Jason Rohrer Explained

Jason Rohrer
Birth Date:14 November 1977
Occupation:Computer programmer, game designer, writer, musician

Jason Rohrer (born November 14, 1977) is an American computer programmer, writer, musician, and game designer. He publishes most of his software into the public domain (public-domain software) and charges for versions of his games distributed on commercial platforms like the iPhone appstore or Steam.[1] [2] [3] He is a graduate of Cornell University.[4] [5] From 2004 until 2011 he practiced simple living, stating in 2009 that his family of four had an annual budget of less than $14,500.[6] They have since relocated from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Davis, California.[7] In 2005 Jason Rohrer worked on a local currency, called North Country Notes (NCN), for Potsdam, New York.[8] [9] [10] In 2016 Rohrer became the first videogame artist to have a solo retrospective in an art museum. His exhibition, The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer, was on view at The Davis Museum at Wellesley College until June 2016.[11]

Games

Rohrer has placed most of his creative work, like video games' source code and assets, into the public domain as he is a supporter of a copyright-less free distribution economy.[12] Many of his project are hosted on SourceForge.[13]

GDC 2011 Game Design Challenge

At the 2011 Game Developers Conference Rohrer won the annual Game Design Challenge by proposing a game that could only be played once by a single player and then passed on to another.[33] This idea was based on stories of his late grandfather that had been passed down. He stated "We become like gods to those who come after us." With this in mind he created a Minecraft mod, Chain World, that was put on a single USB flash drive, which he then passed to an audience member. The rules of the game were simple: No text signs are allowed in the game, players may play until they die once, upon respawning they must quit the game and the game must then be passed onto someone that is interested and willing to respect the rules.

GDC 2013 Game Design Challenge

In March 2013 the Game Design Challenge was held at the Game Developers Conference for the final time. Its theme was "Humanity's Final Game." Rohrer was among the six contestants and won with his entry A Game For Someone, a physical game constructed of titanium. After its completion Rohrer buried it in an undisclosed location in the Nevada desert. At the challenge he released lists containing over one million discrete GPS coordinates, one of which was the actual burial spot. He estimated that with coordinated searching it would take at least 2,700 years to locate the game.[34]

The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer

In February 2016, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College exhibited The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer, the first museum retrospective dedicated to the work of a single video game maker. The museum stated "Rohrer's exhibited work is deft, engaging, and often surprisingly moving. It refers to a diverse set of cultural influences ranging from the fiction of Borges to Black Magic; at the same time, it also engages pressing emotional, intellectual, philosophical, and social issues. Rohrer's substantial recognition, which has included feature coverage in Wired, Esquire and The Wall Street Journal, as well as inclusion in MoMA's initial videogame acquisition, has been built on a singularly fascinating body of games. These range from the elegantly simple—such as Gravitation (2008), a game about flights of creative mania and melancholy—to others of Byzantine complexity. The exhibition featured four large build-outs that translate Rohrer’s games into unique spatial experiences, alongside a section dedicated to exploring a large body of his work."[11] The exhibit was designed by IKD,[35] a Boston-based design firm.

