Workshops

Introduction to Practical Procedural Audio in Automatonism

(Room GC 202)

 

This workshop provides an introduction to practical procedural audio using the open-source software modular synthesis environment Automatonism, which is implemented in the visual programming language Pure Data.

The workshop is designed to be hands-on, with participants having the opportunity to experiment with Automatonism and create their own sounds. Participants will be guided through the process of setting up the software and will then explore the various modules available, learning how to use them to create unique and dynamic soundscapes. The workshop will cover topics such as module selection and routing, parameter adjustment, and signal processing.

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Game (Not) Over: why should I care about failure in my game?

(Room GC 201)

 

For game designers, designing engaging experiences of failure for players in games can be a complicated challenge. For some people, failing and losing are an inevitable part of playing games, something one has to bear with in order to later experience the joy of overcoming challenges. For others, failing and losing is nothing short of frustrating and off-putting. For others still, it depends on the game, or the player, or both! In this workshop, I invite you to participate in an informal, but hopefully informative, interactive session where you will get the chance to share your experience of designing (or playing through!) fail states and related moments of play, the challenges you can face, but more crucially, the opportunities that arise from such a curious design challenge. This will use a card-based design tool we will use to guide the discussion, in small groups of 3-4 people, with me acting as a moderator / activity leader to structure the session.

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How To Be A Good Dungeon Master 

(Room GC 203)

 

This workshop will explore and develop the concepts and ideas of being a Game Master for tabletop roleplaying games. It is an opportunity for participants to improve their GMing skills, and in turn help us with our research to better understand what it means to be a Game Master. IT will discuss what players look for in a good Game Master, and how different styles of GM play can affect the players and trajectory of the campaign overall (and the muiltiplicity of opinions on these topics).

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Not All the Same: Informing Similarity Estimation in Tile-Based Video Games 

(Room GC 204)

 

We want to know how people distinguish between different tile-based pattern from Zelda-like and other game environments. You are invited to participate in an in-person study consisting in a visual labelling exercise and group discussion. You will be shown plots in which several patterns are arranged along a horizontal axis.

This is part of research work on how far Generative AI (PCG) systems compare to human judgement, and the workshop shouls also allow for some discussion of this with an active researcher in the field.

(Participants will also all get a £15 Amazon voucher as thanks for their assistance.)