Last September, we rolled through New York City to throw our Brutally Unfair Game Bash at Babycastles. While I was in town, I stopped by ITP (Tisch School of the Arts, NYU) to give a talk to a “Games-Art” class co-taught by my friend Zach Gage.
The talk was about abusive game design, so of course I had to do the obligatory live demo of Dark Room Sex Game. Apparently, somebody caught the moment on video. Enjoy!
This video is so much fun that it deserved its own post.
At Nordic Game Indie Night, our friends Martin Jonasson and Petri Purho used upcoming indie game Cobalt by Oxeye Game Studio as an excuse to launch into a detailed lecture on physics in platformer games. Lau and I make a guest appearance. Enjoy!
Here are the full details for this year’s Nordic Game Indie Night (NGIN):
Who: Indies from around the Nordic region!
What: Developer talks, showcase of games, and party!
When: Tuesday evening, May 10
Where: Luftkastellet i Slagthuset, Malmö, Sweden
Doors open at 19:00h
Developer talks, 19:30h-21:30h
Party and exhibition at 21:30h
Music by Nifflas, Digital Nature, and Nils Deneken
VJs: Oppe Om Natten
And it’s all free and open to the public!
Read more about the event here, and about the eight finalists here.
Spread the word. We hope to see you there!
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| Ricky Haggett and a certain keynote speaker, playing Monkey See, Monkey Mime at our Killscreen vs Scandinavia party. Boy, our guests have to put up with all kinds of absurdity! (Photo by Elliot Trinidad) |
We’re still busy making the final selections for our Nordic Game Indie Night showcase. We’re hoping to announce the final lineup this Friday evening – stay tuned!
Meanwhile, the full program for Nordic Game Conference 2011 was just announced today. This year, our collective was invited to “curate” a brand new Indie Track. Of course we were thrilled to jump at the opportunity! There is so much indie talent right here in the Nordic region, and so it’s about time that people here at “home” started recognizing that scene.
We arranged five sessions, including a four talks and one panel (moderated by yours truly). Most of the speakers are Nordic-based indies. But we also managed to rope in a few very special guests from abroad. In particular, we’re very pleased to announce that IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer (formerly of Offworld fame) will be giving a keynote. As you can imagine, we’re pretty damn excited.
One of the other track keynote speakers, by the way, is Jordan Mechner, the mind behind the original Prince of Persia. Awesome!
Below, I’ve copied the full list of Indie Track sessions. Hope to see you at the conference!
B.U.T.T.O.N. and Dark Room Sex Game are returning to Babycastles – with holiday spirit!
Click the image to see the rest of the flyer!
Flyer design by our awesomely talented friend, Joost Meeuwissen.
More info at the event’s Facebook page, here.
Are you going to be in NYC on Saturday evening, October 2? Join us for a “Brutally Unfair Game Bash” at Babycastles in Queens!:
(Higher res version here).
We’ve planned the event together with our friend, NYC-based game artist Zach Gage. I’m very happy to announce that both Katherine Isbister and Frank Lantz are going to kickoff the event with two game talks. Lau and I will also join in on the speaking fun – I’ll be speaking on deliberately “broken” games, and Lau will be talking about our efforts to push indie gaming out into the living room, beyond the screen.
After the talks, we’ll be throwing a party! Knife City from Anamanaguchi will be on hand to perform some live music, and we’ll be showcasing a number of our games, including B.U.T.T.O.N., Dark Room Sex Game, Rückblende, Fuck You It’s Art!, and several other projects. Actually, we’re going to run the official 2010 World B.U.T.T.O.N. Championship.
Here’s the details again:
Saturday October 2 @ Silent Barn (915 Wyckoff Ave, Queens NY)
Potluck at 5pm
Talks from 7-9pm
Party 9pm till late!
$5 door charge for the musicians
Facebook event here.
Email us if you want to hear more about the potluck!
WarCraft III star Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen was recently here in Copenhagen for a day-long workshop on e-sports. He spoke on a great panel about pro gaming, along with Ryan Hart and Jonas “bsl” Vikan (Street Fighter and Counter-Strike pros, respectively).
You can watch it here:
The event was organized by my research group here at IT University of Copenhagen. The workshop was the “sequel” to a similar event that was hosted at Stanford last year.
It was exciting to see Grubby in person. I was even able to briefly chat with him afterward. He’s not only very articulate, but also very amicable!
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| Lau and Dajana, killin’ it on the dance floor |
Two weeks ago, we curated a showcase of indie games from around the Nordic region, as a part of the Nordic Game Conference 2010. The main event, on the Tuesday night before the conference, consisted of some presentations and short talks, followed by a lively party. It was a great night!
A few weeks ago, Tobias Wrigstad spoke at ITU and delivered a fascinating (and provocative!) lecture on intentionally uncomfortable role-playing games. The lecture was titled: “This will sting a little: Why worthwhile and meaningful does not imply fun”
It’s most certainly worth viewing! Here’s the recording, brought to you by the good people at ITU’s Interaction and Learning Unit:
Our friend Nifflas, game designer extraordinaire, was in Copenhagen this month for the Nordic Game Jam.
He also gave a fantastic lecture at IT University of Copenhagen’s Spring 2010 Game Lecture series. Recorded in all its glory, here:
Game Lecture Series – Episode 1: Nicklas Nygren from itucph on Vimeo.
