Crow Jam
By Big Crow
Crow JamOct 28, 2021
Geist Heist
Georgia, Miriam and returning guest Leo jam on 'projection' and make a ghastly asymmetrical game of bouncy balls and furniture arranging. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tkilKEdDMQU
Jam Packed (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters trifle with the sticky problem of designing a game which fits in a jam jar. They rustle up a quick-play dice-drafting picnic game.
Slackingham Palace
The sisters are confronted with making a historical, secret-voting game about household chores. With the bare minimum of effort, they throw together a competitive time-theft game set in a regency manor where the cleaning staff can't be asked.
Marginally More Mauve (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters challenge themselves to make a game which uses the colour wheel. In one take they imagine a co-operative card challenge which uses UV ink, inspired by Tranquility.
Radical Challenge (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters explore using a timer in a game and devise an anachronistic gameshow-themed challenge game based on TV classics like Crystal Maze and Jungle Run.
Inventors with Problems
The sisters attempt to make a game which features an Inventors' Fair theme and both voting and stacking mechanics. They wind up with a card-based party game that advertises itself with the slogan "won't set anybody's pants on fire!"
port man toe (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters take on the daunting challenge of making a game that's funny. A brief conversation about what makes each of us laugh is followed by a jam where we make a party game about sandwiching two ideas together with humour.
Zygodeux (minisode!)
Aiming to imagine a game which can be played asynchronously, the sisters create a competitive 2-player word puzzle for whiteboards and text threads.
Skychange
The sisters set out to create a head-to-head fantasy game with a dark/light theme. They kick about ideas and through an enjoyable back-and-forth they design a tug-of-war, dice manipulation game about the myths of day and night. Inspired by Royal Visit, sun god myths, and modern classic dice-fixing games.
Sub System
The sisters dive into the mechanics of mystery games and build a closed-system, competitive card game based in a subaquatic research base where a key piece of equipment has gone missing!
Gimmick
Georgia, Miriam and special guest Kieran improvise a trick-taking game based on an esoteric classic.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fvP5V3Iyhdg
Losing the Plot (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode, the sisters sow the seeds of a really sweet, quick-play legacy game about keeping a community garden.
Ginger Swaps
The sisters assemble a lucky dip of themes and mechanics and build a sweetly simple, sneaky card placement game about making your gingerbread house look its finest.
Snow Mans Land (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters imagine a fort building and battle game of two phases, featuring snow people in a real "cold" war.
Slam Jam
Georgia and Miriam face off with the theme of wrestling storylines. They create a simple deckbuilder about getting your wrestler into the spotlight by winning them audience votes.
Component
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Felix jam on (neuro)tribes and come up with a crunchy game about a board game factory where no one knows who their team-mate is.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UgQZ9LxzVw4
Mosh (minisode!)
For this 10-minute mini jam the sisters begin with a "bewildering" theme and imagine a 2-player competitive crowdsurfing game which plays like an Ice-type Pokemon Gym.
Fairy Gigmother
Miriam and Georgia get stretched thin trying to complete a tall order: a scary push-your-luck worker placement game with a costume element(?). Inspired by the horrors of self-employment and their mutual suspicion of traditional worker placement games, they create a fairytale-themed gig-economy game where each player has only one worker.
Foe in the Dark (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters imagine a game which changes at night(!). They brainstorm on a team-based maze chase with changing components.
UnEarth
Miriam, Georgia and returning guest Rowan (of Impostrophe fame) dig deep and come up with a layered game that combines escape boxes and dexterity games with a childrens'-horror theme. It's definitely a game. It's not another book. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pdllIkX79Vo
Vampire Waiters (minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters discuss ice-breaker murdergames and vampire superstitions. They imagine a very goofy halloween party game which centres on canapes.
Horrorwood
Knit Wits (Minisode!)
Knockem Blockoff Robots (Minisode!)
Pass the Groboks
Georgia, Miriam and special guest Leo put stress on 'emphasis'. They design a surreal game of dinner-table conversation with shifting rules, bizarre pieces and dreamlike characters.
Want to see the video? It's on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Loh9XlzfZNg
Things that Make a Home (Minisode!)