Other projects

Personal life

In August 2005, Rohrer and his wife were arraigned for violating a local ordinance prohibiting grass taller than 10 inches. Representing himself, he successfully argued that natural landscaping had environmental benefits, and that the mowing ordinance was being enforced on them "in a manner that violates the free speech, equal protection, and due process clauses of the United States and New York constitutions." The court found that the statute was overly broad, and he was acquitted of all charges on June 12, 2006.[39] [40]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jason Rohrer Releases iPhone Puzzler Primrose . https://web.archive.org/web/20090224200136/http://fingergaming.com/2009/02/jason-rohrer-releases-iphone-puzzler-primrose. February 24, 2009 . Fingergaming.com . June 26, 2013.
  2. Web site: Passage in App Store, $0.99 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081230005755/http://fingergaming.com/2008/12/passage-in-app-store-099/ . dead . December 30, 2008 . Fingergaming.com . June 26, 2013 .
  3. http://store.steampowered.com/app/249570/ The Castle Doctrine
  4. Web site: Jason Rohrer named one of Esquire Magazine's Best and Brightest . . May 18, 2009 . September 4, 2014.
  5. Web site: RESUME: Jason Rohrer . September 4, 2014.
  6. Web site: A life well wasted, podcast episode 3 . December 14, 2023.
  7. Web site: Voluntary Simplicity . Hcsoftware.sourceforge.net . July 22, 2014.
  8. Web site: Interchangeable parts: Jason Rohrer's worklog.
  9. http://northcountrynotes.org/jason-rohrer/worklog/seedBlogs.php?action=display_post&post_id=jcr13_1116942527_0&show_author=1&show_date=1 North Country Notes Release Approaching
  10. http://northcountrynotes.org/jason-rohrer/worklog/seedBlogs.php?action=display_post&post_id=jcr13_1116946254_0&show_author=1&show_date=1 New Ideas in Currency Systems: Z Dollars
  11. Web site: The Davis Museum at Wellesley College. The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer. The Davis Museum at Wellesley College. February 12, 2016.
  12. http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/freeDistribution.html Free Distribution
  13. Web site: HC Software. Jason Rohrer. SourceForge. October 17, 2011. May 22, 2013.
  14. http://cultivation.sourceforge.net/ Cultivation
  15. News: The Game of Life . . Aaron . Rutkoff . January 25, 2008.
  16. Web site: Can D.I.Y. Supplant the First-Person Shooter? . . November 15, 2009 . June 26, 2013.
  17. Web site: Voorhees . Josh . The Gaming Club: There is little reason to be pessimistic or cynical about the future of gaming. – By N'Gai Croal, Seth Schiesel, Chris Suellentrop, and Stephen Totilo – Slate Magazine . . December 12, 2007. June 26, 2013.
  18. Web site: Video Games Break Out – BusinessWeek . . June 26, 2013 . January 18, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080118180421/http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/12/1228_game_company/source/5.htm . dead .
  19. Web site: When has a videogame ever made you cry?... . https://web.archive.org/web/20130129221037/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27188395/ns/technology_and_science-games/t/when-has-video-game-ever-made-you-cry/#.UT0Whxxx0y0 . dead . January 29, 2013 . October 2008 . March 10, 2013 . NBCNews.com.
  20. Web site: Future of Video Game Design – Jason Rohrer's Programming Online Games . . November 20, 2008 . February 23, 2012.
  21. Web site: The 14th Annual Independent Games Festival Finalists . . 2009 . February 23, 2012.
  22. Web site: Primrose . Primrose.sourceforge.net . June 26, 2013.
  23. Web site: (Geisterfahrer) . Sleep Is Death . February 23, 2012.
  24. Web site: Game Design Sketchbook . . June 26, 2013 . September 13, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110913102021/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/gamedesignsketchbook . dead .
  25. Web site: Inside a Star-filled Sky . Inside a Star-filled Sky . June 26, 2013.
  26. News: Impression: Inside a Star-filled Sky . . February 23, 2011. June 26, 2013.
  27. Web site: Inside a Star-filled Sky . . February 11, 2011 . June 26, 2013.
  28. Web site: 東京ゲームショウ｜Tokyo Game Show . Tgs.cesa.or.jp . February 23, 2012.
  29. https://sourceforge.net/p/hcsoftware/game10/ci/default/tree/gameSource/ gameSource
  30. http://freegamer.blogspot.de/2011/03/inside-star-filled-sky-public-domain.html Inside a Star-Filled Sky (Public Domain For-Pay) + Video Review + Jason Rohrer on open source
  31. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/02/27/oh-the-humanity-jason-rohrer-releases-one-hour-one-life/ oh-the-humanity-jason-rohrer-releases-one-hour-one-life
  32. https://github.com/jasonrohrer/OneLife OneLife
  33. Web site: Alexander . Leigh. GDC 2011: Rohrer Wins Game Design Challenge With Unique Minecraft Mod. Gamasutra. April 25, 2011.
  34. Web site: Bishop. Bryan. Humanity's Final Game: a titanium board game buried in the Nevada desert. March 28, 2013. The Verge. July 22, 2014.
  35. Web site: Home . i-k-design.com.
  36. Web site: Home . konspire.sourceforge.net.
  37. Rohrer, Jason (2005). token word: a Xanalogical Transclusion and Micropayment System.
  38. https://mute-net.sourceforge.net/
  39. Web site: Nature On Trial: Natural Landscaping Rights . February 1, 2023 . northcountrynotes.org.
  40. Balbontin . Pablo R. . December 14, 2012 . Screenshot: Saving Private Rohrer . Little Village . October 28, 2023.

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