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Feral Vector 2020: 21st to 23rd of May

In 2020, Feral Vector will run in Hebden Bridge from Thursday the 21st to Saturday the 23rd of May.

Hostel tickets will go on sale Monday the 24th of February. If you want the ticket link in advance of hostel tickets going live, sign up to the mailing list before 19:00, Thursday 20th February.

As with last year, we’ll be running a crowdfunder for FV 2020, but wanted to announce dates and sell the hostel tickets first. The main reason for this is that we want people to have as long as possible to arrange accommodation and transport.

The hostel tickets are very limited, and sold out in minutes last year. Not everyone who wants one can get one, and if that’s you, we want to give you as much time as possible to arrange your own accommodation.

On that note, we get that everyone likes being in the hostel, and that it’s a nice place to hang out with people. It’s also one of the cheaper and simpler ways to come and stay in Hebden Bridge for Feral Vector. If you can stay elsewhere, passing up a hostel ticket in favour of others who can’t, we’d ask that you please consider it.

People also worry every year that we’ll sell out of non-hostel tickets. Don’t, because we’re not likely to. We’ve been careful to only let FV scale up slowly, and the venues we use have more capacity than we sell tickets in any given year. So, if you’re worrying about booking accommodation now when non-hostel tickets go on sale later, there’s no need to. You can go ahead and book somewhere to stay in the knowledge that you’ll be able to get a ticket.

As ever, we’re excited to be doing FV again, and looking forward to seeing you all in Hebden Bridge.

FERAL SPECTRUM: Moonraider and Spectrum DJs at The Trades Club

Hello. We’ve not been using the blog much this year, but there’s something big and new happening at Feral Vector 2018: A club night, named Feral Spectrum, on Friday the 1st of June. It’ll be in The Trades Club, which is famous far beyond Calderdale. Money from the door will be going to the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, entry with a Feral Vector wristband will be just £2 (£5 without). Spectrum have been running for years in Hebden Bridge. You can read more directly from them below, but here’s the short of it:

Feral Spectrum
Friday 1st June
The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
Entry: £2 with FV wristband, £5 without
Music: Techno by Moonraider, followed by weird 80’s by the Spectrum DJs.
Dress: Blitz club dress up, glowsticks, or B U S I N E S S  W A S T E L A N D.
Doors: 20:00

The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. Creative commons photo by Humphrey Bolton.
(CC photo by Humphrey Bolton, via Geograph)

“On 1st June Feral Vector & long running Hebden Bridge club night Spectrum take over the legendary Trades Club for a night of live electronica & techno Moonraider followed by a late night of genre straddling 80s music from the Spectrum DJs.

“Moonraider started his production career on RHAM! records releasing one of the most influential warehouse rave tunes of that era (Labyrinthe by Demonik, Psyche by Doggy) and then producing one of the tunes that laid the foundations for Jungle (Dilinger Cokane in my brain Raggarave mix). Since then he has continued to record and playe live under a number of names and is currently releasing records and touring with Wolfgang Flur of Kraftwerk.

“This promises to be a remarkable night in a legendary venue. You are very very welcome to channel your inner b-girls, goths, neuromantics, c86-ers and sports casual but don’t have to.

“Entry is just £2 with a Feral Vector wristband and £5 for any guests you might want to bring. The evening is a fundraiser for Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, a genuinely inclusive community. All ticket money will go direct to the festival.”

FV2017 Workshops

Here are the details on our workshops and games for 2017. Booking links will go to all ticket holders by email on the evening of Wednesday the 31st of May.

Note: All LARPs are beginner friendly and fairly lightweight, you don’t need previous LARP experience, nor do you need costumes or props.

For some of the arcade building workshops, you’ll need to bring a laptop with the Arduino IDE installed.

All workshops will be called out from the stage before they begin. Get into the main hall around the time they’re due to start, and we’ll point you to the right people and places.

PLEASE NOTE: Some of these things clash with each other. To help you visualise this, here are three screengrabs from Google Calendar:
Thursday.
Friday.
Saturday.

Friday is a particularly complicated day. Please make sure not to book yourself onto clashing things (if our ticketing system had the flexibility to prevent you doing that, we’d set it up).