For this minisode, the sisters draw on things closer to home. In minute 10 a picture emerges of a simple, pen-and-paper narrative mapmaking game.
Stack Shake
The sisters dig deep and read widely to try and deliver a subterranean library exploration game. They devise a unique dice & tile puzzler, citing Boggle, L-space, and dungeon-crawler games as their inspiration.
Stick 'Em Up Dice (Minisode!)
In this 10-minute minisode the sisters stick their heads together to make a big-table, cubic katamari dice game.
All's Fair
Georgia and Miriam try to balance a see-saw area-control game with all the fun of the fair. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PAsuXVGU6cI
Spiralling
Miriam and Georgia try to keep a cool head as they race against the clock to design a co-operative maze-crawler game of spiralling thoughts.
Boogie Bambuzzle
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Tom get their brains buzzing on the theme of 'bee'. They create a hidden-role limited communication party game of bear-faced bee-trayal.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/C0gdXfqtPPc
Bower Power
Georgia and Miriam leave their birthday celebrations to chance. Will it be a sensory house party or team sports on the beach? Turns out neither as we make a tactile drafting game where you literally feather your nest, inspired by Hand to Hand Wombat, Grand Designs, and The Most Wonderful Egg in the World.
(Crazy) Geolf
Georgia, Miriam and special guest Nye bounce some ideas around. They come up with a weird and wonderful game of geological golf. Geolf.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/BEMWdXlNV1g
Hold the Cheese
Miriam and Georgia get the ball rolling with a Racing Game mechanic. They scramble for ideas, passing at breakneck speed through Wacky Races, Wallace & Gromit, and Living Forest. Revisting their roots, they capture the imagination with a cheese-rolling push-your-luck game concept delivered in record time.
Hit the Deck
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Amelie catch a wave and create a mash-up tower defence game of pirates and surfers battling on the high seas. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LFLyjtqTEDA
Lightning Round
Georgia and Miriam run all over the map via 'mousemate', Captain Sonar, and treehouse fantasies. They lightning round rush six games ideas, and at least one of them is half decent.
Mindmap
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Will try to make the connection for a game about synaesthesia. They co-operate on a game of communication, linking and concepts. Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/dyW9W8blmhg
Flaw Plan
'Burb Watchers
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Suzanna go jumping through loopholes in pursuit of a game idea. They come up with a curtain-twitching game of malicious compliance set in a sweetly twisted gated community.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WqBAv7OB_08
Wacky Feet
Digital Vampire
Miriam, Georgia and guest Marc explore the theme of 'survival' and develop a solo adventure about escaping the soul-sucking entity that lives inside your smartphone.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/8YAFmoVIybM
On the Turn
Vivarium
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Anna take inspiration from the reptile world to create a psychedelic, infinitely replayable and flexible dexterity game for all ages.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YuQA4pT1pQA
Gnome Mans Land
Georgia and Miriam dig into Mandala, Gnomeo and Juliet, and Plants vs Zombies. They design a multi-layered epic strategy game about three gnome sisters' battle for backyard dominance.
Unfinished Business
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Kieran take inspiration from shadow puppets, charades, A Christmas Carol and Mysterium to create an unseasonably spooky limited-communication game of corporate paranormal investigation.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/osKwyY-gS00
Labyrinthians
Georgia and Miriam delve into Dicey Dungeons, Warhammer, Talisman and The Trap Door. They make a super cute cooperative adventure team/deck-builder about labyrinth monsters taking back their home turf from a sinister invader.
Impostrophe
Miriam, Georgia and special guest Charlotte jam on the theme of 'dash'. Taking inspiration from The Initiative, ASCII art, and the Tuesday Next novels (among other things), they make a pun-ctuation themed interactive story game starring detective Sam Interrobang.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/2K_S2q9Po7g
In the Clearing
Miriam and Georgia dive in to memory games, View-Master goggles, and therapy sessions. They face a few demons but struggle through to emerge with a lightweight, small-box solo matching game about clearing your thoughts.
Jack O' All Trades
Astro vs Cosmo
Georgia and Miriam get tricked into exploring the vast, cold depths of history-themed point-scoring games. Navigating via Junk Art, the Jetsons, and the aesthetics of propaganda, they launch an airtight concept for a 3D resource-management rocket-building game.