Education - Discrimination and Burdens of Informing

Education - Discrimination and Burdens of Informing

After four invitations to join a private anti-racism theatre group (which so far has turned out...reasonably well) one of the first actions is to introduce yourself and to post/share something on the subject in order to enrich fellow artists and practitioners.

I eventually settled on Azudi Onyejekwe's https://thetheatretimes.com/the-dangers-of-optical-illusionary-performative-activism/

But I agonized over the many thoughts and possibilities I could've put up. Actually what took me so long was that I felt exhausted.

Quotes - Marie Kondo

Quotes - Marie Kondo

“The process of facing and selecting our possessions can be quite painful. It forces us to confront our imperfections and inadequacies and the foolish choices we made in the past…The things we own are real. They exist here and now as a result of choices made in the past by no one other than ourselves. It is dangerous to ignore them or to discard them indiscriminately as if denying the choices we made…It is only when we face the things we own one by one and experience the emotions they evoke that we can truly appreciate our relationship with them.” - Marie Kondo

Life - Decide

Life - Decide

What would you choose?

I think it speaks hilariously to my personal dichotomy that I would either choose Escape or Dominion...

Mari and Raena brought up that Nakama would make an amazing film though (or television series).  I've actually begun sketching out ideas based on that now for a game too...

Quotes - Plato

Quotes - Plato

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye. - Plato

Play - Fluxx

Play - Fluxx

I once was taking care of a 7 year old, for like 15-20 minutes while her aunt cooked something in the kitchen. There was a Chinese checkers board, so we played that.

It wasn't feasible to play Chinese checkers properly, so I just let her dictate the rules. "Let's say you can jump like this". Okay fine. I followed the 'rules' and moved my marbles around the board according to her rules. I tried to get my marbles on the other end of the board, she just randomly moved the marbles around, sometimes playing my pieces.

Then she said "Lets throw the marbles at the board and try to get them to land in places". Okay, we did that for a while. So we did that. Then we made pictures with the marbles for a bit. I think even was able to add 'rules' of my own, like "bounce the marbles once before they land".

It was sort of an epiphany moment for me though. Because even though we played a lot of different games with the board, not once did we have a score, or a way to "Win". When kid's play with each other, they don't win or lose. They just play.

Don't play fluxx like it's a way to "beat" people, or even like it's a skill. Fluxx is a different sort of game. It's a Game that you just play. Bring to a restaurant with a friend. Have a conversation while you play. Don't try to win. Don't try to lose. Just play.

It's more like having a Frisbee or hacky sack with a circle of friends. No you don't get any points for doing tricks. There's no way to win. You can try to do tricks if you want. You can just pass it if you want. You can purposely throw the Frisbee poorly so your friend has to reach too far. You can try to land it on their head.

Whatever.

Play Fluxx like that.

Sometimes, for a bit, I might I try to make it so the rules are super complicated. Then maybe on a whim I'll make it simple. Then if I get bored I'll try to end the game. Or maybe I'll try to extend it. Maybe I'll try to get all food keepers. Maybe I'll try to get all the creepers. Maybe I'll try to give my friend all the creepers. Maybe I'll almost win, and then purposely not win.

Whatever.

It's just a way for you to interact with you're friends. Don't think too much about it. Don't try to win. Don't force anything. Just play.

Life - Onism

Life - Onism

n. the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time, which is like standing in front of the departures screen at an airport, flickering over with strange place names like other people’s passwords, each representing one more thing you’ll never get to see before you die—and all because, as the arrow on the map helpfully points out, you are here.

Liminality of Death - Light

Liminality of Death - Light



My friend,

we … are going home

I close your eyes now

we are going. Home.

Home.

Thoughts - Design vs Art in Video Games

Thoughts - Design vs Art in Video Games

I've been thinking and writing a lot about design and art.  Not in a particularly adversarial way either, but in the tail end of my degree now, I cannot help but think of the two as being somewhat opposed.  Design, as I have often seen it can encompass some art, but the main focus of design is to create function.  Design is always purposeful, it's usually related to interpreting function, it is premeditated (or should be at least), it has a sense of intention.

invertedFall - Why

invertedFall - Why

Over the last six months, as the game design quietly emerged around invertedFall, we were often asked "What's the story?" "Why did you choose to have a female main character?" "Why is she in a wheelchair?"

Writing - Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and Art

Writing - Jiro Dreams of Sushi

I finally watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi tonight.  It's a movie that won a number of awards last year, especially for its visual cinematography.

Sometimes, especially after having done a lot of work for a long stretch of time, I need to take some time or a few days to compress.