Amelia’s Magazine | People Speak – Who Wants to Be?

People1All Photos © The People Speak

The People Speak is an arts and technology collective with a very good idea; it is inviting the world to decide its own fate in the most important game show on the planet and why not take part?!
To tie in with the visit of world leaders to Copenhagen, order on Friday 18th December Who Wants to Be…? will see a live audience of 400 in the Danish capital and thousands of people around the world invest €5 each and discuss and vote on how to spend the budget they have created in the interests of saving the planet. The game show gives people a new way of making global decisions and financing them with real money, ask allowing the participants to have a very real influence on the environmental issues world leaders are considering at the United Nations Climate Change conference.
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The art world is currently experiencing awakening of a sort and The People Speak fit into this new trend of art and ecology. Still, they are one of a kind; a London-based collective founded in 2004 by Mikey Weinkove and Saul Albert, with an ever-expanding group of highly talented specialists. They are committed to developing tools and technologies for participatory art and media, bringing people together for spontaneous conversation and creative exchange. They were recently featured in US Now, a film project about the power of mass collaboration, government and the Internet. Their latest project has been well road tested as Who Wants to Be…? has been performed for the last three years throughout the UK.

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With the measly sum of € 5 just about anyone in this world with access to the Internet can take part in the People Speak’s latest extravaganza; a dangerously democratic game show that turns Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on it head! Entitled Planetary Pledge Pyramid the game show is a platform for people’s own ideas on how to save the planet, with a live audience of around 400 people in Copenhagen and thousands more taking part across the globe and London has a prime role to play. Here is the way it works: the whole audience discusses and votes on how to spend the budget they have created in the interests of saving the planet. The game show gives people a new way of making global decisions and financing them with real money, allowing the participants to have a real influence on the environmental issues world leaders are considering at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

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Every idea put forward by players will be instantly visualised on a giant screen in the auditorium in Copenhagen and online. Using an ‘ask the audience ‘ computer vision voting system, participants can dictate the agenda of the evening, take part in rigorous debate and voting to change the world. In previous game shows players have decided to collectively buy and won a small piece of woodland, commission a democracy bench for an East London park and most recently, buy a generator to power a clinic in Zambia.

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Here is a perfect chance to make a real difference with a constructive debate for anyone serious about climate change issues; meaning you, dear Amelia’s magazine reader. At each of these events, the audience has elected to invest in something creative, innovative and sustainable. To find out how to pledge 5 euros and participate on the 18th of December, (which is tomorrow! from 19 to 20.30 pm ) please visit the website or if you have a Facebook account, you can play the planetary pledge pyramid game to cast your vote, invite friends and suggest new ideas to address climate change!

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Categories ,art, ,Art Environmental Climate Change, ,art review, ,Climate Change, ,copenhagen, ,Copenhagen summit, ,debate, ,environment, ,game, ,People speak, ,Planetary Pledge pyramid, ,show, ,united nations

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Amelia’s Magazine | Morphopolis: an illustrated computer game inspired by the natural world

Morphopolis computer game
Morphopolis is a visually stunning adventure game lovingly crafted by two architecture graduates and designers, Dan Walters and Ceri Williams. It was inspired by two other games: Machinarium and The Tiny Bang Story, with players taken on a lucid and fantastical journey of transformation and discovery that enables them to explore and interact with beautifully illustrated scenes to find hidden objects and solve puzzles.

Morphopolis computer game
Morphopolis won the Association of Illustrators Award in the Design category for New Talent and will be on display at Somerset House in London during October before touring nationally. I asked Ceri to explain the process behind their creation, and he was happy to oblige.

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Morphopolis is an independent game conceived and produced Dan Walters and myself. The production began in July 2012 and has continued as a part time project alongside professional work. Dan and I met whilst studying a the Welsh School of Architecture in Cardiff and he subsequently qualified as an architect before quitting the profession to become a games developer. He asked me to collaborate on a project last year since he wanted to work with an illustrator who did not have preconceptions about video game art direction.

Morphopolis computer game
We set about trying to create a game that would appeal to a broad audience regardless of age, gender or previous experience playing games. The narrative and tone for the game came from this starting point and we hope that the natural insect world taps into people’s innate curiosity and reminds the player of a time when they have peered into the undergrowth to quietly observe the bugs and beetles. This idea of looking closely at a micro world is a fascination that we think all people have shared at some point in their lives, usually as toddlers and children.

Morphopolis computer game
The game is a hidden object adventure, which is a genre sometimes known as point-and-click. Essentially its a bit like an interactive Where’s Wally with extra puzzles and interaction within the scenes. Players must uncover puzzles and find items hidden around the scene to progress in the game.

Morphopolis computer game
The game explores the idea of metamorphosis and increase of scale. Each chapter sees the character changing into a larger insect and therefore seeing more of this larger world that they inhabit. As the chapters progress the natural environment starts to take on a more architectural language with intertwined roots becoming huge cathedrals and plants becoming canopies. There is also this architectural quality at the smallest scale where blades of grass become skyscrapers and individual plants become huge landscapes.

Morphopolis computer game
The art style was developed to reflect this intricate and lush world. A number of ink washes and pencil markings where created to form texture layers used within the colouring process. To create the scenes large drawings were produced as chapter ‘blueprints’. These included the whole chapter with various scenes and the routes for character movement, puzzles and interactions. From these the various parts were traced off and turned into pen line drawings which were scanned before being coloured in Photoshop. Each element of the scenes were created as individual layers to allow for larger compositions to be made and the scenes to be grown organically. These images were then uploaded to an editing software which was created by Dan especially for this game. Components were added to scenes or composed to make animations and puzzles were added.

Morphopolis computer game
The game currently exists as an Open Alpha which is a playable but unfinished version available for purchase from our website. We are working towards releasing the finished version this year and hope to coincide the launch with an exhibition at Somerset House which shows the game alongside other winners of the Association of Illustrators Awards. While we finish off the game we’re incorporating as much feedback as we can get so it would be fantastic to hear any thoughts from your readers. (please do leave your thoughts below in the comments section x)

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Hear Dan and Ceri talking about the game above. Isn’t Morphopolis beautiful? You can get involved with Morphopolis here.

Categories ,Adventure Game, ,Association of Illustrators Award, ,cardiff, ,Ceri Williams, ,Dan Walters, ,game, ,Machinarium, ,Metamorphosis, ,Morphopolis, ,New Talent, ,Open Alpha, ,Photoshop, ,Point and Click, ,Somerset House, ,The Tiny Bang Story, ,Welsh School of Architecture

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