Production still from Spiderman 2 2004 / Director: Sam Raimi /Image Courtesy: Sony Pictures

Drawn To Screen: Graphic Novels, Comics and Serials is screening at the Australian Cinémathèque at GoMA, from 6 January – 4 March 2012. Assistant Curator, Amanda Slack-Smith, gives you an insight into what to expect from this unique program. For your chance to win a free double pass to one of the films, post a comment telling us which is your favourite comic/graphic novel/serial to film adaption. Winners will be notified by 10 February.

‘Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!’ The Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque celebrates the adaptation of graphic novels, comics and serials to screen in Drawn to Screen from 6 January to 4 March 2012. From the guilty pleasures of Flash Gordon, the heroics of Superman and celebration of the mundane in Tamara Drew and Ghost World, the program brings together over 60 films from around the world and delves into the rich world of the drawn narrative and its translation to cinema and television.

Due to their big budget nature, the adaptation of comics to film is often perceived to be a North American invention focused solely towards superheroes. While Drawn To Screen: Graphic Novels, Comics and Serials touches on this recent phenomenon seen in Hollywood in a thematic strand titled ‘Gods and Monsters’ this program also highlights the rich diversity of themes explored by comic creators.

Animations such as Marjane Satrapi Persepolis 2007 and Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat 2011 explore issues surrounding religion, cultural displacement and persecution.  Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta 2006 (directed by James McTeigue) and Raymond Briggs’s When the Wind Blows 1986 (directed by Jimmy Murakam) offer commentary on the political structure of the times – V for Vendetta a scathing response to the Thatcher Government in the United Kingdom and When the Wind Blows a chilling look at the fear engendered during the Cold War.  Other films in the program simply question life such as American Splendor 2003 (directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini) is an autobiographical recounting by working-class everyman Harvey Pekar.

For comic-book film lovers’ familiar with many of the North American titles this program is an opportunity to revisit old favorites and to discover new titles For non-comic book readers it offers an introduction into a diverse exploration of the medium presented in both animation and live action films.

Do-It-Yourself is the theme bringing in the New Year at The Edge. It will be headed by two talented residents that will be bringing their own experimental and creative interpretations to our programming.

Nathen Street is an exciting new media installation artist. He will bring his interest of space travel and the cosmos, along with his DIY toolkit to The Edge. Expect from Nathen the chance to play with everything from Open Source software, soldering tools; to tealeaf strainers and aluminium bowls which he says make great chandelier light covers.

We asked Nathen some questions about his life, the universe, and everything he plans to do during his time at The Edge:

Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?
My areas of interest are fairly broad and diverse, I spend a lot of time reading on the internet. I’m particularly interested in space, the cosmos and the universe, stars, planets and space travel and all that black gooey stuff that’s out there. That sort of excites me. I can’t seem to get enough of space porn.

The other sorts of interests I have are physical computing. I really, really like immersive physical environments where you can walk into a space, where it might not be obvious to you straight away, you are having an effect on the room or the room is having an effect on you.

How did you become interested in your field of practice?
I have an inquisitive nature, I used to pull apart electronics when I was a kid. They used to have the big experimentation kits with the little springs that you would put the wire in by holding them back, and it was like 12 kits in 1. They had things like crystal radios and other sort of doorbells and little radios and other types of things, I was really keen on that. I used to have lots of friends that had them and I would go around to their house and go play with them.

Why did you choose to bring your skills to The Edge?
I live a kilometre down the road so it’s very handy to me being here. I subscribe to a lot of blogs and there’s a whole bunch of organisations, conferences and festivals around the world, and it’s really hard not to be inspired by. I guess lonely old Brisbane needed a place like this [The Edge] and I wanted to be a part of it.

What will you be doing during your residency at The Edge?
A couple of workshops: one workshop will be a take on the Graffiti Research Lab who created these little LED ‘throwies’ … a sort of public piece of graffiti that you can throw on metal walls and it will light up as long as the battery lasts.

The other workshop is a DIY chandelier making workshop where I will introduce people to basic electronics, basic soldering and have people get their craft skills out. I’ll provide a whole bunch of stuff that they can use to create these chandeliers that they can then take home.

The third thing I’m doing is a large interactive installation. It’s again working with the lights theme, and the idea is that you’ll be able to walk into a room where the installation is and your voice or sounds in the room will be used to make the lighting change. It’ll be in a room, there will be microphones around, you’ll be able to yell at it, sing at it, stomp your feet on the ground, and it will respond to your actions and hopefully create lighting effects that I haven’t programmed.

How can Edge users get involved?
We are holding the Graffiti Research Lab workshop as part of the 2^nd birthday celebrations in February, so I’ll be out here in one the (window) bays doing workshops with whoever wants to walk past and put something together. A couple of weeks later I’ll be doing the chandelier workshop on the 4^th and 11^th of February.

Do Edge users need any special skills to be a part of your project?
No, just a can-do attitude, a willingness to do stuff.

