THATCamp Games II will be held at Case Western Reserve University April 19-21.

Find more information and register here: http://2013.thatcampgames.org/

We’ll update this post as new information rolls in–tweet @thatcampgames or use the #thatcamp games hashtag if you’ve got photos, write-ups, blog posts, etc. to share!

Google Docs

Please help us gather nomadic session docs back into one folder

The THATCamp Games Google Docs Folder

Photos

• Two Happy THATCamp Organizers (One Angry Bird) by Matt Kirschenbaum
• Photo set from Emily Lewis
• Photo set from Seth Denbo
• Photo set from Anastasia Salter
• Photo set from Amanda Visconti

Write-Ups

• Short notice on “Purple Pawn” game news blog
• Blog post by Sukey Waldenberger (attendee)
• ProfHacker article by Anastasia Salter
• MITH blog post by Amanda Visconti
• MITH Monitor Notice
• Blog post by Bradley Cruse (attendee)
• Blog post by Timothy Burke (attendee)
• Blog post by Adeline Koh (attendee)
• CUNY Games Commons blog post by Maura Smale (attendee)
• ARCLog post by Maura Smale (attendee)
• Anastasia Salter on the THATCamp Games “Invasion” ARG
• Amanda Visconti on THATCamp Games’ graphic design
• Play the Past authors write-up THATCamp Games
• Blog post by Carly Kocurek (attendee)

Twitter

We haven’t sorted through these yet to remove some of the #thatcamp-but-not-#thatcamp-games tweets near the beginning, but here’s some bulk Twitter data if you can’t wait:

#thatcamp.txt

#thatcampgames.txt

#thatcamp.xml (updated 2/1/2012… we just keep tweeting about THATCamp Games!)

thatcampgames.xml (updated 1-28-2012)

Thanks to everyone who attended last weekend’s THATCamp Games. Over the next week, we’ll be archiving and Storifying the Twitter feed, aggregating photos, and gathering GoogleDocs. If you haven’t had a chance yet, please take this brief survey on your THATCamp Games experience.
If you hear from anyone who’d like to be contacted about future THATCamp Games unconferences, please direct them to the form on the sidebar of this website, where they can share their contact information with us.

Hi ThatCamp-ers!

THATCamp Games is this week! As you’re making your final plans to join us in College Park, here are a few things you can expect:

All Weekend: Gaming Galore

Find a group of friends and play some games! We’ll have board and card games available at the registration desk for sign out, and we invite you to bring your games—physical, digital, and other—to play throughout the weekend.

Thursday: Going Cardboard Screening

At 5pm in Tawes  1100, we’ll be having a screening of the “Going Cardboard” board games documentary. The director, Lorien Green, will be joining us by Skype for a Q&A immediately following. You can learn more about the film here: http://www.boardgamemovie.com/. This event is hosted by MITH and open to all.

Friday: Bootcamp Workshops

We have a full day of fantastic workshops scheduled. Join us for coffee and pastries at 8am, and the workshops start at 9am. We have three tracks for all skill levels covering both physical and digital games. Check out the full listing here: http://thatcampgames.org/fullchedule/ — and if you’re scheduled to run a workshop, make sure you arrive 15 minutes before your session and let us know if you need help setting up (and thanks again for sharing your skills!). If you’re attending a software workshop, make sure to download the software before the workshop if possible!

Saturday: Unconference Sessions

We’ve got tons of great proposals already, and there’s still plenty of time to get in on the conversation! We’ll start with coffee and pastries at 8, and the voting will continue until 9am. If this is your first unconference, voting is the time when you build the schedule by indicating what ideas you want to discuss. Sessions will be scheduled throughout the day, including “dork shorts”—opportunities to quickly share your ideas, games and brainstorms with the community.

Sunday: Game Jam

On Sunday, bring your own created games and your game-design skills out to share your own games. We’ll have an informal game jam, complete with opportunities for rapid prototyping “Glorious Trainwreck” style for those who want to build new games.

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If you have any questions, feel free to shout out through the #thatcamp hashtag on Twitter or tweet us directly at @thatcampgames. We’ll be in the green THATCamp Games shirts if you want to find us on site with any questions or concerns.

We can’t wait to see you here at THATCamp Games!

As the new year is upon us, it’s time to get ready for THATCamp Games! If you haven’t made your travel plans, we have some suggestions on our travel page. You can also use Twitter to find potential room or ride shares.

