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rpg.actor Game Jam

The rpg.actor Game Jam challenges developers to build games and tools that leverage its novel platform for persistent RPG characters. It allows players to carry their stats and sprites across diverse gaming experiences, all powered by the open AT Protocol. This initiative taps into Hacker News's enthusiasm for decentralized web technologies, open standards, and creative development challenges in the gaming space.

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#7
Highest Rank
4h
on Front Page
First Seen
Mar 28, 5:00 PM
Last Seen
Mar 28, 8:00 PM
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157914

The Lowdown

The rpg.actor Game Jam invites developers to explore a new frontier in online role-playing games by building innovative experiences around the rpg.actor platform. This platform aims to decentralize player data, enabling characters to maintain persistence and portability across multiple games and applications. By utilizing the AT Protocol, similar to Bluesky accounts, players retain ownership and control over their character's stats and appearance, fostering a more open and interconnected gaming ecosystem.

The jam's core tenets and offerings include:

  • Decentralized Characters: Characters' stats and sprites live on the open social web, stored on players' personal data servers via AT Protocol.
  • Cross-Game Persistence: Players log in with existing Bluesky/AT Protocol accounts, allowing their characters to carry levels, stats, and appearance between different games and adventures.
  • Developer Challenge: Participants are tasked with creating games, tools, or novelties that read from or write to a player's actor.rpg.stats or actor.rpg.sprite data.
  • Prizes: Rewards include a vintage Japanese RPG Maker 2000, along with various rpg.actor Creator accounts offering increased character limits and custom .world domains.
  • Creative Freedom: Ideas range from implementing character login and compendium NPCs to wardrobe changes and "unexpected" uses of character data, encouraging broad interpretation of the platform's capabilities.
  • Open Standards & Safety: Rules emphasize integration with rpg.actor lexicons, engine agnosticism, and open-source contributions. A significant focus is placed on player safety, recommending playtest accounts and clear permission checks, while developers are encouraged to publish source code for "Verified" trust status.
  • API & Resources: Comprehensive developer guides, API access (plain REST), systems references, and RPG Maker MZ plugins are provided to facilitate development.

The rpg.actor Game Jam represents a forward-thinking approach to player data ownership and interoperability in gaming, aligning with the broader movement towards decentralized and open web standards. It's a call to action for creators to experiment with how persistent, player-owned characters can redefine online gaming.