Vortrag in englischer Sprache | Talk in English

Program:

Games have been a promising medium for education for some time now, combining the strengths of playful experimentation, structured learning, and the promise of interactive entertainment. But in addition to the variety of great educational games already out there, there is another valuable use that games can provide as a co-creation activity that promotes teamwork, creativity and rapid learning cycles. This talk will address the use of game development, and game jams in particular, as a didactic model to facilitate STEM/STEAM-related goals. It will address the potential, tools and general requirements for a collaborative game production session.

Game Changer Teaser

The GameChanger Suite is a collection of multiplayer game prototypes developed by students at the Hagenberg campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. The focus of the GameChanger project is to explore cooperative and competitive gameplay in a co-located setting. Developed specifically for the Ars Electronica Center’s Deep Space, each of the games utilizes the room’s unique laser ranging system as the primary interface. Players can choose between any of the five game prototypes by simply standing on the desired game window; in this way, game selection is a collective, democratic process.

About the speaker:

Jeremiah Diephuis was born in 1976 and grew up in the great arcades of the American Midwest. After studies in computational linguistics and media, he focused his attention on the utilization and development of games for public spaces. He currently works as a professor in the Digital Media department at the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. He is also co-founder of the nonprofit organization GameStage and a founding member of the research group Playful Interactive Environments.