BerlinA MAZE. Digital PlayGround

A MAZE. Digital PlayGround at Kultursommerfestival Berlin 2023 – August 11, 2023, 15:00-22:00 at Technikmuseum

Location: Historische Ladestraße between Science Center Spectrum and TorEins Park-Café, Möckernstrasse 26, 10963 Berlin

A MAZE. invites you to a free and open game event that celebrates alternative and artistic games culture in Berlin.

A MAZE. Digital PlayGround is a one day event about the sensation of playful and engaging human-human-machine interaction. This particular day you can experience video games and play on another level. A MAZE. created an amazing programme to dive deeper in the artistic world of games and playful media. All game installations are being controlled with alternative controllers called alt.ctrl, body movement and human performance. For example, let yourself get controlled by a virtual rectangular to solve the puzzles. Manage to fly a Rakete with five players from platform to platform. Each player is controlling only one jet. Johann Sebastian Joust is a no-graphics, digitally-enabled playground for motion controllers where the goal is to be the last player remaining. Ride on the crashboard, a DIY skate board controller through a world of digital glitches. Not to forget two delightful interaction pieces with LEDs as Quantum Garden and Skeeper.

During the day programme we have staged game performances, hyper talks and a live role playing game to participate in, a puppet vs. human music performance by Peppo Monk and the Circus.  Also we offer walk-in workshops where everyone interested learn about game design, narrative design, interaction design in games hosted by professional game creators.

Organized is the Digital PlayGround by A MAZE., curated by Thorsten S. Wiedemann. A MAZE. an international arthouse label in the field of games and playful media that includes independent and alternative game projects, artistic virtual realities, experimental games and and other playful dimensions. A MAZE. is established in 2008 in Berlin and has produced since 2012 the annual A MAZE. / Berlin Festival that is dedicated to arthouse games and fosters the crossover to other artforms.

Programme

15:00 Start
15:00 – 22:00 Digital PlayGround and Repair! Exhibition
15:00 – 21:00 Walk-in Workshops on the topics Game Design, Narrative Design,
Interaction Design and Repairing Things.
16:00 – 17:00 Hyper Talks by diverse game creators.
17:00 – 18:30 LARP by Johanna Morgan.
19:00 – 20:00 The Crowd Creativity Show! by Alistair Aitcheson.
20:30 – 22:00  Live Music by Peppo Monk and the Circus.

Performances

Peppo Monk and the Circus
Peppo Monk and The Circus is a Berlin music collective of DJs, musicians, artists and producers. The group consists of both People, as well as puppets, in the spirit of the “Muppet Show” and the Beastie Boys.

The Crowd Creativity Show! by Alistair Aitcheson
An unpredictable show of art-making and technology for all ages. Type into your phone to instantly add to paintings, poetry and dance routines! Game designer and digital clown Alistair Aitcheson is your host, and it’s up to him to bring your visions to life. Every idea, no matter how weird or ridiculous, contributes to the smorgasbord of creativity! https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/creativityshow.html

Mini LARP “Fürwahr” by Johanna Morgan
The game: A MiniLarp version of Forsooth is offered! (Fürwahr in German) in which the players improvise a play by Shakespeare, be it tragedy or comedy. Players together develop their characters (e.g. “the damsel, romantic and naive” or “old man, powerful and bitter”) and the context/venue (e.g. “haunted castle, the old king just died” or “a village where soldiers are staying and mingling with the inhabitants”). Over 5 acts, the story is improvised until all characters are dead or married, in true Shakespearean style.

Larp (live role play) is a performative medium like an improvised play without an audience. verily! Lasts about 90 minutes and participants are divided into groups of 5-7 players. No preparation required, suitable for everyone aged 15+. https://www.sifgames.com/

Games and Installations

Johann Sebastian Joust by Die Gute Fabrik
Johann Sebastian Joust is a no-graphics, digitally-enabled playground game designed for motion controllers. – http://www.jsjoust.com

Chicken Jump by Simon Cubasch
Imagine a deadly racing game – where you are the pedestrian.
http://chickenjumpgame.com/

Mergazerds by Ruan Rothman
This is a fully realistic, physics-based giant robot fighting game. QWOP meats Power Rangers. https://raithza.itch.io/mergazerds

Crash Board by Emilie Breslavez and Leon Denise
Crashboard is a skateboard hijacked to become a controller to an anaglyph computer-inspired game where the player is surfing to avoid OK windows-type items. https://playful-machines.com/ http://leon196.github.io/

Les Disciplines du Rectangle by One life Remains
Les disciplines du rectangle is a videogame proposition about the nature of rules and norms in the digital age. http://www.oneliferemains.com/lesdisciplinesdurectangle

Arcade Backpack by UCLA Game Lab
The Arcade Backpack was created initially as a mechanism to infiltrate public spaces, festivals, and exhibitions and engage audiences with game art projects from UCLA Game Lab. http://games.ucla.edu/game/ucla-game-lab-arcade-backpack

Rakete by Mario v. Rickenbach
Rakete is a cooperative multiplayer game for up to 5 players. Each player controls one thruster of a rocket with the goal to land it safely. https://rakete.li/

Quantum Garden by Robin Baumgarten
Quantum Garden is a hand-crafted arrangement of sensing springs combined with reactive lighting that simulated Quantum particles. Together with a scientifically accurate implementation of Schrödinger’s Equation, Quantum Garden becomes an innovative and unique art installation that makes quantum mechanics more approachable and entertaining than ever before.
https://www.wobblylabs.com/

Skeeper by Gregory Kogos
Skeeper is color catching rhythmish game played with 2 buttons on the ~1m long LED contraption. https://www.facebook.com/light.skeeper

Dancer by Stuffed Wombat
Dancer is a tiny dancing simulater – perfect for clubs and live music performances.  http://stuffedwomb.at/

Walk-in Workshops

Itsy Bitsy Tiny Games with Omarr Corr
We create walking simulators with Bitsy 3D, here we create characters, dialogues and locations together. If you are interested, you can look into the code of the game yourself and change even more there.

Zine-Maker Workshop with Nils Sommer
Make your own zine – create an adventurous story with multiple exits. For the professionals: Learn the next level of Narrative Design with aspect-driven storytelling.

Makey Makey Workshop with Alex Johansson
Build bizarre makeshift alternative controllers made of cardboard, tape, foil and wires, all powered by Makey Makey!

Repair! Workshop
After broken comes beautiful – repair broken objects with us! You can alternately darn textiles, mend a hole in a bicycle tube or screw a skateboard axle back on.

Additional info

draussenstadt.berlin

technikmuseum.berlin

Location: Ladestraße between Science Center Spectrum and TorEins Park-Café, Möckernstrasse 26, 10963 Berlin

A MAZE. is part of Kultursommerfestival Berlin 2023 in cooperation with Kulturprojekte Berlin.

Location partner: Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

Hardware partner: Tulpar Gaming Laptops

Links:

a-maze.net

draussenstadt.berlin

kulturprojekte.berlin/

technikmuseum.berlin/

tulparnotebook.de/

Special thanks to Alex Johansson, Sjors Houkes, Robin Baumgarten for building some of the alternative controllers. YEAH!