VideoBrains July Epilogue

/0 Comments/in /by

Roll out the red carpet, because in July, VideoBrains went to the movies. Okay, we didn’t actually go there, and there was no red carpet, but we did have one fantastic event based all around that theme.

First up, we had Helen Gould with a perhaps controversial opinion: Warcraft, the recent film, was actually pretty great. Coming from the perspective of someone who doesn’t play any of the Warcraft games, Helen defended the film valiantly!

In July, we had to say goodbye to Rob Morgan as our resident speaker, as he gave his final talk in the series on the narrative utility belt of games: An Awfully Big Adventure. Give his talk the respect it deserves by catching up on the rest of the talks in this series in our handy playlist!

There’s an intense and deep lore behind Pop-up Pirate, and through multiple mediums Grant Howitt showed us the complex past of it, and how the dedicated fans pieced together the story like a better version of Dark Souls. There’s a lot going on in Pop-up Pirate.

Martin Hollis, designer behind Goldeneye and other games, took on a challenge at VideoBrains July: take 5 films from the audience and design entirely new, unique games around them. Of course, the audience gave some interesting and challenging films to really test his skill.

Finally, Hannah Dwan rounded off the evening telling us all about Hannibal: not one of the books, or one of the films, but a game from the early 2000s. You probably haven’t heard of it, because it was never released. What happened to Hannibal: The Game?

That’s all for VideoBrains July! Well, almost. We also sold the first edition of the VideoBrains zine that evening! If you’d like to buy your own copy, you can find out how to do so here.

VideoBrains August: Gang Beasts is just around the corner – featuring our next resident speaker Alice Bell, 5 other brilliant speakers, and the second issue of the VideoBrains zine! Find out more on eventbrite.

We’ll be back.

VideoBrains June Epilogue

/0 Comments/in /by

Our most recent all-day event, and the first of 2016, VideoBrains June was a fantastic event, not only because we had a host of wonderful talks, but also because we got to celebrate Jake Tucker’s birthday! It was a longer, more packed, and cake-filled VideoBrains. But enough of that: there’s a whopping 10 talks to show to you!

In order to go get herself a tattoo straight after (and then return to VideoBrains, because bruised skin won’t stop her), Alice Bell started off VideoBrains June, with Dark Souls Is Bad And You Should Feel Bad. Don’t @ her.

Giving his penultimate talk as resident speaker (aww), Rob Morgan showed of episode 5 of his Narrative Utility Belt, this month focusing on diegesis, the antonym of his second talk in this series! We also had a big announcement: who will succeed Rob as our resident speaker. Drumroll please!

Alice Bell, VideoBrains veteran, will start a residency at VideoBrains in August, with an as-yet-unannounced theme. Look forward to that!

Games, as of late, have done their best to record and tackle some of the more difficult topics in our modern world. Thomas McMullan asked the question of whether there’s a useful intersection between games and documentary, and how they can influence one another.

For the first time ever, we had a fully drawn talk at VideoBrains June! Hana Lee discussed How We Become Our Own Characters, and how sometimes it’s easiest to empathise with the characters that don’t have faces, the ones we make ourselves, especially if you belong to a minority games don’t typically represent.

If you’re a fan of Doom and its modding scene, there’s a good chance you’ll have heard of Matt Tropiano. He’s been making maps for Doom for the last twenty years, and has learnt a lot about making a good map and how Doom works in the process. That wasn’t the most important thing, though, instead that was what making mods taught him as a creator.

Gaming communities are incredibly important to many people, as ways to talk with like-minded people in a world where it can be hard to do so for a number of reasons. Natalie Clayton showed why it was doubly important for her – and many other trans people – to be a part of a community in World of Warcraft.

Tom Hatfield likes barbies. Not the Barbie Girl, living in a Barbie world kind, but the grimdark space barbie kind. He loves Warhammer 40K, the game all about little figurines killing each other on the whims of omnipotent dice-wielding gods. And he’s proud of it.

