EVENT: ALAN KWAN (APRIL 22 2021)

ARCHITECTURE AND MEMORIES IN VIDEO GAMES

April 22 2021

17:00 - 18:00, Online event

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Alan Kwan and Allison Yang Jing recently completed the experimental game Forgetter in collaboration with the French art collective DSLCOLLECTION. In the game the player works for a tech company that cleans all the trauma or dark memories in dead artist brains, and then recycles and sells these artistic brains to parents who want their newborns to be super creative but pain-free artists. This project combines the form of walking simulator games with a janitor cleaning mechanic to create a weird yet artistic interactive experience. In this talk, Alan will share about how the game concept was developed, as well as some ideas and design strategies for crafting unique psychological and intimate spaces in video games.

Alan Kwan is an artist, technologist, and researcher. He is primarily interested in exploring new artistic and technical possibilities of real-time 3D technologies and game engines that depart from the traditional video game paradigm and typical tech fantasies of AR/VR. His projects, including VR experiences and experimental video games were presented at international venues such as Ars Electronica Center in Austria, ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, etc. and were featured in media including Discovery Channel, Popular Science, and Boston Globe. Previously, Alan was awarded the first prize of the MIT Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Award for Young Artist (Media Art). One of his video games was acquired by the Hong Kong M+ Museum as part of its permanent collection. Alan holds a Master of Science in Art, Culture, and Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently exploring the construction of impossible architecture and psychological spaces in the virtual world. He also co-founded the independent video game label Sometimes Monastery with Allison Yang Jing.

EVENT: VERENA KYRATZES (APRIL 15 2021)

SERIOUS TALK FOR SERIOUS SAM

APRIL 15 2021/15 APRILE 2021

17:00 - 18:00, Online event

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

In this talk, Verena Kyratzes will explore the process of creating the narrative for Serious Sam 4, with particular attention paid to the challenges of engaging with a pre-existing franchise and the advantages and disadvantages a game writer faces when working with heightened language and unusual tones. It will also offer a glimpse into the more mundane aspects of adjusting an interactive narrative to the complexities of a heavily gameplay-driven experience.

Verena Kyratzes is a writer and indie game developer from Germany. She co-created The Sea Will Claim Everything, and has worked for Croteam on games like Serious Sam 4 and The Hand of Merlin. She is currently working on The Talos Principle 2, as well as a few other unannounced titles.

EVENT: ANTHONY JANEAUD (APRIL 8 2021)

KILLING YOUR DARLINGS

APRIL 8 2021/8 APRILE 2021

17:00 - 18:00, Online event

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Writing is hard. But also, it's easy and cheap — even more so for games — and you will have to do it for thousand of hours. What is important is not what you write but what you decide to keep and show to the world. And who else can make that decision than the person who wrote waaaaay too many words for his latest game? Narrative designer Anthony Jauneaud believes art is a very thoughtful process that requires preparation, focus, a lot of Excel spreadsheets and an absurd amount of improvisation. It sounds complicated, right? Anthony promises that there’s light at the end of the tunnel if you know how to look.

Born on Reunion Island, Anthony Jauneaud studied cinema and scriptwriting before rejoining Ubisoft in 2009. The first few years are not very fun, but soon he lands a job at Asobo Studio, working on Hololens games and the prototype for A Plague Tale... before moving to AAA territory. A year later, it’s time to do something else which eventually became the acclaimed Night Call, released in 2019. Since then, he opened up a narrative design agency, works on multiple projects, and writes way too much.

Watch Anthony’s talk here

NEWS: MICHAEL SAMYN RELEASES COMPASSIE

We are delighted to announce that artist, designer, and GAME ART professor Michaël Samyn HAS JUST released Compassie, an artistic software program for tethered VR.

Compassie is a virtual reality diorama with the theme of pietà. The player takes the place of the holy virgin holding the lifeless body of Christ. And she contemplates his death staring into an abyss of endless darkness. According to Samyn, Compassie “is about loss. An opportunity to mourn for the things that have disappeared. Or are about to disappear. On a personal level. But also on a global level. I believe we are living through a time of transition. What will need to be sacrificed for our salvation? How will our new lives be in the new world? How will we cope with all the things that will disappear? How can we mourn the enormous loss that we are in the process of experiencing"?”

