Feral Vector began as an experimental event for independent developers, and has become a festival about game design and play. Rather than just talks, it also features live games, prototypes, discussions, workshops, walks, roleplay, installation art, and performances.
I was one of the founders of Nottingham Hackspace, remaining a trustee for five years. As a fully boot-strapped grass-roots organisation, within 18 months it grew from three people in a pub to one of Europe’s largest hackspaces. It now occupies a ten-thousand square foot workshop and studio space.
I was once rigorously trained as a public speaker, and am skilled at passing this knowledge on to others. Initially devised for Game Republic and Creative England, I can deliver practical public speaking workshops for groups of up to ten.
Collaboration with Jonatan Van Hove and Sos Sosowski for A Maze Berlin 2016. Participants learned about arcade parts, tools, soldering and microcontrollers, then under our tuition turned everyday objects ranging from paperbacks to ballet pumps into working videogame controllers.
Working as part of the Urban Sustainable Development Lab, with Angus Taggart writing software, I designed and produced a large scale physical prototype of an internet connected public clock, aimed at opening up smart cities data to vulnerable user-groups who do not use smartphones.
I was invited to lead a team at French experimental game jam Zoo Machines. With students Antione, Victor and Luc on art and programming, I built a custom controller for Business Piñata: Reach into the world, grasp the Invisible Hand, and decipher secret handshakes to unlock high frequency trading mode…
GameCamp was the UKs only unconference devoted to games of all kinds. Organised by a group of game developers, journalists, lecturers and event organisers, it took place at LSBU in London with around two hundred and fifty attendees. With Ross Fowkes & Jo Summers, I designed systems to run a board game library for it.
A non-profit experiment in running a inclusive, sociable board games night. Running monthly from 2009 – 2014, it focused on novel games; deep enough to be interesting, casual enough to accommodate chatting and tea. Though this curatorial approach, it built an audience with a wide age range and a good gender balance.