Worlding Project with David Blandy & Daniel Locke

Throughout the project events such as workshops, exhibitions and a publication launch took place.

  • XYZ - A programme for 16-18 years old with ELAM College, run by artist David Blandy, with Shay Thompson and Alexis Trust

CyberZero

by Hashim Amin, Zain Almadani, Kristine Binas, Mohammod Galib Chowdhury, Dipa Ghosh, Jeremiah Tabudlong, Katie Vong, Alex Vuong

CyberZero is a 3D exploration game that immerse players in an alternate timeline where Earth succumbs to the allure of augmented reality. In this cyberpunk landscape pulsated by a striking synthwave soundtrack, the desire to craft a new identity takes precedence, shaping a world where realities intertwine seamlessly. As a technician, you navigate neon-lit streets of a sprawling metropolis.

Artwork credits

2D Design: Zain Almadani, Katie Vong

UI: Katie Vong

Programming: Kristine Binas

Visual Effects: Kristine Binas

Writing: Katie Vong 

Animation: Kristine Binas, Alex Vuong

3D Design: Zain Almadani, Mohammod Galib Chowdhury, Hashim Amin, Alex Vuong

Sound: Dipa Ghosh, Jeremiah Tabudlong

Future Future

by Ashton Bura, Dylan Hall, Hasti Mohammadi, Xena Pointer, Laine Powell, Alex Vuong

Future Future isa pixel-style game that unveils the secrets of the Verdant Jungle which once cradled a technologically advanced metropolis. A thousand years after a cosmic cataclysm destroyed a civilisation designed to distract and ensnare the citizens for covertly uploading their consciousnesses to a higher plane, the untethered descendants now uncover the remnants of their unfortunate past.

Artwork credits

2D Design: Ashton Bura, Hasti Mohammadi, Laine Powell, Xena Pointer

UI: Dylan Hall

Programming: Dylan Hall

Visual Effects: Ashton Bura

Writing: Ashton Bura, Dylan Hall, Hasti Mohammadi, Laine Powell

Asset Implementation: Dylan Hall

3D Design: Laine Powell, Xena Pointer, Alex Vuong

Sound: Xena Pointer

ELAM students who had experienced sessions on artistic game development with artist David Blandy showcased their work at an exhibition at arebyte Gallery, City Island, E14 0LG London.

  • Eco Mofos!!, a new RPG game book by Daniel Locke & David Blandy was showcased at the Symposium, Areas Of Effect: Planar Systems, Critical Roles, and Gaming Imaginaries Symposium and live play sessions, Part of Arebyte 2023/24 programme The Body, The Mind, The Soul

  • New connections and networks were established with other speakers and participants at the event included acclaimed RPG designers Emmy Allan, Kayla Dice, Mike Mason, Chris McDowall, Samuel Mui, and Zedeck Siew, alongside writers, historians and theorists such as Stu Horvath, Timothy Linward, Mark Pilkington, and Simon O’Sullivan.

  • A drop in workshop in Brent at Queens Park Festival, London. Participants imagined extraordinary places using the new workshop resource ‘World Engine”. This is now available online on this website as a free downloadable resource.

  • A series of workshops at Brighton Youth Centre with neurodiverse young people who took part using drawing writing and gaming to explore making new worlds using local histories and the environment as a starting point.

  • Workshops with participants at VEX- a spoken word poetry group in the Isle of Wight were cancelled. However this was rearranged in the end to take place online with a new volunteer taking over the group. Participants worked on a new zine that is being published and distributed as a physical product and will be an online publication.

    VEX is Ventnor Exchange Spoken Word Collective. It is a space for writers and performers who want to create, experiment and develop their craft in a supportive environment.This will take place at Ventnor Exchange, a pioneering arts organisation for the Isle of Wight.

  • A workshop that was due to take place in Crawley in the autumn was postponed due to problems communicating with the venue. With a new staff member taking over we were able to rearrange the session at Creative Crawley. This was a sold out event.

    David Blandy explored ideas around local history and hopeful futures through art and gaming . He held a two hour workshop for young people exploring his collaborative world-building games, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds. They created a community together through collaborative map-making and story-telling.

    The workshop featured a chance to explore how, through art and gaming, we can look at questions of local histories and hopeful futures about the environment and climate change.

