The theme has been announced, and it’s a tie: “Penguin Party” and “The Fire Mustn’t Go Out.” Officially we’re asked to choose one, but I think I’ll combine them and attempt to do both. 

Here’s my general concept:

Interpreting “party” to mean something like “expedition,” and taking inspiration from the migration of the emperor penguins, I’m thinking of doing a short of Ernest Shackleton-style South Pole expedition game, but with penguins in place of humans. The “fire” will be metaphorical, within the heart of your intrepid penguin, representing morale, ardor, will to press on. 

I think I will be anthropomorphizing the penguins, so they will have supplies, ships, clothing, and that sort of thing, but with the fundamental difference that instead of being driven by glory, or some sort of human impulse to conquer nature, they are driven by love and family -- the need to breed and see their offspring feed and cared for.

Hoping my wife Meg will help out with some illustrations/artwork, and to that end I’ve created an inspiration pinboard: https://www.pinterest.com/tonyrobots/penguin-shackleton/

I’ll be developing in Unity, I think, as it’s the environment I’m most familiar with, but we’ll see. Today I need to work on design and game mechanics. I should probably also watch March of the Penguins for inspiration!

Good luck to my fellow Kindredjammers!