I went solo to this event and I
confess I was equally intrigued and intimidated by covering this festival –I
honestly don’t know a thing about digital gaming--but that also seemed the very
best reason to go. Surely our
New England Fall Events readers might also be
wondering what this festival is all about and whether it’s an experience which would
be inviting to the casual (or non-) gamer.
I do know a bit more about board
games which in the biz are referred to as “tabletop games”. I have a life-long love of
sitting around a table with friends or family (whoever will indulge me!) sharing
laughs and trading barbs over a round of
Who? What? Where?,
Hoopla,
Phase 10,
Milles Borne,
Taboo, and many others. In recent years my eyes have been opened
to completely different side (to me) of the game industry which includes genre-inspired
tabletop games with elaborate stories, expansion packs, ever-evolving house
rules, frequent
Board Game Geek consultations, and more. Thanks to
FlyingFrog’s zombie B-movie themes board game
Last Night on Earth my wallet is a
little lighter but I have memories of super intense zombie vs hero marathon standoffs
to show for it.
I also became rather smitten with
ZMan Games’ “
Pandemic” in which players work collaboratively towards the common
goal of stopping viral epidemics from developing into a global pandemic. I
found the idea of “cooperative games” particularly appealing as the
competitive aspect of the game remains but the players aren’t driven to cut
each other’s throats to win. The iPad version of
Pandemic plays quite similarly
to the original tabletop version (why not let the game shuffle the cards after
all?) and it satisfies me while I am in between human game playing gatherings.
Aha! So, it turns out I do have a
little experience with digital gaming--after all, an iPad game is quite
obviously also digital game and I merely needed to expand my definition of digital games to include those not solely played on a PC or Xbox.
Even if you’ve never considered
yourself a “gamer,” if you enjoy spending time playing conventional tabletop board
games or killing time with your favorite guilty pleasure on a tablet then you
would probably find the
Boston Festival of Indie Games as fascinating as I did.
I arrived at
BostonFIG and
parking was a snap (and affordable) at the garage across the street from the
Johnson Athletic Center in Cambridge, MA. The registration for the event was
held outside under the overhang to the facility. I took my badge and headed in.
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| L to R: A kiosk of tabletop games for sale, digital game artist meet and greet, games for free play. |
The ground level hosted the tabletop
game booths. The festival was set to open to the public at 10:00am but press was
invited to get a head start meeting with the exhibitors at 9:00am. At that
hour, many exhibitors were still setting up and numerous booths were still
unoccupied. I chatted up Jeff Johnston, a game designer with
Pair of Jacks Games. Jeff had two of his published family games
Toasted or Roasted and
Flashlights & Fireflies available for sale and this year he was showcasing
his prototype
Moonquake Escape for people to play and gather feedback. Jeff was
generous with his time and offered an insider tip that I ought to check out the
digital game floor early so I could speak with the designers and developers there
before the crowds arrived and the room became busy (and warm). I promptly took
his advice and made a beeline for the third floor.
Set on the athletic track, the
third floor was already buzzing with action by the time I'd arrived. Every table showcased their game
which ranged from tablet-only games to elaborate set-ups enabling attendees to
experience a game in virtual reality or “standard” play. Although there were
small screens and large monitors wherever I looked, playing the games wearing headphones is the norm so the floor lacked the din of narration, ray gun
peeoo peeoos, environmental noise, and
the like. (Note to germophobes, bring your own headphones if you wish as we saw
many who did just that.)
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| Cornell Game Design students demo'd their game Arc en Ciel and showed samples of their art. |
I was content to observe others
playing the games while engaging designers and developers to learn more about
what they were showing on this day but it didn’t take long for me to jump in to
play my first game—
Arc en Ciel. To be perfectly honest, what first caught my
eye about this game was the four people at the booth showing the game were all
young women. Being a woman myself, I was curious to learn more about their game
and how they came to game design. It turns out they were all students at the
Cornell Game Design Initiative and
Arc en Ciel was the result of their class
project collaboration. In this game, you play the main character Ciel who finds
herself suddenly living in a black and white storybook. Ciel moves through the
scenes in the book collecting paint to add color to the book’s illustrations.
She discovers treasures as she moves through the levels and aims to avoid the
“bad guy” Illustrator who aims to revert the story to a colorless world. The
women—the designers and illustrator-- were excited to share their game and talk
about how it came to be.
