Reminder: Our Public Domain Game Jam Of 1924 Works Has One More Week

Culture

from the don't-miss-out dept

Here’s a quick reminder that we’re running a Gaming Like It’s 1924 game jam, asking people to come up with both digital and analog games using newly public domain works from 1924. While the US spent decades not allowing any new works into the public domain, that changed last year (finally!), and now we’re slowly getting works into the public domain drip by drip. But what good is a public domain if it’s not used to inspire new creative works? So, as we did last year, we’re running this contest for the month of January. All the rules are at the link above, but there are lots of great tools and templates out there for anyone wanting to try their hand at creating something.

As always, Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain has a great list highlighting some newly public domain works, and there are some concepts and ideas in there that could be turned into really great games — like E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India or Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Doolittle’s Circus. And, of course, I remain curious if anyone will make a game out of George Gershwin’s famed song “Rhapsody in Blue,” considering that his family is upset about the whole concept of the public domain, and fought against it for years.

Anyway, here’s a chance to have fun and be creative. You don’t need to be a game designer. You don’t have to come up with something super polished. Just experiment a little and see if you come up with something cool.

Filed Under: 1924, copyright, game jam, public domain