-
I have mixed feelings about this talk. On the one hand, any effort to bring pervasive gaming to the mainstream is good news. On the other, I’m worried that people might think that game design is as simple as slapping a reward mechanism on anything. Schell talks about the need for skilled game designers to get involved, but he doesn’t explain what their contribution could be.
-
Another report on the last edition of This happened – Utrecht. Serviceable, but I would’ve liked some commentary beyond the factual report.
-
Some great thoughts from Raph on the proliferation of rewards systems in ‘real life’. I feel that what is often overlooked with all these things is the activity design itself. Also, I’m a strong advocate of social games being adaptible by their player communities.
Author: Kars Alfrink
Designer turned design researcher. Postdoc at TU Delft. Exploring contestable AI.
links for 2010-02-24
-
“GranulatSynthese is an installation for the intuitive creation of ambient, meditative audio-visuals. It uses granulate distributed over a surface with projected visuals and generated sound.” This and a few other nice research projects into embodied interactions were presented at Raum Schiff Erde by Steffi Beckhaus.
links for 2010-02-23
-
The ever-critical-but-fair Alper’s take on last night’s This happened – Utrecht.
-
Some interesting ideas on how to push social software beyond the address book paradigm which I am getting sick of myself, too.
-
De term infobesitas is mij te sensatiebelust maar de adviezen aan het eind van dit artikel plus de claim dat d oplossing vooral in opvoeding te vinden is snijden wel hout.
-
“This Happened this time really touched the very interesting field where a mix emerges between real life and digital enhancements” what would a This happened – Utrecht be without one of Iskander’s great late night blog posts. The theme he’s abstracted from the talks is certainly one I can get behind.
links for 2010-02-22
-
“Canids … follow a strict code of conduct when they play, which teaches pups the rules of social engagement that allow their societies to succeed.” Some interesting bits on animal play.
links for 2010-02-21
-
“The following set of rules is to be regarded as a set of decisions on certain disputed points, than as containing all the Laws of the Game, which are too well known to render any explanation necessary to Rugbeians.” A wonderful post giving insight into the early history of rugby and football, with emphasis on the development of the game’s rules.
-
“We need to look to design disciplines that inform what we’re actually doing, and as a former level designer for mod teams, I’d agree that games have a vast amount more to learn from architecture than they do from film.” Some interesting thoughts from David on overlaps between game design and architecture
links for 2010-02-20
links for 2010-02-19
-
“It is like a game for me. I discover new things and solve interesting problems.” Interesting remarks from the creator of ChatRoulette, who is 17 and from Russia. Not sure I’m brave enough to use the site, though.
-
“Games existed before computers, and will exist after computers. Eventually, says Lantz, at some point computer processing will just be a feature of your game” Gotta love Mr Lantz’s take on things.
links for 2010-02-18
-
“A computer screen feels like work. You stare into a screen for 8 hours a day, constantly checking email, typing in a word processor or running numbers in a spreadsheet. The last think you feel like doing is going home, curling-up on the weekend with a nice cup of tea and read a 3,000 word article at 72dpi with a laptop so hot you could fry and egg on it. Paper is the perfect replacement. A broadsheet newspaper that has been gorgeously laid-out not only feels professional and relaxing—it doesn’t feel like work.” A piece on what can be done with cheap, accessible print on demand services like Newspaper Club.
links for 2010-02-17
-
“Which to my mind, right now, is a familiar protocol that sounds precisely like what not particularly clear-headed folks are doing with this *Augmented Reality mishegoss. They’re walking around with a *doorknob and trying to find some cool houses that *doorknob might look cool on. What is forgotten, largely, is the house, the neighborhood, the people in the house — and so on.” Bleecker’s design fiction chronicles are a real treat an this grumpy rant on the silly stuff happening in AR is both funny and welcome.
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 local hip-hop events and projects). Most of the presentation is in place – lots of rough concepts for playful cultural projects – it just requires some last additions and tightening up to be ready for the city lab session with all participants next week.
On tuesday morning I found myself in a room filled with students, who gave short presentations on the results from the initial field research they performed over the previous week. Some had interesting insights to share, ranging from the experience of story in single player versus multiplayer RPGs to the effects of a playful UI on the perceived effectiveness of information appliances. Others were really struggling with the development of a brief for their own work. Next up for them is to write up a proposal for their graduation project. We’ll review a first draft of those next week.
As I’m writing this, I am on my way to Layar again – who had some exciting news to announce this week and won a few awards in Barcelona too. Most of my time this week will be spent on a design sprint outlining a new product offering. We’ll do a review of that somewhere this week, and take it from there. Iterate’s the word. Thinking through making.
In the time that’s left, I’m chipping away at the talk for Hamburg this sunday. The rough silhouette is there, now it’s just a matter of building a deck. Should be doable, right? Right.
- The promotion department of the city of Utrecht has its offices here, with stunning views. [↩]