What will Edge users be able to learn from your during your residency?
I’m hoping that they’ll be able to learn a little bit more about electronics. I’m hopeful that they’ll read my blog because I’ll put stuff up there so that if they miss the workshops they should be able to go home and source the materials themselves and go and do it.

If those playing along at home want to know more about the sort of things that you do, where should they go to learn?
My favourite website right now is Creative Applications. It’s run by a new media academic out of London. The blog is essentially a portfolio of different types of interactive art that’s happening around the world. It might come from festivals, or someone he knows, or someone that has just tweeted about it. I think that website has a lot of information about the types of technology I use and that other people use to create their objects or their programs.

Finally, a few quick questions.

What are the first three tabs you open in a new browser window? Email, the news, Creative Applications.

What was the first mobile phone you ever owned? Nokia 4110.

The one piece of technology you couldn’t live without? My android handset: because I can plug heaps of stuff into it.

Geekiest habit or hobby? I can be obsessively clean; I like to have little boxes where I can put all my transistors together, where I can have all my different wires and button – electronic organisation.

Here are some links that Nathen suggests as good resources to find out more about what he is interested in:

Eye Beam is a non-profit art and technology centre dedicated to exposing broad and diverse audiences to new technologies and media arts.

Creative Applications scouts the web to bring together applications that challenge how people share and engage with information, focussing on creative app development and thinking.

Multitouch Barcelona is an interactive design studio exploring natural communication between people and technology.

Hangar is a centre for arts production and research, providing support facilities for artists and designers.

Never has it been easier to come up with an innovative product idea and deliver it to the world. In a two hour salon style presentation we will be exploring the complexities of conceiving, designing, funding and launching online products to an international audience.

We’ll be joined by Leni Mayo, founding investor of 99designs, the world’s largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design who have recently raised over $35 million in investment. Joining Leni is Shainiel Deo, CEO of the game design company Halfbrick , who’s behind some of the world’s most popular mobile game apps, and whose title ‘Fruit Ninja’ has had over 100 million downloads. Both will draw upon their own success stories in designing products for international audiences, while also highlighting the most important global trends in product design.

This Portable Talks series has been especially curated for creative individuals and companies wanting to make the leap into designing online products for international audiences. Designed to be a conversation, the event will run through the main points of starting and scaling a product business, from conception, to investment and future planning. In doing so, Portable Talks will provide a comprehensive forum for networking with designers, product developers, technologists, entrepreneurs and investors.

Speakers
Leni Mayo, Founding Investor, 99designs
Shainiel Deo, CEO, Halfbrick
Simon Goodrich, Co-Founder Portable

When: 3pm, 14 Feb
Where: Edge Auditorium, The Edge
Cost: $55 concession (with discount code EDGE), $65 adult (with discount code EDGEFULL)
Bookings: Online click here.

Making robots at The Edge is no longer the stuff of dreams. During our DIY tech quarter you can expect some hands on interaction with elements of robotics culture.

International robotics artist Kirsty Boyle, is one of our DIY Tech Residents. Over the next three months she will be bringing her knowledge of Japanese robot puppetry back to her base, Brisbane. During her residency Kirsty will curate live robotics theatre, showcasing local and international artists, as well as host workshops and present a screen based exhibition, abstraction contraption.

We asked Kirsty some questions about her craft and the wonderful world of robots:

Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?
I grew up here in Queensland and I originally trained as a puppeteer. I’ve always worked with technology as well, so I went and studied mechanical and electrical engineering and decided I wanted to make robots. I also studied the Japanese language and later found out about this mechanical doll making tradition, Karakuri, in Japan. In 2002 I had an opportunity to go to Japan and train with the only remaining master of this tradition.

Why did you decide to learn more about Japanese robotic puppetry?
What really motivated me was that there was only a really small amount of information available in English. I just wanted to go to Japan and find out myself what it was all about. The Japanese people see mechanical doll making tradition as their secret to being creative. This is one of the reasons why I love robots; this whole idea of starting with puppets, something real that’s tactile and that I can touch and I can physically interact with. For me working with robots is an embodied form of technology, it’s real.

Why did you choose to bring your skills to The Edge?
It’s exciting for me to be back here [in Brisbane]. I’ve been based overseas for many years now, and growing up Queensland, I would have loved to have access to a place like this. When this residency came up I was so excited, and I really want to try and make some connections with contacts I have overseas and build this network but connect it back here to Australia. I’ve learnt a lot being away, and I want to work here with young people and try and encourage and inspire them to pursue their creative practices.

What will you be doing during your residency at The Edge?
I’m going to be making lots of robots. There is a six-week screen-based exhibition of different robot artworks that I’m going to be showing.

I’m also doing a live show; it’s called Love the Robots that I developed last year in Switzerland. Most of the artists I’ve involved in the Love the Robots network are all very hands on and DIY, we all physically make our own robotic art works and we see working with electronics and programming as our craft. The network is based remote participation; most of these artists are working in their studios in whatever country they’re in. You’ll get a really intimate view of their practice, and often the public doesn’t get to see inside the studios.

