The Incredible Playable Podcast: Recent Episodes
Alistair Aitcheson
Alistair Aitcheson, creator and host of The Incredible Playable Show, dines upon a smorgasbord of esoteric topics to explore what they can teach us about play and game-making.
Alistair goes on a search for artificial life.
My own work cited:
The Incredible Playable Show - http://playable.show
The Book Ritual - https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/thebookritual.html
Homunculus - https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/homunculus.html
Links from the episode:
Jelle's Marble Runs - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJdpnjuSWVOLgGT9fIzL0g
Rustle Your Leaves to Me Softly - https://tag.hexagram.ca/games/rustle-leaves-softly/
Most Sincere Greetings Esteemed One - https://globalgamejam.org/2016/games/most-sincere-greetings-esteemed-one
IndieCade interview with Jess Marcotte and Dietrich "Squinky" Squinkifer - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/973387784
Music credits:
Clair De Lune variations by Poddington Bear - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Podington_Bear/Clair_De_Lune_Variations/
Used under Creative Commons Non-Commercial 3.0 Licence
Restless Dreams by Myuu - https://soundcloud.com/myuu/restless-dreams
Used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence
Chopin Prelude in E Minor by Porticodoro / SmartCGArt Media Productions - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FChopinPreludeOp28n4.OGG
Used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence
Claire de Lune by Laurens Goedhart - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clair_de_lune_(Claude_Debussy)_Suite_bergamasque.ogg
Used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence
What connects surrealist artist Man Ray to the hacked game emulator that Alistair has been working on? The only way to find out is to tune in and listen.
Bon appetit!
Or at least the audio equivalent of bon appetit. Bon écoutage?
My own work cited:
Alistair's Magic Box (the hackable emulator): https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/magicbox.html
My Twitch channel (where audiences play with the hacked emulator with me as their guinea pig): https://www.twitch.tv/agaitcheson
Video - playing Sonic the Hedgehog with random controls (2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DnHXv__NjY
Video - playing Sonic the Hedgehog with glitches and friends (2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwj1XTB0nlE
Links from the episode:
Surrealism at Play - Susan Laxton: https://www.dukeupress.edu/surrealism-at-play
A Google search for Rayographs: https://www.google.com/search?q=rayographs
Music credits:
Kevin McCloud: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Classical_Sampler (Creative Commons Attribution licence)
Kai Engel: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/ (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence)
Lee Maddeford: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Maddeford/Instrumentals_1/ (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence)
Alistair turns his spyglass of playfulness towards TV quiz show University Challenge: a show whose main gimmick is that the questions are really really hard.
He explores the emergent design of these super-difficult questions, and his own experience trying to re-interpret the show as a playful video challenge. Then, he points his ludolicious lens towards games in the art world, to see how artists have approached the same idea: using games to generate art.
Follow Alistair on Twitch for unusual audience-led performances or take a look at his past experiments: https://www.twitch.tv/agaitcheson/videos?filter=highlights&sort=time
My own work cited:
Getting a Perfect Score in University Challenge (YouTube video) https://youtu.be/PHtcKsAy2gQ
The co-operative Sonic the Hedgehog controller: https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/megacooperator.html
Links from the episode:
Exquisite Corpse(Wikipedia entry) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse
ioq3aPaint - Julian Oliver: https://julianoliver.com/output/ioq3aPaint.html
Super Mario Clouds - Cory Arcangel: https://coryarcangel.com/things-i-made/2002-001-super-mario-clouds
Beat the Champ - Cory Arcangel: https://coryarcangel.com/shows/beat-the-champ/
SOD - JODI: https://www.leonardo.info/gallery/gallery351/jodi.html
Works of Game by John Sharp: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/works-game
Music credits:
Kevin McCloud: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Classical_Sampler (Creative Commons Attribution licence)
Kai Engel: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/ (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence)
Lee Maddeford: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Maddeford/Instrumentals_1/ (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence)
Alistair looks at chessboards created as interactive art pieces, and relates them to his own experiences making interactive art and performance from chess.
Tune in for Takako Saito's smellable chess pieces, Horses Running Endlessly, an egg becoming God, and of course Yoko Ono's chess set where all the pieces are white.
Links from the episode:
Holly Gramazio - How Not to Play: https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/XeEL6REAAB8AtgaS
The Museum of Modern Art's blog on All White Chess Set: https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/07/14/notes-on-yoko-onos-white-chess-set/
Critical Play by Mary Flanagan: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/critical-play
Now Play This, an annual games festival: https://nowplaythis.net/nptathome2020/
Critical Distance is my go-to source of games reading, mentioned in the episode: https://www.critical-distance.com/
My own work cited:
Pawns: https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/pawns.html
Playing Pawns against Twitch Chat: https://youtu.be/G-nXU3T5zuc
Playing Pawns against Twitch Chat for Now Play This: https://youtu.be/2GlQ2K6Vv20
Codex Bash: https://www.alistairaitcheson.com/games/codexbash.html
Music credits:
Kevin McCloud: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Classical_Sampler (Creative Commons Attribution licence)
Kai Engel: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/ (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence)
Lee Maddeford: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Maddeford/Instrumentals_1/ (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence)
Looking through the book Clowns: In Conversation with Modern Masters and reflecting on how the experiences of the clowns in the book have reflected my own creative processes.
This first episode focuses on a theme of humility, and how it's affected the design of the games in my interactive stage show.
And, for you to play along with at home, a surprising altercation with food!
Music source: Steven O'Brien - http://www.steven-obrien.net/ (CC Attribution)