Michaël Samyn is one half of Song of Songs, formerly Tale of Tales. Tale of Tales was the independent videogames studio of Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn responsible for indie milestones such as The Endless Forest, The Graveyard, The Path and Luxuria Superbia. Compassie is the second release by Song of Songs, after Cricoterie in September 2018. Compassie is the first diorama published under the umbrella of the the ongoing Cathedral-in-the-Clouds project that was Kickstarted in November 2015 and for which the couple recently moved to Rome, Italy. Cathedral-in-the-Clouds aims to become a collection of contemplative pieces inspired by Christian iconography in art. Samyn teaches GAME ART alongside Auriea Harvey in the Master of Art in Game Design at IULM University.

Watch an extended trailer:

Read more about Compassie here.

NEWS: MEET A NEW GENERATION OF GAME DESIGNERS

WE ARE VERY HAPPY TO WELCOME THE CLASS OF 2021

Luigi Francesco Pio Camporeale, Francesca Chiappara, Luth Haroon, Christian Vincenzo Madera, Arianna Ravioli, Simone Riccobene, Alessandro Rosti and Federico Vaccaro.

Read more about their profiles here.

EVENT: FLORENT MAURIN (MARCH 25 2021, ONLINE)

TELLING A STORY THAT’S NOT YOURS

MARCH 25 2021/25 MARZO 2021

17:00 - 18:00, Online event

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

The world is full of interesting and important stories to tell, and The Pixel Hunt, the studio founded by Florent Maurin, firmly believes that video games can be an effective medium to tell them. But this comes with several challenges. One of the biggest ones is: how do you properly and respectfully tell a story that is not yours? Taking the example of The Pixel Hunt’s acclaimed Bury me, my Love, a video game about a young Syrian woman trying to reach Europe in search of a better life, Florent will try to explain the rules set by the designers and abode by in order to be a voice in service of the people who are directly concerned with international forced migrations.

Florent Maurin graduated from Lille's journalism school in 2002. He then worked for Bayard Presse for ten years, first as a reporter then as editorial manager for Bayam, the group’ online offer for kids. In parallel, he created The Pixel Hunt, a video games studio with a focus on rich interactive news items and reality-inspired games. He is now working full time on this project. Among his clients are Lemonde.fr (France’s premiere news website), Radio France (national public radio), France Télévisions (national public TV). In 2017, the company introduced its first independent game, the critically acclaimed Bury me, my Love. Florent also gives courses on interactive design, game design and non-linear storytelling.

Watch the full video here.

EVENT: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL (MARCH 15-21 2021)

MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL MMXXI

FROM VIDEO GAMES TO VIDEO ART

March 15-21 2021/15-21 Marzo 2021

Online event/evento online

An official event of the Milan Digital Week, the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL showcases audiovisual non-interactive works produced with video games otherwise known as machinima. This year, the retrospective will take place exclusively online due to the ongoing pandemic. The program feature six sections: IN FOCUS, GAME VIDEO ESSAY, GRAND THEFT CINEMA, [CODE] CONFINEMENT, GLITCH 'N SCAPES, and SPECIAL SCREENING. Selected artists include Iono Allen, Adonis Archontides, Nilson Carroll, Nick Crockett, Luca Giacomelli, Gina Hara, Kamilia Kard, Chris Kerich, Felix Klee, Eddie Lohmeyer, Luca Miranda, Alessandra Porcu, Riccardo Retez, Alessandro Tranchini, Lena Windisch, XUE Youge (薛 又 戈), and HU Yu (胡 煜).

The main theme of the MMXXI edition, From Video Games to Video Art, alludes to the variety of artistic manipulations of video games and their evolution into game videos. The authors deconstruct digital environments by subverting and reinterpreting their constitutive codes. From a matrix of postmodern cinematic citations embedded in Grand Theft Auto V to the notion of “limbo” as an existential condition, the selected machinima critically examine the logic, politics, and ideologies of the contemporary moment, triggering unexpected epistemological short circuits.

As in previous years, a Critics’ Choice Award will be awarded to the most significant machinima by an international jury composed of critics, curators, and academics: Valentino Catricalà (Artistic Director of the Media Art Festival in Rome), Marco De Mutiis (Digital curator of the Fotomuseum Winterthur), Stefano Locati (member of the Scientific Committee of the Ca 'Foscari Short Film Festival of Venice and Co-director of the Asian Film Festival of Bologna), Henry Lowood (Curator for the Germanic Collections and the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University), and Jenna NG (Professor of Film and Interactive Media at the University of York).

