Adrian Phillips and Ben Spalding, Master’s students in the Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) graduate program at UC Santa Cruz, are bridging their interests in storytelling, art, and game design.
The students recently collaborated in the game design festival Dare Protoplay’s Dare to Be Digital competition. The international event brings teams together to develop innovative, commercial work, with finalists travelling to Dundee, Scotland to present their projects for participants and judges to explore.
Both in their second year in the program, Phillips and Spalding realized as undergraduates the benefit and necessity of a graduate program to their creative futures.
“While my undergraduate degree allowed me a large amount of room to explore my interests, I knew that graduate school would give me the dedicated time and resources that simply were not available before,” Adrian Phillips said, “…where I would be able to push my research interests further.”
“As I started to figure out the path that I wanted to take towards a career as a narrative designer and digital artist,” Ben Spalding said, “graduate school presented itself as a sensible option for both synthesizing the different skill sets that I had, and finding a community that I could become a part of.”
Spalding examines multi-player games, “looking for strategies that writers and designers can use to improve the way that groups of users experience a story together,” he said. “My work leads me to also focus on practices of design research and the relationship between tool-making and art-making.”
Spalding’s path to the interdisciplinary DANM program at UC Santa Cruz was born, he said, from his earliest experiences with storytelling. “I was very close to my two younger brothers growing up, and the three of us spent a lot of time telling stories and inventing different types of games. That wonderful feeling of collaboratively building worlds and negotiating the space of play with my brothers has left a big impact on me, and I think it was always flying under the radar while I explored other things.”
Phillips also used to play with immersive games as a child, and believes this led him to his research interests today. “Growing up, things like Legos and Dungeons and Dragons felt like they had the perfect balance of structure and creativity in them, and this open, building block style of play is something I aspire to bring with me to my graduate work. Here at UCSC I often work with code and structured frameworks, but employ them towards expressive processes.”
Exploring and developing the user’s game experience, Phillips examines ways of “giving players interesting and compelling systems in which they can create, explore, and learn,” he said. “Often this involves the use of various artificial intelligence methods, which allow for a more open-ended, expressive game.”
“Much of my research focuses on implementing procedural gameplay metaphors,” Phillips said, “and the subjects of these games varies from project to project, ranging from issues of intimacy to colonialism.”
For the Dare to Be Digital competition at Dare Protoplay, Phillips and Spalding developed a game called “You and the Garden,” which was chosen as a finalist in the competition.
You and the Garden, a collaboration between Adrian Phillips and Ben Spalding, as shown at Dare Protoplay in Dundee Scotland. Credit: A. Phillips
“One subject that we are really trying to touch upon in our game, either directly or indirectly, is the issue of how artificial intelligence [AI] is portrayed in media and culture,” the designers explained, stating that current depictions of AI revolve around “either some sort of sexy robot rooted in the service industry, or a killer extinction machine that has decided to delete humanity.”
“We would like to change these perceptions and propose an alternative in which AI can be treated on equal terms, as an entity that one can form a personal relationship with through play. A character, if you will, but not one that we intend to anthropomorphize. This relationship is the basis around which we crafted our players' experience.”
Phillips and Spalding both chose the DANM program at UC Santa Cruz because of the opportunities the program provides its graduate students within and outside of the classroom.
“Here at UCSC I have been able to pursue projects and research questions that simply would not have been possible without the freedom of [being] a graduate student,” said Phillips. “DANM does everything to help its students find research, funding, and venues for their work.”
“My graduate program has given me the perfect mix of freedom and support to do the type of work that's important to me,” Spalding said. “There's a lot of trust that goes into that relationship, and I'm thankful that they're willing to give it because I see so much good work come about as a result of DANM's structure.
“It's not only about me enjoying the work that I'm able to do, but also about being in a cohort where everyone's work is fueled by that raw, personal investment.”
Spalding values the interdisciplinary structure within the DANM program; “My cohort within DANM comes from such a diverse range of backgrounds, and everyone is doing something different. Belonging to a program where so many different practices and arts are encouraged to thrive together really energizes me.”
Phillips appreciates the opportunity to work with collaborative groups in his pursuits. “As a member of the Playable Media subgroup of DANM, I feel I have received the perfect balance of freedom to pursue my interests, and support structure in which I can exchange ideas, collaborate, and seek help, both through my advisor and specific research groups.”
Both graduate students believe their experience at Dare Protoplay will benefit their graduate education, and ultimately their work after graduate school, and they hope to encourage other graduate students to participate in these expository meetings; “you would be surprised what kinds of ideas, collaborations, and friendships can be made at these events.”
