Una Lee

Playtesting Systems In mid-November, I traveled to Vermont to...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:00:21 -0500

Looking out over Vermont from Johnson State College

Games are playable systems

How about a voter suppression whack-a-mole game?

Unicorn Justice Fighter/Unicorn Robber Baron — cooperation vs. competition

Food Quest is about structural & individual challenges in accessing food

What happens when artists & activists assume control of games

Occupy and the urgency of play

Game making tools

Playtesting Systems

In mid-November, I traveled to Vermont to give a talk as part of Johnson State College’s Impractical Practicalities series. I spoke about how games are a ripe medium for examining and redesigning social, political, and economic systems. I also argued that the ways in which we create games and the contexts in which we engage in play are just as critical to change-making as the games themselves, if not more. I concluded by discussing the urgency of play at a time when our economic and environmental systems are very obviously failing.

A very warm thank you to Johnson State for inviting me to speak, and for the students and faculty for participating in that silly and mildly violent balloon popping game.

Download the handout for the talk here.

Learning d3.js for some interactive data viz experiments. Do you...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:22:48 -0400

Learning d3.js for some interactive data viz experiments. Do you like data driven triangles? Play with some very preliminary ones here. Thanks to @dungeonmap for the help.

vanessamiller: A few from the Allied Media Conference this weekend… mostly of the wonderful people...

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:48:58 -0400

vanessamiller:

A few from the Allied Media Conference this weekend… mostly of the wonderful people who run it!

Dreams that came true at AMC2012

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:32:57 -0400

Imagining better futures through play

Making revolutionary games with verbs

Seeing Grace Lee Boggs speak in person

Finally getting to attend the afterparty

Dreams that came true at AMC2012

Allied Media Conference 2012 Drop-in Playpen GamesHappening...

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:46:39 -0400

Allied Media Conference 2012 Drop-in Playpen Games
Happening throughout the conference in the Exhibition Area

Want to chill out, play some games, maybe run around a 3D sim world? Come to the Drop-in Playpen! We’ll have a large selection of radical video games, board games, and simulations that you can play on your own or with new friends. If you’ve been working on a game at the AMC, this is the perfect place to playtest it!

Dog Eat Dog: A tabletop roleplaying game about the colonization of a Pacific Island

Virtual Detroit: A 3D virtual world simulation to explore “sustainable urbanism” in the city

Roba-Roba: A Pac-Man like game about political corruption in Brazil

The City: A tabletop boardgame about community-building that uses actual resources like electricity and solar panels

Unmanned: A split-screen game about the newest kind of solider: one who remotely drops bombs on foreign soil during the day and night goes home to his family in the suburbs.

The McDonald’s Game: A resource management game in which you control every part of the McDonald’s corporation, from the creation of pastures to the branding.

A Friendship in Four Colours: A two-player game about collaboration and friendly fire.

Dys4ia: an unfair game about hormone replacement therapy. It is autobiographical.

Realistic Female First Person Shooter: a satirical game created in response to a men’s rights forum post complaining about unrealistic “strong female character” games.

Traitor: A space shooter in which you obey your conscience instead of authority.

www.amc.alliedmedia.org

Process Work For the voyeurs, here are some sketches and other...

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:00:35 -0400

Sketches

Sketches

Sketches

Sketches

Cover Designs

Nailing down typeface selections

Layout

Process Work

For the voyeurs, here are some sketches and other behind-the-scenes bits for the Laidlaw Foundation Youth-Led Community Organizing reports I designed.

Testing Revolutionary Games with Verbs My workshops get better...

