Leapfroglog design, cities, physical & social interaction, play

Posts Tagged ‘play’

Week 138

Last evening I was on top of the Neudeflat, to review a draft of a presentation I’ve prepared as part of project Tako.1 Earlier that day and monday I talked to the last two participants: Culturele Zondagen (a producer of frequent city-wide cultural events that always take place on sundays) and Habek (a producer of [...]

Are Games Media or Design Objects?

In a recent post on the Edge blog – which, if you consider yourself a games designer, you absolutely must read – Matt Jones asks:

“Why should pocket calculators be put on a pedestal, and not Peggle?”

He writes about the need for games to be appreciated and critiqued as design objects. He points out [...]

A Game as a Museum as a Game

Over at Non-fiction, Juha writes about a hypothetical game that simulates museum management. He asks:

“Could this be an interesting approach to open up museums and learn from our current and future audiences? Could a game be a museum? Could a museum be a game?”

I think the simple answer to all these questions [...]

What the Hubbub Is

There’s some movement over at the website for my new venture. I mentioned Hubbub before: it is a design studio I am setting up for physical, social games that are played in public places. We hope to address social issues and the like using these games.

Recently…

I’ve adjusted the temporary site to fit with the brand [...]

Work Now So You Can Play Later

There’s a lot going on at the Leapfrog studio, which explains at least in part why things have gone quiet around here. However, I wanted to take the time to alert you to some upcoming events that might be of interest.

An urban game in the Rotterdam city center

On Sunday September 27 around 50 young people [...]

Buildings and Brains at the Nijmegen Design Platform (NOP)

It’s been a few weeks since I presented at the Nijmegen Design Platform (NOP), but I thought it would still be useful to post a summary of what I talked about here.

Update: it took me a while, but the slides that accompanied this talk are now up at SlideShare.

A little context: The NOP run [...]

This Pervasive Games Workshop I Ran at This Conference

A few things I got people to do at this year’s NLGD Festival of Games:

Fight each other with paper swords…

…and run around with lunch-boxes on their heads.1

This was all part of a workshop I ran, titled ‘Playful Tinkering’. The mysterious Mink ette — who amongst many things is a designer at Six to Start — [...]

Announcing a Hybrid Game Opera for Monster

I never thought I would make an opera. But now I have.

In a few weeks time the above market square in the town of Monster will be transformed into an arena where fighters duel each other using their pet monsters. If this sounds familiar, it is no coincidence.

Mega Monster Battle Arena is one of [...]

What I’m Doing at the Festival of Games

I’ve helped out with the program of this year’s NLGD Festival of Games. If you’re into gaming’s fringe phenomena, then this edition is not to be missed. The conference’s theme is “play global, global play” and will celebrate the impact of gaming beyond the screen. I curated several sessions focused on urban games and alternate [...]

Play in Social and Tangible Interactions

Now that the IxDA has posted a video of my presentation at Interaction 09 to Vimeo, I thought it would be a good idea to provide a little background to the talk. I had already posted the slides to SlideShare, so a full write-up doesn’t seem necessary. To provide a little context though, I will [...]

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