I’ll also be doing some workshops, which I haven’t quite finished devising yet.

How can Edge users get involved?
Sign up for the workshops when they become available.

Come along to the live shows. During the shows you will be able to ask questions and interact with the artists, also everything is streamed online and people will be able to ask questions and chat. You won’t have to physically be here at The Edge to be a part of this.

What will Edge users be able to learn from you during your residency?
I hope that they learn more about DIY art and robot art in general and I hope to inspire people and de-mystify what it is to be working with technology in a creative way. I plan to spend much of my time working up here [Level 1] and having stuff out so that people come up and watch me and just have a chat.

For those playing at home who want to know more about you, and what you do, where should they look?
My website, it’s very basic at the moment but it’s all about to change.

Finally a few quick questions.

What are the first three tabs you open in a new browser window? Gmail, make, reddit.
What is the first mobile phone you ever owned? Nokia.
The one piece of technology you couldn’t live without? Computer.
Geekiest habit or hobby? Being online.

Want to learn more? Here are some links that Kirsty suggests as good resources for DIY robotics:
Karakuri is focussed on archiving and making information available about the Karakuri Ningyo tradition in English. Onnai is Kirsty Boyle’s website and contains information about her creative practice, past works, and down other interesting paths her life has taken her.

You can also register to be attend the Love the Robots live shows on 15 or 28 January.

The Edge is turning two on 25 February (hooray!). To celebrate, we are inviting you to showcase works that have made at The Edge. If you have made a film, performance, audio track, robot, or anything in between and are keen to share it, submit your application by 13 January 2012.

The fine print:
When you submit your work for our showcase, we will do our best to find a home for your piece. However, there may be some instances where we feel that your work is not appropriate or there is no suitable space to display it. In this instance we will be in touch to discuss our decision with you.

You will need to be available on 24 February to install your work. The work will be on display at The Edge for a week and then you will need to come and collect it from The Edge.

Submission guidelines
Applications can be submitted online.

Local actor, singer and writer Helen Stephens shares how her mind was blown, put back together, and blown once more as she learned Lumasol with Dutch theatre troupe PIPS:lab at the recent technology masterclass they hosted at The Edge.

“Technology waits for no one” they say, and as a young Brisbane theatre maker I have always felt this to be true, I got left behind somewhere between portable CD players and the iPod revolution. The realisation that I now had to reacquaint myself with modern technology was always just a little too much of an inconvenience, especially when I had brothers and boyfriends who were happy to acquiesce my every technological need. “I have to use a computer to do what?? I have to think about that?? Could you just do it for me?…Please?” are all questions and requests I made frequently.

Due to my dismissive and unadventurous attitude towards all things technical and the tight waisted budgets those of us in the arts are used to working with, my approach to theatre making was always to keep things simple, use minimal if any lighting states at all, maybe a few audio tracks if I couldn’t create them live and to not even dream about using projection or other forms of multimedia. This attitude of mine which says that technology is too hard to use was however, strongly challenged when I met up with 2 members of an out of this world performance troupe last week at Brisbane’s, The Edge.

Let’s go back ten years. It is 2001, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, “master of the impossible, image wizard, media genius and natural-born inventor” Keez Duyves who after years of technological creativity, problem solving, programming and conceptual design launches PIPS: lab, a theatre company consisting of a group of musicians, actors, sound engineers, programmers and technicians who share his passion for mind blowing technological experiences and real, visceral, interactive performance.

Now back to 2011, November 29. I who at 25, have gone through QUT’s Creative Industries Drama course, trained in many different forms of performance and am highly aware of the contemporary theatre movement which threatens to leave me behind, decide to head along to a technology in performance workshop to see if I can learn a trick or two. All I know is that it is to be run by a Dutch theatre company and is sure to be a great experience and a steep learning curve. Over the course of the next 4 hours my mind is blown time and time again and I realize that I am in the presence of a man whose mind and ideas are so far ahead of his time that he has no choice but to wait for technology to catch up with him.

Keez and company member Fred Rodrigues, originally from Adelaide, worked to introduce themselves and their company to a group of ten willing creatives ranging from circus performers, actors, musicians and filmmakers to teachers and community workshop facilitators. We were each given a small LED light and asked to draw out our name, letter by letter with the light, on to the large, white wall at the back of the room.  Little did we know that this was the exact method PIPS: lab use with their audiences in their show Diespace and a fitting introduction to a technique they have aptly named Lumasol. Before our eyes each letter of our name, dutifully written in order, was captured, layered and then presented back to us as a floating, revolving 3D image, an example of which you can see online. The effect is nothing if not impressive and eerily surreal. The concept of Diespace (created in 2007) is fittingly matched to this luminescent tool as the show explores the idea of souls living on in a virtual space after their human counterparts have passed away.

