Tag: Maggie Kane

Game Design Basics for Interactive Play & Sonic Game Jam!

Woho! We are announcing the second remote PIFworkshop hosted by Maggie Kane aka Streetcat.media, with a little help from Lovrenc Košenina (Rampa Lab). We are honoured that Maggie, who attended PIFcamp in 2018, proposed to host this workshop on our platform and share it with the community <3

ABOUT

Learn the basic principles of narrative gameplay design for encouraging meaningful user interaction with your work!

This workshop deconstructs game and storytelling/narrative design principles into two days worth of learning that covers various methods you can use to craft an engaging story for your audience!

CONTENT & TIMELINE

*For a more detailed activities description click here*

DAY 1: Game / Narrative Principles + Praxis
Wednesday AUG 5 at 5PM CEST | 3PM UTC

Create a web-based interactive “sonic” story (video game) that captures / documents the sensory elements (primarily sound) of a defined environment within a period of time and encourages purposeful exploration of the interactive play elements.

At the end of the workshop, Maggie will introduce an example project that illustrates the game + narrative design principles learned on day one. Students will receive a PDF worksheet that will help them define their own game + narrative design elements for their own interactive stories.

DAY 2: Interactive Storytelling Platforms
Thursday AUG 6 at 7PM CEST | 5PM UTC

Each student creates a very simple interactive game or experience that utilizes game + narrative design elements from their outline. They will record sound samples from their inspired environment and integrate the recordings with the storybuilding system mechanics on BITSY’s platform.

Students have a chance to make a simple game in a two-day game jam that ends on Saturday, August 8 at noon (Slovenian time). Maggie will be available in between Thursday’s workshop (DAY 2) and Saturday’s GAME JAM deadline to answer any questions / help with specific things on Discord :)

Finished projects should be emailed to hello@streetcat.media, and they will be posted on a PIFcamp Itch.io page for all to play!

HOW TO JOIN

Participation at the workshop is free, but the spaces are limited, so please apply by sending an email to pifcamp@ljudmila.org. The workshop will be accesed via Moodle platform.

PIFcamp 2018 – All Is One!

Nowadays, easy access to a Wi-Fi is a given. Connecting to one means receiving arbitrary and basic information about the of the network. What if it wasn’t so arbitrary? Could we use it to send meaningful messages? Make ones day with a beautiful verse, a humorous pun? Could we overtake the network provider’s list and incite people to think, act? The possibility is explored in this potentially highly activistic project named Hot Ninja by Dmitry Morozov.

The blazing sun doesn’t seem to mind PIFcampers, as every day they get evermore increasingly absorbed in their work. Lovrenc Košenina and his team continue work on their custom weather station, which features temperature, moisture, UV, atmospheric pressure and wind sensors. The gathered data will be readily available online.

Several textile projects are also in the course of being completed. Maggie Kane, who hails from the USA, works on her MIDI controlled smart jacket inside the house, but she’s not the only one with a smart jacket project. Another one is being built by Sanja Hrvaćanin and Eva Pondrk. It’s designed with cyclists in mind, as it features lighting and signalling devices, which will increase their visibility in traffic, as well as notify other drivers about the cyclist’s intended travel direction.

Soča remains the go to place for socializing and cooling down. The serenity of the riverbank induces one to slow down. To better cope with our daily stress and freezing water temperatures, potential inflammations, build up our energy and focus more mindfully on the present, Tilen Sepič, who is a part of the PIFvideo team, introduced breathing sessions in the daily routine of the PIFgroup. The sessions are is based on the method developed by Wim Hof.

An improvised etching station was set up by Michael Page and Staš Vrenko in the afternoon. It seems there is always somebody eager to learn and create his own unique PCB.

To facilitate and amplify our capabilities of sensing the processes at PIFcamp , be it the ones we initiate ourselves or those from our surroundings, Vaclav organized a senseMini workshop. The various sensors needed were therefore completed in no time.

When the daily heat subsided, we were pleased warm our bones and feast our eyes on a bonfire.

MIDI Jacket Controller by Maggie Kane

Designed to be an environmental wearable MIDI controller that can connect to a variety of WiFi-enabled devices, the MIDI Jacket Controller plays an integral part in a digital modular synthesizer system that is in the process of being built at a DIY art space in Atlanta, GA, USA called The Bakery.

The physical construction of the jacket mimics that of a scientist’s lab coat. The jacket’s design is derived from the environmental features of the space that it will mainly control, which is an old electrical closet in a decommissioned commercial bakery. When we first discovered this room, we were convinced that a mad scientist had occupied it and performed torturous experiments on people based on what we found in there, which included chains hanging from the ceiling, exposed electrical panels, and empty shell casings – among other things – that we found on the floor. The ravers who previously occupied the old bakery space told us that there was a box in the creepy electrical room that was still live with electricity and would kill anyone who touched it – so the room’s aesthetic and raver lore inspired the name of the room, which we’re calling Deathbox Records.

The primary purpose of Deathbox Records is that it will function as an affordable livestreaming, podcasting, and overall experimental recording studio that artists in Atlanta, GA, USA can rent by the hour. We’re offering equipment rental options, and one of those options will be an interactive synthesizer wall that they can use for performances and/or recordings. The primary controller for the synth wall will be the wearable MIDI jacket controller that people can also use to connect to their own WiFi-enabled devices that accept MIDI signals.

Over the course of PIFcamp, the main goal of the project is to finalize the design of the electronic circuit that will be embedded in the jacket, build n sew the circuit and jacket together, and test its capabilities as a MIDI controller.

If you’re interesting in connecting about the project before PIFcamp, feel free to send me an email at im@streetcat.media to say hi!