Curated by Matteo Bittanti with Gemma Fantacci, Luca Miranda, and Riccardo Retez, the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2021 is an official event of Milano Digital Week organized in collaboration with GAMESCENES. Art in the age of video games and the M.A. in Game Design at IULM University. A follow-up to the 2016 exhibition GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY, the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL brings to Milan idiosyncratic video works that lie at the intersection of video art, cinema, streaming, and digital games.

All the works will be accessible for free on the Festival’s website from 15 to 21 March 2021.

Evento ufficiale della Milano Digital Week, il MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL presenta al pubblico opere audiovisive prodotte con i videogiochi altrimenti note come machinima. La rassegna si svolgerà esclusivamente online a causa del perdurare dell’emergenza sanitaria. Il programma si articola in sei sezioni: IN FOCUS, GAME VIDEO ESSAY, GRAND THEFT CINEMA, [CODE] CONFINEMENT, GLITCH ’N SCAPES e SPECIAL SCREENING. Gli artisti coinvolti includono Iono Allen, Adonis Archontides, Nilson Carroll, Nick Crockett, Luca Giacomelli, Gina Hara, Kamilia Kard, Chris Kerich, Felix Klee, Eddie Lohmeyer, Luca Miranda, Alessandra Porcu, Riccardo Retez, Alessandro Tranchini, Lena Windisch, XUE Youge (薛又戈) e HU Yu (胡煜). La maggior parte delle opere presentate sono inedite in Italia.

Il tema dell’edizione MMXXI, From Video Games to Video Art, allude alla vasta gamma di manipolazioni in chiave artistica del videogioco e alla sua evoluzione in gioco video. Gli autori decostruiscono i mondi digitali scardinandone e reinterpretandone i codici costitutivi. Dalla miscellanea di citazioni di matrice cinematografica della società iperrealistica di Grand Theft Auto V al concetto di “limbo” come espressione esistenziale, i machinima selezionati esaminano criticamente le logiche, le politiche e le ideologie del contemporaneo, innescando inaspettati cortocircuiti epistemologici. 

Come nelle precedenti edizioni, anche quest’anno verrà assegnato un riconoscimento da una giuria internazionale composta da critici, curatori e accademici: Valentino Catricalà (Direttore artistico del Media Art Festival di Roma), Marco De Mutiis (Digital curator del Fotomuseum Winterthur), Stefano Locati (membro del Comitato scientifico del Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival di Venezia e Co-direttore dell’Asian Film Festival di Bologna), Henry Lowood (Curatore per la Germanic Collections e l’History of Science and Technology Collections all’Università di Stanford in California) e Jenna NG (Professore di cinema e media interattivi all'Università di York).

Curato da Matteo Bittanti in collaborazione con Gemma Fantacci, Luca Miranda e Riccardo Retez, il MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2021 è un evento ufficiale della Milano Digital Week realizzato inseieme a GAMESCENES. Art in the age of video games e al Master of Arts in Game Design dell’Università IULM. Una prosecuzione della mostra GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY (2016), il festival porta a Milano produzioni idiosincratiche che si collocano all’intersezione tra video arte, cinema, streaming e videogiochi.

Tutte le opere saranno accessibili gratuitamente sul sito del festival dal 15 al 21 marzo 2021.

EVENT: CYBERPUNK 2077: BEYOND GAMEPLAY (DECEMBER 9 2020)

IMAGE courtesy of CD PROJEKT RED

IULM Flow is an international project entirely in English, articulated in a series of talks, masterclasses and a summer school. The next installment, Cyberpunk 2077, beyond gameplay, features a conversation between Pierluigi Sacco and Pietro Polsinelli. The event will take place Wednesday 9th December at 4 PM, live on IULM's YouTube channel.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open world adventure set in Night City, an American megacity obsessed with power, fashion and human augmentation. In addition to being one of the most awaited games ever, so much that the latest trailer has registered over 21 million views, Cyberpunk 2077 perfectly summarizes the cyberpunk philosophy and sensitivity born at the turn of the 1980s as a concentrate of collectivism egocentric generated by a techno-globalized future that fights in a “disorganized” way against the political-moral structures of the time: cosmetic surgery, music, shocking colors, exotic weapons, multiculturalism, crime and obsession with the digital matrix. After a long series of postponements, the video game will finally see the light on Thursday 10 December 2020. In the meantime, we will try to go deeper into this world in order to learn more about this socio-digital universe with the help of Pietro Polsinelli, game designer and developer who in the last twenty years has developed a lot of web applications and video games, as well as having written a book, created a blog, a YouTube channel and a podcast in which he presents his creations and comments on what happens in the gaming world.