Something I would like to stress at this point is that Keez and the rest of the PIPS: lab team, are devout believers in using whatever equipment is readily available, accessible and affordable. They use a mixture of well-worn MAC and PC laptops, switching between them as the need presents and really were inspiring in their demonstrated ingenuity and resourcefulness. They rely on free software such as MAC program Quartz Composer for a lot of their programming needs and fashion musical instruments and lights from broom handles, PVC pipe, coloured plastic bottle tops and anything else they can lay their hands on. They believe that where there is a will, there is a way and foster this attitude with vigour and excitement when attacking new ideas for instruments, sound design applications and motion capture and live animation programs. No matter what they develop each tool has one universal commonality and that is that they are built with a high audience interaction function.

From Lumasol, to Bullet Time animation, I learned that PIPS: lab were successfully creating this effect long before The Matrix made it famous. Not only did they do this, but they achieved it by using a circle of modified disposable cameras in a darkened room with a centred, raised flash. Their work with Graffiti Artists in this clip is an example of this unique yet simple technique.

Discussions moved from Musical Instrument Digital Interfacing, (MIDI) to Motion Capture, however, due to technical difficulties we were unable to really see these in action. Herein lies one of PIPS: lab’s golden rules: never expect that technology will work, in fact, expect that it will fail.

So after a morning of playing and experimenting with lights and cameras, bodies and computers I want to thank The Edge and PIPS: lab for providing the opportunity for such profound learning.  I walked away having seen the impossible made possible and knowing that I could do the same.

“Daring to fail is the best way to learn, create and experiment”. Keez Duyves

Want to join The Edge team? We’re hiring.

We’re looking for three people; one who is good at talking to other people, one who won’t yell at their computer screen when dealing with large quantities of numbers and one person who is good at finding fun ways to teach new things.

Closing 12 December
If you have a strong background in customer service and are looking for a flexible role in a creative space, then our VSO position may be for you. Download the position description today.

If you have a head for numbers and knack for keeping yourself and others organised, then we’d definitely  love to talk to you more about our Admin and Finance Officer role.

Closing 19 December
If programming in new, unusual, collaborative and fun ways is your thing, then you could be our new Creative Production Manager.

Before you apply we should probably tell you a little about us. We’re all very good looking, we play a mean game of ping pong and cake makes up about 50% of our daily food intake. If none of the above scares you away, then what are you waiting for? Do nothing until the day before, pull an all nighter and submit your application.

Illustration by Hannah Groff http://dribbble.com/hannahgroff

[Videogames are about the instances when player, machine, and code meld together in a formless dance and produce something meaningful. Something memorable. An experience. A moment.]

 It was not meant to end like this.

Maybe you played Valve’s previous games. Half-Life. Opposing Force. Half-Life 2. Maybe you know that Valve are no stranger to ending their games on a bitter note, either with the player-character’s death or estrangement in otherwise unfortunate circumstances. Still, immolation to end a puzzle game all seems a bit much.

Things started simply enough. You awoke in a glass cell. You moved through a series of test chambers under the instructions of a friendly, automated female voice. The kind of voice that would probably go to the bar on a Friday afternoon with the Telstra and Centrelink answering machines. The kind of voice that would assure you she is a real person and of course you should say your password over the telephone. That voice taught you how to jump. How to move crates. How to use buttons to open doors. Most importantly, it taught you how to use the portal gun.

It’s a simple device. A gun. You play videogames. You know how to use a gun. But this gun doesn’t shoot bullets. It shoots portals: elliptic wormholes that open up on whichever surface you fire at. Left-click shoots the blue portal; right-click shoots the orange. The two can be traversed with a single step, folding the space between them. Want to go over there? Simply put one portal there, one portal here, and step through.

You had to dramatically change your conception of space, of how space is traversed. But that is okay. That was the point of the whole game. You did what the voice said. You solved puzzles in the “test chambers”. You sensed a story, sure, but one that was there for decoration. Like the castle in the background of Tetris. A story to justify your actions, not a story to engage with. Devices gotta be tested, right? That’s a good enough excuse to play. So you played. You tested.

But then things got weird. You wondered where all the other people were. What was that off-hand comment the voice made about cake? Did she just suggest you might be killed? What are those scribbles on the wall?

And then it is the final test chamber. There is a sign right there on the wall telling you as such. You jump onto the sliding platform on its monorail track. You use some portals to get around a wall blocking your path. You don’t even have to think about it anymore. Folding space to your whim has become second nature.

But then you round the corner. You see the flames. You see the rail descending into them along with the final seconds of your life. The woman’s voice assures you the portal device will be undamaged by the flames.

Portal’s slogan is “Now you’re thinking with portals”. You don’t think. If you think you will die. Instead you act. You shoot the blue portal on the wall, just above the licking tongues of the flames. You shoot the orange one on the far side of a maintenance walkway beyond the flames. You leap. You miss the flames and fall through the portal, landing of the platform, just in time to watch the platform sink into the fire.

