Jordan Magnuson, the founder of the indie game forum TIGSource, has organized the Game Poem jam, an event that brings together creators exploring the intersection of video games and poetry. The jam, co-organized by the UK's National Film and Television School, saw around 90 submissions in 24 hours with the theme "the other one."
One notable entry is "Sometimes I Wonder About The Other Me," a 2D platformer by Luis "Ludipe" Díaz Peralta. The game features single-screen maps where collecting text fragments from in-game blocks forms a monologue. Progressing through the game leads to splitscreen sections where players control duplicate characters, as one side of the screen dissolves into darkness, prompting reflection on the "Other Me." The author praises the game's evocation of choice, noting how it explores alternative possibilities rather than offering distinct, completable scenarios. This approach challenges traditional notions of replay value, presenting a contemplative and "uneconomical" experience that exists outside conventional structures.
Magnuson, in his open-access book "Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice," defines a "game poem" as a broad category of short, subjective games that utilize poetic address, exist in a ritual space, and are bound by metaphor. His book examines these criteria by drawing parallels between various video games and works of written poetry, referencing figures like Anna Anthropy, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson.
The Game Poem jam demonstrated a "healthy antagonism between game and poem," according to the author, fostering works of "potent irresolution." The Other Line, by the Sunfarer team, presents a scenario where players control a block switching between two queues. Each queue only moves when not being actively managed, frustrating the player's progress and evoking a sense of continuous effort. Faulty Mirror, by Chris Barrett, involves controlling a pair of hands to match a reflection, but the reflected hands are erratic. This game, accompanied by a text exploring themes of identity and perception, creates a nagging open-endedness that extends to the relationship between games and poetry.
Still Life, a "stress toy/stim gadget/poem" from Misery Tourism, uses Conway's Game of Life to allow players to sculpt evolving faces by manipulating cellular automata patterns. The dynamic changes to the faces, from growing warts and wrinkles to shrinking and lopsided forms, offer a visually striking exploration of creation and decay.
Magnuson's own earlier work, "Portraits of My Child," predates the jam but is seen as an inspiration for the event. This series of mini-games chronicles Magnuson's relationship with his son during the child's first year. The game depicts the parent and child as "inchoate, cybernetic, and deeply alarmed by each other," suggesting the filial bond begins as pareidolia. The author extends this sense of uneasy triangulation to the broader concept of the poem game, seeing these works as "confused and self-sabotaging creature[s]" that reflect on their own nature and explore the concept of "what if?"
These works, as highlighted by the Game Poem jam, challenge established norms in both game development and poetry, suggesting that the "poetic mode of intervention" can disrupt industry conventions and that established poetic forms can be reframed within a game context. The jam's submissions showcase a willingness to embrace "jank" and artifice, moving away from pure polish and toward a more resonant, albeit sometimes jarring, form of expression.