Episode 94: ProcJam

This is episode 94 of Roguelike Radio, where we talk about the upcoming ProcJam. Talking on the ep are the organiser and keynote speakers from the jam: Michael Cook, Tanya Short, Mark Johnson, Tom Coxon, Gillian Smith and Darren Grey. 

You can download the mp3 of the podcast, play it in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.

Topics discussed:

• The upcoming Procedural Generation Jam running 8-16 November, same time as we're having a 7DRL week and there's a 7DFPS jam. Follow @ProcJam on Twitter, get details from the ProcJam site, Tumblr page (full of cool resources), and info + tickets for the London opening event with cool talks (will also be livestreamed). Join in and make a game or tool!
• Michael Cook (creator of the game designed AI, ANGELINA, and Google-mining 7DRL A Rogue's Dream) explains his motivations for creating the jam and the day of talks.
• Apologies from Fernando Ramallo (creator of upcoming Panoramical) and Hazel McKendrick (of No Man's Sky) who will also be talking at the event.
• Awesome recorded talks from Experimental AI In Games conference, including from Michael and Gillian.
• Mark Johnson, creator of Ultima Ratio Regum, will be talking on scale in PCG and working on procedural systems for his game in the jam. Check his blog posts!
• Tanya Short, developer of Shattered Planet and Moon Hunters, will be talking about meaning in procedural content (and cooking). Read up on her game design posts on Gamasutra.
• Tom Coxon, developer of Lenna's Inception, might be talking about cognitive flow in generated content. Check out his great design blog posts for his game, and some similar content in Tom Ford's IRDC talk on graph-based generation.
• Gillian Smith, Assistant Professor of Game Design at Northeastern University and developer Endless Web, which integrates procedural generation with game mechanics. She may be talking about the history of procedural content generation.
• Darren will be talking on reactive procedural generation, based on player interaction and encouraging new player-instigated gameplay.
• A discussion of what attracted everyone to procedural generation.
• What will procedural generators make that no human would ever make?
• Learning a generator as an author.
• Many tortured analogies and metaphors for procedural generation.
• Opening procgen up to new audiences and creators, and encouraging artists, musicians and coders to work together.
• Join in the jam! If you've not made a roguelike before then grab the python+libtcod tutorial and get started with ease.

Join us next week for something new and roguey! Suggestions welcome...