SLQ Wiki engagement:one_last_apocalypse

Apocalypse thinking plan Monday 4th Sep 6-9pm

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 May 2021 09:43:08 +0000

Apocalypse thinking plan Monday 4th Sep 6-9pm

Materials needed

Materials for creating with (three x boxes for putting it in by the groups):

Cardboard, scissors, material, paddlepop sticks etc)

Pens

Laptop

Projector & screen

Chairs & tables

Chips

Cold water

Water glasses

Ipad for check-in

Camera

Devices with surveys on them

Music playing in the Edge space

White board & Pens

Preparation

Recommendations

Further learning

Design thinking links from APDL:

http://designonline.org.au/education/

http://www.designkit.org/case-studies/2

Introduction

In Fab Lab: (we maxed out with sign ups of 50 with a wait list online)

6-6.10pm| Introductions- introduce self (just name quickly around the room)

Intro: We are all here as we are all interested in some type of design - Whether it be sound design, set design, furniture design, performance and so on.

Tonight we are going to begin exploring ideas for taking over The Edge. The theme we are exploring is ‘Apocalypse’: revelation etc

6.10-6.30| Explore ideas

- Developing background understanding (discuss ideas on the spyder board and from the book club series)

Ask the group what could it be? (write it on the white board)

6:30- 7:00pm |Talk through apocalypse activation possibilities

Em- A library for the end of the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Clz4UKsYY

Dan- The quiet year & past take over zombie events at the edge.

7.00-7.30 | Choose 3-5 ideas to work with

1. Choose as a group the best ideas.

2. Break off into the group that you want to explore.

- Explain that the groups will be doing a prototype and also that they will need to pitch their idea to the rest of the group. Choose a box of making goodies to use and a packet of chips.

Pitching points (you will get 2 mins):

- Think big (don't drill down to small yet)

- Think The Edge space

- You need something to show us to experience

- Think mood (color, smell, touch, feel ) of the experience

7.30-8.15|Prototype- making stuff (cardboard (glue guns and cutters, paddle pops, paper, pens) (fab lab, mezzanine and innovation lab)

8.15 | Come back as a group and Pitch to the group (foyer)

pitch

8.30pm | Reflect-

- as a whole group share and reflect about the experience and ideas. Vote for favorites. Choose an idea to move forward with as a group. Note that the next session you will work on this idea and you can get us to purchase for your group one item. You will need to share this on the FB event by the 13th Sep so we can get it.

- Go back to your group. chat. share details.

9pm | Goodbyes

End

Have devices with surveys on them (as well as a follow up email the following day)

Mention to the group about the next session

Share that the idea that was chosen will be shared on the FB event page. You and your group will need to tell us what you want us to purchase in the FB event by the 13th Sep so that we have time to purchase it before the next meet up.

Reflection

The session began in the foyer with those who had arrived looking at the apocalypse board. A large number of people where late to arrive. We began around 6.10pm and let people in as they arrived.

Around 25 of the 50 who signed up came. People asked if they needed to check in (I did not have access to Kelisha's ipad for this session). A shame as it is nice to capture who actually came as well as for people to feel special and check in (we had filled the session and people knew this)

The brainstorming as a group to begin with went really well. Lots of ideas came up.

We then talked about the possibilities and did a tour of The Edge spaces and what has happened in past iterations in each space.

Then we came back and in groups they chose 2 ideas of interest from the initial brainstorming of ideas. Then we narrowed this down to 4 ideas.

The group broke off into 4 groups based on their interests in one of the ideas. They worked together to explore each idea:

1. Utopia

2. A.I

3. Environmental disaster

4. Solitude

They worked on a concept and then pitched the ideas. Some groups all got up and supported each other to pitch. Some groups only two got up together on behalf of the group. The Utopia group had a fully fledged idea and so to did the solitude group. The other two groups were still conceptual.

For Solitude- the last human on earth with a series of rooms (science lab, people stuck in computer games) little hints of another human

For Utopia- Silent disco with headphones on. App on phone. Music is played based on the words you like. everyone influences the music

For Natural event- The shock of the future. Brisbane is under water. Humans have brought this on. There are possibilities for you to change your choices in this, to choose your own adventure

For A.I- FB suggestions are controlling everyday decisions. There is a maze and you are confronted by fun tech but you slowly realise that it is taking control. It is messing with you

As a large group we reflected on the pitches and the ideas that we liked. This is what came up:

I did not feel like surveys were needed at the end of the session - That the email out in the morning would be OK. We had a few questions towards the end about how can we get involved in the upcoming process if we can't come to the Sunday session coming up. There were a fair amount of people new to The Edge in the group tonight. Many were there to meet new people and to explore ideas. Some were solely there to network.

