Feral Bulletins

Join this infrequent list to get occasional updates on Feral Vector and upcoming events. We promise this will be a low traffic list, you'll always have a clear option to unsubscribe, and we won't pass your email address to anyone else.


Powered by MailChimp

> Close this <

Location! Transport!

The venue for Bit of Alright is the Grand Hall of the damn fine Battersea Arts Centre. You’ll find a map here.* Click through from that page to go to the location on Google Maps. The point on that arrow is pointing right near the entrance of the hall, on Town Hall Road. It has a big iron and glass awning that says Grand Hall, exactly like this:

Grand Hall Entrance, BAC

Car parking in the local area is by permit, so I’d advise using public transport to get there. In terms of that, the nearest railway station is Clapham Junction, and from there BAC is either a ten minute walk up Lavender Hill, or you can catch a bus (87 or 156) from Stop D, just outside the St. John’s Hill exit of Clapham Junction. If you’re coming from oop North, there are regular trains from Waterloo to Clapham Junction. There’s also some cycle parking on Lavender Hill either side of BAC. Here’s a picture of the inside of the hall:

Not only is the venue itself gorgeous, and not only are BAC lovely to deal with, but they also support all kinds of things going on in the arts. Cynical as I am of what I once witnessed working in fine art, art itself it tremendously important to me, and I’m glad Bit of Alright is contributing to a place that supports it so well.

* Made using the excellent hereit.is, which in turn was made by Brighton based developer Jamie Matthews. The reasons we like it are: It makes maps very legible, allows you to drag and drop the arrow, can generate a custom short URL for you, and also links through to that location on Google Maps.

Kerry Turner and Simon Parkin: I Get So Emotional Baby

Sweatshop

Kerry and Simon both work for LittleLoud, and one of their recent games was Sweatshop. Sweatshop made me feel horrifically guilty, because running my factory at optimum efficiency and profitability meant employing little slave kids to put on the end of my production line. It’s brilliant because it feels like gaming you know, but is making you do dreadful things to succeed.

This session will explore that idea and some related ones. It reminds me a little of Jenova Chen talking about time attack modes in early prototypes of Flower, which they removed because play-testers were screaming “fuck yeah!” at new records, and that wasn’t quite what the designers were going for. This isn’t about some stupid question like “Can games make you cry?”, it’s not a Countdown To Tears™. It’s about nuanced game design. How do games make you feel angry, or guilty, or dirty?