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Oct 29th, 2007 - 12:36:37 |
Brian Smith
Hey,
In case there is anyone out there watching this space for an announcement of the winner, go check out the Belonging Initiative website ... http://www.plan.ca/belong/blog.html
bs
Sep 15th, 2007 - 21:03:28 |
Brian Smith
Hi Everyone,
I just got a note from the Come Out Play Festival gang, whom are similarly pumped about big big big games.
For those of you looking for brilliant game ideas here are 18 more really, really cool ideas that are taking place in Amsterdam on September 28th and 29th. They have just posted the list of games and some of them look worth the trip to Amsterdam ... I'm not actually going, but would certainly love to.
Also attached is the form that that festival uses by way of registration. We aren't requiring anything like this, but some of the sections may help you prepare your presentation so it's well rounded and answers some of the basic playability questions.
Finally, an immersive game happened in September of last year out in Toronto - see http://www.torgame.com for more information. Here's the trailer for it at google video: . It went off and was very successful example of people playing in public spaces in a BIG way. The masterminds behind the game have offered our contest sponsorship in the form of expertise and time. For those of you hoping/expecting to have your game played post-contest, these guys have offered to coach and support you in actually making it happen. We'll share contact information again at the October 5th event, but in the meantime if you would like to seek a bit of advice, they seem like the kind of guys that would welcome the conversation. Adam Clare, who some of you met at the NFB orientation session, is at adam@thingsaregood.com and he'll be able to link you to the other two.
Cheers,
Brian
Sep 10th, 2007 - 16:57:33 |
Brian Smith
Hey Everyone,
OOOOOOOOH ... !!
We are a little less than a month away and getting pretty friggin excited. We figure you are probably beginning to sweat a little as time gets closer and thus wanted to send out an note of encouragement. We've heard from a few teams that they aren't very far along in their game design process and ... that's ok! Seriously, we aren't looking for professional, polished ideas ready to take to market.
We ARE looking for creative, new, fantastical people whom are enthusiastic about the place of fun and play in making the world more fun and playful and inclusive and fun and playful and ... welll you get it.
We have been truly pleased and impressed with the ideas, perspectives and inspiration you are bringing to this project. We trust that you are going to have some brilliant ideas and will bring to us an interesting presentation to compel the judges and the rest of your cohort. Keep in mind that the strength of your presentation is as, if not more important, than the level of professionalism your game idea comprises.
Venue:
We have settled on a venue for the presentations and judging event taking place on Friday, October 5th, between 6-10 pm. The Terasen Theatre is a small (75 seats) blackbox type of theatre at Simon Fraser University's Harbour Centre Campus (Room 1800, 515 West Hastings at Seymour). We will have an LCD Projector and in-house audio system ready to go. Here is a link to see what it looks like inside:
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/qtvr/rooms/1800.html
I am assuming that 2-3 people will be coming from each of your teams. If you expect more (including friends/family that want to come but aren't team members) PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP. Our capacity is 75, we have 30-50 from teams, 10-15 that include judges, staff, film-makers and other dignitaries... you see what I'm getting at.
Schedule and Roll of the Evening:
After September 28th, we will randomly slot each team into one of the 10-minute presentation spots. There will be two rounds of presentations. We want to keep the interruptions to a minimum, thus are having only three opportunities for you to enter the theatre. People will be able to come and go before we start, at the break and just before the Judges announce the winning team. We would like to encourage as many of you as would like, to stay and watch and support the other teams and their ideas. Here's the schedule for the evening of the 5th:
5:45 pm - Doors open
6:00 pm - MC welcomes and introductions
6:15 pm - 8:00 pm - First Round of Team Presentations
8:00 pm - Break
8:15 - 9:45 - Second Round of Team Presentations
10:00 pm - Grand Prize Winner Announced
10:30 pm - Midnight - Reception for cavorting, co-conspiring, coagulating, etc. at The Annex Cafe (307 W Cordova at Cambie)
Before then:
As you know we'd like each of your teams to send over a bit of information a week before the October 5th event. This is to help us prepare for the evening and give you a workable timeline within which to set your progress meter. Please send over these pieces of info (by email) by end of the day September 28th:
1. Your team name, or at least the names of your team members;
2. 1-4 sentences describing the type of game and a bit about it;
3. What AV needs you have that we should know about to make sure things run smoothly (plan on arriving early if you want to use the project or send over your files so that i can pre-load them in the proper order and test to make sure they work).
Filming:
Geoff has probably started to get in touch with some of you to schedule filming moments. Please try to work with him to find a way to allow us to capture some of the footage that tells this story. We want this project to grow and this could be an important element. Thanks.
Also, have fun with this. We want to hear later how much fun it was to try things in your groups, to play as you designed your playfulness. Seriously looking forward to your lack of seriousness.
As a final note, we wanted to make sure you knew that Geordie and I are available to you, if you want to chat, vent, brainstorm, check-in, share tears, or whatever. We are keeners on this stuff and want you to know we around to support you if needed.
Cheers,
Brian
Aug 28th, 2007 - 20:41:42 |
Brian Smith
Please start using this project page. Post blog reports, upload links and use the discussion board as you see fit.
cheers,
brian
Aug 28th, 2007 - 20:24:41 |
Brian Smith
Here are some brief videos that clearly outline what immersive and big games can entail, definitely worth the watch: http://www.projectnml.org/exemplars/07biggames/
And, here's an article that speaks to the future of big/serious/immerisve/fun-as-hell games: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/04/big_games_with_big_goals.html
Also, the National Film Board's Citizenshift has come over an said they want to support this initiative and would like to build a dossier around games for social change, using the BIG Games Design Contest as the centerpiece. Thus we are beginning work with a couple of young film-makers to document your processes, the related events and hopefully pull some media and popular attention to the initiative.
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