What is a solar game?

Is it a story? A mechanic? A hardware object? Take the prompt as broadly as you’d like! Approach the question thematically through your game’s narrative or design around speculative hardware affordances.

The goal of this experimental game jam is not to develop a polished game but rather to design small game prototypes with GB Studio and to explore speculative solar inputs.

We invite you to think outside the box—to imagine handhelds differently. How might the game change if you can only play it on a solar-powered Game Boy? What if the controls were light sensors instead of buttons? What does sustainable solar play look like?

We’re curious to see how game makers of all levels approach the theme of solarity in all its forms. There exist few explicit solar games—let’s create and imagine new ones!

From the publisher: Scholars, critics, and creators describe certain videogames as being “poetic,” yet what that means or why it matters is rarely discussed. In Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice, independent game designer Jordan Magnuson explores the convergences between game making and lyric poetry and makes the surprising proposition that videogames can operate as a kind of poetry apart from any reliance on linguistic signs or symbols.

You’re invited to DisinfoGames, an analog game jam hosted by Concordia University’s Disinformation and Games Research Project in partnership with ACT (Ageing + Communication + Technologies). This is a 2-day event taking place Friday May 19th and 26th from 9-4pm on the 6th floor of Concordia’s ER building (2155 Guy).

Check out The OTHER Market this Saturday April 22nd. The OTHER Market is a mini-larp locative media treasure hunt exquisite corpse gamey experience –  designed over many months by the Liveness Research group at TAG. 

The OTHER Market is part of a SSHRC project looking at ways to design what are now often called immersive experiences, so that they are truly participatory. This results in a structure which does not rely on a lot of actors (or other trained staff) to run a production and makes these kinds of projects more sustainable for small teams and companies with modest budgets.

Enculturing Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion in Games Research & Creation

Creating opportunities for meaningful equitable change in the games industry requires active and inclusive community-building. As a part of this mission, The Games Institute created the following speaker and workshop series to centre the voices of individuals from marginalized groups. This includes, but is not limited to, persons who are Black and/or Indigenous or otherwise racialized, women-identified, LGBTQ2S+, disabled and/or neurodivergent, and people from other under-represented communities.

As interactivity has become an ever more important part of the theme park experience, interactive technologies deployed within parks have gravitated towards only a handful of proven platforms, eschewing thematic fit in favour of design expediency. This presentation will outline an ongoing research project examining the motivations for themed tangible interactivity, and how designers can improve guest experience through a sensitivity to the specificity of audience aspirations and iconic affordances drawn from transmedial sources.

We often hear makers say, “we wanted our game to resonate with audiences.” Likewise, we as audiences often express our recognition or enjoyment of a media product by stating how it resonates with us. However, what audiences and makers mean by resonance is not always the same, especially when it comes to AAA game studio productions involving gigantic scale and investment.

The GameBling Game Jam is back for a second edition and it’s all about luck this time!

The outcome of some gambling games relies on pure probability (i.e., slot machines, lotteries), while others involve a bit of skill (e.g., poker, mahjong). But for many gamblers, the odds of winning are also up to luck.

Luck is the magic that takes gambling from a question of probabilities to the perception of something that can be controlled. Perceived this way, luck can be influenced through ritualistic behaviors (think of superstitions like touching a ‘lucky’ four-leaf clover).

Luck is an intangible force, but also something that is perceived to be inherent in people, objects, and practices. Given these qualities, how do game designers play with luck?

LOSTAGAIN is a hybrid gathering of scholars and artists thinking about the tools we use today to access the nostalgia of our past that asks, “What if we could use these tools of forgetting the losses of a past to help us remember how to prevent more of them in the future?” Created by TAG student Richy Srirachanikorn, the crux of this symposium is to investigate how productivity can be achieved with the possibilities of video games.

*

Specifically, how can the emotions and emulations of a lost PAST in video games be used to prevent a FUTURE of repeating losses? If nostalgic gaming means we are “LostAgain” in our technologies, then how can we ensure what is “Found” on the other end of the experience may contribute to social kindness, collective responsibility, or simply, hope? Check out their website for more info and registration!

Did you know there were anime games made in Montreal? Come meet CyberConnect2 (Naruto STORM, Demon Slayer) VP Taichiro Miyazaki and art director Yohei Ishibashi at an event co-hosted by TAG and the Concordia Game Development Club! CyberConnect2 will introduce their studio, the artistic ins and outs of anime game development in Japan and Montreal, and their experience with indie publishing.

Are educational games bad?

Educational games are made with different goals than most commercial titles. How does this help and hinder these games and the design processes behind them? The Bad Game Arcade investigates these and other question with interviews, roundtable discussions, panels, and games made for learning. Many, many games made for learning. Educational games are being made by non-profits, universities, libraries, and game companies. It’s time for them to be talking and showing their work to each other–and us. Come check out presentations and play some games in 4th Space from January 23-27! For details about who’s talking, what you’ll be playing, and other programming, please visit the event’s web site.

The Bad Game Arcade is organized by former teacher and Concordia PhD candidate Scott DeJong, with support from the Concordia Public Scholars Program and the Technoculture, Art, and Games Research Centre.