** reminder tonight 5p **
"Three voices on World Building for Games"
an informal community blender at SFComplex
when: Wed, Feb 24th 5p - 7p
where: SFComplex Commons, Pizza will be available $5 per person
World Building (n.)
The creation of an imaginary world and its geography, biology,
cultures, etc., especially for use as a setting in science fiction or
fantasy stories, games, etc. Hence world-builder, n.
Maggie Macnab
Ingredients for Blender:
Jikkawm is a world-play game developed my father over the course of
his lifetime beginning in about 1927 and spanning 70+ years. During
his life, Alexander (Sandy) Jesse Macnab was a cowboy in Las Cruces
(riding herd on the ranch usurped by the government for what is now
White Sands Missile Range), a teen in Hawaii, a lieutenant in the
infantry during WWII, an architect, artist, poet, professor of
architecture and archeology at the University of Houston, and was
married several times. I am his only surviving child.
His personal projects in architecture were reminiscent of Frank Lloyd
Wright, and when I was a child he worked for John Gaw Meem in Santa
Fe, NM, designing part of St. John's Liberal Arts College and Bank of
Santa Fe. My father had an IQ over 140 and he applied his brilliance
of mind and skill as an artist and author to the narrative, graphics
and comprehensive detail of his world. The materials of Jikkawm span
distinct cultural and racial characteristics of 7 separate regions,
time and space relationships, and contain hundreds of pages
documenting history, geography, celestial charts, languages, and other
specifics to the world and universe of Jikkawm. There is also a
physical world constructed out of plates of glass (approx. 3'x3') and
clay that sit atop blueprints that have sea depths and land
elevations, and hundreds of handcrafted miniatures of machines and
people with which to enact play.
It is my personal hope to archive and illuminate my father's work and
passion through his very unusual abilities and experiences that were
catalogued in a unique form over the course of a human lifetime.
BIO:
Maggie Macnab has been a strategic visual communicator for over three
decades. Her work has been published in design industry publications
and has received international honors. She teaches design theory at
the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM, USA), and is past
president of the Communication Artists of New Mexico. She also speaks
for conferences, guest lectures at schools in the US and abroad, gives
workshops on integrating symbolism into design, and consults on
developing strategic and creative identities. Her design theory book,
Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual
Communication, was released worldwide in 2008 to critical acclaim and
has received two awards.
Nicholas Chiarella
Ingredients for Blender:
James Carse, in his work Finite and Infinite Games, offers up a model
of play in which culture itself may be viewed as game and playing
field, and in which rules alter in order to maintain the play of the
game. With this in mind, one can approach any particular notion, such
as that of history--its making and its recollection--as a flexible and
multi-faceted performance, always open to new avenues and manners of
recording, iteration, analysis, and representation. Nicholas Chiarella
will outline a proposal for a cooperative, history-based game for
Santa Fe and the greater New Mexico region to tie into the upcoming
statehood centennial in 2012.
BIO:
Chiarella is currently the imaging specialist in the Photo Archives of
the Palace of the Governors / New Mexico History Museum. He
contributes reviews to Photo Eye Magazine, and his poems and
photographs have appeared in Santa Fe Trend, BathHouse, Slideluck
Potshow Santa Fe, among other places. He most recently has thrown
cards with the Meow Wolf artist collective. Chiarella graduated from
the St. John's College GI program in 2007.
Stephen Bohannon
Ingredients for Blender:
The world of gaming has deep roots in storytelling and oral
traditions. To create a compelling game, one must set the stage, or
world in which the characters meet and overcome challenges. Game
developer Stephen Bohannon seeks to reunite great storytelling and
game theory to illustrate the possible skills that can be learned from
this social engagement. He is working to open a game shop in Santa Fe
with a mission to generate a community of support for the uplift of
both youth and adult gamers.
BIO:
In 2007, Bohannon took on the role of creative director and started
Xylem Creative to bring effective communication solutions to
environmentally-minded organizations in the Southwest. With extensive
experience in print and web media, Bohannon has been able to create
quality design and marketing strategies for both non-profit and
commercial entities.
moderated by Stephen Guerin
After the Blender, come with us over to the City Council meeting to
show support for SF_X!!============================================================
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