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:36:39 -0400

Mario/Hunger

Pac-Man/Bullying

Space Invaders/Criminalizat'n of dissent

Testing Revolutionary Games with Verbs

My workshops get better each time I present them, so I’ve decided to try beta testing new sessions. Recently I did a dry run of Making Revolutionary Videogames with Verbs, a workshop I co-designed and will be co-presenting with Paolo Pedercini at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. Here’s the description:

Want to make a videogame, but don’t know where to begin? Try starting with something we’re all familiar with: verbs! Whether it’s running or collecting, games are driven by verbs. In this session we’ll look at games in terms of actions and explore how these actions express the messages and values of the game creators. We’ll identify the verbs used in popular games and what these verbs say. Then we’ll modify (“mod”) these games, changing the verbs so they express our own messages and values. This is a paper prototyping session — there will be no computers and no programming!

In the modding section, participants (5 adults and 2 kids) were put into groups of three and assigned a videogame to hack. I provided visual assets and dealt out random “issue” cards, asking the teams to use new verbs and rules to redesign the game so it told the story of the issue they were assigned.

The games that came out of the session were pretty impressive:

Mario used a fishing and delivery mechanic to transport food to hungry neighbours, who would then help you fight Bowser, who was sending out Goombas to destroy the food.
Pac-Man incorporated RPG elements to tell the story of school bullies. In order to defeat the different types of ghosts/bullies, you needed different skills/fruits such as physical strength, charisma, and empathy.
Space invaders became a multiplayer game using a Lemmings-like guidance mechanic to infiltrate G20 proceedings. You could play cooperatively or competitively.

The session went much more smoothly than I expected. Based on my observations as well as direct feedback from the participants, Paolo and I will be tweaking the session plan so it’s clearer and more engaging.

If you want to participate in the live version of Making Revolutionary Videogames with Verbs, come to the AMC!

OER Hack Day A few weeks ago, an email arrived in my inbox...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:02:07 -0400

Student portfolio wireframes

Student portfolio wireframes

Storytelling with Zeega

OER Hack Day

A few weeks ago, an email arrived in my inbox from a wikimedia.org email address that I initially thought was a broad appeal for support. It said some things about Open Educational Resources (OER) and the Hewlett Foundation, neither of which I was familiar with, so I set it aside for later deletion. I’m glad I eventually reread it, as it was actually an invitation to participate in a “Hacking Open Education” day at Harvard. Open education, I learned after some light Googling, is a movement to reduce barriers and increase access to education through the creation, distribution, and modification of open source learning materials. Pretty cool. Light Googling also revealed that the person who had invited me — SJ Klein — seemed like a real person, so I accepted and found myself in Cambridge last week.

The Hack Day took place after the Hewlett Foundation OER Grantees Meeting. Over the 2-day conference, the grantees had come up with dozens of great ideas for supporting and expanding the OER movement. As OER hackers (programmers, teachers, advocates, and designers) our task was to develop prototypes of a handful of ideas, summarized nicely by SJ over on his blog.

I began the day with a group that was working on creating a GitHub-like repository for OERs, bringing some anthropological/design thinking/user experience considerations to the table. As the prototypes began to take shape, I moved to another group which required help wireframing and visualizing a student portfolio platform that would allow for curation and storytelling. The prototype came about through a neat collision of technology, design thinking, and serendipity. It had to be easy to maintain, so it would have Dropbox integration. It had to look lovely, so there would be numerous visualization options — timelines, node maps, gallery style, etc. And perhaps most importantly or uniquely, it had to enable users to tell stories about their education; we were lucky enough to have Matthew Battles of Zeega in the room and able to give us beta access so we could figure out how to integrate this interactive storytelling tool into our prototype.

The whole experience was pretty mind expanding. I met and heard from a ton of interesting people working on things like Open Badges, Finals Club, and Scratch. The conference itself made me wonder how many of my own projects, especially games and workshops, could be released on open education licenses. And the Hack Day was a cool reminder of the kinds of creative sparks that can fly when designers, programmers, and experts in the field in question sit down together at a project’s inception.

I’m really glad I didn’t delete that email right away.

