Jason Rohrer

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Jason Rohrer
Jason Rohrer - Game Developers Conference 2011 - Day 2 (1).jpg
Jason Rohrer at the 2011 Game Developers Conference
Born (1977-11-14) November 14, 1977 (age 35)
Occupation Computer programmer, game designer, writer, musician

Jason Rohrer (born 1977) is an American computer programmer, writer, musician, and game designer. He publishes most of his software under the GNU GPL or into the public domain, and charges for the iPhone ports of his games.[1][2] He practices simple living and said in 2009 that his family of four had a budget less than $14,500 per year.[3]

Contents

Games [edit]

  • Transcend – Rohrer's first game, released in 2005. Transcend is "an abstract 2D shooting game that doubles as a multimedia sculpture."
  • Cultivation – Rohrer's second game, released in 2007, is "a social simulation about a community of gardeners."
  • Passage – Rohrer's third game, which was released in 2007 and garnered much attention from the mainstream and independent gaming communities.[4][5][6][7] The game lasts exactly five minutes, and focuses on life, mortality and the costs and benefits of marriage. It was featured in Kokoromi's curated GAMMA 256 event.
  • Gravitation – Rohrer's fourth game, released in 2008. That same year, it won the Jury award at IndieCade.[8]
  • Between – Rohrer's fifth game, released in 2008. It is hosted by Esquire Magazine as an adjunct to Rohrer's profile in the December 2008 issue[9] and was the recipient of the 2009 Independent Games Festival's Innovation Award.[10]
  • Primrose – Rohrer's sixth game, designed for the iPhone (although released for home computers as well). It was released on February 19, 2009. It is a departure from the art-game theme, and is a simple puzzle game.[11]
  • Sleep is Death – Adventure-game-making software, released April 16, 2010. Sleep is Death games require the creator to be present to respond to the players actions in near real-time. It has received favorable reviews from a number of mainstream game review sites.[12]
  • Game Design Sketchbook – In 2008 Rohrer created a number of games for The Escapist. These would usually be unpolished prototype games that explore a single theme, with an accompanying article by Rohrer describing the creative process of making games.[13]
  • Inside a Star-filled Sky – An "infinite, recursive tactical shooter"[14] released in February 2011, favorably reviewed.[15][16] Selected for presentation at the 2011 Tokyo Game Show's Sense Of Wonder Night.[17]
  • Diamond Trust of London – A two-player strategy game for the Nintendo DS.
  • The Castle Doctrine - An MMO burglary and home defense video game.

GDC 2011 Game Design Challenge [edit]

At the 2011 Game Developers Conference Rohrer won the annual Game Design Challenge by proposing a game that could only be played once by a single player and then passed on to another.[18] This idea was based on stories of his late grandfather that had been passed down. He stated "We become like gods to those who come after us." With this in mind he created a Minecraft mod, Chain World, that was put on a single USB flash drive, which he then passed to an audience member. The rules of the game were simple;

  • No text signs are allowed in the game
  • Players may play until they die once.
  • Upon respawning they must quit the game.
  • The game must then be passed onto someone that is interested and willing to respect the rules.

Other projects [edit]

  • konspire2b, a pseudonymous channel-based file-distribution system
  • token word, a Xanadu-style text editing system
  • tangle, a proxy server which attempts to find relationships between websites and user visits.
  • MUTE, a file sharing network with anonymity in mind.
  • Monolith, a thought experiment that might be relevant to digital copyright. This has expanded to a computer program implemented on his ideas.
  • seedBlogs, a modular building block that lets you add PHP and MySQL-backed dynamic content to any website.
  • silk, a web-based hypertext system to simplify web page linking. Similar to wiki markup.
  • hyperlit, a literary hypertext authoring system.
  • subreal, a distributed evolution system.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Jason Rohrer Releases iPhone Puzzler Primrose
  2. ^ Passage in App Store, $0.99
  3. ^ Voluntary Simplicity
  4. ^ Rutkoff, Aaron (2008-01-25). "The Game of Life". The Wall Street Journal. 
  5. ^ Can D.I.Y. Supplant the First-Person Shooter?
  6. ^ The Gaming Club: There is little reason to be pessimistic or cynical about the future of gaming. – By N'Gai Croal , Seth Schiesel, Chris Suellentrop, and Stephen Totilo – Slate Magazine
  7. ^ Video Games Break Out – BusinessWeek
  8. ^ "When has a videogame ever made you cry?...". nbcnews.com. October, 2008. Retrieved 2013-03-10. 
  9. ^ "Future of Video Game Design – Jason Rohrer's Programming Online Games". Esquire. 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2012-02-23. 
  10. ^ "The 14th Annual Independent Games Festival Finalists". Igf.com. Retrieved 2012-02-23. 
  11. ^ Primrose
  12. ^ "(Geisterfahrer)". Sleep Is Death. Retrieved 2012-02-23. 
  13. ^ Game Design Sketchbook
  14. ^ Inside a Star-filled Sky
  15. ^ Impression: Inside a Star-filled Sky | Rock, Paper, Shotgun
  16. ^ Inside a Star-filled Sky | PC Gamer
  17. ^ "東京ゲームショウ｜TOKYO GAME SHOW". Tgs.cesa.or.jp. Retrieved 2012-02-23. 
  18. ^ Alexander, Leigh. "GDC 2011: Rohrer Wins Game Design Challenge With Unique Minecraft Mod". Gamasutra. Retrieved 25 April 2011. 

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jason Rohrer
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