Games Chef - Cooked!

Well Games Chef is over for another year and this time I managed to submit a game! Well, sort of. Its not really a roleplaying game - more a sort of short parlour game which involves roleplaying. You can read 'Toybox of Terror' here

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg7pcbmq_13f5mdfpng

What was the competition like? Well it was ... OK. I have no qualms in saying that I am not going to win or even get near to winning. Not even in the same atmosphere of the winners. The game is far too simple, not straight-up and nowhere near 'indie' enough to get near as a Games Chef winner. It references the art, but it doesn't use the art in any meaningful way. Its ... there. However, the winning wasn't the point. The Super Secret Hidden Agenda was to give my brain something else to fixate upon before I start the final attack run on Duty & Honour, this week. That worked quite well, for a while, but as always real life intervened to muddle the mix.

I don't feel I was a massive part of the much vaunted Games Chef community, but then again I didn't really go out of my way to take part either. There's not really a lot of time to dedicate to your own game and other people's games as well. The feedback groups are a great idea but if you get a dud one (not that mine was, but it only really had input from three members from the six) it must be a lonely experience. Get a livewire like Jason Morningstar and well, you're going to have a very different experience!

Was it worthwhile? Sort of, yeah. Will I do it again? If the ingredients are right, its a nice mental exercise. Otherwise its like forcing out a really determined to stay turd. Will I do anything with Toybox of Terror in the future? Doubtful. I suppose it could be easily turned into some sort of multiplayer card game with barely a flick of the wrist, but thats not where I am at.

Neil