Infographic: Difference Engine Initiative Ripple Effect View...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:41:00 -0400

Infographic: Difference Engine Initiative Ripple Effect

View high-res

The Difference Engine Initiative was comprised of two six-week game jams for first-time women developers. The ripple effect of the DEI has been extraordinary, with participants pursuing careers in game development, creating new community initiatives, and making more games. While some of these successes can be considered under the rubric of “Women in Games,” more have been due to the talent and dedication of the participants, the excitement generated by their games, and their leadership skills. The women of the Difference Engine continue to make awesome things happen.

Learn more about the Difference Engine and the games that came out of it:

CBC
Torontoist
Gamasutra
AV Club
Game Sugar
Indie Games
Button Mashers
All Games
Career Mash
Level Save

A Bittersweet Victory in the House of Commons On February 27th,...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:54:00 -0400

Our Dreams Matter Too

Shannen Koostachin

A Bittersweet Victory in the House of Commons

On February 27th, the House unanimously supported a motion to ensure that First Nations students have access to the same quality of education as non-First Nations students. Although it was a huge victory for the largest youth-led human rights campaign in Canadian history, the story of how the motion finally came to pass is a sad one.

The Shannen’s Dream campaign was named in honour of Shannen Koostachin, a teenager from Attiwapiskat who spearheaded a First Nations student-led movement for equal education before she passed away in 2010 at the age of 15. The youth who continued the fight after her death realized that the Canadian government would not act without external pressure. In early February 2012, a delegation of First Nations youth traveled to Geneva and testified about their experiences at the United Nations. They presented Our Dreams Matter Too, a report created by youth about the state of First Nations education in Canada, and asked the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to conduct an investigation into the inequities.

The media attention generated by the delegation and the report put pressure on all MPs in the House of Commons to demonstrate support for the motion. I’m saddened that these young people had to go to such extraordinary lengths to be heard. However I’m also inspired by the optimism and tenacity of the Shannen’s Dream team. And I’m honoured to have played a small role in this victory by designing the report and treating the children’s stories with care.

About a month from now, Jim Flaherty, Canada’s Minister of Finance, will present the budget bill in the House of Commons. The eyes of thousands of First Nations youth, and their allies, will be on him. Will he keep the government’s promise to them?

*Update: April 24, 2012*

The government earmarked $275 million over 3 years for First Nations education — one of the only lines that increased in this austerity budget. $100 million will go towards programs like early literacy and $175 million to go to building and renovating schools on reserves. However this is just over half of what critics say is required to raise the quality of education up to levels in the rest of Canada.

Learning Processing Was confined to bed this weekend with a...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:53:31 -0500

Learning Processing

Was confined to bed this weekend with a cold, so I decided to start learning Processing. Here’s something I made after getting through the first half of Getting Started with Processing. You can play with it here.

Notes from my CDPAC Conference talk: “What do video games...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:21:46 -0500

Notes from my CDPAC Conference talk: “What do video games have to do with food security and chronic disease prevention?” Want to hear this talk? Drop me a line!

Designing the Design Common I’m a member of the Design...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:55:00 -0500

The Design Common

Nate from Positive Sum facilitated

Designer-friendly note-taking

Naming our needs

My dream day at the Design Common

Designing the Design Common

I’m a member of the Design Common, a space that was established in late 2011 to explore new approaches to co-creation and sustainable design. It’s been exciting and challenging to be involved in the building of a working environment that mirrors the world I want to see — democratic, participatory, creative, and sustainable (in the broadest and most inclusive sense of the word).

The Design Common has grown organically and in energetic bursts. Yesterday, we sat down together at the first DC retreat to map out with more intention and consensus exactly how we want to create this shared laboratory. We didn’t get nearly as far along as we’d hoped, but there were some important insights that came out of the day.

I have never before participated in community building with other designers. Designers by definition solve problems, so the retreat was the first time I’ve seen a group of people elaborate exponentially more solutions than problems, which was both beautiful and overwhelming. With such a surplus of creativity and a limited amount of time and energy, how will we make this space what we want it to be? And with a group that is so focused on foresight, how can we become comfortable with imperfect solutions so we can adapt and iterate better ones?

