The theme and ingredients for the latest Game Chef have been posted:

The Theme is TIME.

That is not to say that your game will actually involve any time-travel, history or anything like that. No, rather your game must be completely playable within a certain time limit. Pick up a board game or a computer game and they tend to tell you how long it takes to finish “one game”. How long does it take to finish a “campaign” of your game? That’s what you’ll have to decide. And you will have to build a game that plays out with that time limit in mind.

Time will be represented by SESSIONS and HOURS. You will choose one (and only one) of the following ranges for your game:

1. Your Game is completely playable in 4 Sessions of 2 Hours each.
2. Your Game is completely playable in just 1 Session of 2 Hours.
3. Your Game is completely playable in 3 Sessions of 3 Hours each.
4. Your Game is completely playable in 10 Sessions of 1 Hour each.
5. Your Game is completely playable over any number of sessions, but lasts exactly 8 Hours total.
6. Your Game is completely playable in 2 Sessions of 6 Hours, with exactly two weeks passing between the first and second session.

Decide your time range from the list of six above. Build the game so that it takes both session count into meaningful consideration, and build it so that it’s a completely playable experience within that timeframe (it can be played again afterwards, but it will be a completely different experience, like in board games).

STEP ONE IS TO CHOSE YOUR TIME RANGE.

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This year’s Ingredients are in two “packages”. Choose the package that you want to work with. Within that package, pick THREE of the ingredients listed. You must use these ingredients somehow in your game.

PACKAGE ONE:

GLASS
COMMITTEE
ANCIENT
EMOTION

PACKAGE TWO:
LAW
ACTOR
STEEL
TEAM

Again, simply choose one of the packages above, and from that package choose three ingredients.

Currently….I’ve got nothing. I guess I’ll need to stare at it all for a while and see if inspiration of some kind strikes, then decide if I have the time to both write a game by the end of March 19th and then also review and score 4-5 other entries in the two weeks after that (which is a new requirement this year).