Update: Freeplay, SWC & Sweden…

Helloooo!

I have some good news and some bad news. Well, some bad news for some.

I’ll start with the bad news. I’ve decided to cancel my trips to LA and Sweden. So I won’t be at the StoryWorldConference. I was really looking forward to seeing you all, but I’ve cancelled because I want to spend the next few months focusing totally on my project AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS. So this is the good thing.

AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS was recently runner-up for “Best Writing in a Game” at the Freeplay Independent Gaming Festival! Wohoooo! We didn’t win, but we submitted a very early iPad build of the project (they accept projects in-development) and ended up beating many released games. So we’ve done really well and are super happy about this.

So now to keep the progression going. In order to finish this little beauty, we’ll need to run a crowdfunding campaign to get the final funds we need. And then, if that is successful, jump straight into finishing it for release early next year. So excited about this.

I’ll keep you updated on what is happening, and wish all my wonderful colleagues in LA the best time! 🙂

Now, for all my crazy American friends – here is a video of the winners of the Best International Game at Freeplay. They decided to do something us Ozzies would NEVER do…

Update: Rough Cuts, Generation Next, MWF, Radio Beyond Radio, ACMI, Freeplay, BookCamp

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

Pervasive Play Salon: This Is A Door

The pervasive play scene has been growing around the world with festivals and events happening more and more providing chances for people to play street games and talk about them. Ever since Tassos Stevens came to Australia last year for my event Transmedia Victoria, things have been hotting up in Melbourne now too. There is a collective called Pop Up Playground that are running a festival this weekend called This Is A Door. A list of local and international games people can play at the festival is on their site.

This Sunday 3.30-5pm, there will also be a Salon, in which a few of us — Paul Callaghan, Alex Desebrock, Emilie Collyer, Dan Koop, Christian Leavesley and myself (chaired by Ben McKenzie) — will be chatting about play and performance and game.

You get access to the Salon when you buy a ticket to one of the This Is A Door play sessions. Hope to see you there! 😀