There needs to be some thought on how we will make decisions on which ideas will be actioned moving forward.

Evaluation

Pre

50 people signed up online. We did not expect this to happen and we even had a wait list. If I had known it would be this amount I would have capped it much lower. We also accidently ended up having a wait list.

25 people turned up on the night, then two left early. (see other for their reason for leaving)

Community Development

34% first time

22% over 12 months been coming to the edge

12% 1-6mths

20% not at all connected

20% somewhat connected

Post

4 people completed the survey

Community Development

Do you feel connected to The Edge community?

50% somewhat connected

Cultural participation

Did you feel engaged by the night?

25% very much so

50% somewhat yes

Community Development

Did you have a conversation with someone new?

50% very much so

25% somewhat yes

Accessing Resources

75% very much so felt inclusive

Idea building

75% very much so had new ideas

Other

- I think the event could be more described for the new ones. I had a good time but I really didn't know what to expect. I thought it was a networking night :D

- As a first time attendee I was flying blind, but found the activities very engaging and fun. A little more explanation at the start about the entire package /aim would assist first timers. I will absolutely be engaging with this and can't wait to see the final concept brought to life in Dec. well done.

- Hi Emma, Firstly- sorry we bailed on you. I think it didn't quite come through the event blurb what it was going to be. I kind of expected a generic prototyping/idea generation workshop. After I understood the purpose it was really not very much of interest to me because of the time commitment needed for the project. I hope you get an amazing event going with some energetic young people! I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Apologies again for leaving.

- I found the whole experience interesting and enlivening but also frustrating. One of the greatest challenges in any collective design process is how to arrive at “good” ideas. A big danger is that consensus thinking often leads to a watering down to lowest-common-denominator usual and stale ideas, rather than looking for innovative, interesting, and implementable ideas that will lead to a valuable experience for participants rather than reflect the goals and agenda of the designers. There are various techniques used in design processes to try to achieve innovative solutions but it probably requires a different form of group interaction than what we used last night. So I hope that, as a group, we can make progress on something interesting, but if the progression is toward the consensus, the way the closing discussion was going, I fear that the outcome will just be more of the same in terms of these projects, and I'll have little interest and incentive in participating.

Other

Where to now? These were the favourite ideas last night after hearing all the pitches.

- Locally relevant content (to give it real world context) explored through bigger ideas like foreign fantastical creatures for example (Kafkaesque) Using visual metaphors

- Agency- are we really making decisions or are we being manipulated? Then, seeing the consequences of some of the decisions that you have made

- Using shock- seeing what the future could look like

- A maze or choose your own adventure style. That people experiencing get to make choices, input in some way

- Can you survive the utopia that you have chosen?

These ideas will be shared on the FB event and then a group will be formed. This way we can continue to chat about ideas. Also, we can purchase anything that we see we need for the next session (upon request from the community).

Photos

Apocalypse thinking 2

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:08 +0000

Apocalypse thinking 2

Four Apocalypse ideas pitched on the first night of apocalypse thinking were:

Solitude: the last human on earth explores a series of rooms (science lab, people stuck in computer games) and there is little hints of another human being alive.

Utopia: Can you survive the utopia you have chosen? A silent disco in four rooms with music played from an app on your phone. Music is played based on the words you like and have added. Everyone influences the music and creates their utopia.

Natural disaster: The shock of the future. Brisbane is under water. In this choose your own adventure you see the consequences of your decisions. There is a possibility for you to change your choices. Will you?

A.I: Facebook suggestions are controlling everyday decisions. You enter a maze and you are confronted by fun tech but you slowly realise that it is taking control. It is messing with you.

Also other ideas of:

Collapse of technology

Kafka-esque world

Personal change (losing something, moving cities, falling in love)

Where to now?

Let’s keep thinking big. Add any other ideas here that you want to add into the mix! In the next session we will continue to explore your big ideas and prototype some of them.

