I've done a terrible job of keeping up with this blog. And now it seems like there is too much catching up to do. But still, I had one of the best times of my life in early June and it was mostly because I got to go on a seaplane, which I've been longing to do ever since I moved to Seattle. (I love small planes!)
My boss, Rick Fehrenbacher, and I went to the Digital Humanities conference (DHSI) at the University of Victoria. To get there all I had to do was stroll a few blocks with my suitcase to arrive at Kenmore Air on South Lake Union. It took about 35 minutes to fly to Victoria and the seaplane put us down right in front of the Empress Hotel. We got some lunch, strolled around and caught a bike race, had some gelato and then took a cab out to the university.
My group, Games for Digital Humanists, was by far the coolest group of all. Everyone was wonderful and funny. Our teachers, Andy Keenan and Matt Bouchard kept us laughing the entire time. (Rick was in a group called Digital Humanities for Deans and Administrators. Not the same high hilarity in his group I guess. Go figure.) On the fourth day, Matt and Andy broke us up into groups and had us play a game they created, which was a game to make a game. As a result all the groups came up with terrific games but below you will see the standout, Reunion.
Reunion Game
Below is the Kisckstarter video for the game Reunion, which was designed by Andrew Ferguson, Greg Lord and Bronwen Hudson. The premise is that you have to endure a family reunion for one day without your "Stress-o-meter" getting too high. Every turn deals a new trauma, which can be combated with coping mechanisms but all the while your family is targeting your unique characteristics (vulnerabilities).
Vacation Migration Game
Andy and Matt's game led our team - Chris Leeder, John Fink, and I - to make a simple kid's board game called Vacation Migration. We set it up as a Print & Play game on this website.