Feral Vector 2016

Thursday:

Martian Gardens, All day every day
Drop in.
By Jim Thompson: “Martian Gardens is a deeply social game for everyone attending Feral Vector. As pioneers of the new frontier you are tasked with making the barren landscape of Mars fertile again with a range of tailored fauna. No single person has enough resources to make this happen so you must choose your strategy in order to make the deserts bloom. The game will run across the length of Feral Vector and players can be as active or as reflective as they like. You might be a lone outpost of floral beauty or you might collaborate with others and pool your resources to achieve bigger things!”

Cardboard Jam, 13:00 – 17:00
Drop in.
We’ll have a ton of cardboard and sharpies for you to make games, gamelike things, or whatever you want. This is becoming a yearly thing for Feral Vector; previously people have made board games, tiny model stages, tarot decks, and even beautiful objects just for the sake of it.

Makey Makey – Arcade Building workshop, 14:00 – 16:00
Booking required.
Join Alex Johansson and Katy Marshall to explore the depths of cardboard, wires, tinfoil, crocodile clips and Makey Makeys.

Settings for Sitting To, 15:00 – 16:00
Booking required.
Thryn Henderson’s talk will take you on a guided walk with sittings. Note that this is outdoors, so wear shoes suitable for walking on the woods, and be prepared for weather.

Jim Thompson - Deep Green

Friday:

Paper Jam, 12:10 – 15:00
Drop in.
Stuart Lilford will be leading a Paper Jam, with the object of everyone creating a printable game using just one sheet of paper. More details at that link, and people can take part remotely, but we’ll be laying out tables for you with loads of paper and sharpies.

LARP: Deep Green, 13:00 – 15:30
Booking required. Suitable for LARP beginners.
Note that this game is outdoors, so wear stout footwear and be prepared for weather.
Creator Jim Thompson says: “Deep Green is a short larp that pitches players into the task of being responsible for the last ever natural living things. The pressure of the tasks you must complete makes every choice one of delicate balance and compromise, not everyone’s priorities are the same. If this is not difficult enough, outside forces and the pressure of time will challenge your wit and wisdom.”

Alex Roberts: Arcade Workshop – Arduino, 13:00 – 16:00
Booking required.
Working in pairs, Alex Roberts will take you through the steps necessary to turn anything into a keyboard, and from there, an arcade controller. You’ll need to bring a Micro USB cable, a laptop with the Arduino IDE installed, plus this Arduino library downloaded. If you and a friend both book tickets, you’ll be able to share a laptop.

Settings for Sitting To, 15:00 – 16:00
Booking required.
A repeat performance of Thryn Henderson’s talk, which will take you on a guided walk with sittings. Note that this is outdoors, so wear shoes suitable for walking on the woods, and be prepared for weather.

The Wicker Jam, 16:00 – 18:00
Booking required.
The Wicker Jam returns for a second year: Go into the woods, and see what games you can make only from what you find there.

Alt Ctrl Adventure (Arcade Workshop), 16:00 – 18:00
Booking Required.
Jerry Belich teaches the intricacies of making custom arcade controllers with Arduinos. You’ll need to bring a laptop with the Arduino IDE installed.

Feral Vector 2016

Saturday:

ALT CTRL Surgery and Exhibit, 12:00 – 19:00
Drop in.
We’ll be having a showcase of some of the things people built in our three arcade building workshops – if you make something at one of them and want to show it, you can, but no obligation to! At various points, you’ll also be able to chat to our various ALT CTRL experts Alex Roberts, Jerry Belich, Alex Johansson, Katy Marshall, and James Medd of the Awkward Arcade will be popping by to visit too.

Business Year 2001: A Business Odyssey, 14:00 – 16:00
Booking required. Suitable for LARP beginners.
It’s been thousands of years since the Global Investors left, opening the way for the Green Blight to reclaim everything. Last year’s Business LARP exceeded all expectations. This year, we’re doing Business again, but there have been some… changes. Can you craft a mission statement good enough to summon an Angel Investor from the ashes? A LARP by Adam Dixon, Nate Crowley, and David Hayward.

Feral Vector 2016