With one game under my belt I
quickly realized that this festival wasn’t simply a place to gather ideas about
which games were coming down the pipeline and meet local designers. Games, of
course, are meant to be played so the best way to get the most from the day was
to experience as many games as possible no matter how novice I looked
trying to learn them.
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| My first virtual reality experience |
It was not long into my foray on
the digital floor before I was approached by Eric Janzen who was showcasing
VirZoom “Virtual Reality that Moves You”. I’m not a fan of bikes at all so it
took some gentle encouragement from Eric to even get me on the stationary
bike-type contraption. Once the seat was adjusted, he placed Virtual Reality
(aka “VR”) goggles over my head and fastened them in place so it didn’t shift
when I moved my head right or left. He explained I would be moving as a horse
in a race and to direct my moving horse to bump into other horses to score
points.
With few words of instruction (“lean your shoulders to the right to steer
your horse right”, “pedal your feet to accelerate”) I was up and running. I am
pretty certain my jaw dropped to the floor within the first seconds of pedaling
and moving. The responsiveness of the horse (my character) to my body’s subtle
movements was phenomenal. So subtly that
I hardly noticed, the stationary bike also responded gently with the movement
and actions of my horse only adding to the total immersion of the experience. I’d never donned a pair of VR goggles before this and I had never yet
experienced the ability to turn my head right or left and the scene before me
adapts to expand my environment to wherever I looked.
 |
| Learning to fly at the VirZoom booth |
After I’d gotten the hang of the
game, Eric said it was time to try a different variation. This time, my horse
would continue to race to bump into the other horses but now when I pressed the
simple button on the “bike” handles I my horse would grow wings and fly. Unsure
exactly what this meant, I did exactly what he said and pressed the button and
suddenly felt a gentle “lift” sensation from the bike seat while my horse grew
giant Pegasus wings and began to ascend.
To say this was one of the most
extraordinary experiences is not to do it justice. I have never known anything quite
like this! It had the weightless thrill of being on a roller coaster but
instead of feeling like I was “riding” the horse, I
was the horse—it was me who
felt the sensation of flying across the sky. The moment I lifted off I remember
reacting to the exhilaration with a sudden gasp of air and what surely must
have been a ridiculous gaping smile. Turning my head right and left I could see
the wide Pegasus wings flapping slowly and powerfully beside me. Whatever I
did, the animal responded. If I forgot to pedal the bike, the horse would
gently begin descent—again, not just visually descend but I would
simultaneously
feel the descent reflected in the movement of the bike itself.
I admit I was completely
reluctant to end this mind-blowing first experience with VR and especially with
the
VirZoom bike. As much as I am not a fan of biking, I didn’t mind the
pedaling one bit for this game and I find the idea of being physically active
while immersing yourself in a video game also very appealing. It was possibly
the world’s easiest way to exercise.
When I removed the goggles, I
came crashing back to the moment. I surprised myself by wanting to cling to the
fantasy world of the Pegasus and the way the goggles just drop you so completely
into the virtual world. I also was surprised that while I’d been flying around
on the bike, quite a crowd had gathered around me! It took no time at all for
Eric to find another willing participant. I stayed around to see the new
participant’s reaction to his first flying moment curious if he’d be as
thrilled as I was. (He was impressed too but less demonstrative than I surely
had been!)
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| Dozens of different games to test run |
The games being showcased at
BostonFIG are in varying stages of development. Some games are at BostonFIG
simply to be game-tested-- to see where players get caught up, which parts
players don’t get the hang of, and learn which aspects of the game play or
story holds greatest appeal. Others like
VirZoom are not quite released to the
public yet but give people an idea of what joy there is in store.
It's important to realize that we the festival goers at
BostonFIG aren’t merely consumers of these products but are active
participants in providing feedback to the designers as they continue to work on
and refine their game play. By having both complete novices (like me) as well as
experienced gamers, the developers are gathering useful feedback to help them
make adjustments before going live to the public. The festival provides
designers with a peek into how quickly a new player can grasp the play.
