Episodes
-
This week, we have our final full interview for this batch of episodes, with Dr. Carly Kocurek. We had the chance to learn more about the interplay between humour, game technologies and moral panics.
Dr. Kocurek is a cultural historian specialized in the study of new media technologies and video games! She is the author of Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade and Brenda Laurel: Pioneering Games for Girls. Dr. Kocurek also co-founded and co-edits the Influential Game Designers book series, as well as being a prolific author and game designer.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University. -
Another week, another episode. This time around, we have our full interview with Karina Popp. Tune in to learn more about how humour in games crosses over with capitalism, irony and dolphins.
Karina is a game designer and visual artist whose work focuses on banality, bodies and labor. Her work has been selected at festivals like IGF, Come Out and Play, Now Play This and Fantastic Arcade. Karina also holds an MFA in Game Design from the NYU Game Center.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
-
Missing episodes?
-
This week, we’ve got our interview with Dr. Aaron Trammell.
We had the chance to hear more about the differences between digital and analog games, the challenges of humor in tabletop and the power dynamics in those spaces.
Dr. Trammell is an assistant professor of Informatics and core faculty in visual studies at UC Irvine. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Analog Game Studies journal, multimedia editor of Sounding Out and a prolific author besides.
Also, if you have the chance, we would highly recommend picking up Dr. Trammell’s new book, Repairing Play.Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
-
Today we chat with Jamie MacDonald about Nordic Larp, Feminist Comedy Clubs, and Type 2 Fun!
Jamie MacDonald is a Canadian artist, standup comic and PhD games scholar. His research and creative practices crosses between LARP, theatre and the performing arts more broadly. Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
-
This week, we have our full interview with Dr. Jaakko Stenros on Nordic Larp and the role of humour in dark or transgressive play.
Dr. Stenros is a lecturer at the University of Turku and a member of the Centre of Excellent in Culture, a joint project between Tampere University, the University of Turku, and the University of Jyväskylä. Stenros has also collaborated with artists and designers to create ludic experiences and has curated many exhibitions at the Finnish Museum of Games. Stenros’ research interests include norm-defying play, game jams, queer play, role-playing games, pervasive games, game rules, and playfulness. -
This week, building on last week’s foundation, we take a look at how the form and impacts of humour can shift as games themselves can change. From digital to analog technologies, individual to group play, and the market considerations that can impact those changes.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
Featured Speakers: Dr. Carly Kocurek, Dr. Aaron Trammell, and Dr. Jaakko Stenros.
-
Humour and Games is back with a new season!
This time around, we turn to the serious and silly uses of humour in social activism and pedagogy. From games for impact, to games in the classroom, Nordic LARP, and Type 2 Fun, it’s the outcomes of humour and play that are the focus this week.Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
Featured Speakers: Karina Popp, Dr. Carly Kocurek, Dr. Jaakko Stenros & Jamie MacDonald
-
In this special episode of the podcast, we talk with Allison Kyran Cole & Dora Rogers about their upcoming game Alchemistresses! Allison and Dora discuss the game’s design, as well as the ins and out of the specific kinds of laughs that come from self-discovery, feelings and the wacky scenarios that come from reincarnating as a magical-girl who might need to pose just right to get that special move off. If this is your jam, then please tune in! And if you’re interested in the game, be sure to follow Allison and Dora on Twitter, or better yet, the game itself which is launching on Kickstarter imminently!
-
After a long break, we’re back with the final episode of season one. Audio issues won’t stop us from delivering. In this season finale, we’ve got our full interview with Osama Dorias!Osama is a Senior Partner Relations Manager at Unity. He's also a game design teacher at Dawson College and a co-host of the Habibis podcast. Osama loves to empower people in expressing themselves through game making. He especially loves to give a voice to marginalized people and causes. He has hosted game jams, workshops and other community activities to this end, which has culminated in co-founding the Montreal Independent Games Awards.
-
Our full interview with Ida Toft featured in previous episodes. Ida is a media artist who works with games and game-like sculptures, especially games that cater for not-quite-human and cross-species environments. Their current work investigates technologies for felt and mechanical vibrations such as vibrotactile motors, phone notifications and rumble in video game controllers as a case for thinking about playful companionships across normalized affiliations. Ida holds a M.Sc. in Design and Communication from the IT University in Copenhagen and is currently a PhD candidate at Concordia University in Tiotia:ke (Montreal).