Pietro Polsinelli is a game designer and developer, mostly working on applied games. He also teaches GAME WRITING in the Master of Arts in Game Design at IULM UNiversity. In the last twenty years, Pietro developed several web applications and video games, using a variety of languages, tools, and platforms (Java, C#, web apps, Unity3d) He co-authored a book on applied games in Italian, and is currently writing a book on applied games in English titled Explaining With Games. Among is most recent works is Football Drama, which received the Best Italian Debut Game at the 2020 Italian Video Game Awards. The follow up, Roller Drama, will be available in 2021.

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IMAGE courtesy of CD PROJEKT RED

IULM Flow è un progetto internazionale interamente in lingua inglese, articolato in talk, masterclass e summer school. L'ottavo talk, intitolato “Cyberpunk 2077, beyond gameplay”, si terrà online mercoledì 9 dicembre dalle ore 16:00 e prevede una conversazione tra Pierluigi Sacco e Pietro Polsinelli sul canale YouTube dell’Università IULM. Non è necessaria la registrazione per partecipare.

Cyberpunk 2077 è un'avventura a mondo aperto ambientata a Night City, una megalopoli americana ossessionata dal potere, dalla moda e dalle modifiche cibernetiche. Oltre a essere uno dei giochi più attesi in assoluto dal pubblico, tanto che l'ultimo trailer ha totalizzato oltre 21 milioni di visualizzazioni, Cyberpunk 2077 riassume perfettamente la filosofia e la sensibilità cyberpunk nata a cavallo degli anni ’80 come un concentrato di un collettivismo egocentrico generato da un futuro tecno-globalizzato che lotta in maniera “disorganizzata” contro le strutture politico-morali del tempo: chirurgia estetica, musica, colori shocking, armi esotiche, multiculturalismo, micro-criminalità imperante, ossessione della matrice digitale. Dopo una lunga serie di rinvii, il videogioco vedrà finalmente la luce giovedí 10 dicembre 2020. Nell'attesa, cercheremo di addentrarci nel mondo della rete per conoscere meglio questo universo socio-digitale con l'aiuto di Pietro Polsinelli, game designer e sviluppatore che negli ultimi vent’anni ha sviluppato numerose applicazioni web e videogiochi, oltre ad aver scritto un libro, creato un blog, un canale YouTube e un podcast in cui presenta le sue creazioni e commenta cosa succede nel mondo del gaming.

Pietro Polsinelli è un game designer e sviluppatore. Si occupa principalmente di giochi applicati (alias educativi).  Oggi insegna GAME WRITING nel Master of Arts dell'Università IULM. Negli ultimi vent’anni, Pietro ha sviluppato numerose applicazioni web e videogiochi, utilizzando un ventaglio di strumenti e piattaforme (Java, C#, web apps, Unity3d). È coautore di un libro sui giochi applicati in italiano e sta scrivendo un testo sui giochi applicati in inglese dal titolo Explaining With Games. Uno dei suoi giochi più recenti è Football Drama, che si è aggiudicato il titolo di miglior videogioco italiano d’esordio durante l’edizione 2020 degli Italian Video Game Awards.

EVENT: GAME TALK: MARCO BENÔIT CARBONE, RICCARDO FASSONE (2 DICEMBRE 2020, ONLINE)

QUALI SONO I VIDEOGIOCHI MADE IN ITALY? E CHE IMMAGINE RESTITUISCONO DELL’ITALIA? IN QUESTO GAME TALK, MARCO BENÔIT CARBONE E RICCARDO FASSONE PRESENTANO UNA PANORAMICA DEL VIDEOGIOCO ITALICO.

Il videogame nel Belpaese esprime caratteri di cultura nazionale tanto nelle produzioni nostrane quanto nell’adattamento e nella ricezione culturale dei prodotti esteri. Nel recente volume antologico IL VIDEOGIOCO IN ITALIA. Storie, Rappresentazioni, Contesti curato da Marco Benoît Carbone e Riccardo Fassone per Mimesis Edizioni, numerosi ricercatori italiani e internazionali esaminano la fruizione e la produzione italiana di videogame, la rappresentazione del nostro paese, le relazioni tra giochi, fumetti, cinema, sport e brand nazionali, le comunità di giocatrici, critici e studiose nonché il crescente riconoscimento istituzionale del medium come veicolo per la promozione del patrimonio storico-culturale.

