Over the past week or so, I have found myself wandering the British Galleries, taking notes on objects, watching the short documentaries in the gallery theatre and generally trying to absorb as much information as I can.
In my last blog post, I talked briefly about William Morris. His pattern Strawberry Thief really caught my attention, and just so happens to be one of his most famous designs. While researching, I saw that the V&A had manufactured various household objects with his iconic pattern.
In my last blog post, I talked briefly about William Morris. His pattern Strawberry Thief really caught my attention, and just so happens to be one of his most famous designs. While researching, I saw that the V&A had manufactured various household objects with his iconic pattern.
I have decided to design and make a prototype game based on the pattern for a few different reasons. It would serve as a great warm up for the rest of the residency, getting my brain working and forcing me to think how just one piece can be turned into a game. I feel like I could spend weeks or month doing pure research, but I think I need to just get to work! Also, many visitors and staff members are unsure what a game designer would do in a museum in regards to responding to a specific collection, therefore this would show how a game could be made from one item. Finally, I think that making a game based on a furnishing fabric is quite unusual and it will certainly be very challenging!
So far, I have done a few experiments in a games engine, and should hopefully have more to show soon.
So far, I have done a few experiments in a games engine, and should hopefully have more to show soon.
Some of my first hand sketches from the gallery
I also did my first workshop, as part of the Sackler Centre Conference. This was run in the V&A’s tapestry galleries, and therefore only pencil and paper were allowed for this workshop. The task was to come up with game designs based on aspects of the tapestries. Since everyone in the workshop was new to games, I went through game design basics with them. The aim of the workshop was to get them thinking about the initial first part of coming up with ideas and thinking about games mechanics. When the small team presented their ideas, I was very surprised that they had though about things like monetisation through Facebook and the App Store.
The feedback I got from the group was all positive. They told me that the workshop made them think that games design is not as easy as it looks, and that they see games in a whole different light now. This was exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for. And as always it is fascinating to see game ideas from non-gamers!