Some games rolled out for the
festival are still in prototype so it’s possible certain interactions within
the game don’t yet function but the minor limitations don’t keep you from
having plenty of fun while you gain a sense of what a game is about. Other
games were already quite far along in the process or already “shipped” (a
phrase I learned applies to digital products going “live” to the public).
 |
Getting a feel for playing Red Survivor
at the Mustachio Games' booth |
Most of the designers and
developers I met at
BostonFIG were based in New England, primarily in
Massachusetts. Massachusetts alone accounts for $2 Billion-plus of the digital
gaming industry and we met quite a few people showcasing their digital games
who were currently enrolled as game design undergrads at various colleges
across the northeast. The
Mass Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI) is based at
Becker College in Worcester, MA and it serves to support the academic and
economic development, entrepreneurship, and mentoring in the state. Their
efforts can be seen through the sheer number of digital games showcased at
BostonFIG which had designers who had participated (or developed their game)
under the guidance of the
MassDiGI summer innovation program. Their managing
director
Monty Sharma was a wealth of information for me in understanding the
various moving parts that work together to carry a game concept to a fully
funded, intelligently marketed, shipped product for us consumers.
One of the games workshopped in
the MassDiGI summer program was
Red Survivor –a survival strategy game set
in pre-WW I Russia in development by
Mustachio Games with the cheeky tagline
“Hide Your Babooshka”. As with many of the games at BostonFIG, we were able to play a prototype of Red
Survivor with gentle prompts and help from Dylan Mayerchak, the designer and
programmer to help us get up on our feet and get a feel for the game play.
 |
Ape Law's popular Albino Lullaby
offered standard and VR play options |
Albino Lullaby by the Ape Law
held a neighboring booth and offered conventional PC game play but also the
option to play wearing virtual reality glasses (the game is “optimized” for
Oculus Rift goggles which haven’t been released to the general public yet, only
to developers).
Tagged as a “first-person horror adventure,”
Albino Lullaby’s
booth was in full swing all day long with large crowds gathered around to watch
this visually stunning narrative-based interactive game which was only three
days away from its official game release and is now available to the public.
 |
The Town of Light's haunting digital game
draws from a village's complicated history |
I also spent a good deal of time
at
The Town of Light table learning about their ultra-creepy but hauntingly gorgeous
adventure game centered around is a fictional story inspired by factual
historic documents and authentic medical practices employed at the enormous
psychiatric asylum—
Ospedale Psichiatrico--situated in the tiny Italian hill
town of Volterra.
The real-life asylum housed up to 6,000 patients and during
its time of operation was the town’s largest employer until it closed in 1978.
The now-abandoned, condemned property was captured first by the game designers
with a video walk-through then re-created digitally for an authentic look and
feel, complete with the same graffiti you’d find within its peeling walls
today. The details of this game are breathtaking—the medical charts that depict
astounding and graphic surgical procedures—all real and true to the time and
period of this hospital.
The representative for
The Town of Light Stefano Petrullo was gracious enough to
play the game for me so I could watch and listen to the atmospheric sounds and
see the story unfolding while he deftly moved from room to room explaining the
various connections and characters. Mr.
Petrullo shared with me the designers had taken great care to create a story
that was both authentic to the practices at this notorious hospital yet
respectful of the patients who may have suffered there.
After a few hours on the digital
floor I started to feel the wooziness from the morning of visual and audio over-stimulation couple with the increased stuffiness in the room. Though there was plenty left to
see, I switched gears and made my way down to the tabletop game floor.
 |
Maze Racers hosted an active table
for tabletop game players of all ages |
Upon entering the tabletop floor,
I felt the instant calm that human-paced gaming action affords. The predominant
sound on this floor was laughter. Everywhere I looked there were smiling,
chatty festival goers seated around tables or cradling little game pieces in
their hands. Lacking the hyper-focused intensity which pervaded the digital
floor, the vibe down here was relaxed and the temperature in the room noticeably
more comfortable.
I wandered from table to table
soaking up the game play summaries and strategies. Everything from
fantasy-genre card games to family-style collaborative games dotted the booths.
Rather than play most games from start to finish, you were invited to just jump
in on a game and someone was always there to help you get your feet wet and
explain as you played.
One of the most hilarious games I
came across also held the most straightforward game play.
Why the Long Face?, billed as "the game that brings taxidermy to life", laid four
giant picture cards on the table each with a wildlife photograph animal face
and the animal’s common name. The participants take turns individually or as a
group imitating the expression of a particular animal on a card while the judge
tries to guess which animal everyone is mimicking. The game was ultra-simple
and totally ridiculous and we all were in tears from laughter while playing it.
