The researchers of the Creative Technology HUB of MOME Innovation Center respond to the situation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic with their strategic game called ‘Sombrero’.
Even though the works of the students of the university have already featured gaming concepts on a regular basis before (this year, for example, three diploma projects), the Creative Technology HUB of MOME Innovation Center created one for the first time, which we can now test live, too.
The strategic game was named Sombrero: according to the plot, the tiny space waste pieces generated in the Sombrero galaxy mutate into viruses once they reach the gravitational sphere of the Earth. Gamers have to fight against the viruses in an apartment (made by the creators based on the apartment owned by the daughter of Rodolfo, world-famous Hungarian magician until the middle of the nineties) with ordinary and less ordinary tools.
The Sombrero is built on the logic of tower defense games. In these games, you have to defend yourself on your own territory, by using various defense equipment against the enemy. In this case, we can fight the savage viruses attacking from behind the toilet or the cupboard with flames coming out of the old boiler or a banana peel. In the course of the game, more and more pathogens attack, which weaken us if they hit their target. The simple and raw display of the pixel graphics matches the concept of the game well, which primarily aims to respond to the odd and forced social-cultural situation of the past period in a humorous manner.
Simultaneously to developing the game, the ComplexityJam international online game development event also took place, coordinated by MOME. The theme of the competition was the information overload and the phenomenon of fake news occurring due to the Covid-19 epidemic, and so the developers, including Hungarian ones, proposed gaming concepts covering such topic.
The eleven games recall several phenomena deserving extra attention in the past period, including the ridiculous situations of distancing on the streets, the responsibility of journalists and content sharers as well as the decision-making of mayors.
The first prize of the competition was awarded to the game called Temp in Charge (created by: Resul Alıcı, Burak Karakas), in which we have to substitute the president for a while, and we have to make decisions in relation to the pandemic and the economic situation.
You can check out the games made during ComplexityJam here.
The creators and researchers of Sombrero: Ágnes Karolina Bakk, Jakab Erdély, Ágoston Nagy, Gábor Réthi
Coordination: Judit Gottfried
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