Plan for Sunday 17th Sep 12-4pm

1. Intro's

2. speak to the ideas that came up last session and on FB (written on large paper)

3. Add your ideas to the paper

3. Demonstrate taking an idea and prototyping it

(cardboard kaiju as well as an apocalypse concept album)showing the process of arriving at these ideas including stimulus material

3. On feet group at the idea that is most interesting to you.

4. Break off into those groups

5. Explain concept to each other

7. Reflect

8. chat about the next stage (work out if mondays or sundays are the best), fb group and writing up ideas

and the restrictions- how many people get involved (if your ideas involve 200 people, the resources that are at the edge, skills of the people involved as well as us) The ideas from this session:

Preparation

Buy chips

get water and glasses

have butchers paper with the ideas written on them

pens

white board

presentation prepared for presenting protyping ideas

Recommendations

when thinking about a concept here are is a framework to use to unpack and get clear about your idea:

1. The aim

2. The outcomes

3. Design elements

Physical

Video

Game

Sound

4. Timelines

Further learning

the ideas that came out of this session

THE AI JUDGE

Set in the near future, an AI and team of human jurors convict and sentence various ‘criminals’ based on social media and internet access records.

Main Points:

-Courtroom setup

-NPC convicts are judged based on their social media likes and views, and their communication and location records.

-The audience decides the fate of the convict, with the decisions made by individual players perhaps qualifying them to become a convict (Eg a photo is taken of them, with permission, and they are added to the list of convicts.

-Crimes are thought based - rebellious actions, contravening government regulations, interacting with the wrong people.

-The jury should be distanced from their actions until the end, when they are given a sense that these are real people they are convicting.

-Thus, perhaps they shouldn’t know the punishment, so that they can later regret what they decided.

-If they are too lenient they can be on trial too, punishments must be swift and range on a scale to slightly more than appropriate (within this world) to very harsh

-Sound design ideas include pre-composed/generated music based on each ‘personality’ shown to the audience - perhaps a rotation of 3 or 4 tracks? This could be frequency/number based, take conceptual ideas of their personality - quick to anger, rebellious etc and convert to musical ideas.

- mind map that they did for the Kafka-esque group

- An apocalypse playlist was created by a community member and shared https://open.spotify.com/user/21vmarluktv4uv65eu5jw2seq/playlist/2cWwUwB4ZLkroB20gWk8l4

COLLAPSE OF TECHNOLOGY

Do I really need a phone anyway? When is your mobile phone more important than my pacemaker? How would you react in a crisis.

This is an immersive game. To start with there is an announcement that that there is worldwide collapse of energy/electricity grid making electricity scarce.

Teams are looking for batteries to charge their phones, make a generator (maybe use a hand held generator), make other stuff.

An app updates where things might be or how things are going in the world. More battery life more you can do.

SILENCE

When do we lose a sense of time?

There is a white room- there is no interaction in this room and it is uncomfortable for people who are there.

A mirrored room- You do mundane tasks and other people can watch you. There is this sense of seeing self and being seen

Echo chamber- echo’s around you.

There are tunnel mazes between the different rooms (meant to feel claustrophobic)

There were ideas offered around a uniform being worn like a mask or name badges and they get swapped to create confusion.

Reflection

There were 13 who attended this session. Everyone that was there knew why they where there. They all spoke to each other and shared ideas. It was a great mix of ages with the youngest being 16. There were 4 ideas generated by the group. We agreed to add them to the FB group so all could see them. Also, to share a mind mapping tool for all to use. So we are using the same tool. We also agreed as a group that Sundays are the best day for all. With the occasional Monday being doable.

Both the chips and water were good to have in the session. we could have added music.

Evaluation

Pre

32% have been coming to the edge for over 12 months.

26 % this will be there first time to the edge

Community Development

29 % not at all connected

22% not sure if they feel connected

Post

13 people attended. 4 completed the survey.

75 % first time to the edge.

25% 1-6 months

Community Development

Do you feel connected to The Edge community?

50% somewhat connected

50% not sure

Cultural participation

Did you feel engaged by the night?

50% Somewhat yes

50% very much so

Community Development

Did you have a conversation with someone new?

