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PAX panel cancelled

Written by Sayraphim
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Pop Up Playground regrets to announce that is no longer attending PAX Australia and that the “No Controller, No Board” panel has been cancelled.

We’ve considered this carefully over the last couple of weeks, but with everything that’s happened in that time, there’s a general consensus among panel members that we are no longer comfortable participating in PAX Australia. Pop Up Playground has worked hard to make sure that the events we run and the culture of pervasive gaming we promote is inclusive and non-discriminatory.

While we have read the retractions and apologies regarding the controversial “Why So Serious?” panel and Mike Krahulik’s offensive Twitter comments about transgender people, we unfortunately feel that PAX Australia has not sufficiently distanced itself from the troubled history of Penny Arcade for us to feel comfortable appearing at this year’s event. It’s disappointing, as we love many things about PAX and would love to bring our new games tradition to the PAX audience.

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NowPlay Mentorship program now open!

Written by Sayraphim

NowPlaylogoPop Up Playground and FreePlay are pleased to launch the NowPlay Mentorship program.

The NowPlay Mentorship intended to encourage and support the development of emerging designers working in fields of play (games or playful experience).

The NowPlay Mentorship offers a regular mentoring meetings and design feedback with some of the leading designers working in the emerging field of play.

Mentors include:
Harry Lee
Christy Dena
Paul Callaghan
Ben McKenzie
Robert Reid
Sayraphim Lothian
Mark Pritchard

One designer or design team will be chosen by the selection committee and will be announced at 2013 Freeplay conference.

The chosen designers will work to develop a new game or playful experience.

During the development meetings will be arranged with the Mentors to talk about the emerging field and also to discuss and receive design feedback on the game.

At the end of the development period the mentee’s game will be showcased at the Pop Up Playground Fresh Air Festival to be held at Federation Square in March 2014.

To apply send:
One 200 word statement explaining what interests you about Play.
One 200 word outline of the game or experience you intend to build
One page background information about you

Please submit application via email to admin@playspaceaustralia.com by no later than the close of business on Friday August 16.

NowPlay Mentorship

Brand spankin’ new Incorporation and the happiest board you’ll ever see

Written by Sayraphim

This afternoon, all huddled around a heater in a loungeroom in Brunswick, Pop Up Playground officially voted itself into existence. We promptly had a quick existential crisis then created the full entity that shall be know henceforth as Pop Up Playground, Inc.

Once all the official stuff was out the way, we headed down the pub to celebrate.

Our Artistic Director, Robert Reid, had bought our official ties so we could wear them in the first official photo (and subsequently in every AGM from here on in, we learned only AFTER picking which we wanted to wear today)

1ties

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Pop Up Playground business

June Playtest

Written by Sayraphim
Invisible Labrynth

Invisible Labrynth

Yesterday we held a playtest in the beautiful hall in Richmond we’re starting to frequent. We started the day with Grandma’s Footsteps, which quickly morphed into Grandma’s Ninjas, in which all the people creeping up on Grandma have to be doing it ninja style.

Next up, continuing our warm up games, we played Zombie Tag, which is awesome for getting in touch with your inner zombie.

After that we launched into playtesting our new games. We started this by testing out Focal Point, which we’re doing for the State Library of Victoria on 7th July. Players have to pass messages between characters caught in temporal disturbances to help them move on. Read More

Focal Point, Invisible Labyrinth, playtests, State Library of Victoria, The League of Extraordinary Nations, Universe Creation 101, , , , , ,

Focal Point – new game for the State Library of Victoria

Written by Sayraphim

focalpoint1
Due to regularly scheduled maintenance the State Library will be undergoing Temporal Disturbances during the hours of 12:00 and 5:00.  If any library patrons encounter such disturbances, remain calm and follow the procedure as outlined.

A story telling game for all ages in which players help trapped echoes of the library deliver lost messages between each other across the decades.

–

As part of the State Library of Victoria’s Dome Centenary Celebrations, Focal Point is presented as part of the Carnival of Curiosity 

Sunday 7th July from 12 – 5pm

Free entry, bookings not required

Focal Point, State Library of Victoria,

Newsletter hot off the presses!

Written by Sayraphim
Dr Christ Dena checks the sight on her Tech Assault laser rifle

Dr Christ Dena checks the sight on her Tech Assault laser rifle

Straight from our hard drive to yours… sort of…

Anyway, our newsletter just went out! Including info about our PAX Australia panel, our upcoming game League of Extraordinary Nations and more! http://eepurl.com/A2bcH

League of Extraordinary Nations, newsletter, Tech Assault, Universe Creation 101, , , , ,

New Games playtest 1 update

Written by Sayraphim

may13_3aaaOn the 25th of May, we headed to Richmond with a faithful band of playtesters to try out some new games and relive some old favourites.

We started with a warm-up game of Wushu Party Popper, which is a whatever-you-have-to-hand modification of Turtle Wushu. We have also, in the past, played Wushu Dinosaur, which works better if you manage something solid and four-legged, like a stegosaurus rather than a more wobbly, two-legged type like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. These are the types of things you learn when playing games…Read More

playtests,

New game – The League of Extraordinary Nations

Written by Sayraphim

League_smA New Game by Pop Up Playground

Nuked up tin-pot dictators, egomaniacal madman and intergalactic super villains are all just a day’s work for The League of Extraordinary Nations.

Protecting the earth from evil through reasoned debate, careful planning, bureaucracy and consensus since 1976.

Players are ambassadors to the League of Extraordinary Nations and must outwit the Super Villain du jour to foil their nefarious plans for world domination.

The League of Extraordinary Nations is a large-scale conversation game of suspense, cliché and hilarity.

Will you work together to achieve world peace (like the real UN) or will suspicion turn you against each other out in the hour of earth’s greatest need.

 

Games, News,

The theatre of rehearsing for life by Robert Reid

Written by Sayraphim

Rob wrote an article for RealTime about the performitivity of play. You can read it below, and you can find the original article here.

The theatre of rehearsing for lifeRobert Reid, Coney [UK] and new games

Image: Coney, A Small Town Anywhere, BAC Scratch 2012 Image: Coney, A Small Town Anywhere, BAC Scratch 2012
photo Matt Howey Nunn

In 2009 the Battersea Arts Centre in London hosted A Small Town Anywhere, a new work by UK-based company Coney. In it around 30 participants took on the role of villagers in a small country town. Each concealed a terrible secret and likewise had a mortal enemy among the other villagers.

A Small Town Anywhere condensed an entire week of drama into the space of roughly two hours; days and nights passed with subtle shifts in lighting; paper snow fell at one point and gossip, treachery and paranoia threatened to tear the little community apart.

Tom Bowtell and Tassos Stevens, two of the company’s co-directors, describe Coney as mixing “live and digital art forms to create immersive stories and play.” Their work, as well as the work of other groups such as Hide and Seek, Slingshot, Splash and Ripple and The Larks, is part of an emerging practice that, for ease of reference, I’ll call New Games. Their work varies widely encompassing Tiny Games, a series of 99 “easy to play” site-specific games designed for the streets of London by Hide and Seek, and 2.8 Hours Later, a city-wide zombie chase game, by Slingshot. Read More

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