Dr Neil Dansey, Senior Lecturer in School of Creative Technologies, has produced a 17-in-1 video game as part of a collaborative games development project.
Titled PICOZONE, it runs on the Pico-8 game engine and fits into 32k of memory. It pays homage to Commodore 64's Lazy Jones by comprising 16 mini games united by an overarching 17th game. This differs from previous 16-in-1 jams, which tend to be presented as standalone games with a menu screen to pick between them.
In the game, the player flies around space collecting crystals to open 'anomalies'. Each one sends the player to another dimension to face a challenge – when successful, the player's ship is refuelled. The player has to get through all 16 anomalies before running out of fuel.
PICOZONE was created by 16 different developers in 10 countries spanning Europe and Australia.
Fire up your digits and have a play by heading over to PICOZONE's page.
About Neil Dansey
Dr Neil Dansey is a Senior Lecturer specialising in computer games technology. He was awarded a PhD after submitting his thesis, "A grounded theory of emergent benefit in pervasive game experiences". It examined ways in which game players creatively interpret the more ambiguous rules to better satisfy their needs in the everyday world, such as socialising, learning and expressing individuality.