a key? Would you force him to travel across the world just to open a secret door?” If racing games are more your thing, there’s Malevolent Traffic Management, taken from Molydeux’s idea for a driving game in which you play as the road. For those interested in a multiplayer experience, Octopi Everything, an eight-person cooperative game in which each player controls a single limb of an octopus with an iPhone or Android, might be of interest.
There will almost certainly be a lot of borderline-unplayable junk in this list, but there are bound to be a few gems too. I have high hopes for 10,000 MPH Racecar – “Racing game where you only have 2 speeds, 0MPH and 10,000 MPH. Did you just run over a little child? Who knows? How does that make you feel?” – that somehow ended up as a text adventure. That’s pure gold, kids.
The complete What Would Molydeux? Game Jam collection is up now at whatwouldmolydeux.com. I haven’t tried any of them yet so if you find a winner, let us know!