75% very much so

25% Somewhat yes

Accessing Resources

50% very much so

50% somewhat yes

Idea building

50% somewhat yes

50% very much so

Other

- I would have liked a little clearer outline of the objective near the start. It was a little vague for a while, but did gradually become clearer. A good experience all round though.

- I am inspired, I hope this will be a really fun project!

Other

Other comments:

- I would have liked a little clearer outline of the objective near the start. It was a little vague for a while, but did gradually become clearer. A good experience all round though.

- I am inspired, I hope this will be a really fun project!

Photos

Apocalypse Zine workshop

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:08 +0000

Apocalypse Zine workshop

Cardboard Kaiju Rules

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 15:26:39 +0000

Cardboard Kaiju Rules

Versions

v1.0 RC1 - 2017-11-23 - Release Candidate 1. D.Flood, P.Gullberg, N.Yilmaz

v1.1 RC2 - 2017-11-24 - Release Candidate 2. P.Gullberg, N.Yilmaz

v1.2 RC3 - 2017-11-29 - Release Candidate 3. P.Gullberg, N.Yilmaz

Basics

Intro

The premise of the game is for 1-4 players to collaborate to defend Brisbane city (represented by a cardboard city) against a giant monster, The Kaiju (played by a moderator/game master). The game is played with one or several decks of playing cards (or modified cards, provided below).

Winning and Losing

The city must stand! If all buildings fall (or the players run out of cards) the Kaiju wins. If the Kaiju runs out of cards, he retreats and the city is saved, for now.

Buildings and Setup

The city consists of up to 30 buildings, 9 large ones and 21 smaller ones. Setup the buildings according to the layout below. The large buildings have 6 hit points and small ones 3 hit points.

Cards

Once a card has been used it is to be put in a discard pile, the graveyard, face up.

Turns

The Kaiju always starts. The Kaiju and players take turns. The order is Kaiju, player 1, Kaiju, player 2, etc.

At the end of each player turn, draw cards to fill your hand but play any instant cards that you draw.

Pacing

The game is meant to take no more than 20-30 minutes. Make sure to keep a good pace!

Kaiju

If you are using normal playing cards, remove all twos(2), two Aces and any jokers. This should leave you with 46 cards.
The Kaiju doesn't have a hand, just draws a new card each turn
The Kaiju starts at one end of the city.
The Kaiju always moves to the closest tile, at the discretion of the moderator
The Kaiju can attack and destroy several buildings in one turn. If there are any damage points remaining after it has attacked a building it will start attacking the next one. A building can't be partially damaged.
The Kaiju starts attacking from its left in a clockwise order
When the Kaiju destroys a building it will go into a Rampage, allowing an extra turn (can only occur once per turn)

Cards

ACE/KING STOMP (Instantly destroys all adjacent buildings)
QUEEN REVENGE Retrieves random card from his graveyard and plays it
JACK CANNON FODDER Steals the first occurring damage card (1-10) from the player deck and plays it
3-10 DAMAGE

Player(s)

If using a normal playing deck remove all twos(2), two Aces and any Jokers. This should leave you with 46 cards.
All players share a hand of four cards
Instant cards () must be played as soon as they are drawn

Cards

ACE DEJA VU: replay the top card in your graveyard. Remove this card from play afterwards
KING BULLSEYE: Destroy top card in Kaiju deck
QUEEN FROM THE ASHES: Restore a small building
JACK TACTICAL ADVANTAGE: Steal top card from Kaiju deck and use it (player card effects)
9/10 ENRAGE: Kaiju does 3 damage instantly
7/8 DISTRACTION: The Kaiju's next attack misses
6 SHOCKWAVE: Knocks the Kaiju back (re position to only touch a single adjacent tile)
5 FATIGUE: Kaiju does half damage next turn (round down)
4 BACKUP: Play 2 cards from your hand
3 UNIT LOST: Discard card (left, right, second, third, etc)

Files

Map Layout
planning:one_last_apocalypse Cards

cardboardkaiju_deck_v1.pdf

kaiju_printout_a4.pdf

engagement:one_last_apocalypse:cardboard_kaiju_1.0

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 May 2021 15:28:08 +0000

~~REVEAL~~

'A giant Kaiju (monster) is trying to take over a large-scale cardboard city in The Edge Auditorium. Come and defend Brisbane against the Kaiju in this collaborative board game experience.'