Imagine you are playing Tetris and all of a sudden you figured how to walk away from the endlessly falling shapes and go to the castle. That just happened.

The voice tries to hide its alarm. It tells you to stay calm. That someone will come and “collect” you. You aren’t really listening anymore. You did something that simultaneously was the only thing you could do and exactly what you weren’t meant to. This isn’t a puzzle game anymore. Testing ended; play continues.

Above you, way above you, you spy a maintenance shaft and a small hole in the mesh. You see where portals might be placed so to propel yourself into the shaft, into the area between the test chambers. You place the portals and jump through. This isn’t a puzzle game. Oh no. Not anymore. This isn’t how it ends. This is how it begins.

Illustration by Hannah Groff http://dribbble.com/HannahGroff

[Videogames are about the instances when player, machine, and code meld together in a formless dance and produce something meaningful. Something memorable. An experience. A moment.]

You not entirely sure what your colonel was alluding to while he debriefed you during the loading screen of Modern Warfare 2’s third level. You do know you are going undercover to infiltrate a terrorist cell of ultranationalist Russians (always the Russians) to get close to their leader, Makarov. Your CO says “You don’t want to know what it has cost already to put you next to him.” But what does he mean when he adds, “It will cost a bit of yourself.”?

“But that is nothing compared to what you will save.”

So the level loads. The mission begins. First there are the sounds: a bag unzipping, the hum of machinery, ammo being clipped into guns.

Then the visuals fade in. You are in an elevator with three men. Each is wearing a Kevlar vest over their suit. Each is holding a rather large machine gun. Maybe you are surprised to see that, in fact, so are you. But probably you aren’t. After all, the point of the game is to shoot people, right? You move your crosshair over the one directly in front of you and his name pops up as is common for your allied companions: Makarov.

Makarov looks at you. “Remember,” he says. “No Russian.”

You wonder what me means by this as the lift doors open and the four of you walk out.

You are in an airport. A Russian airport. You are confused. This isn’t a Middle Eastern battlefield or a Russian castle full of commandos. This is not the kind of place you are used to shooting people in. The crowds queued at the security checkpoint don’t notice your group at first, but then the three men open fire.

Maybe you open fire as well. Maybe you roll your eyes and laugh at the very idea of a Modern Warfare game trying something this serious. But you know what? This isn’t about you. This is about me. I didn’t open fire. I sat there on my couch, with my controller in my hand, trembling. Unable to pull the trigger that would fire the gun at the civilians now running, screaming, and dying. I’ve fought waves of faceless soldiers. I’ve run over pedestrians by the city-full. I have built rollercoasters deliberately to send their passengers hurtling into the side of a mountain. Implicated in a massacre? That is something I have never been.

Bodies litter the ground. I follow the three men through the security gates as they beep and flash futilely. An injured woman is dragging herself away by her arms. A man is on his knees, begging. Makarov’s men mow them down.

We follow Makarov up the escalator and through the duty-free shops. More crowds. More firing. More screaming. The screaming is the worst. It just doesn’t stop. If I try, I can here the exact screams of that level in my mind. The problem is getting them out again.

“Run, you idiots!” I plead at my television screen. Why is that one not running? Why is he staying near that corpse? The men shoot him.

A cop jumps out from behind a wall and I shoot without thinking, dropping him. It gets easier, then. Not easy. Just easier. I have to shoot, surely, or else Makarov will get suspicious. I spray bullets past the fleeing, screaming people, deliberately missing. Occasionally, I shoot the injured. The other men will kill anyway, I justify to myself.

It’s horrifying. Absolutely horrifying. As we progress through the airport, I can’t run. The game forces me to walk, to move slowly past the ocean of corpses I’m implicit in. I keep repeating the CO’s line to me. This is nothing compared to what I will save. This is nothing compared to what I will save.

We move onto the runaway and, finally, face targets that shoot back. Russian SWAT. We fight out way through. The terror has been caused. Now we must escape.

We lose the SWAT through a fire escape into a side room. There is an ambulance waiting for our escape. The first man jumps on and helps Makarov up. He chuckles. “That will send them a message.”

Makarov turns and takes my hand to help me up next. “That was no message,” he says and shoots me in the head.

“That is the message.”

The ambulance drives away as my character lies dying on a Russian runway. As the SWAT run up, ambivalent of the fleeing ambulance, I think about what just happened. The entire attack was staged just to leave my corpse amongst it. To have the Americans blamed.

I feel like throwing up.

Over the following stages, full-scale war breaks out between Russia and America. America says it is because they were framed by Russia for the attack. Maybe that is true. But as I fight the Russians through a variety of other playable characters, as I protect Washington DC, suburban streets, and fast food chains from the vengeful invades, there is no denying it: I was a part of that heinous crime. It cost a bit of myself, and I didn’t save a damn thing.