    Participants also have the opportunity to start creating their own world-building game, using table top role-play techniques to think about how we can use these forms to expand ideas around local history in Crawley and issues in the wider world.

    About Creative Crawley:

    Creative Crawley is an arts charity championing arts and creativity and making surprising events happen across Crawley. We do this through collaboration, innovation, and co-creation. We produce an annual programme of arts activities that happen in many spaces and places involving local, national and international creative workers. Our vision is for Crawley and its residents to be fulfilled, vibrant and thrive through creativity. With gentle tenacity and kind energy we champion creative people and their creativity as a catalyst for positive social change in their lives.

  • Book launch at DICE Saloon, Brighton; to celebrate the official launch of our acclaimed indie TTRPG (table top role playing game) ECO MOFOS!! 

  • A gaming session with David Blandy was accompanied by a free drop-in, all ages model making workshop with artist Daniel Locke.  

  • Also available for the first time was the brand new adventure Tower into Elsewhere by Colm Norrish.

Final events at VEX, Isle of Wight & Creative Crawley,Sussex

  • Community exhibition, New Worlds at Phoenix Art Space, Brighton. We exhibited artwork from our collaborative role-play game ECO MOFOS!!, hand crafted models, sketch books and 3D models alongside inspiring art and writing made by participants from community groups who we have worked with on this creative project.

  • Alongside it was the opportunity to take part in a workshop for participants aged 13-25 as part of B-Fest Brighton, to drop into the gallery space to make a simple game, needing only pen, paper, two six-sided dice and their imagination! Through drawing and storytelling, they were invited to explore imagined futures, new worlds and possibilities, and contribute to the artwork on display.

  • This evolved throughout the week with an on-going free drop in activity, considering the links between climate change ecology, local histories and positive action.

  • As part of the exhibition we exhibited 3D virtual environment as a video and provided materials to take part in the exhibition at home.

  • World Engine SRD

  • A guide to how to make a simple game, needing only pen, paper, two six-sided dice and imagination.

  • This is now hosted on this website as a free resource to be downloaded and shared. It has also been shared on RPG discord channels and with the artists networks.

  • Youth takeover at Phoenix Art Space, Brighton

  • As a result of our community exhibition, Daniel Locke was asked to be a part of A creative programme led by and for young people aged 13-25 years at Phoenix Art Space, Brighton.

    Phoenix Art Space hosted a Youth Takeover called ‘Your Space to Make’ from Saturday 23 November to Sunday 1 December 2024.

    Young people took over the Main Gallery and transformed the gallery space and windows with their own artwork. The space was also activated by creative activities, workshops and events.

  • What Comes Next? Zines and gaming with Daniel Locke: 4-6pm on Thursday 28 November; participants joined artist Daniel Locke for this fascinating workshop combining gaming with graphic storytelling to explore future worlds.

Further outcomes:

In part due to the success of this Worlding project and new gained experience, Daniel Locke and David Blandy were successful in making a proposal for a new commission for Nature Calling, a national arts programme connecting and deepening engagement with the landscape.

‘We are really excited to be working on the commission for Nature Calling. Our work has always been shaped by our own environmental concerns and our understanding of the importance of having a deep connection to the natural world. We hope to inspire people to enjoy exploring their surroundings, to find escape, meaning and each other through the landscape.’ Blandy & Locke.

Image: VEX Spoken Word Collective at Ventnor Exchange, Isle of Wight

Image: ‘Worlding’ Zine made by particpants of VEX

Selected feedback from participants in workshops

“Very fun, stimulated my creative side and wasn’t too boring or challenging!”

“Very calm and informational”

“Enjoyable, give 5 stars!”

“I had fun exploring the different combinations of worlds I could make”

“Nice experience for people to open their imagination”

“Fun drawing things 10/10, 5/5 *****!”

“AMAZING, fun,clever, enjoyable, just great!”

”10 out of 10!”

“Nice workshop”

“Very nice and good”

“Super epic cool”

“Great way of stimulating creative thought and very entertaining!”

“Love making art!”

“Beautiful art made by people”

  • Examples of 3D renders of artwork illustrated by Daniel Locke and animated in a 3D program by David Blandy as high quality inspiration points for workshops and new writing by participants. This is now hosted as an accessible video for future workshops on this new website and was showcased on social media as a tool to highlight the community exhibition where it was also on show.