The Berlin-based international games and playful media label A MAZE. will hold their first ever event in the UK, in the Steel City of Sheffield. An annual international festival and platform of arthouse games and playful media, A MAZE. have held acclaimed events at various locations around the world - including South Africa, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Cuba and Kenya - supporting a global movement of independent and meaningful games culture.
a one day event that will feature digital interactive exhibits, alternative controller and video games, HyperTalks, DJs and VJs, across a daytime and evening programme.
Hyper Wobbler is an interactive multiplayer art installation, where 3 participants control multi-dimensional beings trying to make sense of their universe and navigate it to reach their goals. The installation uses metal spring joysticks and a dodecahedron with 900 LEDs and two-way mirror faces.
Crashboard is a surfing cyberspace game controlled by a real skateboard. In the game, you have to avoid waves of operating system windows pop-up interface scrolling in your direction. You control the player position by leaning on the skateboard. The aesthetic of the game is crafted from glitch, retro web design and error system.
Between is a game that uses projection to illuminate the space between two people. Two players sit face to face and hold hands, which creates a geometric shape between them. They move their bodies together to fit outlines on the floor, creating a performance for the audience.
A two-player cooperative navigation game where players work together to guide a series of tragic heroes through obstacle-filled corridors en route to a climactic confrontation with the sun.
Gang Beasts is a silly multiplayer party game with surly gelatinous characters, brutal mêlée fight sequences, and absurdly hazardous environments. Set in the fictional meatropolis of Beef City.
Singing Rainbow is a collaborative multiplayer dome game. This work is inspired by crowd games. This audio-reactive playful art piece brings people together to sing along different notes.
Co-commissioned by Now Play This & A MAZE.
Journeys are about crossing paths. We reach junctions in the road, deciding to go left or right, move ahead or turn back. Along the way we cross paths with people, either making direct contact or slipping past one another. With every decision, we intertwine threads of experience, creating a unique and complex pattern.
Phantom Spark is an exhilarating high-speed racing game that will test your limits. Push for your best time in precision time-trial races across three domains full of otherworldly architecture. Take on challenges, hone your skills, and master the pathways to surpass the champions.
Make faces
Glow Golf is a minimalist, 1 dimensional LED game featuring randomly generated golf courses controlled using a spring-loaded pinball launcher. The game is being tested in care homes and special needs centers exploring ways to make games more approachable to the elderly and other marginalized groups
VR without the headset! A collection of games you only play with the VR controllers, no headset needed. Instead of visuals, these games only use vibrations and sound to convey the game, while you play in the real world.
Flock is a game about the joy of flight and collecting adorable flying creatures with your friends. Soar through beautiful landscapes, seeking out rare and elusive creatures to add to your flock.
Bot Party in an interactive sound experience for humans. The bots have a problem. They have no way to communicate with their friends. Can you help? They need you to touch another human holding a bot. Through you the bots use the proprietary bot to skin to skin to bot communication protocol (BSSB) to send encoded secret messages to each other. Hold hands with other players to get the bot sound spectacular started!
Emilie Breslavetz is a game designer and playful artist based in Paris creating experimental video games, alternative controllers and interactive installations.
Dr. Phoenix Perry is a leading expert in developing accessible machine learning tools and founding value-driven creative coding organizations. As a Reader in Games and Creative Technologies and the founding Course Leader for the MSc in Creative Computing at the University of the Arts London, Perry integrates embodied gaming, inclusive design, and advanced machine learning in interactive systems.
Nick Murray is a producer, composer and artist making interactive sonic and narrative work focusing on loss and digital cultures. This often takes the form of games, interactive poetry and performance. Most recently it looks like mystic Tamagotchis and Godzilla boardgames. Nick is lead producer for Now Play This at Somerset House and Director of Playing Poetry.
Claire Kwong connects art and technology to make people move. She creates immersive environments using projection and motion capture. Her games encourage people to move, communicate, and touch. Claire aims to dramatize her own experiences and challenge social boundaries. She lives in New York City.
Award winning experimental designer, educator and fabricator with a particular interest in approachable design and ambition to give as many people their first experience of games in bespoke formats that resonate with them. I've built a boxing match controlled with muppets, a strategy game controlled with Morse Code, a multiplayer vaccination game operated with a syringe and most recently I've been designing minimalist LED games to be played in care homes and sensory rooms for young people with disabilities.
A Parisian game designer and interactive artist working mostly in artistic residency on collaborative works. I love to mix creative disciplines from art to engineering. I have an interactive multimedia project called MechBird. I design and develop games and installations as a freelancer for cultural events, companies and other artists.
Julia Makivic (she/her) is a designer of alternative controller games who divides her time between London and Belgrade. Her games explore what it means to have an emotional exchange with a computational system. She is currently a lecturer at the Creative Computing Institute at the University of Arts London.
Marina Díez (she/they) is a Spanish award-winning game designer and filmmaker based in Berlin and London, UK. She's the CEO at Three of Cups Games, an ethical and diverse games studio based in London.
Award winning experimental designer, educator and fabricator with a particular interest in approachable design and ambition to give as many people their first experience of games in bespoke formats that resonate with them. I've built a boxing match controlled with muppets, a strategy game controlled with Morse Code, a multiplayer vaccination game operated with a syringe and most recently I've been designing minimalist LED games to be played in care homes and sensory rooms for young people with disabilities.
Claire Kwong connects art and technology to make people move. She creates immersive environments using projection and motion capture. Her games encourage people to move, communicate, and touch. Claire aims to dramatize her own experiences and challenge social boundaries. She lives in New York City.
Game developer making interactive performances and playable installations. He uses technology to create experimental art pieces, and to encourage collective creativity in his online and in-person shows.
A MAZE. / Sheffield Day (free admission)
A MAZE. / Sheffield Night (10 £ admission fee and 18+)
FØRGE Warehouse - 148 Effingham Rd, Sheffield S4 7YS, United Kingdom