Dear reader,
Hello! It’s been a busy week here. Hope yours has been good!
I thought I’d share some interesting things I’ve learned or taken part in this week:
I. Assorted Links of Interest:
Recent news update about a new book fair policy
Screaming-meemies: Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day from this past Wednesday
II. Frog Con 2023!
I discovered that this entirely online convention dedicated exclusively to FROGS started Friday, October 13th and ran through Sunday, October 22nd. (For those of you who have not met me, I *love* frogs.)
Look at how cute this website is! Look at all the games and events and music! Look at all the artist shops in Artist Alley you can check out!
This was apparently the convention’s third year, but I hadn’t heard of it until one of the artists included in the virtual Artist Alley posted on their Instagram Story about the con starting.
I got to hop in for two of the streams to see Blumby the frog and listen to weird frog adaptations, find some neat games, learn some facts about frogs, discover a new book dedicated to telling the story of women across the world in the field of herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians, such as frogs), and see new artists’ shops.
See the next section for one of those game experiences!
Frog Con is definitely on my calendar for next year!
III. Around Town on Game Boy
One of the games listed on the Frog Con 2023 Games page included this charming little game called Around Town. This roughly 15-minute-long game was the result of a 7-day game jam earlier this year.
A Note on Game Jams: Game jams can last anywhere between a few hours to a month, typically. The goal is to make a game from scratch during the allotted time and follow any themes, color palettes, etc. that the host of the game jam has listed. At the end of the jam, the submitted jams are usually judged and voted on. The goal is really just for game developers to stretch their creative muscles, get practice, have fun, and make something. Sometimes real gems come out of these!
You can play Around Town online in the browser OR download to play on a Game Boy emulator, according to the game’s itch.io page.
OR, if you have a husband who decided to mod his retro Game Boy Advance SP (one of the fold-over silver ones) and turn it into this revamped beauty shown below… he can basically port the game into cartridge that can store new games like this so they can play on the actual Game Boy, without an emulator.
Photo: Modded Game Boy Advance SP with teal case and brass buttons, showing the game Around Town on screen with a retro arcade floor style desk mat underneath the Game Boy.
Earlier this year, my husband took the guts out of his old Game Boy, finished and polished the brass buttons for this new case, and installed everything himself, including a new LCD screen with better color options!
So I had the pleasure of getting to play this game on an actual modded Game Boy.
Here’s how it played:
The game was really cute. It’s a simple concept and set of gameplay mechanics: you’re a little frog who wants to upgrade his bike, so his dad says he can take on some requests from the townsfolk to earn money. You ride your bike around town, delivering items and talking with residents of the town.
The whole game is cute, simple, and quite a joy as a whole.
I also found it inspiring, as this was a week-long game jam, so the creator made the entire game in the span of 7 days. I think this project is the perfect example of a simple game concept executed well over a short timeframe, which is really my goal in completing game jams.
As someone who has tried to start on a game during a game jam (this adorable one!), but completely ran out of time due to various life events crippling my progress, I very much want to finish something during one of these game jams.
And try as I might, I haven’t been able to set aside enough time during the three game jams either just I, or me and my husband, have tried to start. There are three that I have attempted, the one on my own being the most recent.
I intend to finish these games I’ve started, but I’ll have to do so after the fact.
As I said last week, I’ve gotta do it tired and do it scared.
That’s all for this time around!
Anyone do anything fun or interesting this week? Any Frog Con experiences or game devs in the comments? Lemme know down below!
As always, happy reading and have a day as lovely as you are!
Quote of the Week:
“I am out with lanterns looking for myself.” -Emily Dickinson
Fun games and frogs - a frog con - who would have thought?!? Cool!