Welcome to the Jam: The Making of Super Street Harassment RPG

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Meeting the Team

By the end of the first night, our team consisted of three people—myself included—ready to see Super Street Harassment RPG come into creation. (Their last named have been excised from this piece at their request.) Connie, who signed on to create art for the game, worked quietly and intensely behind a curtain of thick, black hair. Every time I caught a glimpse at her laptop screen, she'd be working in one of seemingly dozens of open windows—a multi-tasker if I've ever seen one. Since she comes from an RPG background, it didn't take long for my pitch to click with Connie. "Pokémon was [my first RPG]," she says, "But then I found games like Disgaea and the Tales Series, and as I delved further into the internet, I found Ib, Standstill Girl, and other short games. To me video games are like interactive books, sucking you away from reality and into their world. Which is also why I love visual novels. But as with games in general for me, it depends on the story and art."

Connie found the pitch for Super Street Harassment RPG appealing not just for the chosen genre, but for the subject matter as well. "I felt it simply had to be done," she says. "As a woman, I know what it's like to get catcalled along with some other not-so-nice comments when down in the streets. And get honked at while walking. That is just unpleasant."

Richard, a soft-spoken and genial computer science grad student, comprised one half of our programming team. (Additionally, he also served as a voluntary chauffeur to save me from the horrors of weekend bus schedules.) He got his start in gaming with Blizzard's Warcraft II, then moved on to LucasArts adventures; in fact, we passed the time on our daily commute talking about PC games from the late '90s—an important part of his grade school and my high school life. "Depending on the game, I truly enjoy a good storyline," says Richard. "That's why I like Monkey Island games—BioShock was great. Diablo and Starcraft, I feel like, have fine storylines, and I always enjoy playing those kind of games."

Richard came to this event with prior game design experience; when we met, he showed me something he'd been working on in Unity—a side-scrolling shooter inspired by Metal Slug. "The main reason I went [to the Game Jam]," says Richard, "is that I thought it'd be a good opportunity to both get experience in building games, and just having something on a resume to help me find something later on, too."

Josh, who missed most of the Game Jam's first day, found our team on the second morning, and agreed to join us once I walked him through a quick flowchart I sketched out on the first night. His presence would soon be absolutely vital for our team, as he brought a healthy knowledge of Construct 2: The game engine which would power the inner workings of Super Street Harassment RPG. "I learned about Game Jam from a professor, and it seemed like everything I always wanted to do—network and make friends while making a game," says Josh. "I chose to work on [Super Street Harassment RPG] because I liked the idea of a game that had real life parallels: situations people might find themselves in, and responses they might use."

By the end of the first night, the prospect of creating an entire game felt more than a little intimidating, but we had our roles assigned, and a rough outline to show how the actual game would function. Now, all that remained was to cram all of these ideas into a computer, and pray that they functioned properly. With just two days left, it was hard to keep our eyes off the clock.