idiosyncratic games

in this studio format class, we will be taking a close look at four game developers and their unique, idiosyncratic styles, and bringing their style to your own practice. the developers will be chosen collectively by the class from a pre-curated longlist of idiosyncratic developers.

the course will be structured over four two-week cycles that alternate between playing and making:

for the first week, we will play games by a new developer, and research additional supporting material (blog posts, videos, essays &c) regarding their work. in class, we will discuss our learnings and what we believe makes the developer’s style unique and special.
for the second week, each student will make a (small) game, or prototype, or any piece of art, really, inspired by the developer. in class, we will play everyone’s pieces, and critique the work, with the specific lens of how the week’s developer inspired it.

the cycle will repeat for four distinct idiosyncratic developers. at the final day of class, we will arrange an interview with one of the them. students will then choose one of their projects to develop further and present at a final showcase at boshi’s place.

if you have any questions you can email me at gg@mut.media or message me on discord @mut.moochi

details

instructor: mut/moochi

date: september 22th - December 5th (10 weeks)

time: tuesdays 6pm~9pm (new york time)

location: in-person, at boshi's place, 1002 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11221, or online.

cost: sliding scale of $600-1200

frequently asked questions*

will you be teaching people how to make games? (or use tool x/y/z)

there will be no technical instruction in this class. we will be discussing specifics of how developers might approach the making of their games, but it will be tool agnostic. some developers might have specific tools they use and we might discuss them, and you can choose if you want to use them or not.

i can't make games on my own, could i come and make a painting/song/dinner/sculpture/& inspired by the weekly developer?

yes, if you feel excited to play experimental games and figure out how that knowledge might relate to your practice, i would love to have you around! we will take every project that is brought to the "making" week seriously and critique it, regardless of what form it takes.

i can't make games on my own, can i join and make the art for other people?

i wouldn't count on it, as it would depend on other students being willing to collaborate with you. while i think collaboration is a great thing, in the context of this class many of the developers that we are inspired by work on their own, so people might also feel motivated to do so. some developers are collectives or strong collaborators, and students might want to explore that facet of the work

most of my work i make in a collective/duo/hivemind, can i make my games with them for this class?

you can make your games in any configuration you want to, but only people that sign up to the class should come to the class, please come as a duo if you feel inclined, or invite your partner to make some art for one of your games!

i can't pay $600 for the class, are there scholarships available?

i am doing an experiment for scholarships for this class, there will be one fully funded scholarship slot from the outset. more scholarship slots might be available as other students sign up and pay above the minimum amount for the class. if you sign up for a scholarship, i will let you know if you got it as soon as i can.

i would like to help fund scholarships, how can i do that?

get in touch with me at my email gg@mut.media!

i can't be in brooklyn for in person classes or the showcase, can i still take the class?

yes, i will be running the class in a hybrid format. and we have some equipment at boshi's to have you game still be showcased!

can i use ai in my projects?

that would fucking suck.

week by week

legend:

in class

assignment

09/22 | week 1 - what are idiosyncratic games?

fast rundown of curated longlist

choose shortlist (#1, #2, #3, #4) from curated longlist

play games by #1

09/29 | week 2 - play #1

discuss #1

make game inspired by #1

10/06 | week 3 - make #1

crit games made inspired by #1

play games by #2

10/13 | week 4 - play #2

discuss #2

make game inspired by #2

10/20 | week 5 - make #2

crit games made inspired by #2

play games by #3

10/27 (remote) | week 6 - play #3

discuss #3

make game inspired by #3

11/03 | week 7 - make #3

crit games made inspired by #3

play games by #4

11/10 | week 8 - play #4

discuss #4

make game inspired by #4

11/17 | week 9 - make #4 / showcase plan

crit games made inspired by #4

start planning for final showcase

play more games by interviewed developer

work further on one of the games in preparation to showcase

write questions for interview

11/24 week | break (thanksgiving)

12/01 | week 10 - interview one of the developers / showcase prep / retro

interview with developer

last preparations for final showcase

class retro