And conversations for humanity...

We made a game about talking about hard stuff. You can check it out if you want. We know a lot of people are cooped up with others or by themselves right now, due to COVID-19. We are also probably having a lot of hard conversations about what is going on in the world and what the future is going to look like. Now IS the time for those hard conversations.

We make games that use conversation as a core game mechanic. We are opening up our tools and processes up to the community so that you can use them to make your own conversation games. The structure of the game includes three different kinds of cards: HAZARDOUS Sites, HAZARDOUS Materials and the super-duper important HAZMAT Suits [don't leave home without one...].

• HAZARDOUS Sites - Sites are a, "Let us suppose..." kind of situation where you may face whatever HAZARDOUS theme that you exploring.
• HAZARDOUS Materials - Materials are prompts to reflect on how you (or others) have acted/felt/thought in the past. This is the "personal baggage" that we often carry with us through life.
• HAZMAT Suits - Suits are "could" statements that offer players a better way to act/feel/think about these HAZARDOUS Materials going forward, and what they might consider differently that may protect them (perhaps others too) in this HAZARDOUS Site. These are hopeful/helpful prompts.

For example... If your theme was... Say... You know... Something totally off the cuff here... The Novel Coronavirus-19.

• Possible HAZARDOUS Sites:
  • You are going to the grocery store...
  • You have lost your job...
  • You have tested positive...
  • You have developed a dry cough...
  • Your bills are due...
• Possible HAZARDOUS Materials:
  • How have you been physically distancing yourself?
  • How have you overestimated your health resilience?
  • When did you take a risk you knew you should not have?
  • How have you talked to your family about the risks and precautions?
  • How have you shared misinformation (knowingly or otherwise)?
• Possible HAZMAT Suits:
  • How could you help your neighbors?
  • How could you support someone who has lost their job?
  • How could you protect others?
  • How could you socialize safely right now?
  • How could you date safely right now?

So... HAZMAT: Pandemic Jam...

What do you find hazardous in your life right now (Deck theme)? Where are you facing these hazards (Hazardous Sites)? What feelings/thoughts/beliefs/actions make that especially difficult for you or others (Hazardous Materials)? How might you protect yourself/do better (HAZMAT Suit)? 

For example... Possible HAZMAT themes:

Pandemics, Parenting, Work, Education, Dating, Sex, Home Improvement, Healthcare, Politics....

All entries will be judged by the Itch.io community...

The categories the games will be rated in are:

1. Was the theme HAZARDOUS enough?
2. Did it help you think differently about the theme?
3. Did it prompt deep conversations?
4. Was it fun to play? 

Software Requirements....

• You are going to need Adobe Creative Suite for this... I'm sorry... No way around it. BUT! You can get it for 7 days for free, so write your prompts first and then start your free trial so that you get the most amount of time possible...
  • Specifically you need Adobe InDesign...
• You need some kind of Spreadsheet Editor - Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, Libre Office Calc to export the Tab-delimited txt/csv file.
• The nitty gritty details about how to make it all work can be found over here...

Some Direction...

Yeah, we're nerds. This is how we go about it... But you can also go off in your own direction.

1. Create an itch.io account and join the HAZMAT: Pandemic Game Jam
2. Find your team... (Seriously this is easy and you can do it on your own if you want to... but you're probably going to want to TALK to people as you make a game about conversation.)
3. Decide your theme...
4. Brainstorm the different aspects of the theme, and what you/your team consider the "explosive", "flammable", "corrosive", and "toxic" aspects of it, the beliefs/thoughts/actions/feelings people have around/about it that should be talked about. 
   1. We recognize that there are gradients to these things. So a "flammable" isn't always as bad as an "explosive," but they are related to one another. That "corrosive" stuff become "toxic" over time. Like hoarding TP isn't as bad as say hoarding N95 facemasks...
5. Head over to GitHub and download the repository containing all the files you’ll need: caseyodonnell/hazmatgame You can either use their desktop client to clone the repository or just download a ZIP file from the website.
6. Open up the Microsoft Excel file: “HAZMAT-Pandemic Jam.xlsv”. You can use Excel if you have it or Google Docs or Libre Office Calc to edit the file. As you come up with your card prompts you will be entering them into this spreadsheet as you go.
7. Identify the HAZARDOUS Materials...
   1. We tended to start with emotions, beliefs, and actions. Explore and write down the HAZARDOUS emotions/thoughts/beliefs/actions related to your theme. Frame these into open-ended questions that cannot be answered by simple yes/no/maybe answers. We tend to use questions here that start with "How" and "When." 
   2. Assign them to the separate categories (or make your own new ones, but then the art is all on you): Flammable, Explosive, Corrosive, and Toxic.
   3. Make 40 HAZARDOUS Material Prompts (or change the number, its your game...)
8. Identify the HAZARDOUS Sites...
   1. We went category by category (but you do you) and tried to find situations that the HAZARDOUS Materials might occur in. 
   2. We make these sites about "You" the player, the player's friends, or family. Rather than large, systemic problems, frame the HAZARDOUS theme within our everyday lives and relationships (but you do you).
   3. The tricky part here is making it so that many Sites are applicable to many Materials, and vice versa. Aim for the Sites to be applicable to at least 3 Materials, and vice versa.
   4. Assign these into the separate categories as above.
   5. Make 15 HAZARDOUS Site Prompts (or change the number, its your game...)
9. Identify the HAZMAT Suits...
   1. We used Emotional Intelligence/Socioemotional learning goals to frame "could" prompts for the HAZMAT Suits: "How could you", "Who could you", and "What could you."
   2. Frame these could statements around these (or others) skills/outcomes and how they could specifically be used for your HAZARDOUS theme, to make it less hazardous: Confidence, curiosity, intentionality, self-control, relatedness, capacity to communicate, cooperativeness, self-awareness, personal decision making, managing feelings, handling stress, empathy, self-disclosure, insight, self-acceptance, personal responsibility, assertiveness, group dynamics, and conflict resolution.
   3. You don't have to be as nerdy as us, but it really will make for better conversations... we promise.
   4. The tricky part here is making it so that many Suits are applicable to many Materials and Sites. See how many Sites/Materials each Suit is helpful for, aim for the Suit to fit at least 3 Sites/Materials each.
   5. Make 15 HAZARDOUS Suit Prompts (or change the number, its your game...)
10. Plug all of these into our handy-dandy little spreadsheet! [Read more about the process of using our tools over here...]
11. Follow the process outlined here.
12. BOOM! You have a Print-to/and-Play conversation card game!
13. We have two ways to play, but make your own ways to play! Conversation is a game and it is up to you to decide the rules. Share those new ways to play with us and others. You might spark something for others.
14. Submit your game here on the HAZMAT Game Jam (Must be free, see Legal section below).
15. Share your game on social media with the hashtag #HAZMATJAM
16. Play other people's HAZMAT games.
17. Rate other people's HAZMAT games.

Our Ways to Play...

But seriously, feel free to make your own. Be sure to include them in your submission.

Legal Note...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on our work at http://hazmatgame.com. This means that your Print-and-Plays must be free. It also means you have to attribute the work as using/based on our work. If you want to make a physical copy through say,The Game Crafter, you can, you just can't sell it. If you want to do that, talk to us: comrades@affinity-games.com.

If you want to know how to credit us, you can see a good way of doing this over on our site: https://hazmatgame.com/credits/