The aim of Cardboard Kaiju is to provide an easy, designed program on ramp for an apocalypse themed event.

This kit has:

- the physical cardboard designs (Buildings and creating a kaiju process)

- the game design

- soundscape files

- Ideas to incorporate video

You will need to spend some time prior to starting looking at these and seeing which you will use. This will depend on how large your space is.

Note that for The Edge auditorium there were 30 buildings and one Kaiju.

Timelines:

Cardboard Kaiju can be delivered over 3 weeks or longer.

Acknowledgements:

The initial concept was developed by Daniel Flood (he had inspiration from UGO)

The game design was developed by: Daniel Flood, Phil Gullberg & Nejdet Yilmaz

Engaging community into this process

Each element of this game can be a way to engage with a community group. The following is who and how groups were engaged:

1. Men's Shed men built the cardboard buildings (after they were cut on the CNC)

2. Albert Park Flexi School young people worked on the sound design (as well as their recording skills)

3. Albert Park Flexi School young people designed the Kaiju

4. Albert Park Flexi School play-tested the game design

5. The wider community built the Kaiju over a week

Game design

Here is how the game works.

Cardboard Kaiju Rules

cardboardkaijucards.mp4

For further development into the future there was discussion of an alternative game system, based off of existing tactical roleplaying games that are published under various alternative licences (CC and FOS) such as the Apocalypse World, Fate and D&D/Pathfinder. This is still a possibility that will be undertaken when there is time or an interested party wants to run with the ball. It might even be a workshops program that The Edge delivers in the near future involving people wanting to explore alternative game design beyond card-based mechanics into roleplaying and board gaming considerations.

Physical design

Logo Font

kaiju_monster_g_1_.zip

cardboard_kaiju_logo.pdf

Buildings

Here are the templates to use to cut out a cardboard world out of cardboard (you will need a bucket load of hot glue) You can either use a CNC or simply use box cutters and hot glue.

Creating a Kaiju

- Flexi School young people came into The Edge for a design thinking session and came up with this design for a Kaiju.

This is the process that was taken:

Cardboard Kaiju Session 1

The next step was to make the Kaiju.

A number of Edge staff (lead by Mick Byrne with input by Emma Che Raethke) brainstormed how to make this Kaiju design. The Edge then put out a call out through Facebook and community for people to come and join in the making of the Kaiju. The making of the Kaiju took a week, four liters of hot glue and the cardboard off-cuts from making the buildings.

It was fun to just jump in without too much of a formal plan, and get a feel for the material, but I'd recommend making a scale model and then starting out with an internal frame of cross section “ribs and spine”. Once community members can see the shape or form you are creating they can help by getting involved. Once people could see what we were doing they began suggesting improvements or ways to embellish - this is how we ended up with the LED eyes and tongue.

Sound design

This is what was given as a guideline to the young people to make soundscapes.

- Monster attacking

- Buildings crashing

- People running & screaming

- Ambient city (helicopters, honks, cars, crowds)

The following sound was developed with Albert Park Flexi School led by Sunny Verma:

city_s_-_night.mp3

crowd_screaming.wav

monster_footfalls.wav

ola_soundscape_-_how_to.doc

Video design

The initial ideas from Daniel Flood: Full motion video for narrative elements and instructional material for games. There is a stop motion/cut out aesthetic.

- On the day of the prototype event that was run we collected ideas around video.

Here are the ideas that came up:

- fire and smoke

- time lapse of sun rising and setting over the landscape

- Kaiju approaching city limits

- promo videos for new casino development, overlaid with flames, people running

- fake news reports from the scene

- close up of the Kaiju's wrath

- make a Youtube channel

- Youtube videos of cardboard cities being destroyed

- motion trigger smoke and hazard and remote controlled Kaiju

Reflection & Learnings

Cardboard Kaiju

The games were played during a 4 hour timeslot, from 12pm-4pm. We had time run about 5-6 games, with at least 4 players in each game and a maximum of 8. The games lasted from 30-45 minutes, much depending on the gaming experience/understanding of the participants, age as well as the group size. There was a large variety of participants, ages ranging approximately from 5-50 year old. Participants enjoyed the experience and novelty of a giant monster and playing field. The participants allowed themselves to get immersed in defending the city and the Kaiju storyline. We didn’t run into any game-breaking bugs and very few issues were pointed out during the game or afterwards.

