Hello everyone! Another update on a bundle of publications and events I’m part of:
But first I want to tell you some news about my project AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS. We’ve done the first iPad app build of episode one! Wohoo! Yes folks, it is moving along. I’m so excited. We still have more to do of course, but the baby is alive and walking! This is because of the wonderful work of my team – including graphics designer Juliana Loh, audio by Trevor Dikes, and programming by Craig Peebles. More info to come, but…gee…
In other news, I was asked to contribute a piece about my writing and design documentation for “Rough Cuts: Media and Design in Process” over at Media Commons. I talk about how I’ve adapted the screenplay format for my AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS app. This is part of a collection of pieces on documentation practices curated by Kari Kraus. Check it out.
This week I’ll be on panels at two events. The first is Open Channel’s Generation Next: Comedy and Drama Conference this Thursday and Friday. There is an awesome line up of presenters (and attendees), and I’m really keen to hear some writing perspectives on comedy. I’ll be talking about making a comedy drama for iPad (AUTHENTIC) and multi-platform writing and strategy in general.
Then on Saturday I’ll be on a panel at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. The panel, “Stories and Systems,” features a great bunch of colleagues who’ll be chatting about the differences, obstacles, and beauty of game writing.
Next week, I fly to Sydney to present at ABC Radio National’s “Radio Beyond Radio: a symposium exploring new radio writing and performance“. They don’t have a webpage up yet but it looks like it will be a ripper, with international guests from Arte Radio, The Hackney Podcast, and Jonathan Mitchell and Ed Herbstman from improvised drama podcast The Truth (swoon!). It is happening 3-7 September at ABC Ultimo and UTS. I’ll be speaking on a panel about new storytelling, another about working interdisciplinary, and giving an hour talk on the scripting, audio design, technology, and performance of AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS!
Then back in Melbourne on the Tues 18th, I’ll be on a panel at ACMI as part of their GameMasters Re:play series. I’ll be *presenting* on “Postcards from Imaginary Worlds“. Look at this strange and cool angle we’ll be exploring:
The promise of games has always been of unexplored worlds, simulated and presented with you at the centre of them. The player is the the explorer, navigating every nook and cranny, crevasse and mountain. Come with us as we scribble out our postcards from these imaginary realms, searching for stamps and postboxes in Azeroth, Minecraft, Dungeons and Dragons and worlds that look suspiciously like our own, but harbour something playful just beneath the surface. Speakers Include: Ben McKenzie (‘Dungeon Master’ & comedian), Brendan Keogh (games journalist, Towards Dawn) and Christy Dena (transmedia writer & designer). Chair: Daniel Golding.
I’ll then by flying back to Sydney for a couple of days to work, to return quickly to Melbourne for the Freeplay Independent Games Festival! I’ll be on the panel called “Measures of Success”:
Videogames make more money than Hollywood is the go-to argument when discussing why games matter but what if we took a different approach, exploring new metrics beyond the financial? What would they look like? And would people listen?
Then I fly up to Queensland to be a part of if:book’s BookCamp on 28th September”
Bookcamp gathers together smart, bookish people from creative backgrounds of all stripes to explore the future of books – and consider emerging technologies, people, ideas, and stories in the fast-changing business of connecting writers with readers.
Yay! And in the middle of all that it will be my birthday. Looks like a great few weeks of catching up with ace mates around Oz. And then in October and November I’ll be flying around the world again — L.A., maybe Canada, and Sweden, and… More soon. :p