Within minutes the game testing strangers had become instant friends, ribbing
each other for our silly efforts and crazy faces.
 |
| At the Why the Long Face? table we competed to contort our faces to match an animal's expression. |
The game designer Penelope
Taylor had brought her game to BostonFIG to gather feedback about the game but
also to invite ideas on how to solve her biggest game playing conundrum—how to
end the game! However, from the looks of it, Ms. Taylor has since solved her dilemma as it was nice to
see that she’s since launched her
Why the Long Face? Kickstarter campaign.
Buy The Rights was
a game instantly popular with fellow tabletop game players and the designers shared
that they too were gearing up for their
Kickstarter in November.
In
Buy the Rights, players draw one card from each of the categories—genre,
hero description, hero, and plot—and have to make a movie pitch using those
cards to a producer who will determine which movies will receive funding and to
what degree.
Again, sometimes the simplest ideas are the ones which work so well.
The easier a game is to learn the play and strategy, the more appealing it
is to roll out with a group of friends or family for a spontaneous game night.
 |
Dragoon's high quality materials and
attractive color scheme was a standout |
“Want to hold my tiny metal
dragon?” asks one of the
Dragoon designers as he presses a miniature orange
dragon into my palm while I am passing by. It works—the weight of the little
game piece feels heavy and substantial in my hand and piques my curiosity. I
stop to observe the gameplay and take in the game. Using a gorgeous color
scheme, sturdy metal game totems (no plastic chips here), and a fabric map as
its game board, the choice of materials for this eye-catching game made it a
standout at
BostonFIG and it made me realize how few games I play offer such
high quality materials. I could imagine
Dragoon must be a pleasure to play and it
seems others agree with me as Dragoon was bestowed with the “Audience Choice”
Figgie Award this year at BostonFIG.
 |
The Cookie Brigade volunteers kept us
fed while raising funds for Child's Play |
I did start to get fairly famished
around 2:30pm and didn’t see much in the way of lunch options. There were snack
vending machines near the bathrooms on the 1
st floor (chips, etc)
and thanks to the treats by
The Cookie Brigade, my blood sugar got a boost.
We can’t resist giving a deserved
shout out to the folks at
The Cookie Brigade which is a collection of local
volunteers who hand out their free baked treats at local game fests in the hope
you will make a donation to
Child’s Play (and of course you will happily do
so!) The Cookie Brigade alone has raised over $200,000 for the charity
Child’s Play whose
mission "seeks to improve the lives of children in hospitals and domestic
violence shelters through the generosity and kindness of the video game
industry and the power of play."
The two floors at
BostonFIG—tabletop and digital—are completely different in terms of energy, vibe, crowds, and quite frankly, even temperature. One could see all aspects of the tabletop exhibits during the day but I think it would be hard to see all the digital floor booths in a single day. To do both floors, as I aimed to do, means accepting you’ll only get a taste of each.
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| L to R: Grow Fairy Kingdoms for sale, the World prototype display, folks learning the Water game. |
Many of the attendees at
BostonFIG were
college-age (it is held on a university campus after all) but there were some
teenagers and I saw several kids about 10-11 years old there with parents in tow. It
seemed appropriate for teens and probably a good idea for 13 year olds and under to be
there with an adult (for no reason other than it seemed like a good idea) as it
can get crowed and some parents may want to inquire about digital content in
advance (graphic, etc.)
There was a lot to love about going to this festival and there’s just no way to see it all, especially if you plan to explore both floors. The designers were incredibly generous with their time, patience, and were eager to share what they were working on. As a complete newbie to this industry, I felt very welcomed by all, learned a tremendous amount, and it is a festival that would is as fascinating for curious folks like me as much as it is for self-described gamers.
This
one-day, family-friendly festival provided an exciting afternoon of fun featuring food and drink, the People's Choice Chili Cook-off, children's
activities, music, and of course, the all-important pumpkin chuckin'!
This
one-day, family-friendly festival provided an exciting afternoon of fun featuring food and drink, the People's Choice Chili Cook-off, children's
activities, music, and of course, the all-important pumpkin chuckin'!
Tips for Planning Your Trip to the Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival:
Trebuchet mishaps are rare, but they do occur. If you are watching from behind the trebuchet line, you may be asked to move while the machine in front of you is firing. Be prepared for a short wait between launches as the competition waits until the spectators are safely dispersed.