In questo GAME TALK, Marco Benoît Carbone e Riccardo Fassone discutono alcuni aspetti peculiare del "videogame italiano". In cosa consiste l’italianità del videogame, per parafrasare Roland Barthes?

Marco Benoît Carbone è Lecturer alla Brunel University, London. Per Mimesis ha scritto Tentacle erotica. Orrore, seduzione, immaginari pornografici (2013). È fondatore e redattore della rivista “GAME” e redattore di “JICMS – Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies”.

Riccardo Fassone è ricercatore all’Università degli Studi di Torino. Ha pubblicato due monografie, Every Game is an Island. Ending and Extremities in Video Games (2017) e Cinema e videogiochi (2017). È fondatore e redattore della rivista “GAME”. Realizza giochi con il collettivo Dotventi.

Il video integrale è disponibile qui.

Curati dal Master of Arts in Game Design dell’Università IULM, i GAME TALKS sono presentazioni, performance e seminari che celebrano la cultura, arte e creatività dei videogiochi e dei loro creatori. Situati all’intersezione tra game design, Game Art e game studies, i GAME TALKS mirano a stimolare, ispirare e sorprendere

NEWS: MEET OUR FACULTY: NICOLÒ SALA (A.A. 2020-2021)

WE’RE DELIGHTED TO INTRODUCE NICOLÒ SALA, A TALENTED SOUND DESIGNER WHO WILL BE TEACHING GAME SOUND IN OUR PROGRAM.

Nicolò Sala is a freelance Graphic Designer, Sound Designer and Music Composer. He founded his own company in 2015, Studio Clangore, specialized in digital adaptations of board games. In his +10 years experience in the gaming industry, he collaborated with many companies in the industry, including Asmodee Digital, Slitherine, Colorado Film, Horrible Guild, Cranio Creations, Santa Ragione. He teaches Digital Image Elaboration at LABA University, Brescia. Sala received his B.A. in Communication Design from Politecnico di Milano, and was certified by SAE Institute di Milano in Sound Design and cinema audio production. Today, he is charge of a product’s audio-visual design and production, composition, animation, and interaction.

With GAME SOUND students will be able to grasp the basic concepts of game audio and what it means to design and produce audio for non-linear media. Starting from the fundamentals of sound creation, recording, sourcing, mixing and editing common to film and music, the course will illustrate the best design practices, what to expect while working with different platforms and audiences, roles and skills, and the specific limits and the possibilities of interactive audio.

Nella stessa serie: MARE SHEPPARD (GAME CONTEXTS), PIETRO POLSINELLI (GAME WRITING), AURIEA HARVEY & MICHAËL SAMYN (GAME ART)

TEASER: IULM FLOW MEET GAME TALK

IULM Flow is an international project entirely in English organized by IULM University. It consist of talks, masterclasses and a summer school. If you love video games, mark your calendar: December 9 2020.

NEWS: MEET OUR FACULTY: MARE SHEPPARD (ACADEMIC YEAR 2020-2021)

WE’RE DELIGHTED TO PRESENT A SHORT VIDEO CHAT WITH PROFESSOR MARE SHEPPARD, A TALENTED GAME DESIGNER WHO TEACHES GAME CONTEXTS IN OUR PROGRAM.

Mare Sheppard is one half of Metanet Software Inc., a boutique game developer based in Montreal, Canada that produced the acclaimed N, N+ and N++. Metanet is focused on revisiting the great designs of the past and re-evaluating them from a fresh perspective, making games which are engaging, innovative, intriguing and most importantly: fun. Mare finds a lot of inspiration in print, industrial design, architecture and fashion, and her goal is to incorporate more of those ideas into games, and to continue to explore and expand the medium.

GAME CONTEXTS examines the cultural and artistic relevance of play and discusses key traits of games, surveying the emergent and interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding of video games. Particular attention is paid to integrating knowledge and design approaches from other creative and critical fields, such as game studies, cultural studies, media studies, and contemporary art. Pivotal to the module is the process of helping students develop strategies to explore these approaches for the development and production of their own work. Special attention will be devoted to applying various principles of game design to the games discussed in class, and on how game design as a discipline interacts with changes in design and culture altogether. Each week during, the instructor will introduce and discuss several games. Students will be required to familiarize themselves with the games and contribute to the discussion. The themes explored in class will subsequently be used for development goals.

Nella stessa serie: PIETRO POLSINELLI (GAME WRITING), AURIEA HARVEY & MICHAËL SAMYN (GAME ART)