Design Workshops on Wearables, Games and Extended Reality

Gamification Group is organizing a workshop series on the topics of WEARABLES, BODY and GAMES. In these workshops, we will give a close look to distinct facets of these interdisciplinary topics by bringing together players and professionals from different related disciplines. Our aim is to explore the integration of body data and wearables to gameplay of various game genres.

We are looking for participants who have experience in game design and development, fashion design, interaction design, cosplay, psychophysiology and so on. If you have a connection to one or more of these disciplines and interests, please apply by filling the application form. You can also check the topics of each workshop below, and apply if you think your discipline is related any of them.

We expect applicants to participate in three full-day (10:00-17:00) workshops. First one is selected from 3 possible days that have different themes (see list the below for themes and dates) and the second and the third ones are the Synthesis and the Fusion Workshops on Dec 2-3, 2019 which will bring together all participants in the previous workshops.

What can you expect from the workshops:

• A rigorous interdisciplinary creative activity on an innovative topic that sheds light to future of gaming
• An enjoyable Participatory Design experience where you will get chance to work on a problem with players and other stakeholders from different fields
• Coffee, cookies, sandwiches, buns and lunch 🙂
• 75€ Amazon Gift Card for the participants who participated in all three workshops
• We’ll also compensate for reasonable travel expenses (i.e. Train and Bus Ticket) of participants who reside outside Tampere.

What we expect from you:

• Spare your three days and create with us!

We will choose participants depending on the diversity in terms of backgrounds, previous related experience, capacity of the workshops and their availability for all three workshops.

Application Form: https://bit.ly/wearxrworkshop
Application Deadline: 03.01.2020
Notification of Acceptance: 05.01.2020

Workshops will be held at Tampere University. Exact locations will be announced soon. Note: Reasonable travel expenses (i.e. Train or Bus Tickets) will be compensated for the participants who reside outside of Tampere.

Workshop Dates and Topics:

13 January 2020, 10:00-17:00 – Bioadaptive Game Design for Extended Reality with Wearables
In this workshop, participants will ideate on the utilization of body signals (i.e. heart rate) to control extended reality games.

Required expertise: Game Design, Interaction Design, Wearable Development, Biology, Medicine, Psychophysiology, Other Related Expertise to Games, Biosignals and Wearables
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15 January 2020, 10:00-17:00  – Social Interaction in Extended Reality Games through Wearables
In this workshop, participants will work on the social interaction that can be facilitated by wearables in extended reality games. More details will be presented at the beginning of the workshop.

Required expertise: Game Design (Social Features, Multiplayer Games), Interaction Design (Social Interaction through Devices), Wearable Design and Development, Game Development, Other Related Expertise to Games, Computer Mediated Social Interaction and Wearables
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17 January 2020, 10:00-17:00 – Costumes as Extended Reality Game Controllers
In this workshop, participants will create concepts focusing on wearables’ features referring to self-expression, identification to game characters and transformative play. More details will be presented at the beginning of the workshop.

Required expertise: Game Design, Interaction Design, Theater, Costuming, Cosplay, Wearable Design and Development, Game Development, Other Related Expertise to Games, Costumes and Wearables
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23 January 2020, 10:00-17:00 – Synthesis Workshop (We expect all participants to participate in the Synthesis Workshop)
In this workshop, all participants from previous workshops will work in groups to ideate on holistic concepts stemming from their experience on the distinct facets of playful wearables. Participation in this workshop is expected from all participants.
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24 January 2020, 10:00-17:00 – Fusion Workshop (We expect all participants to participate in the Fusion Workshop)
In this workshop, all participants from previous workshops will work on prototyping and presenting their holistic concept created in the Synthesis Workshop. Participation in this workshop is expected from all participants.