Game Design

When: July 2nd, 2020, 6:00 pm
Where: Online conference «Interactive Experiences» at Ludicious X
Tickets: here

Nikita Diakur is a Russian-born filmmaker based in Germany. He is best known for his projects «Ugly» and «Fest», which have received critical acclaim at film festivals around the world. His signature style is dynamic computer simulation that embraces spontaneity, randomness, and error. Diakur regularly gives talks and workshops, recently undertook a residency at Q21 in Vienna, and is a member of the European Film Academy.

The talk will focus on the process and development of the ideas leading to a crude and intuitive approach to story, design and animation. Animation in «Ugly» is a combination of puppeteering and computer simulation and varies between physically accurate and broken. Animating like this feels closer to real-life filmmaking: Like an actor, the computer follows the action set by the animator and produces results that are organic, unpredictable and personal.

About the conference
Interactive Experiences. Playgrounds of Life

Last year’s conference discussed games as a playful reflection on society and examined the possibilities and challenges of implementing socially relevant topics in games. This year we want to shift the focus on us as human beings. We want to speak about animacy, embodiment, empathy and the creation of life in the context of games and playful environments. Which methods enable us to create something that feels alive, something we can emphasize with and which appears to have a vivid body and maybe even a soul? How can games as a highly interactive and playful medium enhance the illusion of life and how can they reflect on us and life itself?

A cooperation between Ludicious – Zürich Game Festival and the Subject Area in Game Design of Zurich University of the Arts

Hosts

Florian Faller (Lecturer ZHdK Game Design)
Maike Thies (Research Fellow ZHdK Game Design)
Anna Lisa Martin–Niedecken (Senior Researcher ZHdK Game Design)