Jason Rohrer has just released a new videogame that took him three years to develop.
Jason Rohrer
For those who don’t know who Rohrer is, let me briefly tell you that he is an uncommon game designer. One of his most notable games is called Passage, and it’s about a metaphor of an entire life in five minutes.
Don’t expect a triple A with 60fps in 4K from his games. It’s a more conceptual approach and in my opinion much more interesting.
Humanity’s Final Game
Another incredibly different concept was the winning game of GDC 2013 Game Design Challenge . In this case, the objective was to design Humanity’s Final Game. He won with a very original idea: he designed a board game with titanium pieces, buried it in the Nevada desert in a secret location, and at the conference delivered a million GPS coordinates, of which only one was the position where the game was buried; according to his calculations, finding and unearthing the game could take around 2700 years.
One Hour One Life
The theme of human creations that exceed the time of one life seems to be a topic that attracts him. With the speed of today’s world, we’re not used to seeing great milestones that take several generations to complete. Perhaps in antiquity it was more common to have some monumental work that an emperor/pharaoh or leader of the moment would begin and their grandchildren would hopefully finish.
In the case of One Hour One Life, it’s a massive multiplayer concept where the player only plays the life of one person, which in real time lasts one hour. And their achievements in that life are used by other players, or as a common good for the community as a whole, but not necessarily by themselves. The player can play another life again, but will have no specific link to their previous players.
Video
Game description taken and translated from the wiki
“It’s about playing a small part of a much larger story. You only live for one hour, but the game’s time and space is infinite. There’s a lot you can do in one life, but fully exploring the game’s technology tree would take several generations. The game is also about family trees. Having a mother who takes care of you when your character is a baby, and then hopefully taking care of a baby in the future. Your mother is another player, your baby is another player. Building something to use in your life, but realizing it’s not just for you, it’s for your children, and for the countless lives that will come after you. Proudly using your grandfather’s axe, then passing it to your son before dying. Each life is a unique story. I was a girl who grew up in this situation, and I became an adult. I built a bakery near the wheat fields. Over time I watched my grandparents and parents die. I had children, but they’re all grown up now… and look at me now, I’m an old woman. Everything that happened in this hour is mine.”
Source: https://onehouronelife.gamepedia.com/One_Hour_One_Life_Wiki
Jason Rohrer, minimalist, open source, non-consumerist
If you want to know more about Jason Rohrer, I recommend this 2010 interview where you can clearly see that he’s an advocate of open source software and proves that great things can be done without needing the latest available hardware.
https://usesthis.com/interviews/jason.rohrer/
Buying One Hour One Life
And finally, the link to buy the game directly from his page. It even comes with open source code, no DRM, no intermediaries, no free to play, with free lifetime access to the multiplayer server with no additional costs or monthly charges. In my opinion, this person is one of those who make the world a better place.
https://sites.fastspring.com/jasonrohrer/instant/onehouronelife