Who are Special Effect?
Special Effect is a charity that helps with the creation custom game controllers that allow people with special needs to enjoy computer and video games.
You can read more about Special Effect here.
You can read more about Special Effect here.
What is GameBlast?
GameBlast is an annual 24 hour marathon streamed charity event that takes place over the last weekend of February every year. The aim of GameBlast is to raise money for Special effect.
GameBlast is open to anyone who wants participate.
GameBlast participants challenge themselves to complete some gaming objective over a 24 hour period and ideally this is streamed.
Challenges do not need to be related to video games, Any kind of game will do.
If gaming isn't your thing, feel free to do anything you want to raise money.
Find out about GameBlast here.
GameBlast is open to anyone who wants participate.
GameBlast participants challenge themselves to complete some gaming objective over a 24 hour period and ideally this is streamed.
Challenges do not need to be related to video games, Any kind of game will do.
If gaming isn't your thing, feel free to do anything you want to raise money.
Find out about GameBlast here.
Donations
If you want to donate to me, it can be done through my Just Giving page.
25th February 2020
GameBlast20 has concluded and I'm nearly recovered!
The players managed to complete 2 out of the 4 adventures. So this means that the remaining 4 adventures will be played during GameBlast21!
I hit my personal target and I believe that between the 4 of us, we raised close to £1,000.
At the time of writing, GameBlast20 has raised over £140,000 for Special Effect.
If you made a donation, thank you very much.
If you watched the stream, I hope you enjoyed it.
Finally I'd like to thank Charlotte, Jack & Tim for patience to deal with my crazy puzzles!
Thanks to Charlotte and Tim for hosting at their home.
GameBlast20 has concluded and I'm nearly recovered!
The players managed to complete 2 out of the 4 adventures. So this means that the remaining 4 adventures will be played during GameBlast21!
I hit my personal target and I believe that between the 4 of us, we raised close to £1,000.
At the time of writing, GameBlast20 has raised over £140,000 for Special Effect.
If you made a donation, thank you very much.
If you watched the stream, I hope you enjoyed it.
Finally I'd like to thank Charlotte, Jack & Tim for patience to deal with my crazy puzzles!
Thanks to Charlotte and Tim for hosting at their home.
If you missed the stream and you're really desperate to watch it, it has been uploaded to Youtube in 4 parts.
Below are the photos I took for 'The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot'.
18th February 2020
Finished writing all 4 adventures late last night - except for 3 little tricky bits!
Now; more painting.
Finished writing all 4 adventures late last night - except for 3 little tricky bits!
Now; more painting.
13th February 2020
A week to go, still working away on preparation!
A week to go, still working away on preparation!
10th January 2020
Added new photo to JustGiving page and this page.
Added new photo to JustGiving page and this page.
2nd January 2020
First post of the new year!
7 weeks to GameBlast20.
I just created my JustGiving page for this year.
The link is here.
First post of the new year!
7 weeks to GameBlast20.
I just created my JustGiving page for this year.
The link is here.
27th October 2019
16 weeks til Gameblast20
I have more or less finished writing the 1st part; Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
I've noticed that there's quite narrative differences between Hobbit/Lord Of The Rings and the 'Indy' films that makes writing the Indy games trickier.
Do you remember the plot of The Hobbit?
Well, in The Hobbit, the heroes are stealing treasure and stealing 'The Arkenstone'. Do you remember where the Arkenstone was? It was at The Lonely Mountain, the heroes travelled from The Shire through Misty Mountains and Mirkwood to do it.
Do you remember the plot of The Lord Of The Rings?
Well, it's about destroying a ring. Do you remember where they took it to destroy it? The heroes took it from The Shire to Mount Doom in Mordor.
In Raiders Of The Lost Ark, do you remember the plot?
Sure it's about finding The Ark Of The Covenant. But do you remember where the Ark was? Do remember it was in 'The Well Of Souls'. Do you remember where The Well Of Souls was? Do you remember it was in the 'Lost City Of Tanis'?
I don't remember - or didn't until I re-watched Raiders again.
I'm a fan of all 3 and it's curious how I remember all this stuff for The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, but not Raiders.
I think it's down to how the narrative is structured. In The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, the journey is part of the story.
In The Hobbit, Bilbo travels from Hobbiton to Rivendell. During this leg of his journey, he encounters the 3 trolls who he outwits. This is a useful narrative tool as it shows how resourceful Bilbo.
In The Lord Of The Rings, Frodo travels from Hobbiton to Rivendell. During this leg of his journey he is stalked by 'The Black Riders'. This too is a useful narrative tool as Frodo is literally hunted by a part of the story's plot.
