Video Games and Literature, St. Andrews – 20-21 June 2018

June 27, 2018 | james

Half-way through an event-filled few weeks, the entire team was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at an event hosted by the University of St. Andrews (in collaboration with Abertay University and the University of Glasgow).

For an event that was only 2-days, the organisers managed to pack it full with fun talks, a special conversation with noted games writer Rhianna Pratchett, and a game jam event. This was Sally’s first encounter with the latter – and she embraced it fully! The speakers ranged from postgrads through game designers (introducing the fascinating Austen-centric MMORPG Ever Jane http://everjane.com/), providing a wide array of perspectives and thoughts on the subject matter.

The game jam at St Andrews Uni has introduced me to a new circle of hell, level design performed entirely in Maya.. #vglit #abertay #gamejam pic.twitter.com/ySJySlhtA5

— Ian Morrison (@mr_imorrison) June 21, 2018

Check out #vglit to see plenty of photos and thoughts from the event

James and Becca presented on their side-projects incorporating literature into interactive visualisations, whilst Sally presented on the project proper. We made several new contacts, and swapped ideas, concepts, and thoughts… and sincerely hope some further collaborative opportunites may arise from the event.

The message emphasised throughout the event (and jam) was the broad – mistaken – assumptions throughout the industry that anyone who could write could create, and that narrative and mechanics were disparate parts of the gaming experience that could be entirely separated.

It was fascinating to see other researchers’ thoughts on walking sims (amongst many other game formats), and has certainly inspired us to delve into exploring new ideas for our own visualisations.

Team photo, on a lovely Scottish summer’s day.

Our thanks, once again, to Prof. Margaret Anne Hutton and Dr Matthew Barr for organising such a fascinating conference – we hope it will be the first on many for our fledgling field.