You may have noticed that I've posted only once in the last fortnight. Don't worry! Everything is fine: I'm still very busy, but I've been doing a lot of research, reading & thinking but just haven't typed it up yet.
Stuff lined up for the next few blogs:
- Nigel Slater's Life is Sweets -- a look at how sweets take us back to our childhood.
- BAF Game 2012 -- a report on my trip to the BAF Game conference in Bradford, where I saw speakers from Valve, Traveller's Tales & Bioware.
- Whatever happened to the block game? -- an update on the situation with my experiment with a nostalgia-themed block game, which has turned into a whole can of worms. Very interesting, and a great insight into the complexity of abstract game mechanics.
- A scientific look at nostalgia -- investigation into formal research on the nature & effect of nostalgia.
- Game studies revisited -- reviews of books by Richard Rouse and François Laramée, concluding my basic grounding in the common tenets of game design.
Pomagne & Metal Water Jugs -- the primary school Summer Fete & Christmas Grotto, with spin-the-wheel and electric-buzzer-wire game; school dinners, with pink blancmange, semolina and those mysterious dark pink (or gold) brushed stainless steel water jugs. An examination of the relative power of obscure & hard-to-get items, and how they affect the intensity of the nostalgia 'gag reflex'.
"You're Winner!" (sic) - Period aesthetics -- how to simulate the 'look' of particular periods of time.