What would Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. think of the lo-fi turn based RPG Undertale? How does Undertale’s message relate to the ultra violent, petulant God of War? How was God of War influenced by Bruce Lee?
In games, combat is often widespread, enemies die by the hundreds, and players revel in this meaningless violence.
This talk will dive into game design, activism, martial arts, slam poetry, boxing, and more to deconstruct that violence, and how we can find better ways to communicate conflict with meaning, purpose, and in a critical manner.
Exhibition of the 7 year development process of Thumper. More than 10 playable prototypes, in between versions and level editors. Track down the evolution of Thumper, its features and aesthetics by comparing versions to each other.
How did the game change during its development? Why? Which features were added? Which were taken away? When? What were the interesting design challenges? What was the original vision of the game? How did the idea emerge? How did certain features evolved into their final version?
The exhibition is part of Devolution #3: Thumper, a cooperation between A MAZE. / Berlin 2017, Drool LLC and Game Design // BTK.
Key to the study of resolutions is the understanding that a resolution is not just an agreed upon setting or solution, that is set by the actors that have for instance economical or political motivations. Resolutions also inhabit a space of compromise. Within the realm of video for instance, this compromise is illustrated by the quadrilateral interface. Because of video standards, set through resolutions, the history and material of video forecloses anything beyond these four corners. While resolution studies is closely connected to the discourses of for instance protocological, habitual and material research, resolution studies creates an important and otherwise missing space for other, new, speculative implementations.
One of the interesting problems of Virtual Reality is that while the virtual world appears spatially continuous with the player, nothing in the virtual world can exert any force on the player or limit their movement.
Overcoming this problem, and creating an interactive world that reacts in a physically believable manner, and encouraging the player to play in a way that is congruent with the game world, is a challenge we've set for ourselves. We'd like to share a few insights that we have gained through tackling this challenge.
How long does it take to design a game? When is a game done? When is it time to abandon a game and move? In 2005, I began work on a game called in Inheritance. Now, in 2017, we’re finally shipping the game. What happened in those intervening 12 years? What took so long? Was it worth it? Is the game successful? Would I do it again? I’ll walk you through one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and examine the cost—both in spirit and silver—of designing a small art game.
Capacity for this session is limited, spots will be assigned on a first-come first-served basis: we recommend meeting in The Devolution of Thumper exhibition area at least 20 minutes before the starting time.
For the ultimate insight into the development of Thumper and its aesthetics. A guided tour through the exhibition with one of the designers of the game. Complementing the exhibited versions and level editors by background information, secrets and anecdotes.
The exhibition is part of Devolution #3: Thumper, a cooperation between A MAZE. / Berlin 2017, Drool LLC and Game Design // BTK.
Censorship and political content in virtual environments - when VR becomes a tool for activism.
The artist will present her recent VR works, and discusses its themes, such as perceptions of Power, the current reality of Venezuelan politics, and linking philosophical concepts to the influence of video games on our understanding of violence and sexuality.
In this talk, Kelly will explore the challenges associated with managing communities comprised of industry professionals, who are often peers, superiors and/or students with their own priorities and time constraints. She will discuss the importance of building a strong foundation and how a little bit of planning can go a long way towards creating and sustaining a positive community that will stay active and feel valued.
Kelly will share the experience and lessons learned from founding and cultivating a community and network of over 400 independently focused companies and dozens of large scale partnerships globally via the Indie MEGABOOTH, along with her work for the IGF and co-organization of the indie festival BitSummit in Kyoto, Japan.
Each topic will provide descriptions, anecdotes, identifiable problems and actionable steps to take towards creating solutions applicable to a broad range of situations.
Alfredo Salazar-Caro is the co-founder of DiMoDA, the Digital Museum of Digital Art devoted to Digital/New Media Art. In his talk, he will explain how the DiMoDA building is intended as a home for contemporary digital art and incubator for new ideas, as well as an architectural contribution to the Internet’s Virtual landscape.
Conceived in 2013 by Alfredo Salazar-Caro and William Robertson, DiMoDA launched in November of 2015 and has since then toured the world in festivals, museums and galleries.
Exhibition of the 7 year development process of Thumper. More than 10 playable prototypes, in between versions and level editors. Track down the evolution of Thumper, its features and aesthetics by comparing versions to each other.
How did the game change during its development? Why? Which features were added? Which were taken away? When? What were the interesting design challenges? What was the original vision of the game? How did the idea emerge? How did certain features evolved into their final version?
The exhibition is part of Devolution #3: Thumper, a cooperation between A MAZE. / Berlin 2017, Drool LLC and Game Design // BTK.
