Storytelling for Game Designers

Liz Fiacco |

The workshop is structured around adapting a film into a game, where attendees works on design challenges to hit narrative goals and character beats from the movie. It’ll cover design problems that arise in narrative games such as tutorials, game loops, agency & choice, player progression, cutscenes vs gameplay, and genre conventions. Participants should come prepared to discuss, analyze, give and recieve feedback, and work in groups to solve design challenges.

G0.57

Pushing Performance Motion Capture: How to Emote and Sell Your Performance

James Gentile | Monolith Productions
Amelia Tyler |
Mike Bodie |

In this workshop, we will be working with markered actors on a live Mocap stage to demonstrate best practices for a robust session, be it action, drama, sports or comedy. Also covered will be how to handle talent and control a shoot. How you present yourself as a director will dictate the session and the positive feedback and energy of your talent. Be prepared to participate.

Workshop sponsored by Moveshelf

IC1.60, Stephenson Building

Cuphead - Rubber Hose Character Design Workshop - SOLD OUT

Tina Nawrocki | Freelance

This workshop has now sold out. In this workshop, Tina will guide participants in creating their own Cuphead-esc boss. During the 3 hours creative skills development workshop, participants will design a new Cuphead-themed boss, polish their designs, set them up for a 2D animated idle cycle and learn about 1930-era context of the Cuphead world.

AG.11

Visual redesign for big IP's - Production Concept Art Workshop

Sandra Duchiewicz | Creative Assembly

The workshop will start with a short talk about redesign for big Intellectual Properties (with examples), stressing the difference between designing new worlds for new IP's and redesigning existing worlds from well known franchises. During the workshop you will be asked to prepare a production ready concept art of a character from the Warhammer world. During the workshop Sandra will guide you and advise you how to make self explanatory character concept art sheet. The main purpouse of the workshop is to enhance your understanding of the gaming industry and the concept artist role and its purpose in the production process.

OL3

Serious Games Design and VR: The New Frontier - FREE WORKSHOP

Alex Trowers | Independent Developer

This workshop is FREE to attend. This explores the wonderful freedom interspersed with tricky constraints and real world insights. The morning session will cover designing a VR experience particularly exploring serious games application and what sort of stuff you can expect from the platform - what VR does well… and what it doesn’t. How to build something specifically for VR. The afternoon session will focus on how to turn that design into a good pitch for investors - how to stand up in front of people and sell not just a service but a product that can elevate your games business to untapped, unexplored avenues. This workshop is open to enterprising students, game studios with no experience of VR and game studios with VR experience looking to explore lucrative serious games applications.

Workshop sponsored by Mercia Technologies and Ward Hadaway

T2.12/T2.13

Houdini - I didn't know it could do that!

Matt Estela | UTS Animal Logic Academy

Despite the massive increase in Houdini usage in the last 3 years, it still has a stereotype of being 'that difficult package for making explosions for films'. This workshop will show that Houdini is so much more than that. Matt has introduced Houdini to modellers, matte painters, lighters, compositors, animators, fine artists, high school students, architects, VR studios. Everyone finds a use for Houdini they didn't expect, and find it much easier to learn than they assumed.

2 hours will be devoted to teaching beginners the 'zen' of houdini, how it differs from other 3d applications, the core concepts that are important to grasp that then make the rest of the package much more intuitive.

The rest of the workshop will be full of examples of Houdini being used in novel ways, hopefully to inspire attendees to suggest ideas on the day, that Matt will aim to create live. There's lots of tutorials and videos out there showing you which button to press in Houdini to do a specific task, but there's no benefit to attending a workshop like that (but Matt will definitely show you where the button is). This workshop provides the chance to meet a Houdini cult-member who loves to be challenged with weird ideas, and show how Houdini's versatility is unmatched by any other 3d software.

IC 1.01C

Character Movement for Animation

Jennifer Essex | Teesside University

Through discussion, observation, theory and practice you will expand your understanding of movement in animation from the pedestrian to the monstrous. The workshop will draw on theory to underpin practice, referencing the work in particular of Konstantin Stanislavski and Rudolf Laban in order to develop a set of practical principles with which to develop characters with dynamic, interesting and believable movements and motivations. The workshop will also offer practical tips about working with actors and dancers for video reference and motion capture recording. Come dressed ready to move.

T2.11