No More Sweden 2009 (Part 1)

Dajana, Lau, and I just got back from Malmo, where we spent a delightful weekend jamming out (both figuratively and literally) at the second annual No More Sweden.

Our goal was to meet all the Swedish indie developers, and also to put in an appearance for the Copenhagen game development scene. Mission accomplished! Well, at least the first goal. The best part of the event was definitely the social aspect; in my eyes, the actual making of the games was a means to an end.

The three of us felt too overwhelmed with other work to start on a new game, so instead we spent most of our time hanging out and working on existing projects. We hacked in a “real-time” version of Face-off in the Magic Circle and ran some playtests. On the side, Lau prototyped a procedural, uber-pixelated RPG in Game Maker.

In addition, the three of us finally prototyped and tested our new experimental sex card game, Orgy: the Gathering. The game was… interesting, but also problematic. I’m going to run some additional playtests in New York later this summer, and we’ll write some more about the game after we’ve had more time to better formulate our thoughts.

Nils and Bernhard were also in attendance! Nils teamed up with Kian and Andreas to make Spirit Horse of the Cherokee, a humorous head-banging rhythm game. Bernhard flew solo and created one of our favorite entries, Cyan Magenta Sex, a two-player sex game with a marvelous wireframe aesthetic. Clearly, a man after our own hearts!

Other highlights include: a sunset swim in the Öresund; a long pleasant dinner and drinking session with indie heroes Nifflas and Nurykabe; impromptu Pytt i Panna with Petri; and, last but not least, our awkwardly hilarious/hilariously awkward playtest of Orgy: the Gathering at the wrap-up party (Dajana and I rode our alliance to victory).

Big thanks to Martin Jonasson (aka grapefrukt) for organizing a great event! Here’s hoping it happens again in 2010. We promise to actually make a game next time around…