I’ll be involved with a few more interesting events, so here’s a quick rundown. I’ll be participating in a panel on gamification at NPOX, the annual conference for creatives of the Dutch public broadcasting services. I’ll talk about PLAY Pilots, and offer my perspective on a case submitted by the audience. At PICNIC, I’ll contribute [...]
Author Archives: Kars
Speaking about Code 4 at Think Design Play, the DiGRA conference
This year the DiGRA conference will take place 14-17 september in Hilversum, the Netherlands. My alma mater, the Utrecht School of the Arts, is hosting. We couldn’t resist submitting a practice paper on Code 4, the game we made for the Dutch Tax Administration.1 It got accepted, so I’m speaking. The program is packed with [...]
Posted in Upcoming Tagged applied games, Code 4, DiGRA, game studies, games research, Maguro, organizational change, pervasive games, serious games, Think Design Play Comments closed
We’ve moved (again)
A year ago we made the move together with Dutch Game Garden to Neude 5. Since then, we’ve had the pleasure of sharing a studio with our friends at FourceLabs. But the 40m2 space we had at our disposal could not contain both our ambitions any longer. So starting this month, we’re in a new [...]
Six games about architecture
I went looking for a few recent examples of games that deal with architectural themes in some way. I pulled these mostly from a few of the major street games festivals that are out there, such as Come Out & Play, Hide & Seek, Igfest and You Are GO! Just from this small sample size [...]
Posted in Thoughts Tagged architecture, cities, game design, games, pervasive games, urban games, urbanism Comments closed
Pools connected to playgrounds
I am preoccupied by the ways play and games connect to the physical form of cities. Here’s one way to look at it: architects are influenced by the surprising new uses of existing constructions. For example, there’s a connection between a swimming pool like this one… Photo (cc) Mallix …and this playground designed by Carve [...]
Posted in Thoughts Tagged architecture, play, playgrounds, skateparks, swimming pools, transformations Comments closed
“New ideas must use old buildings”
The other day I had dinner at a radio-station that was turned into a restaurant. My favorite events venue in Amsterdam used to be a printing press. And friends of mine are turning a massive sports hall into creative work spaces. The uses buildings were intended for, and what they’re actually used for, vary greatly. [...]
Posted in Thoughts Tagged adaptation, architecture, cities, creativity, Jane Jacobs, law, play, politics, reuse, Stewart Brand, Vacant NL Comments closed
Speaking at CoCities Salon Amsterdam
Cognitive Cities certainly has been the most stimulating conference of 2011 for me so far. (Despite the few shortcomings I reported on earlier.) So I am super glad it is getting follow-up in the form of a salon in Amsterdam. Tomorrow. And I will be speaking. So, Thursday June 30 in TrouwAmsterdam’s Verdieping: Cognitive Cities [...]
Speaking at dConstruct 2011
I am really pleased to be speaking at dConstruct this year. I’ve attended the conference myself several times and always enjoy the well-curated program and the good things offered by the event’s home, lovely Brighton. You’ll find the abstract I submitted below. Have a look at the conference site for the rest of the program [...]
Posted in Upcoming Tagged adaptation, brighton, cities, clearleft, conferences, dconstruct, play, reuse, Talks Comments closed
Things we’re working on (volume 2)
It’s been over half a year since I last talked about the projects we have on deck. I thought I’d do a quick post to give you a sense of what’s going on. We’re in the process of wrapping up Maguro. The game – titled Code 4 – is finished and has seen several successful [...]
Posted in Projects Tagged Buta, CDPI, Chi Sparks, Code 4, Creative Design for Playful Impact, DiGRA, HKU, Iruka, Maguro, Saba, science, Think Design Play, Utrecht School of the Arts Comments closed
The Transformers at dConstruct 2011
Over two weeks have passed since dConstruct 2011 so it’s high time I post my talk. I felt a bit apprehensive about this one: dConstruct tends to have a pretty heterogeneous audience, so it’s hard to know what kind of talk to shoot for. In addition, I was slightly worried about how people would react [...]