But remember, this isn’t a traditional conference, and there’s no need to prepare a paper or presentation. Instead, use this blog to propose a session around ideas in technology, humanities and games that you’d like to share, discuss, debate, hack and build during the course of our weekend. There are great suggestions for proposing sessions on the THATCamp main site.

Feel free to get started now! If you are a participant, you should have your account information in your email–check your spam folder or email us if you have any concerns. And don’t forget to fill out your profile, as we need your t-shirt size and any dietary restrictions as soon as possible!

On Friday, January 20th, we will offer a full day of workshops with three tracks running simultaneously from 9:00 to 5:15. Here’s a tentative schedule, with many thanks to all our volunteer instructors for making this possible!

“N00b” Track

Beginner-friendly workshops offering an introduction to both physical and digital game design tools and concepts, with no programming experience assumed

• Session One: My First Board Game
• Session Two: Wargames and Conflict Simulations
• Session Three: Modding Civilization IV
• Session Four: Contextual Inquiry
• Session Five: Introduction to GameMaker

Hack Track

Introductions to digital game production tools that may assume some prior programming experience

• Session One: Introduction to Unity
• Session Two: Introduction to Inform 7
• Session Three: Introduction to Kinect
• Session Four: Flash Games with Flixel
• Session Five: Building HTML5 Games

Edu Track

Sessions focused on games in the classroom, for all levels of experience

• Session One: Writing and Games
• Session Two: Teaching with Video Games
• Session Three: Meaningful Puzzles
• Session Four: Build your own ARG Course
• Session Five: What’s your Game Plan?

Scheduling of sessions subject to change based on workshop instructors’ travel plans–read more about all our workshops and instructors on our BootCamp page!

For attendees starting to make travel plans, please note the following:

• The UMD campus is accessible by bus and metro train from both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore (and their associated airports: BWI in Baltimore and Reagan in DC). Those who fly to Baltimore should factor in the 30-40 minutes bus ride from BWI to UMD. UMD lists more travel information here.
• The conference hotel is the UMD Marriott. Please do book ahead of time, as this is the main hotel for all campus functions.
• Update: We will be showing the new eurogames documentary Going Cardboard on Thursday evening (1/19) at 5pm (location is TBA but will be on UMD campus), probably followed by a Skype Q&A with the film maker. Registration for the conference will not begin until the morning of 1/20 (pre-Bootcamp sessions).

We’ll be sending you all website accounts information and instructions on writing unconference session proposals in late December/early January, but if you’re rarin’ to get started, the main THATCamp site has some great suggestions and examples for writing a session proposal (you won’t be able to post your writing until we create THATCamp Games site accounts for everyone in late December/early January, but feel free to start drafting offline).

Applications for THATCamp Games closed at midnight on 10/31/2011. All applicants will be notified whether they’ve been accepted by the end of November.

THATCamp Games will be hosting an all-day multi-track BootCamp with opportunities to learn about games and game design at all levels. We’d love to hear from anyone interested in teaching a BootCamp addressing topics such as (but far from limited to!):

• Game Design Tools (such as GameMaker, XNA, Unity, etc)
• Emerging Platforms (mobile development, iPads, etc)
• Digital Humanities Games (funding, project development, etc)
• Games in the Classroom (syllabus design for playful learning, finding and using games, etc)

Please send your ideas to Amanda and Anastasia at: thatcampgames (at) gmail.com. We’ll be announcing some of the exciting BootCamps already on deck during the next few weeks, so watch our Twitter account @thatcampgames for news!

THATCamp Games, a themed humanities and technology unconference embracing games of all kinds, will take place January 20th to 22nd at the University of Maryland in College Park. If you’re interested in learning more about games and game design in the humanities, as part of research, or in relation to pedagogy and learning, this unconference is for you. No matter how much knowledge of games in the humanities you have coming in, you’ll leave with new skills and new ideas.

Some of the things you can expect at THATCamp Games include:

• A full-day BootCamp with workshops on humanities games and game design for all levels of experience
• New ideas and conversations on games, pedagogy, technology and research organized by you, the participants
• A game room for impromptu sessions and socializing
• Lots of  great conversations and new games!

Registration will open on September 15th, and close once the conference is full.

THATCamp Games is being organized by Anastasia Salter and Amanda Visconti. If you’d like to lend a hand or teach a bootcamp, let us know at thatcampgames (at) gmail.com.