At Scoopcamp, Hamburg and Gamified News

I’m at Scoopcamp in Hamburg to talk about GameTheNews.net.  I did an online interview with the NextMedia Blog in the run-up to this event:

Next Media: You bring a new twist to journalism and present news and events as games. How was the idea developed? Can you give a quick explanation of your approach / how you do it?

Tomas Rawlings: Through producing game jams, we knew that the technology existed to rapid-prototype games so we’ve been experimenting with both form and business models.  We tried making games in less than 2 days with our longest development cycle being 3 months.  In the 10 months since the project started, we’ve produced over 20  games.  We’ve tried free and paid approaches and we’re still figuring out the best route.  So our key approach has been one of experimentation.

There is also a really good article about our work on Escapist Magazine. It’s a really well written article that gets into the guts of Endgame:Syria:

Endgame centers on the political complexities Syrian rebels face. Players serve as both the Rebels’ chief military commander and diplomat, trying to survive the war without destroying the country in the process. The game itself is a digital card game with two phases – the Diplomacy phase and the Military phase. In the Diplomacy phase the player has to choose two cards from a randomly generated hand. Those cards might be endorsements from foreign countries that raise the Rebels’ Support – the points you use to buy units in the military phase and that track which side is winning – or diplomatic maneuvers that provide a tactical advantage in the military phase.

And I also did a bit for another site on gamification. If you are at the event, say hi! (Two of the above articles have big pictures of me on them – it’s odd to see images of yourself blown up like that, eek!)