Orwell is a privacy invasion thriller exploring contemporary themes of security, privacy, and our interpretation of online information in a way that only a game can. It has received critical acclaim from players and media worldwide. This talk will explain how we primed the player using mechanics, user interface and words in line with the game’s narrative in order to put them in a state of mind that made the fictional online world feel believable and immersive. It will also explore how repetition and routine in game mechanics can be used as a tool to make story arcs and player choices feel more impactful.
When playing games, we don’t question why rats drop gold or why carrying a leaf allows us to fly. Players frequently accept unusual logic that defies the rules of the world we live in. In other words: players accept things that make no sense in the metaphysical world but make perfect sense in a pataphysical one.
Pataphysics is the science of imaginary solutions, pioneered by French absurdist Alfred Jarry in the early 1900s. Jarry could have never fathomed an entire art movement 100 years later based on his imaginary science and yet here we are! Video game developers make use of pataphysics all the time but many don’t realize it.
Arcane Circus will offer you a crash course in pataphysics. We will cover the history of pataphysics, analyse how games have been using it thus far and suggest how you can apply pataphysics to your own games.
The Chinese game industry is booming. Since 2015, when Steam and consoles started operations in China, the number of local players has grown exponentially. While most of the analysis focuses on big AAA games, the interest for independent games has been growing silently. This has also created a local movement of game developers and supporters that are now starting to create and organize their own games and events. In this talk, I will give a quick overview of what’s happening in the local game scene in China and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the game industry in the Middle Kingdom.
How does curating and writing a game change if that game is an anthology of stories, rather than having a single narrative? This talk discusses the creative and production challenges behind such an effort. Where the Water Tastes Like Wine has more than 16 different writers, each writing a story that orbits the central themes of the game. As you might imagine, coordinating that effort and tying the resulting output together in a way that makes sense was a challenge. Come to hear how our team dealt with the challenge and the lessons we learned.
The Game Curious program is a simple one on the surface. For six weeks, we provide thematically linked games to be played and discussed by people who don’t consider themselves gamers. This is followed by six weeks of basic game instruction, ending in a showcase of the new games.
It was begun by Sagan Yee in 2013, and of the dozen or so initiatives we run, it has had the biggest impact on our organization. This talk will discuss the surprising impact of a program with the modest intent of expanding the circle of game enthusiasts, and how you might apply some of our learnings to your region.
While the developing 'canon' of independent games rolls forward, enveloping Western creator's delightful vignette and personal games, we hear little of the important work emerging out of Africa.
Moreover, games coming out of the continent are often written about with the unfortunate 'Africa is a country' trope. This talk will unravel the rich tapestry of diverse creators and works coming out of Africa. From Nigeria's prolific pastiche pastures to Cameroon's search for an iconic African RPG, this talk will explore cultural, economic, and social contexts that nurture certain design movements around Africa.
Contextual issues we'll explore include creators' issues with selling directly to local players, many of whom might not be interested in playing locally created works. Some studios survive entirely off selling to their country's Western-based diaspora.
This discussion will both be a crash course in the history of games development around Africa as well as an analysis of African creator's visions and processes. For the most part, we'll focus on why certain design trends are emerging from specific countries.
An in-depth interview with Brian Gibson about the development of Thumper.
How to make a game like rhythm, like audiovisual violence?
How did the game change during its development? Why? Which features were added? Which were taken away? When? What were the interesting design challenges? What was the original vision of the game? How did the idea emerge? How did certain features evolved into their final version?
The conversation is part of part of Devolution #3: Thumper, a cooperation between A MAZE. / Berlin 2017, Drool LLC and Game Design // BTK.
Schedule:
12:00 Doors open (5th floor), write nametags, get to know people
12:20 Vote on themes via vote.berlinminijam.de
12:40 Info speech & theme announcement
13:00 Jam Starts, 3rd floor opens
21:00 End presentations start (3rd floor)
22:00 Socialize & play games
How to get in (see also map below):
Khan Of Finland, born of Turkish-Finnish descent in Frankfurt/M works and lives as a composer, performer, and visual artist in Berlin since 2002.
Calling NYC home from 1992-2002 he owned the electronic record shop Temple Records-NYC, hosted downtown art events and the infamous queer party KILLER at legendary Save The Robots. He run three record labels and produced and performed with a variety of artists and projects such as: Captain Comatose, Air Liquide, Diamanda Galas, Julee Cruise, Kid Congo Powers, Little Annie or Brigitte Fontaine.
http://www.magnet-musik.de/content/khan-of-finland