The duration of each game was discussed beforehand and we asked the question if 30 minutes was too long. When developing the game we considered making it shorter but our belief was that less than 30 minutes wasn’t enough to get engaged with the game. After reflecting over the duration, 20 minutes would be the absolute minimum. This time could possibly be achieved if participants were to come back and play again, already knowing the rules of the game.

We also discussed what to do with individuals or groups waiting to play as the waiting times could be pretty long. Some people decided to wait, others went away and came back later, some left. I believe that a signup list would be worth it with more or less rough timeslots. It would also be something that could be spread thinner over a longer period, given that there are at least two sets of facilitators to rotate during the day. Feedback we did get was that the font on the cards needed to be larger/more easily readable, especially the descriptions on the card. Some participants, especially in the low light environment, had difficulties reading the cards.

Something that we noticed was that once a game had started it was very difficult for new people to just jump in and “catch up”. It required a significant delay in the game. We only experienced this in the first game where we had participants trickle in with 5-10 minute intervals.

It was very important to have a second person handling the buildings and Kaiju movement; there was little interest from the participants who were focused on their next move. For a longer session it would be nice to have multiple facilitators take turns every game, or every second game, to maintain energy levels as well as being able to take bathroom/food breaks.

photos

cardboardworld.mp4

kaiju.mp4

Designing the Apocalypse

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:23 +0000

Designing the Apocalypse

The design process can incorporate all or some of the following ideas:

- rapid prototyping; emphasis on rapid

- Design thought process. Idea- test- reiterate- test- reiterate (repeat all)

- Not being afraid to kill the idea that's not working

- Not waiting until next time the group meets up (encouraging the community to meet outside or communicate about

their ideas)

- There are multiple outcomes possible from one idea

ALSO

- you may decide that you want to pick an idea that the group has come up with and frame it and then give it back to the group to work with it within the structure that you have come up with. For example the group has come up with the idea that the city is about to become under water. You may then come back with a structure around this- the library is the city and audience will need to make decisions on how to survive the floods. What are the challenges that they will do and how will they do it.

Design sessions At Deception Bay

Murals Deception Bay Flexible Learning Centre

Design sessions At The edge

This was the call out that went out to community for participants http://edgeqld.org.au/meetup/apocalypse-design-meetups/

During the process The Edge also set up a Facebook group to share ideas from week to week. The description that was used was the following:

Why this group? The Edge created this group to: Discuss ideas around 'Apocalypse', and what an apocalyptic world might look like, and; To share your/our ideas as we begin to create/design/test and then execute an apocalyptic take-over of the edge. Group rules. Be kind and considerate to others and their ideas

The group that continued through and into the making stage then identified that slack https://slack.com was a better collaborative tool for them as a group.

Design kit

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:24 +0000

Design kit

Here are some frameworks that you and your community can work with:

1. Cardboard Kaiju

You could also think about creating

2. Multiple rooms with different experiences that have an umbrella narrative that contains them together

Cardboard Kaiju Design Kit 1

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 May 2021 10:02:24 +0000

~~REVEAL~~

Cardboard Kaiju Design Kit 1

'A giant Kaiju (monster) is trying to take over a large-scale cardboard city in The Edge Auditorium. Come and defend Brisbane against the Kaiju in this collaborative board game experience.'

The aim of Cardboard Kaiju is to provide an easy, designed program on ramp for an apocalypse themed event.

This kit has:

- the physical cardboard designs (Buildings and creating a kaiju process)

- the game design

- soundscape files

- Ideas to incorporate video

You will need to spend some time prior to starting looking at these and seeing which you will use. This will depend on how large your space is.

Note that for The Edge auditorium there were 30 buildings and one Kaiju.

Timelines:

Cardboard Kaiju can be delivered over 3 weeks or longer.

Acknowledgements:

The initial concept was developed by Daniel Flood (he had inspiration from UGO)

The game design was developed by: Daniel Flood, Phil Gullberg & Nejdet Yilmaz

Engaging community into this process

Each element of this game can be a way to engage with a community group. The following is who and how groups were engaged:

1. Men's Shed men built the cardboard buildings (after they were cut on the CNC)

2. Albert Park Flexi School young people worked on the sound design (as well as their recording skills)

3. Albert Park Flexi School young people designed the Kaiju

4. Albert Park Flexi School play-tested the game design

5. The wider community built the Kaiju over a week

Game design

Here is how the game works.

