LIKELIKE, the little game space I run with some friends in Pittsburgh, suspended all programming due to COVID-19. The pandemic is going to have long lasting impacts on the world economy; millions of Americans are suddenly unemployed and entire industries came to a standstill. It’s not a great time for event organizers, but in gaming …
Category Archives: events
Three Sided Football Arcade
August 2020 update: Three Sided Football Arcade is now available on itch.io for free Wonderville is a new bar, arcade, and event space in Brooklyn. Nostalgia-driven arcade bars are making a comeback all around the States but what makes Wonderville special is its selection of contemporary indie games and handcrafted cabinets. As a director of …
VIA GAMES 2014
In the context of Pittsburgh’s music and art festival VIA we showcased two exclusive local multiplayer games: the 2vs2 noby-noby sport Push Me Pull You and Dog Park a low poly dog ’em up by Kevin Cancienne (Slam City Oracles by Jane Friedhoff also made an appearance).
AMC Arcade 2014
This year I had the honor and pleasure to curate, along with Porpentine, a showcase of critical, radical, queer, transformative independent games for the Allied Media Conference. This is the selection, based on a variety of parameters (themes, diversity, available controllers, accessibility…): Love Punks by Yijala Yala project 10 Seconds in Hell by Amy Dentata …
MultipliCITY
This is the introduction and the printable materials for a workshop I gave at the Allied Media Conference 2014 in Detroit. The workshop was centered around MultipliCITY, a basic framework for a city planning board game designed to be expanded and modified by the participants. You can download MultipliCITY here and read slightly edited notes …
We Are Videogame Historical Materialists
BUY HERE FOR ONLY $20 Support a good cause and fashionably declare your belief that videogame culture is funded on an economic basis and reflects class relations and struggles! Historical Materialism is less scary than Marxism and can be worn ironically! Started as a joke on Venus Patrol’s We Are Videogame Romantics, this T-Shirt is …
Invisible Walls, Puffy Clouds, and the Unheavenly World Behind Them
This is the transcript of a minitalk I gave at Lost Levels 2014, an “unconference” happening during the Game Developers Conference (maybe a bit too square and academic for that casual environment). It’s a topic I’ve addressed in every single talk in the last 10 years or so, but I thought it could benefit from …
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Pixel Punks
Last week I put together an exhibition of indie/DIY games together with all-around amazing people Caitlin Boyle, Tim Sherman, and Tenley Schmida (aka Crushed Screen Collective). Pixel Punks showcases rough around the edge, confrontational, homemade games in the context of an historical punk venue in Pittsburgh, PA. It’s in part inspired by new arcade …
Designing Games to Understand Complexity
This is a transcript of a workshop I conducted together with Liam Burke at the Allied Media Conference in June 2013. The workshop is meant to be a very basic introduction to system thinking via games targeted toward grassroots activists. It uses a simple fishery simulation available here as example.
The Fishing Game
The unimaginatively called “Fishing game” was designed for the 2013 Allied Media Conference. It’s meant to be played, discussed and modded in a interactive workshop context. The companion presentation can be found here. In order to play the game you need: .Exactly 4 players .About 30 money bits – decorative marbles will work .About 30 …
Allied Media Conference Games Lineup
Next week I’ll be in Detroit at the Allied Media Conference. The conference track “Imagining Better Futures Through Play” looks dense and exciting, with a strong focus around DIY gamemaking and inclusivity. You still have 5 days to back our indiegogo campaign, the proceeds will cover travel and lodging costs for the presenters Here are …
Radical Game Makers: We Want You!
The Allied Media Conference is a yearly gathering of independent and activist media makers from all over North America. We gather in Detroit to share strategies on how to create sustainable social change through media. This year’s conference is June 20-23 and I’m honored to be one of the coordinators of the game-oriented track along …
Indiecade 2012: my highlights
Like in all good conferences, at Indiecade most of the fun happens outside and around the programmed events. The lectures, the exhibitions, and the goofy award ceremonies are only frames for a multitude of fluid interactions around dinner tables, in the waiting lines for beer, during improvised logistical negotiations, after tense game sessions. That’s the …
Fantastic Arcade 2012
Soon people will stop referring to Fantastic Arcade as “The best indie gaming event you’ve never heard of”. Integral part of Fantastic Fest (Über-hip arthouse sci-fi and horror film festival), happening in sunny Austin TX just a couple of weeks before Indiecade, the 3-years-old, 4-day-long festival, seems destined to become a fixture in the calendar …