For game developers Robert Yang and Eddie Cameron, "date night" this spring wasn't dinner and a movie.
The married couple spent their weekend nights programming a video game they would enter in a game design competition inspired by Robert Caro's biography of master builder Robert Moses, "The Power Broker," with a $2,000 grand prize.
"But it was less about the money and was more about us wanting to work on something fun and creative as a couple, and test our boundaries," Yang, 27, said of the hours he and husband spent working and arguing in their Bushwick studio loft to transform "The Power Broker" into a playable version.
The result: "Good Authority," a video game in which the player takes on the role of the first Parks Commissioner himself, clicking around a map of 1930s New York City to steer his driver's limousine and complete missions like rebuilding the Central Park Zoo.
Traffic initially slows you down, but, "as you progress, you get the ability to build highway and bulldoze through slums or anywhere you want through for own convenience," Yang explained.
One of more than 100 submissions from around the world, "Good Authority" clinched the title of "best video game runner-up" in a tournament challenging game designers, the competition announced Friday.
”I think my mom called it the most boring competition she had ever heard of," said organizer Tim Hwang, 29, an infrastructure fan-boy who lives in the Bay Area but grew up in New Jersey.
Hwang believes that games can make the themes of Caro's 1296-page tome — a notoriously difficult read detailing the complexities of urban administration — accessible to a broader audience.
"I think it eventually ended up taking me fully two years to get through ['The Power Broker']," he said. "That’s one of the big reasons to do a competition like this... if there are not a lot of people who are going to commit to reading a 1,300-page book, they might be able to get something out of a game adaption of it. ”
Yang, who received a copy for his birthday, said he made it through two thirds of the volume — "more than most people."
For the indie game developer, "The Power Broker" offered answers to questions like why a highway separates the Hudson River waterfront from the rest of Manhattan's west side.
"Robert Moses wanted that West Side Highway so that when you're driving, it looks beautiful from the car," Yang said. "I often wondered why that part of New York was weird and hostile to walking, and I blame Robert Moses for it."
As portrayed in Yang and Cameron's video game, the irony of the Moses' contentious reputation as a great builder of highways is that he did not drive himself, hiring chauffeurs to transport him while he poured over paperwork in the backseat.
“His limousine would be like his office and he would go through all his memos, hundreds of memos in a day," Yang said of the inspiration for a game feature that bombards players with Facebook-like notifications and spurs them to approve memos they've barely read. "That's what Robert Moses did: he wanted direct control and micro-manage everything, but it was so much work that in the end he was just rubber-stamping a lot of it."
Hwang and his co-judges admired the game's memo design element, as well its historical authenticity, Hwang said.
Yang and Cameron still have work to do. The couple envisions their submission, covering Moses' career from 1934 to 1936, as one chapter of a longer game they plan to finish next year.
You can check out their strongest competition below:
The Grand Prize Winner: "Triborough, The Card Game"
In Michael Chrien’s card game, the objective is to earn points by constructing parks, parkways and bridges. Players take turns collecting and deploying "political capital" in card form. They can shuffle and re-order the card deck to better their odds.
The Runner-up Tabletop Game: “Right of Way”
Jonas Stallmeister's tile-laying game for two players simulates the trade-offs a politician makes as he constructs highways through rich and poor city neighborhoods.
Honorable Mention: "Heartbreak Highway"
The highway at the center of this tabletop game — created by Michael Huber, Matthew Schoolfield, Eric Jedraszczak, and Joe and Liz Steinworth — is the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The heartbreak: the displacement of New Yorkers who lived in the path of its construction. Players act as housing administrators tasked with finding residents new homes before the bulldozers destroy their old ones.
Honorable Mention: "Legacy: Urban Canvas"
In this tabletop game by Frank DiCola and Chris Diggins, the year is 2500. Robots, aliens and human coexist uneasily in New York City. Players, in the role of local politicos, compete to enact legislation, elect officers and construct buildings.
Honorable Mention: "Moses vs. Moses"
In Heather Smith, Audrey Nieh and Anna Muessig's “Moses vs. Moses," players square off in hopes of becoming “America’s Next Top Robert Moses.” Some of the cards you draw combine to form highways, apartment complexes and other infrastructure. Others, such as those labeled “Jane Jacobs” and “Bunch of Mothers," throw obstacles in your opponents' way.
Honorable Mention: "Metropolis Now”
To play Rudy Letsche, Bruce Hancock and Zachary Gong's "Metropolis Now," you lay down tiles to build bridges, apartment towers and parks. The player to make the biggest imprint on the resulting three-dimensional landscape wins.
Honorable Mention: "Brand New Subway"
Read more about Wright's game here.