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[Jonas Kyratzes]

Gaming blog Gnome's Lair has announced a project called Wikileaks Stories:

The 6th of December is a very important day indeed, especially if you live in Greece. Two years ago a 15 year old boy, Alexis, was brutally murdered by the police. It was a shocking event that led to a month-long revolt throughout Greece, which signaled a new phase of civil disobedience. Today, just like last year, the streets are once again (already) overrun by the angry youth (and many more) and this blog is happy. Then again, a blog can't help you join the students, workers and school-kids of Greece.

It can on the other hand interest you, oh fickle reader, with a new indie gaming initiative: WikiLeaks Stories. A selection of short and sometimes longer games that will turn some of the more interesting WikiLeaks ...err... leaks into playable stories. Maybe even provide you with a hacker game that will let you attempt to battle the powerful censors and their allies; we'll see about that.

Now, where are them games? Well, they are being made. I have already put a variety of other projects on hold and started working on a piece of WikiLeaks Stories interactive fiction (you know, a text adventure) and Jonas Kyratzes will soon come up with something himself. Hopefully a few more indie developers will join the fun, as being indie does not simply mean going for a pixel-art look...

So, if you're interested in this, please join us in making games about the facts that governments like to keep secret.

(Oh, and it would be really nice if this thread could discuss the project, not the fact that you believe Wikileaks to be evil traitors who need to be democratically assassinated. I'm sure you can find another space for that.)

[Melly]

That sounds pretty interesting. If I had more free time I'd probably participate.

[increpare]

I've been trying to think of something like this for a while, but haven't come up with anything yet. The vast amounts of structured data in the war logs is very tempting, but...still I found it difficult to deal with.  Ah well.  See what happens.

[moi]

Interesting. It would probably make me sick to ttry to make a game with the CIA torturing people all over the world, that said, some of the funnier stories about heads of states could be fair game.
But I don't know how realistically possible it is really.

[Jonas Kyratzes]

I've been trying to think of something like this for a while, but haven't come up with anything yet. The vast amounts of structured data in the war logs is very tempting, but...still I found it difficult to deal with.  Ah well.  See what happens.

I kept thinking of something Tower-Defense-like, protecting servers from DDoS attacks, every level completed leading to another leak (using the real data)... but I probably suck too much as a programmer to pull that off. So I'll go for something I'm more experienced with, i.e. an adventure game of some kind.

[Gnome]

Thanks for posting this attempt here dear Jonas!

As for me I've been thinking of two different pieces of interactive fiction / text adventures. Do have a variety of other ideas -say a whack a mole game or a disturbing platformer- but I know I could never implement those.

[bento_smile]

Sounds interesting! I don't really have any ideas  but will have a think 

[Melly]

Isn't a think essentially 40 thoughts?

That's as much as four tens!

And that's terrible.

I'm very sorry.

[s0]

I'm gonna make a graphical first-person version of Hunt the Wumpus featuring Julian Assange.

[Türbo Bröther]

Where In the World Is Julian Assange?

Julian Assange is a master thief who leads the anarchist organization W.I.K.I.L.E.A.K.S. This organization specializes in stealing the world's government's secrets without a trace before posting it on the internet. Alarmed by this, the I.N.T.E.R.P.O.L. Detective Agency makes it their personal mission to foil Julian Assange's plans.

The classic edusoft title, where the trail always leads to England but never to Sweden. For MSDOS computers running in HI-MEM mode.

[Gnome]

I'm gonna make a graphical first-person version of Hunt the Wumpus featuring Julian Assange.

This is a most brilliant idea!

[s0]

I wrote that post as a joke, but now I'm seriously thinking about going for it.  

He's already arrested though as far as I know so it'd lose a bit of its actuality. Also, it probably doesn't fit the compo theme.

[Jonas Kyratzes]

The news about this project has spread far and wide, to a degree I find rather shocking (in a good way).

Participate, people! If you're interested in the subject, this is an excellent chance to put your skills to work on something small but meaningful. It's a game design challenge as well as a political one, and a unique opportunity to create art about a historical event we're all part of.

[FrankieSmileShow]

Careful guys, if we do that we become fair game for Interpol/Supersecret Illuminati Guestapolice
They will make us all sex offenders!!!

[moi]

np, we ARE the Illuminati.

[PGGB]

np, we ARE the Illuminati.

Also Interpol, the US government and basically the whole world is run by TIGs Illuminati.

[Soulliard]

Before anyone participates in this, be sure to research Wikileaks and make sure it is the type of organization you want to associate yourself with. It is a political organization with an anarchic slant. It's not just a cute theme to base a game around.

Wikileaks is indiscriminate about the information it publishes. Their recent release of classified American diplomatic documents could put people at risk and upset relations between countries (which could have far-reaching effects on those countries' citizens).

Just think about it before you dive right into this game-making event.

[The Monster King]

heh

politics

yeah soulliards right though when politics are involved i guess its a different mess

but then when you make games to make games

make the games

its artsy i guess

risqué

[Matt Thorson]

heh

politics

yeah soulliards right though when politics are involved i guess its a different mess

but then when you make games to make games

make the games

its artsy i guess

risqué

But when you make a game about wikileaks you're probably not just making a game to make a game. Unless I'm missing something here...

Basically he's saying make sure you actually agree with the cause before you make art that supports it.

[brog]

Their recent release of classified American diplomatic documents could put people at risk

http://www.richardkmorgan.com/news/680/you-believe-this-shit/ said it better than I would.

I generally avoid political discussion, and I really struggle to put any kind of narrative meaning into my games, but I'll be keeping this in the back of my head in case I can come up with anything because it's just so damn important.  This is the dystopian future.