Places like Rivendell, Mirkwood and Moria have their own character and personality.
Conversely; in Raiders a journey is depicted a red line crawling across a map. Locations like The Well Of Souls and Tanis are just places in a dig site, they're not really that important to the plot and therefore not memorable. What you do remember is Indy being chased by a giant bolder, or the fight around the plane with the spinning propeller, or when Indy gets dragged under a truck, or the melting Nazis. These are what's important and what's memorable in Raiders.
Neither style of storytelling is better or worse than the other; but I do find find writing scenarios about the Indy films harder.
16 weeks til Gameblast20
I have more or less finished writing the 1st part; Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
I've noticed that there's quite narrative differences between Hobbit/Lord Of The Rings and the 'Indy' films that makes writing the Indy games trickier.
Do you remember the plot of The Hobbit?
Well, in The Hobbit, the heroes are stealing treasure and stealing 'The Arkenstone'. Do you remember where the Arkenstone was? It was at The Lonely Mountain, the heroes travelled from The Shire through Misty Mountains and Mirkwood to do it.
Do you remember the plot of The Lord Of The Rings?
Well, it's about destroying a ring. Do you remember where they took it to destroy it? The heroes took it from The Shire to Mount Doom in Mordor.
In Raiders Of The Lost Ark, do you remember the plot?
Sure it's about finding The Ark Of The Covenant. But do you remember where the Ark was? Do remember it was in 'The Well Of Souls'. Do you remember where The Well Of Souls was? Do you remember it was in the 'Lost City Of Tanis'?
I don't remember - or didn't until I re-watched Raiders again.
I'm a fan of all 3 and it's curious how I remember all this stuff for The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, but not Raiders.
I think it's down to how the narrative is structured. In The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, the journey is part of the story.
In The Hobbit, Bilbo travels from Hobbiton to Rivendell. During this leg of his journey, he encounters the 3 trolls who he outwits. This is a useful narrative tool as it shows how resourceful Bilbo.
In The Lord Of The Rings, Frodo travels from Hobbiton to Rivendell. During this leg of his journey he is stalked by 'The Black Riders'. This too is a useful narrative tool as Frodo is literally hunted by a part of the story's plot.
Places like Rivendell, Mirkwood and Moria have their own character and personality.
Conversely; in Raiders a journey is depicted a red line crawling across a map. Locations like The Well Of Souls and Tanis are just places in a dig site, they're not really that important to the plot and therefore not memorable. What you do remember is Indy being chased by a giant bolder, or the fight around the plane with the spinning propeller, or when Indy gets dragged under a truck, or the melting Nazis. These are what's important and what's memorable in Raiders.
Neither style of storytelling is better or worse than the other; but I do find find writing scenarios about the Indy films harder.
21st October 2019
I have finally gotten round to watching all 4 films again and taking some notes.
I've now got ideas for about 53 different scenes.
As I start working on them, I'll whittle them to about 35.
I have finally gotten round to watching all 4 films again and taking some notes.
I've now got ideas for about 53 different scenes.
As I start working on them, I'll whittle them to about 35.
The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
27th August 2019
I have decided on a name for my Gameblast20 RPG.
'The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot'.
I have decided on a name for my Gameblast20 RPG.
'The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot'.
10th August 2019
Gameblast20 is about 6-7 months away, which for what I'm planning is not as far away as it seems.
For Gameblast20 I have decided to run another 24 hour RPG.
This time, it will be:
Gameblast20 is about 6-7 months away, which for what I'm planning is not as far away as it seems.
For Gameblast20 I have decided to run another 24 hour RPG.
This time, it will be:
The Not Indiana Jones Chronicles
So the 'not' Indiana Jones chronicles will consist of the following structure.
There will be 4 chapters, each one based on one of the films.
My observations of role playing seemed to reveal that most encounters/fights/events take on average 30 minutes.
Thus a 24 hour RPG should have 48 encounters, however play does not progress for all of these hours. People take breaks, or naps or stop to eat.
Thus 40 encounters will suffice, in fact 32 encounters will probably suffice, but it better to over produce a little in this case.
This means I have 26-28 weeks prepare 40 encounters, - that's more than 1 per week!
There will be 4 chapters, each one based on one of the films.
My observations of role playing seemed to reveal that most encounters/fights/events take on average 30 minutes.
Thus a 24 hour RPG should have 48 encounters, however play does not progress for all of these hours. People take breaks, or naps or stop to eat.
Thus 40 encounters will suffice, in fact 32 encounters will probably suffice, but it better to over produce a little in this case.
This means I have 26-28 weeks prepare 40 encounters, - that's more than 1 per week!
