Hello! This is a quick update on recent and this weekend’s events:
An unusual interview
At the end of last year I had a special guest come stay with me. Her name is Cara Ellison and she is an international games journalist and critic. For a year Ellison has been conducting a fascinating project: “Embed With…“. She has been flying around the world ’embedding’ herself with game developers and sharing her view of the experience on tumblr. After noticing my game Magister Ludi at the Freeplay Independent Games Festival event ‘Parallels,’ Ellison decided to come to Australia for the final interviews. In December Cara, and game critic, journalist and theorist Brendan Keogh came to visit. – the interview with Goldie (the artist on Magister Ludi) and myself is on her tumblr. I am so thrilled to be a part of this fascinating interview series, and had a ball with Cara and Brendan.
Article on interactive writing for the QWC
More recently, to prefigure my forthcoming workshops (see below), I was asked to write a short piece for the Queensland Writers Centre blog. The article, ‘Characters, Players, Writers and Interaction,’ shares some of my experiences and thoughts about interactive writing.
Digital Writers’ Room workshop for QWC in Townsville & Cairns
This Friday I will be flying to Townsville to give an interactive workshop to secondary school and first year university students. The special programme is called iWrite and is run by the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre. On Saturday I will run a workshop in Townsville at the QWC for writers, and then I will fly to Cairns and run a workshop on Sunday. I really love the digital writers room format I have been developing, where I encourage peer feedback and we get to execute mini exercises in interactive writing.
Closing presentation at the WIDGET Unconference
While I will be travelling interstate for the workshops, I will give a remote presentation to for the first WIDGET Unconference. I have previously written an article for the WIDGET site, and I am very flattered and excited to be giving a special presentation for the special day ace Leena van Deventer has organised. I’ll be sharing a mixed bag of tips and tricks and triumphing over trauma.
WIDGET (Women In Development (Games & Everything Tech)) is a not-for-profit organisation supporting those underrepresented in the fields of development and technology, specifically women (including women-identifying) creators across a range of disciplines. We support women developers by means of supplying resources, showcasing role models, and providing an encouraging space in which to ask questions and learn from others. WIDGET hopes to increase the number of women making awesome stuff in our culture and community.