The experience gave them to chance to see their work through a new perspective. “When you've spent the last couple months working on something with it so close to your face, you can lose sight or motivation. Seeing people pick up and play with our game is extremely motivational moving forwards.”
Adrian Philips plans to continue in game design after graduate school, “either through my own studio, or by joining an established company. This is of course one of my big questions as I approach the end of my program.”
Benjamin Spalding is looking forward to putting into practice the various skills and abilities he’s gained from the DANM program. “My personal interest in creating collaborative narrative experiences will be the motive power behind the work I do, but it's not really a field that has only one or two sets of track laid in it. What happens over this next year will determine a lot for future me, and it's comforting to be navigating the possibility space in a place like UCSC.”
Phillips also used to play with immersive games as a child, and believes this led him to his research interests today. “Growing up, things like Legos and Dungeons and Dragons felt like they had the perfect balance of structure and creativity in them, and this open, building block style of play is something I aspire to bring with me to my graduate work. Here at UCSC I often work with code and structured frameworks, but employ them towards expressive processes.”
Exploring and developing the user’s game experience, Phillips examines ways of “giving players interesting and compelling systems in which they can create, explore, and learn,” he said. “Often this involves the use of various artificial intelligence methods, which allow for a more open-ended, expressive game.”
“Much of my research focuses on implementing procedural gameplay metaphors,” Phillips said, “and the subjects of these games varies from project to project, ranging from issues of intimacy to colonialism.”
For the Dare to Be Digital competition at Protoplay, Phillips and Spalding developed a game called “You and the Garden,” which was chosen as a finalist in the competition.
“One subject that we are really trying to touch upon in our game, either directly or indirectly, is the issue of how artificial intelligence [AI] is portrayed in media and culture,” the designers explained, stating that current depictions of AI revolve around “either some sort of sexy robot rooted in the service industry, or a killer extinction machine that has decided to delete humanity.”
“We would like to change these perceptions and propose an alternative in which AI can be treated on equal terms, as an entity that one can form a personal relationship with through play. A character, if you will, but not one that we intend to anthropomorphize. This relationship is the basis around which we crafted our players' experience.”
The You and the Garden game takes the player through ….
Phillips and Spalding both chose the DANM program at UC Santa Cruz because of the opportunities the program provides its graduate students within and outside of the classroom.
“Here at UCSC I have been able to pursue projects and research questions that simply would not have been possible without the freedom of [being] a graduate student,” said Phillips. “DANM does everything to help its students find research, funding, and venues for their work.”
“My graduate program has given me the perfect mix of freedom and support to do the type of work that's important to me,” Spalding said. “There's a lot of trust that goes into that relationship, and I'm thankful that they're willing to give it because I see so much good work come about as a result of DANM's structure.
"It's not only about me enjoying the work that I'm able to do, but also about being in a cohort where everyone's work is fueled by that raw, personal investment.”
Spalding values the interdisciplinary structure within the DANM program; “My cohort within DANM comes from such a diverse range of backgrounds, and everyone is doing something different. Belonging to a program where so many different practices and arts are encouraged to thrive together really energizes me.”
Phillips appreciates the opportunity to work with collaborative groups in his pursuits. “As a member of the Playable Media subgroup of DANM, I feel I have received the perfect balance of freedom to pursue my interests, and support structure in which I can exchange ideas, collaborate, and seek help, both through my advisor and specific research groups.”
Visitors at Protoplay explore the "garden" with their artificial intelligence companion. Credit: A. Phillips
Both graduate students believe their experience at Protoplay will benefit their graduate education, and ultimately their work after graduate school, and they hope to encourage other graduate students to participate in these expository meetings; “you would be surprised what kinds of ideas, collaborations, and friendships can be made at these events.”
The experience gave them to chance to see their work through a new perspective. “When you've spent the last couple months working on something with it so close to your face, you can lose sight or motivation. Seeing people pick up and play with our game is extremely motivational moving forwards.”
Adrian Philips plans to continue in game design after graduate school, “either through my own studio, or by joining an established company. This is of course one of my big questions as I approach the end of my program.”
Benjamin Spalding is looking forward to putting into practice the various skills and abilities he’s gained from the DANM program. “My personal interest in creating collaborative narrative experiences will be the motive power behind the work I do, but it's not really a field that has only one or two sets of track laid in it. What happens over this next year will determine a lot for future me, and it's comforting to be navigating the possibility space in a place like UCSC.”