Cardboard Kaiju Rules

cardboardkaijucards.mp4

Physical design

Logo Font

kaiju_monster_g_1_.zip

cardboard_kaiju_logo.pdf

Buildings

Here are the templates to use to cut out a cardboard world out of cardboard (you will need a bucket load of hot glue) You can either use a CNC or simply use box cutters and hot glue.

Creating a Kaiju

- Flexi School young people came into The Edge for a design thinking session and came up with this design for a Kaiju.

This is the process that was taken:

Cardboard Kaiju Session 1

The next step was to make the Kaiju.

Sound design

This is what was given as a guideline to the young people to make soundscapes.

- Monster attacking

- Buildings crashing

- People running & screaming

- Ambient city (helicopters, honks, cars, crowds)

The following sound was developed with Albert Park Flexi School led by Sunny Verma:

city_s_-_night.mp3

crowd_screaming.wav

monster_footfalls.wav

ola_soundscape_-_how_to.doc

Video design

The initial ideas from Daniel Flood: Full motion video for narrative elements and instructional material for games. There is a stop motion/cut out aesthetic.

- On the day of the prototype event that was run we collected ideas around video.

Here are the ideas that came up:

- fire and smoke

- time lapse of sun rising and setting over the landscape

- Kaiju approaching city limits

- promo videos for new casino development, overlaid with flames, people running

- fake news reports from the scene

- close up of the Kaiju's wrath

- make a Youtube channel

- Youtube videos of cardboard cities being destroyed

- motion trigger smoke and hazard and remote controlled Kaiju

Reflection & Learnings

Cardboard Kaiju

photos

cardboardworld.mp4

kaiju.mp4

Designing the apocalypse 1

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

Designing the apocalypse 1

Plan for Sunday 24th Sep 12-2pm

1. Intro's- Explain the OLA concept to everyone. Also speak to what will happen this session (written on whiteboard)

2. speak to the ideas that came up last session (have paper on tables) and that you may not want to stay with the same ideas.Anyone had any new ideas? Chat informally in the space about them.

3. go to the paper that resonates the most.

4. There is also a cardboard Kaiju paper.

5. In groups revisit the ideas- share any that may have come up- and then move on to mind mapping. (Can do with pen and paper or on computers). Also, research- are there any performances, articles, art works that feed into your ideas as a group?

6. Share with the rest of the groups

7. Reflect as a group

8. Someone to do up the ideas from each group and post to fb or email through. / also research and find reference points for the work unraveling.

Preparation

Buy chips

get water and glasses

have butchers paper with the ideas written on them

pens

white board

music playing in the space to add to the atmosphere

Reflection

This was a short and sweet session. This session had a quick turn around of booking it in as the community requested for it to happen.

I found it challenging to keep aiding the two groups to drill down into core interests that they have in the ideas that they have chosen. Some really wanted to stay at the level of thinking of form over the what is actually underpinning the idea- ' like the idea that i had of the mirrored room'. It is hard to stop and ask 'why'.

Both groups really got there. I am excited to see what comes up next in the the next session.

ideas that came out

DESIGN SESSION 1

Groups broke down the ideas to the core. What is of most interest.

Silence

At the core of silence these two ideas were arrived at:

1. Loss of senses

- Sight

- Hearing

- Touch

- Voice

2. Confessional- would you choose to do it

- In person with a human

- Or A.I

Collapse of technology

- Intro set the scene

- Explain & Learn

- Apply energy generation to save society and technology (batteries, lights, water, transport)

- Compare your choices (to the current average stats)

Photos

Designing the Apocalypse 2

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 May 2021 15:05:54 +0000

Designing the Apocalypse 2

This is the second session of drilling down ideas and designing an experience for a final event

The plan for Sunday 8th October 12-4pm: Fab Lab

12-12:10 Recap from the last session.

