TICKETS ON SALE: Emergent Contraptions

Mechanics of emergence are game rules that can trigger and influence each other in combinations and cascades, making a dynamic whole that’s much greater than the sum of its parts. In this workshop, we’ll experiment with creating, customizing, and combining simple modular Unity scripts and prefabs to build complex Rube Goldberg machines with an emphasis on physics and decoupled interactions.

Rich gameplay interactions don’t always need huge complex systems and one-off scripts to drive them. Sometimes all you need is a few simple rules that can stack & combine relentlessly.

When we focus on simple modular interactions, we build up a toy box that level designers can combine in myriad ways to create new challenges and experiences, and that players can remix and improvise upon emergently.

Moreover, this focus on independent interactions can help us avoid the rigidity & brittleness that can come with large, coupled codebases, making it easier for many creators to collaborate on a project and try new ideas without breaking everything.

To explore this idea, we’ll start from a simple toy box of interactions and use them to build zero-player autonomous games – contraptions that run or fall apart on their own – experimenting with how one event can trigger the next and the next in cascades, and how we can invent new toys to inject into the mix, multiplying the possibilities at our fingertips.

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Event Details

Sunday, May 19
1-4pm
Electric Perfume, 805 Danforth Ave. (near Pape Station)
Facebook Event Page

Requirements

This workshop is aimed at participants with beginner to intermediate skills in the Unity game engine.
Participants should be comfortable arranging & configuring objects in the scene, and making simple customizations to provided scripts.
Advanced programming skills are not required – come if you’re looking for some simple tricks to make more bits work together without over-complexifying your codebase.
Please bring a computer with the current release version of Unity installed (2017.4.1)

Pricing

$25+HST for HES members (Monthly, Annual, Student, Studio, Volunteer)
$40+HST for non-members (Not a member? Sign up here!)

Workshop size is 12 participants maximum. If you are in financial need or have accessibility requirements, please contact info@handeyesociety.com and we will try our best to make alternate arrangements.

About the Instructor

Douglas Gregory / @D_M_Gregory
Douglas Gregory has worked in the game industry for 11 years, starting in indie games and currently working on Starlink: Battle for Atlas at Ubisoft Toronto. Douglas also teaches game mechanics design and economies at Sheridan College, game jams avidly, and serves as a community moderator on GameDev.StackExchange.

Inspiration from the instructor on this workshop:

“This workshop was inspired by Rube Goldberg machines generally, and specifically the Great Ball Contraption: a collaborative machine-building project at LEGO conventions (see it in action!). Each GBC participant brings a module meeting simple specifications, and on-site they’re assembled into a giant machine that works seamlessly together, even though no one planned out the whole contraption in advance.

I think we can use this as a model and playground for thinking about game mechanics that can combine and remix in ways beyond any one designer’s plan, creating large and fruitful spaces of potential play.“

More Experimental Game Design Workshops!

The Hand Eye Society is proud to present a series of workshops that encourages participants to create games in a new light. Coordinated by game-makers known for their thoughtful and innovative approaches to playful media, these workshops attempt to educate from more experimental, alternative perspectives. Participants will be able to take home useful technical skills, while being encouraged to explore unique game mechanics and meaningful themes in their own practice. This program is made possible by the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council.

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This workshop was made possible by the Ontario Arts Council.