CartComputer Games & Hellscaping of the Unreal Engine Instructor: Václav JanoščíkProgram: WorkshopCredit(s): 1Date: July 19th, August 2nd, August 16th, August 30th, September 13th.Time: 09:00-11:30 ET
DESCRIPTION: Gaming is ever more important not only as a cultural form and industry but also in the artworld and contemporary philosophy. This Workshop thematizes the main aspects of this growing medium while avoiding its mere assimilation (into art or discourse) by focusing not on its current forms or narratives but on its very design. The Workshop will introduce Unreal Engine, its basic features and components, in a broader context of media culture and philosophy. We will get from the basics of gaming theory (Galloway) to more political edges of the virtual space to identity-play (Patterson), while featuring guests like Ondřej Trhoň and Alex Quicho.
The Workshop will experiment with what the virtual space of gameplay means for us, moving from the dialectics of hellscape and pastoral garden (Session 1) through dystopian realism of shooter templates (Session 2) and the “final” dialectics of play and identity (Sessions 3 and 4). In the background of this direction is a post-Marxist account of the game as the medium of the empire. Students will work themselves with Unreal Engine to create (1) a working MOD of Lyra Shooter game with base-cap functionality and their own map plus adjustments, (2) a basic walking simulator in a prepared environment with event triggers and subtitled text. The Workshop is designed to get the most from Unreal Engine without any prior experience, focusing on the ability to use its already existing assets.
Session 0 (Open Session): Discussion of gaming experience and participant’s interests; Introduction to the course and explanation of approach; Literature review; Poaching with Unreal Engine (free assets, self-reliance, post-production, remixing).
Session 1: Dialectics of Hellscapes and Pastoral Garden in gamespace: Game as art-medium; Orientation in UI, creating a project, FAB and assets, blueprints, and differences between Unreal Engine and Unity; Creating a custom map for Lyra Shooter Game.
Session 2: Discussion on the reading, concepts of acceleration and dystopian realism; Ontology, worldbuiding, and worldending in videogames; Workflow reflection (asset management, materials); Adjusting the player character, map, level design, 3D assets (meshes, materials); Build of the game and multiplayer play.
Session 3: The concept of the avatar; Queer games, gender, and erotics; Discussing erotics; Creating a new project in Unreal Engine, basics of blueprint design, event triggers, basic narrative and setting composition.
Guest: Ondřej Trhoň (No Fun).
Session 4: Online and gamified subjectivities; Identity-as-play and conspiracy theorizing; Walking simulator and trauma-realism; Finishing the prototype of the game, making a build, and testing the gameplay.
Guest: Alex Quicho (Girlstack).
IMAGE: Augusto de Campos and Julio Plaza, From Poemobiles,1974
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