CDN and iGGi Game Jam and Games Research workshop
Exploring how poetic game experiences can inform digital narratives and sharing our research.
April 27-28 - Game Poetics for Planetary Care
The goal of this workshop is to explore how poetic game experiences can inform digital narratives that support planetary care.
This practical workshop explores poetry as a lens for designing games, focusing on minimalist game mechanics to bring about an emotionally resonant, poetic experience. Based on Jordan Magnuson’s framework for poetic game design and Jon Stone’s concept of ludokinetic poetry, the workshop is grounded in the practical work of game designers and digital poets.
In this workshop, we direct this lens towards the topic of planetary care, focusing on raising awareness of sustainability and environmental issues, and enabling people to be better equipped for actively engage in planetary care. We urge participants to explore game mechanics that afford poetic experiences can add a systemic, experiential component that allows for unique engagement with themes of planetary care.
The workshop is exploratory and we highlight the value that the design process itself may have for better understanding the poetic potential of game design. The outcome of the workshop are minimalist prototypes that explore and exemplify poetic game design and adapt it to planetary care thinking, which may form the starting point for future submissions to alternative publication channels, for example Game Poems Magazine (external link).
The workshop is rigged towards graduate students focusing on theoretical, analytical, and design-oriented perspectives on games, interactive narratives, and digital media across disciplines and does not require previous experience with game design or associated software tools.
The workshop is organized by the Center for Digital Narrative in collaboration with The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (iGGi). Workshop facilitators are Kristine Jørgensen (University of Bergen) and Doris C. Rusch (Uppsala University/University of Bergen), with keynotes and guidance by Jason Nelson (University of Bergen), Jordan Magnuson (University of Southampton) and Jon Stone (Anglia Ruskin University).
Workshop structure:
Day 1, April 27: Getting started
09.00-09.30: Kristine Jørgensen and Doris C. Rusch: Introduction
09.30-12.15: Games as poetic experiences for planetary care
09.30-10.15: Keynote: Jordan Magnuson, University of Southampton: Games As Poems: Reimagining Videogames Through the Lens of Lyric Poetry
10.30-11.15: Keynote: Jon Stone, Anglia Ruskin University: “But If You’re Here Then Who’s Flying the Plane?”: A Short Introduction to Ludokinetic Poetry
11.15-12.15: Icebreaker exercise: Doris C. Rusch, Uppsala University and University of Bergen: Embodied Imagination: Poetics from Place and Body
12.15-13.15: Lunch
13.15-14.00: Keynote: Jason Nelson, University of Bergen: Run! Your work is alive!: Experimental processes in making digital playlands and game-like interfaces
14.15-17.00: Conceptualizating poetic games: group work
Day 2, April 28: Prototyping
09.00-12.00: Iterative prototyping
12.00-13.00: Lunch
13.00-16.00: Iterative prototyping, contd.
16.00-17.00: Presentations, sum up and evaluation
19.00: Dinner, courtesy of iGGi
Resources:
In preparation for this workshop, participants should familiarize themselves with the following theoretical framework and design tools:
Books:
Magnuson, Jordan (2023). Game Poems. Videogame Design as Lyrical Practice. Amherst. [Open access (external link)]
Stone, Jon (2022). Dual Wield: The Interplay of Poetry and Videogames. De Gruyter.
Tools:
- For this workshop, we will focus on the browser-based game editor Bitsy, which is free to use and accessible for beginners.
- Bitsy can be accessed here: https://www.bitsy.org/ (external link)
- Tutorial material: https://make.bitsy.org/docs/introduction/tutorial/ (external link) [AA1]
- Step by step text tutorial for getting started with Bitsy: https://www.shimmerwitch.space/bitsyTutorial.html (external link)
- Step by step video tutorial series for getting started with Bitsy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXuD3kyVEr6bprFqUBCOEWT47xqYmVQ4 (external link)
- Game poem examples: https://itch.io/c/381406/curated-game-poems (external link)
April 29 – Research presentation Day (iGGi and CDN PhDs)
This workshop consists of lightning talks where PhD students from iGGi, CDN and affiliated departments at UiB present their research. The lightning talks are template-based 10-minute presentations followed by panel discussions, organized thematically in groups of 3-4.
09.00-09.15: Welcome
09.15-10.15: 4 lightning talks + 20 minutes discussion
10.30-11.30: 4 lightning talks + 20 minutes discussion
11.30-12.30: Lunch
12.30-13.30: 4 lightning talks + 20 minutes discussion
13.30-14.30: 4 lightning talks + 20 minutes discussion
14.45-15.45: 4 lightning talks + 20 minutes discussion
15.45-16.45: 4 lightning talks + 20 minutes discussion
16.45-17.00: Sum up
19.00: Reception with informal dinner, courtesy of CDN