Artwork by Porsha Marais www.porshamarais.com

Last time around, I promised I’d suggest a few cool indie games you might enjoy as you discover the ridiculously huge world of gaming. Amusingly enough, I had no idea The Edge was teaming up with IGF for their own awesome games event, so a few of of my choices are in the program. Fortunately, I can think of many, many others that are more than fine substitutions  as well as additions to your growing games library. Here are three you can grab NOW and two that are very promising works in progress.

Bastion – Supergiant Games’ wonderful action/RPG has a great story, stunningly beautiful visuals and solid, challenging gameplay. That said, key to the experience is the stellar soundtrack and narration The game’s narrator comments on everything you do as you play, offering up a fresh take that makes the game experience even more enjoyable. A smart, fun and often funny world-building hack & slash built by a tean that clearly loves what they do (and it’s their FIRST game). Available now on Xbox 360 Live arcade and for PC over Valve’s Steam delivery service.

Vanessa St Pierre-Delacroix and Her Nightmare – This super fun puzzle game with the long name is a throwback to classic 8 and 16-bit 2D games with a fun 3D twist. Play as a curious little girl trapped inside a game world set inside a rotating cube. You’ll need to manipulate both Vanessa and the cube in order to get around and the experience is definitely a mind-bender that’s pleasing for young and old alike. Bad Pilcrow has created one of those memorable little titles that you’ll go back to again and again.

FOTONICA – A first-person game that’s all about momentum, running and jumping in a surreal landscape, SantaRagione’s wickedly fun experience is also a one-button game that works flawlessly as a reflex test. Nailing some really tricky jumps and landings on narrow pathways is hard at first, but then something clicks and you get that adrenaline rush going as you start connecting with the ground and gain more speed. The mix of 80′s style vector graphics (there’s an option to add a two-tone effect), sense of motion and nice level of challenge should appeal to a wide range of gamers. Available on PC or Mac in a “pay what you want” download.

Tiny & Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers – Black Pants Game Studios’ combination of whimsical art direction and physics-based gameplay is pretty stunning stuff even though the game still has a fair ways to go in development. Playing as Tiny, your goal is to recover a pair of stolen underpants left to you by your dearly departed grandfather. The culprit, Big, is a pesky warping annoyance who manages to escape just as you catch up to him taunting you all the way. Gameplay revolves around using a cool laser cutter to dice parts of the environment plus a cable you can use to pull destroyed objects around in order to gain access to higher ground. Go download the demo (Tiny & Big in Up That Mountain) which is available for PC, Mac and Linux and prepare to get a grin going.

Journey – In this innovative and gorgeous PlayStation 3 exclusive set to hit PSN (PlayStation Network) next spring, developer thatgamecompany has created an amazing online experience like no other. An intelligent, quiet yet enthralling multiplayer exploration game where only two players are on screen at any given time, Journey makes each play through a unique experience. Just enjoying the game space while making one’s way across a massive desert landscape seems to be one goal, but there’s more depth that’s subtle and rewarding. Your avatar is  a slim mystical being that can glide short distances while jumping and manipulate cloth objects in the game world. Traditional platforming skills apply and there are many navigational puzzles to solve along the way, but communication is limited to musical tones generated by characters that activate parts of the landscape. Easy to pick up and play and featuring some stunning visuals (the ocean-like sand movement is astounding), this is sure to be one of 2012′s biggest small games once it’s released.

Want more? Well, I’ll be compiling a much longer list on my blog in the near future, so feel free to pop in from time to time if you need a suggestion or two.

During the DIY Tech period (December to February) we will be designing, building and opening Lab 4 on Level 0 of The Edge.  This is no temporary addition to The Edge, so we want your help to make sure it’s a useful, accessible and practical space.

Come and have your say. We’ll bring the pizza, you bring your opinion. What should the space be about? What equipment would you like in there (3D printers, laser cutting tables, sewing machines, power tools?). How could it be managed as a community resource?

For more information about Lab 4 and how to get involved, contact Daniel Flood daniel.flood@slq.qld.gov.au.

When: 6pm – 8pm, 14 Dec
Where:  Lab 4, Level 0, The Edge (ask at Edge reception for directions)
Cost: Free
Bookings: Email book.it@edgeqld.org.au with your name and contact number so we order enough pizza

The world as we know it is no longer, the Zombie Climate Apocalypse is upon us; it’s survivalists vs zombies in a alternate reality showdown.

The Edge is getting on board with real-time, real-world game play, ARGs (Alternate Reality Game).  The 36 hour Zombie Climate Apocalypse will send survivalists on a mission against the marauding hordes of zombies, testing endurance, brain power and overall stealth. Only the best will survive the challenge ahead. Which team will you choose?