-
This week, we have the privilege of featuring our interview with Dr. Kishonna Gray!
Dr. Gray is an interdisciplinary, intersectional, digital media scholar whose areas of research include identity, performance and online environments, embodied deviance, cultural production, video games, and Black Cyberfeminism. She is the author of Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming (LSU Press, 2020). She is also the author of Race, Gender, & Deviance in Xbox Live (Routledge, 2014), and the co-editor of two volumes on culture and gaming: Feminism in Play (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018) and Woke Gaming (University of Washington Press, 2018).
Dr. Gray has published in a variety of outlets across disciplines and has also featured in public outlets such as The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The New York Times. Follow Dr. Gray on Twitter @KishonnaGray -
This week, we have our full interview with Eva Toker, which was featured in previous episodes.
Eva is the Chief Creative Officer at Rogue Harbour Game Studio. She has over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and is a lifelong enthusiast for video games, art, and storytelling. Starting out as a concept artist, she has since then shipped over a dozen kickass game titles and is now leading her studio in turning ideas and brands into cohesive, engaging, and marketable products. -
This week, we have someone close to the Concordia University community. It’s Dr. Pippin Barr.
Pippin Barr is a videogame maker, educator, and critic who lives and works in Montréal. He is an Assistant Professor of Computation Arts at Concordia University and the Associate Director of the Technoculture, Art, and Games (TAG) Research Centre. Pippin is a prolific maker of videogames, producing work addressing everything from airplane safety instructions, to contemporary art, to the nature of videogames and videogame technologies.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
-
Full interview used in previous episodes with narF. narF is a game designer by day and a podcaster by night.
Interested in the decentralized web, planning the demise of the internet giants and making weird sounds with virtual synths on a Raspberry Pi.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
-
On this episode, we have our full interview with Kyler Kelly-Tan, an animator and game developer.
He grew up wanting to be a physicist, but discovered 3D animation in his teens, which led him to study art and animation in university. He co-founded Clever Endeavour Games to create Ultimate Chicken Horse. In the past year, they've taken on the challenge of coming up with new game ideas and prototypes, and are working on their next game.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University. -
Full interview used in previous episodes with Dr. Dan Staines. Dr. Dan Staines is a game scholar and critic from Sydney, Australia. When he is not thinking about new and exciting ways to cram morality into videogames, Dan spends his time teaching game design and nerding out about comedy.
You can contact Dan and find examples of his work at his infrequently updated website: www.danstaines.com
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University. -
This week is the full interview, featured in previous episodes, is with Dietrich Squinkifer.
Dietrich Squinkifer, aka Squinky, is a transgender and neurodivergent new media artist who makes weird videogames about feelings while somehow continuing to survive in a late capitalist cyberpunk dystopia.
After stints in both industry and academia, and gaining recognition for works such as Dominique Pamplemousse and Coffee: A Misunderstanding, they are currently in the process of cofounding a worker co-op game studio called Soft Chaos with two of their very good friends, while at the same time working on a solo album of short games titled Squinky and the Squinkettes present: SECOND PUBERTY. -
Full interview featured in previous episodes with Dr. Brendan Keogh.
Dr. Brendan Keogh is a Brisbane-based critic, journalist, and academic. He is currently a Research Fellow in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology. He received his PhD from RMIT University’s School of Media and Communication for a dissertation about the phenomenological and textual entwinings of players and videogames. He has written about the art, industry, and culture of videogames for a range of international outlets including Edge, Polygon, Kotaku, Unwinnable, The New Statesman, Ars Technica, and Overland Literary Journal. He is the author of A Play of Bodies: How We Perceive Videogames and Killings is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops The Line. -
In this episode, we look back on the process of creating this series. Marc, Scott and Andrei reflect on the successes, hopes and challenges of producing podcasts in this format. From content that was left on the cutting room floor, to ethical concerns, to tech issues, nothing is off limits.
-
In this episode, we focus on how live streaming changes the implementation and reception of humor in games, from AAA to indie design processes. This time around, interviewees share insights on the intricacies of designing with audience interaction in mind, both in streams and during game jams or informal get togethers.
Sponsored by TAG (Technology, Art and Games) @ Concordia University.
Featured Speakers: Dr. Pippin Barr, Osama Dorias, Dr. Kishonna Gray, Dr. Brendan Keogh, narF, Dietrich Squinkifer, Kyler Kelly Tan and Eva Toker. - Show more
