Snuggle Truck iOS game ditches immigrant characters for fluffy animalsIn the summer of last year, a clan of Boston-based game makers got together to talk about immigration.It was the latest Boston Game Jam — ongoing marathon coding weekends where creative types get together and churn out games against the clock. Since the Jam’s debut in 2007, the themes have ranged from the moon to HTML5. This year’s big topic though was immigration, emigration and cultural clashes.“The idea was to rally support for our friend who was having major issues while trying to immigrate to the United States to come and develop games,” explains Alex Schwartz, “Chief Scientist” at Owlchemy Labs, and co-host of that weekend’s Game Jam. “He had spent over a year trying to find a simple and legal method to come to the US but found no visas that would support his endeavours.”Most of the games created at the Jam, including Cultural Exchange, Immcognitio and Super Mega Immigration Office 2000, were serious or tactful in nature. Office 2000 is like the world’s most boring adventure game, where logic puzzles are replaced with green cards, questions and mountains of paperwork.Schwartz had a different take. “We felt that if we could do something that would spark some attention, we could do a better job of getting people to talk about the shoddy systems in place for legal immigration,” he says.His game, made alongside Yilmaz Kiymaz and a handful of artists and musicians, was Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration…Read more at Wired UK

Snuggle Truck iOS game ditches immigrant characters for fluffy animals

In the summer of last year, a clan of Boston-based game makers got together to talk about immigration.

It was the latest Boston Game Jam — ongoing marathon coding weekends where creative types get together and churn out games against the clock. Since the Jam’s debut in 2007, the themes have ranged from the moon to HTML5. This year’s big topic though was immigration, emigration and cultural clashes.

“The idea was to rally support for our friend who was having major issues while trying to immigrate to the United States to come and develop games,” explains Alex Schwartz, “Chief Scientist” at Owlchemy Labs, and co-host of that weekend’s Game Jam. “He had spent over a year trying to find a simple and legal method to come to the US but found no visas that would support his endeavours.”

Most of the games created at the Jam, including Cultural Exchange, Immcognitio and Super Mega Immigration Office 2000, were serious or tactful in nature. Office 2000 is like the world’s most boring adventure game, where logic puzzles are replaced with green cards, questions and mountains of paperwork.

Schwartz had a different take. “We felt that if we could do something that would spark some attention, we could do a better job of getting people to talk about the shoddy systems in place for legal immigration,” he says.

His game, made alongside Yilmaz Kiymaz and a handful of artists and musicians, was Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration…

Read more at Wired UK

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