GDC: The Game

Are you a bad enough dude to survive the Game Developers Conference and put together the ultimate game development team? Find out in GDC: The Game, a text-based social simulator that’s just like being there, but not really.

GDC has come and gone, but you can still relive (or experience for the first time) all the social awkwardness and hip parties with GDC: The Game, a text-based adventure commissioned by Think Services and designed by Toronto-based science-fiction writer and game creator Jim Monroe.

Designed not so much as a text adventure or interactive fiction as a “social simulator,” the game puts you in the role of a coder who has stumbled into GDC in hopes of forming the ultimate team for developing a game. Only problem is that you don’t know anybody, and you’ll have to network your way, one awkward conversation at a time, to the top. Win the hearts of coders, designers and promoters with your intense knowledge of 2D physics or micropayments, and you might just make it to the end.

It’s pretty fun, and definitely an interesting take on social interactions regardless of what it has to do with making games or being at GDC. Like any IF, it does require a bit of thinking. Keep Monroe’s advice in mind when playing: “Think of it as a round of cards rather than an immersive and colourful narrative. If you don’t like the hand you’re dealt, you can always reshuffle with a restart. If you find you’re playing “guess-the-verb” (IF’s most infamous minigame), restart and read the beginning carefully.”

(I also hid a clue in the screenshot.)

You can play the game online here (it’s in Java), or download it here to run with your favorite interactive fiction client.