The "jam" has begun! But, if you're like me, you might be struggling to settle on an idea. Do not fret! We planned for this in advance!
Yesterday, at our launch event, we got people to create some ideas. We gave everyone some index cards, some pens and encouraged some collaboration The process in full: think of a scene that you associate with "organising at work" and write that down an index card. Next, think of what the aim of the game that you might want to make. Write that down on a second index card. Take those cards, get into groups and let the groups pick one scene and one aim at random. Then, think of a game using the scene and aim that you've picked.
We ended up with 6 groups and 6 game ideas. I'm going to share them here and hope that they might act as inspiration for your own jam ideas (of course, you can also just take these ideas at face value and run with them):
Game 1: Scab 'em
One liner: Like one night ultimate werewolf except with unionists, scabs and workers
Everyone closes their eyes and is assigned a role (e.g. the moderator of the game might say "if I tap your shoulder, you are a unionist" and they then tap 3 out of the 10 players playing shoulders). Once everyone has a role assigned, the game begins. There are rounds of discussion about organising at work. During the scab turn, scabs can tell the bosses who to fire. During the union turn, union members get to protect a worker.
Game 2: Anachro-Union
One liner: Matchmaker meets adventure story. Travel through time, talk to workers from across the ages and gain experience to save the game workers!
You're a time-travelling union rep who gains valuable information by talking to unionists in the past. Talk to workers in textile factories, miners, cleaners and game workers. Fight for the workers rights in each of the time periods against bosses that, as time goes on, become more subversive and harder to take down.
Game 3: S*** Social Shutdown
One liner: gather workers support to shutdown a s*** company social
You start at your company's social. Your boss is having a great time. You're not. You go to try and find other workers who feel the same. Play some mini-games to set your workers free from the hell that is the social. Come together and destroy it once and for all!
Game 4: Communist Kitchen
One liner: as the company kitchen master, leave messages and recruit union members without raising suspicion
Possibly a sim/management game where you try to recruit union members in a workplace solely in the kitchen. Leave messages in the fridge. Talk about organising over tea. But beware, there could be unsympathetic individuals around who might blab to the boss!
Game 5: The Factory
One liner: transform a factory surrounded in smoke, with no organised labour into a beautiful, organised workplace
At the factory, you feel alone and exploited, but you're a union member. Share the problems that you're encountering with others. By sharing you gain more trust with your fellow employees. This trust then allows those employees to be recruited. Every now and then, the boss will come along and try to quash the unionisation movement. Beat the boss and then carry on recruiting.
Game 6: Smoking Area (No Cigarettes Required)
One liner: speak to other workers outside the office. Then, when ready, storm the office!
You're having a break in the smoking area. While there, you chat to your colleagues. You realise you're on the cusp of creating change at work. When you feel like you have what it takes, you can go and storm the office and try to depose the boss. If you fail, you've learnt for next time (i.e. roguelike)
I hope these have given you some ideas of what is possible in the weeks to come. If you have a great idea, please feel free to share it below! Any idea could be the spark for someone to create something incredible.
If you'd like to see a list of all the index cards that came out of the session, you can find them here: Game Jam Idea Session - 18/05/2019