When: 10am 17 Dec to 6pm 18 Dec
Where: The Edge, State Library of Queensland, Stanley Place, South Brisbane
Cost: Free
Applications: Close 5 Dec, see below for details

Team Survivalist: Fight for life
Employ your wit to protect your brains and survive in a game un-like any you’ve played before. Survivalists will prove their prowess and play as a team to try and ultimately prevail in a climate ravaged, zombie infested world. Over 36 hours on 17 and 18 December the survivalists will make camp at The Edge and face mission impossible after mission impossible. Do you have the skills to find sustenance, shelter and weapons in a zombie ridden world? Do you have what it takes to defend your city against the undead?

To apply to be a survivalist call the help line (07 3102 6511) and lodge your application plea. Can you convince us that you are really in the midst of a zombie attack and have the nerve to survive? Make sure to communicate the following:
-         Briefly describe the zombie apocalypse as you see it
-         Share how you’ve managed to survive so far
-         Give a piece of advice to anyone about to enter the zombie apocalypse
-         Tell us how to contact you should you be successful (phone number and/or email preferable)

Creative entries will be rewarded, limited positions available. Applications close 5 December.

Team Zombie: Join the horde
No longer is it all about the survivors. The Zombie Climate Apocalypse is also recruiting A-Grade zombies and only the best will do. Show us your passion for all things gory and deck yourself out in your best zombie attire. Post a photo of your zombie self to the Zombie Climate Apocalypse page to be in the running for the best un-dead gig in town.

Zombies will be:
-         Expected to arrive looking the part (costume and makeup)
-         Available for a minimum of 4 hours on either 17 or 18 December
-         Allocated to one terrorising shift per day

Creative entries will be rewarded.  Applications close 5 December.

Which team will you choose?

Illustration by Zac Smith-Cameron http://iamzac.deviantart.com/

Before you start, you might like to read Part 1 of Jasmine’s discussion of subtext in gaming.

Despite the ability of subtext to enrich games, its inclusion is often neglected for two main reasons: it is simply forgotten and it is risky.

In the first instance, today’s increased emphasis on a game’s mechanics, rapid prototyping and reiterations, story often becomes a secondary concern. This itself is not a bad thing – but it does mean that it is easy to be well into production before the game’s story is fully fleshed out – and that makes it extremely hard to retroactively create subtext. Afterall, you must have figured out what it is you want to say explicitly, if you want to be able to whisper it implicitly. That is most easily achieved if you have planned the story ahead of time and are able to communicate it to all of your team (so that each member can craft their contribution to implicitly support the narrative ) – but it does require a strong shared vision and perhaps even a sense of authorship among the team.

Secondly, subtext is often neglected as it too much of a risk to implement – both creatively and financially. Subtext asks that players bridge conceptual gaps – what happens when a player doesn’t or can’t do that? It can leave a player confused and unsatisfied.  It can be especially problematic if you wish for players outside your language/culture to understand the subtext you created, as metaphors and symbols can take on entirely new meanings in other cultures, rendering it impossible to understand or worse still, creating unintentional subtext. I have heard anecdotes about how one studio was forced to increase the amount of fingers of its cartoonish game’s character models for a Japan localisation, as less than five fingers is often associated with the yakuza – a case of accidentally creating subtext.

If the player does miss out on the subtext, it can also mean that hundreds of hours embedding narrative elements into the art and design was wasted – and time equals money. This makes relying on subtext an inherently risky prospect. For the risk-averse AAA studios, this makes developing subtext laden games an unappealing prospect, especially since it is impossible to quantitively measure the financial returns subtext makes for a game.

So, how can we easily create subtext in our games? A few ways that I have discovered in my limited experience:

1. Plan early – Encapsulate a central message or feeling that you wish to convey. Discover this as early as possible, so that all your design/art/code decisions can all be made to further your message. Try to keep your message as simple as possible – it’s easier to convey and players are more likely to tune into your message.
2. Show don’t tell – Does the player need the world background story to play the game? Is there a way for the player to know a character’s internal grief, besides being directly told? Always ask yourself: is this necessary ? Is there a way I can imply this to the player instead of directly telling them in a pop-up box? Try to limit using text as an exposition crutch. Find other ways to feed the information to the player.
3. Lie to the player – GLADOS from Portal is a great example of this. It forces the player to really think about what they’re seeing/hearing.
4. Rely less on traditional visuals – One of the fantastic thing about making games is that our palette includes so many things: 2d/3d graphics, text, sound fx, music, vfx, code, etc etc When designing it is easy to forget about all the tools at our disposal. It’s possible to setup some interesting dissonance for the player by using conflicting elements (ie cheery music during a morbid scene). If you can’t find a way to imply something visually, try a different element to imply it.
5. Embed meaning into every asset – try to make sure that every asset in some way supports the message/feeling that you want to convey.
6. Consider your audience – a subtextual reference to Icarus is probably going to go over children’s heads, but one to Red Riding Hood would probably be picked up on.

Creating subtext is hard work, but it creates richer, better games and is the great trick of creating works that have the potential to be true classics.

