Zoo Machines #Festival reveals the #speakers preparing to unleash some major inspiration #gamedev via @cosmocover

Zoo Machines Festival reveals the speakers preparing to unleash some major inspiration

On Friday November 7th, in the hours prior to the GameJam at 18:00, the Zoo Machines festival will present 9 consecutive talks dedicated to the cutting edge of experimentation, innovation, arts and production models in games.

Organised in cooperation with Pictanovo and supported by the “Tandem” cross-border project with Flanders, the afternoon will focus on opening minds to the full potential of games for a wide variety of audiences including artists, cultural stakeholders, developers, ICT companies and researchers.
The speakers will take their audience on a vivid exploration of the new frontiers of gaming and artistic experiences, with the aim of stimulating the creation of new opportunities and projects.

1. The inspirational speakers who will bring these ideas to life are:
> Joe Robins (UK) from Unity
« Unity and Jams – A 10 minute tour of Unity’s support for experimental game development. »
> John Polson (US) from Indie Fund
« As a private source of funding for indie devs, how does Indie Fund work? »
> Kaho Abe (US) from EyeBeam & Metro Tech University
« Making experiences where wearable technology, fabrication and game design meet. »
> Jonathan Van Hove (DK) from Copenhagen Game Collective
« Burn The Keyboard: Looking at the physical world to make better digital games. »
> Adam Saltsman (US) from Finji
« Partnering with developers to help people bring their games to a larger audience, find out what they are up to, how they are doing it, and what they are trying to accomplish! »
> Tim Garbos (DK) from Exile
« One of the founders of the famous Exile Game Jam will give a surprising talk! »
> Bruno Verbbrughe (F) from Dualo
« Dualo, an innovative musical instrument, from prototype to manufactured product. »
> Aurélie&Pascal Baltazar (F) from Les Baltazars
« Nocturnes and Nebula: from art installation to interactive and individual experience with fog and light. »
> Laurent Grisoni (F) from CNRS/INRIA and Lille-1 University
« Interaction and the physical world »

All the talks are free (as is the lunch and drinks reception). All you have to do is register.

2. The afternoon will take place in the beautifully renovated industrial setting of La Plaine Images, Lille’s digital and creative industries cluster. The schedule for Friday 7th is as follows:
– 12:30 to 13:30 – Lunch
– 13:30 to 17:00 – Talks
– 17:00 to 19:00 – Drinks reception
– 18:00 – GameJam starts (registrations are open)

Organized by Game IN, the video game industry trade association for Northern France, Zoo Machines brings together developers, artists, creators and makers to push the boundaries of video games and give flight to their weirdest ideas over one pixel-packed weekend.

The festival’s GameJam sets itself apart by bringing together likeminded people hungry to create innovative art forms and challenge the medium and our expectations, with the ultimate goal of building bridges between the worlds of art, interaction, design and games.

Smashing through the restrictions of the usual controllers and codes of gaming, Zoo Machines instead invites GameJammers to experiment by disrupting players’ usage patterns and habits, by giving new purpose to the body and the space around it, and by hacking controllers and whatever else they can lay their hands on.

7/8/9 November: weekend dedicated to developers, makers, artists, creators. Registration required.
● Talks on 7/11: free with compulsory registration
● GameJam 7, 8 & 9/11: registration fee 30€
Location: Imaginarium, La Plaine Images, 99A Boulevard Descat, 59200 Lille.

For more information go to www.zoomachines.com
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