Sometimes it feels like you should keep your creative projects – your babies that need to be protected and cared for – private until they’re perfect, ready for the world to see. Olivia Wood argued that, no, they shouldn’t, and it’s often good to show someone your project, even if you know it’s not done.

Are you bad at games? Meg Jayanth knows the feeling of being bad at games. But the thing is: that’s perfectly okay, and sometimes it’s really a good thing. Lots of us are bad at games, and that really, really, doesn’t matter. (See also: Alice’s talk from the start of VideoBrains June!)

Cassandra Khaw is smart in a lot of areas, and one of those is the speculative fiction community. While it’s certainly not a perfect area, there’s lots that games and gaming can learn from it, from how small groups of fans are worthwhile to how you should never discredit a game for being in a certain genre.

That wraps up the VideoBrains June Epilogue! There’s a lot to watch and hopefully it should tide you over until VideoBrains July: The Movies on July 26th. Hopefully we’ll see some of you there!

VideoBrains May Epilogue

/0 Comments/in /by

Ever just not finished a project, or perhaps you’ve got something on the go right now, or maybe it’s still swirling around your head as a wonderful idea? That was the theme of VideoBrains May: Prototype, all those unfinished or unreleased little works we haven’t finished yet or just haven’t got around to making perfect. Well, and there was a talk on folklore and the genitals of yokai. Average VideoBrains really.

Siobhan Gibson was our first speaker, and spoke how just how she started making games, from the most basic proofs of concept to where she is nowadays. One of the reasons she gave it a shot was just to see if Twine really was as easy as people said it was: it is.

There was also some homework given! Siobhan wanted people to just make something simple using Flickgame, and Alex Facey did exactly that! He made a short Twin Peaks game, which you can play right here. If you’re inspired to make something yourself, please send it our way!

This was followed up by Andrew Armstrong, who looked at architecture in games, and how the relationship between the places we live, visit, and grow up in can influence us. It’s a talk that would be right at home alongside our previous resident speaker Hannah Nicklin’s series!

It wasn’t just Rob Morgan’s fourth talk as our resident speaker, but we also celebrated his birthday at VideoBrains May! It might be a little late to wish him a belated happy birthday, but we won’t stop you.

His topic for May was The Pathetic Fallacy, and included supposedly awkward eye contact (which VideoBrains attendees seemed to love). He also had a wonderful jacket this month.

Thryn Henderson brought us back to VideoBrains May’s theme with her talk This World Is ____, a look into unfinished (but not, necessarily, incomplete) games that people showed her. Art is never finished, only abandoned, but sometimes the unfinished works can be just as enjoyable as the ones deemed ‘complete’.

https://twitter.com/seanFsmith/status/735190594176323584

Cloud-based computing, not quite OnLive, but the idea that games can use a cloud-based network of computers to do all the taxing stuff for you in a game. That was the topic of Will Overgard’s talk, which even included a little audience interaction, with a joyously optimistic view of the possibilities in the future of cloud-based computing.

Finally, Alex Davis took to the stage, with a perhaps rather NSFW talk on folklore. Sounds innocent: did you know tanuki have mahoossive scrotums? Or that kappa (not the Twitch emote, please) like to steal your soul from where the sun don’t shine? Didn’t think so.

Certainly a unique array of talks. That’s the joy of VideoBrains, eh?

VideoBrains June has been and gone, but VideoBrains July: The Movies tickets are now available! It features Helen Gould, Alex Hern, Darren Daley, Hannah Dwan, Martin Hollis, and Rob Morgan’s final talk as resident speaker (aww). Don’t worry, though because we’ve announced our next resident speaker: the fantastic, the inimitable, the creator of Chekov’s Penis, Alice Bell! She’ll be joining us as resident speaker in August.

We’d love it if you brought a friend along to VideoBrains, and Endlife Studios have made a great video to show off just how great VideoBrains is. Show us to your friends! With this, we bid you adieu (at least, until the next Epilogue…)