Illustration by Zac Smith-Cameron http://iamzac.deviantart.com/

A common complaint among today’s game players is the quality of stories in games. I believe that it isn’t the plots or character development that is lacking, but the neglect to include subtext that creates inferior narratives.

Subtext is what we imply to players; what lies unspoken beneath the surface. It is the implicit content of a story; the thoughts and motives of characters; it uses metaphor to explore subjects instead of dealing with it directly (see Animal Farm or Bioshock). It is what compels people today to still be discussing Shakespeare’s plays, Kubrick’s films, Orwell’s novels, etc. It allows the player to feel ownership of the narrative via ‘their’ theories of the story (see discussions of whether the cake is truly a lie in the original Portal); but most importantly, it elevates a game from one that is fun, to one that also will resonate with you long after you’ve finished playing.

Bioshock could have been just another shooter in a sea of FPSs, but its clever examination of Objectivism and exceptional use of mis en scene elevates it above the pack. While Bioshock does cheat a little with the audio ‘diaries’ the player finds loitered about, it is mainly through examining and observing the world around them that players are able to piece together the narrative. Interesting questions arise when you stumble upon a corpse strung up to resemble a crucifixion, with “SMUGGLER” scrawled behind and boxes of bibles at its feet.

When faced with such questions or narrative ‘holes’ a player will either attempt to answer, ‘fill in’ or simply be confused; either way the player presses on further into the game to confirm their theories or to try to resolve their confusion.  Ideally, the game will never fully resolve all of its unanswered questions – after all, once a story becomes explicit there is little to discuss or think about. Some games such as Braid or Aquaria, I believe, very effectively offer additional pieces of story for the player (in exchange for completing ‘hard mode’ tasks), which don’t tell everything, but instead allows the player to refactor their thoughts and enrich their understanding of the narrative.

Even smaller, simpler games can benefit from an injection of implicit narrative. Consider the game Canabalt; with its superlative one-button mechanics, it has spawned hundreds of derivatives. While many are good games in their own right, I’ve yet to see one that matches the narrative depth of Canabalt. You never learn exactly what the man is running from in Canabalt; only see glimpses of hulking machinery in the background and know that it is frightening enough to cause the man to fling himself through windows and to ultimately die trying to escape it.

While it is still too early to say for sure, I believe that Canabalt’s layers of depth will ensure that it will still be played and discussed in ten years time, whilst its descendants will be all but forgotten.

Enjoyed this article? Read the second part of Jasmine’s discussion of subtext in gaming.

Illustration by Bec Todd www.bectodd.com

Here in 2011, say the word ‘game’ to people and it’s likely they’ll imagine some sort of digital and screen based experience. Whether it’s someone playing an Xbox or PlayStation game curled up on their couch, or a quick burst of Angry Birds on public transport, games have come into their cultural own through the mix of technology and art that have given us videogames.

This screen-centric view of the world is perhaps not that surprising when you look at the world that videogames were born into; one where film and television were the dominant entertainment industry on the planet  and one in which many contemporary game creators grew up.

With both of those things as constant pressure, is it any wonder that we frequently hear of games trying to be interactive movies or cinematic? Is it any wonder that when some filmmakers turn to critique games, they say that games can’t tell stories therefore are inherently a less worthy?

Telling stories is worthwhile, but if we use that as the benchmark for what is and isn’t worth creating, then we’re missing out on a whole range of human expression that doesn’t tell stories, and doesn’t feel the need to either.

Theatre, dance, music, visual art, and literature, all have a lot to teach us about how to create unique game experiences, as well as connect to our audiences in ways that building on a screen-driven or cinematic way of thinking can’t.  For example, a piece of theatre can construct its own internal grammar through the layout of the space, the sense of the abstract versus the concrete, the way it works to draw attention towards points of interest while never being able to entirely control the audience, and the way it engages with the audience’s imagination to fill in blanks deliberately left in the production. Dance is very much about form, about through the action and reaction to musical stimuli, and using physicality to express emotion and experience. It is about space and movement rather than about narrative or story. Music is about repetition, rhythm, assonance and dissonance, about expectation and harmony. Visual art is about form and composition, about scale and colour, about texture, and line and shape. Then, finally there is Literature which has long upheld the techniques of metaphor and structure.

The wonderful thing about all of the above is that videogames are at a point where they can draw from all of them, creating a whole world beyond cinema that’s just begging to be explored. New technology such as motion control lets us borrow from physical art-forms like dance; touch input lets as draw from tactile art forms like sculpture or painting; a leap back to older adventure games lets us exploit the metaphorical strengths of literature while creating contemporary experiences; pervasive and physical, almost theatrical, game design uncovers fascinating mixes of rules and fictions that draw players into real world interactions with powerful consequences.

It’s an exciting time to be a game developer. There are free middleware and tool solutions, tutorials and assets online, but most importantly a worldwide audience looking for unique and captivating experiences. Looking beyond the edge of the screen is one way of finding out what those experiences might look like.