As with any collaborative volunteer endeavour, there is the risk of the Design Common becoming a source of guilt and resentment. Guilt if one doesn’t have enough time or energy to contribute meaningfully to its development; resentment if one feels their meaningful contributions are not acknowledged or appreciated. These two entirely useless emotions can poison a collaborative effort. How will we ensure that the act of building the space is a source of nourishment and creative energy and not anxiety? Are there solutions that don’t involve overloading us with communication and emotional processing? Designers want to make stuff, not talk about making stuff.

We also realized that we had been neglecting the physicality, the materiality, of the Design Common. In our excitement about the kinds of projects we’d create in this space and how this space would be connected to the outside world, we’d forgotten that the space itself needs tending to. We needed drawing supplies, work lamps, music, clean surfaces in order to just come in, be present, and make magic happen.

And that’s what I love about the Design Common — the magic. The joke that pops up over lunch and we jam on until it’s a fully formed idea. The answer I get to a question I ask that solves a slew of problems I’ve been puzzling over for days. The buzzy chatter of a bunch of people creating in the same space that drowns out just enough of my internal critic so I can sit down and make cool stuff.

"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains. -Rosa Luxemburg"

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:21:16 -0500

“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.
-Rosa Luxemburg”

- (via shit-girls-say)

My FPO Awards Annual arrived in the mail today! My business card...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:39:46 -0500

FPO Awards Annual

My business card

Description

My FPO Awards Annual arrived in the mail today! My business card picked up an award in the laser cutting category. Thanks to @make_something at the Workroom for your ninja-like laser skillz.

Cecily Carver: TIFF Nexus Recap

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:13:09 -0500

Cecily Carver: TIFF Nexus Recap:

cecilycarver:

Had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people at yesterday’s TIFF Nexus Women in Film, Games, and New Media Day (the title is a bit of a mouthful; the conference topics leaned heavily towards games and visual art). Fellow DEI panelist Alex Leitch totally commanded the room with the Facial Hair of…

This Friday, December 9, all 12 games created by the...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:26:20 -0500

Adeline's Elopement / Cecily Carver

Icarus / Sagan Yee

Kreayshawn: The Game / Beth Maher

Dame Game / Zoe Quinn

Salsa Loco / Stephanie Fisher

Unicorn Justice Figher / Una Lee

This Friday, December 9, all 12 games created by the participants of the Difference Engine Initiative will be presented at the TIFF Nexus Women in Film, Games & New Media Day. In addition, six of the designers will discuss their experiences participating in the DEI, a game design incubation program for women, in a panel moderated by Ubisoft’s Jade Raymond. Here are posters for the games from Round 1. Posters from Round 2 can be viewed here.

A very special group photo of the Difference Engine Round 2...

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:46:00 -0500

A very special group photo of the Difference Engine Round 2 designers posing as characters in their games. More pics from the hugely successful presentation night to come. Photo by Aylwin Lo. Design by Sagan Yee.

I was invited to teach Radical Typography at OPIRG York’s...

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:21:27 -0500

I was invited to teach Radical Typography at OPIRG York’s Radical Design School, an 8 week workshop series for those interested in learning non-corporate and anti-capitalist design. The ideas, energy, and respectful design discourse these new designers brought to the session blew me away. More photos to come soon.

I’ve been coordinating the Difference Engine Initiative, a...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:49:00 -0500

Lady Quest / Mikayla Carson

Space Victory / Marguerite Williams

The Immoral Ms. Conduct / Hannah Epstein

Psychlepath / Alex Leitch

The Disappearance / Katie Foster

Typecat / Rebecca Cohen Palacios

I’ve been coordinating the Difference Engine Initiative, a six-week game design incubator for women. The games are so rad I couldn’t wait until tomorrow’s launch, so here’s a sneak peek at the posters. Details about the free event here.