12:10- 12:30 Chat about the constraints of the project:

Your project has the following constraints:

1. Use of only one space (Not the auditorium)

2. Budget of: $1,500 as a group

3. Timeline of two more times for designing (Mon 23rd, Sunday 29th)

4. Making and production planning groups in November:

Sat 4th: 12- 4pm (inductions if needed?), Sat 11: 12-4pm, Sat 18: 12 -4, Sat 25: 12-4

12:30 Chat about what will happen today

12:30-12:45 Focus on choosing one element of your idea

12:45- 2pm Rapid prototype - emphasis on rapid (the idea- test-reiterate- test- reiterate) using the space in The Edge

2pm Test it with the group

2:30pm Try something else

3pm: Test it with the group

3:30pm Reflect as the group

Preparation

- The pieces of paper with ideas on them from the last session (Solitude and Collapse of Technology)

- Chips

- Water & glasses

- Music playing

Reflection

It was a very rainy and overcast day.

There were 5 people that attended this session. There was one young person who came along who had never been to one of the apocalypse thinking/design sessions before. He has been coming to the games nights though. It was great to see this conversion.

The group slowly arrived at different times. We kept recapping where we were up to as people arrived. The group worked on one idea today (there was no one present who had been interested in the collapse of technology)

There was a lot of discussion around possible ideas and the group early on decided that they wanted to explore the idea of 'confessional' or 'last words'- and explore giving people choice to choose if they would do it analogue or digitally. The tension of choice:

To concentrate on self and say what you want to say in your last 5mins or to have an emotional connecting moment with someone:

Text msg vs phone call

Write a letter vs record your voice

In person vs face time

The group then looked at spaces and liked the two small white rooms down the hallway from the Fab Lab.

The group began to ask questions around what is happening for people to be given 5 mins until the end of the world.

There was discussions around real life of 9/11, the floods in Brisbane, Josh Richards who plans to live on Mars and say goodbye to earth.

The group brought up needing a sense of hope within this world that they are creating and two people particularly felt strongly that there needs to be a narrative.

There were some very strong characters in the group today and we discussed a lot of ideas. I could see that some of the group would have been happy to lock more things down and use some of their initial ideas, as well as some that are still keen on their ideas from weeks back.

Ideas that came out

The end point that the session got to was:

'Global warming causes another problem that is both local and global and possibly leads people to have a choice on how they leave messages as they prepare to leave'

At the end of the session myself and Mick reflected on the need for designating roles for this group moving forward so as to keep moving forward:

1. Experience design role

2. Write backstory/narrative

3. What the physical space looks like and design of it?

Next session: the plan is for this group to continue with this. Those that join us to pick up on the other idea 'collapse of tech' as well as maybe the 'white room'

Here is the digest that was sent out to members of the group that wanted to be emailed. I also posted it to the FB group page. ola_design_sunday_15th_october.pdf

Photos

Designing the apocalypse 3

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

Designing the apocalypse 3

This will be the third design session which is the second last one.

The plan for Monday 23rd Oct 6-9pm

1. re cap

2. discuss time frame. does the collapse of tech see that they have enough time? any other ideas that want to get up?

3. solitude group work on assigning roles

- Experience design role

- Writing backstory/narrative

- What the physical space looks like and design of it.

4. work on ideas (with eye to using a space - discuss what spaces are now available.)

5. test ideas with the group

6. work on ideas further

7. test again

8. reflect

9. goodbyes

preparation

Water

Chips

Paper & pens

Reflection

Ideas that came out

Photos

Designing the apocalypse 4

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 May 2021 15:07:50 +0000

Designing the apocalypse 4

this is the fourth and final design session for designing the apocalypse

The plan Sunday 29th

Intro

Re-cap (xp design, touch & feel, narrative) where we got up to.

Highlight that it will be a 15 min experience, simple

Touch on The why of what we are creating?

Lock down narrative choice.

Share as a group any new ideas that have come up

Discuss spaces

Break off into groups to nut down ideas

walk through the space whilst sharing the ideas from each group.

Preparation

Chips

paper and pens

white board

camera

Reflection

There were 8 people in attendance to today's session. Three were away but contributed into the slack group before the session. It was a great session and the group really nutted out the experience and the space that it would take place in. Having chips again was appreciated by the group. It was clear that the group enjoys breaking off into smaller groups to nut out ideas and elements that are of most interest to them.

It was determined that this experience is a biological apocalypse adn based on one of the group members narratives of:

Biological Apocalypse

It started with the mosquitoes. We figured they were the perfect weapon, fast, small and wouldn't stand out to our enemies. All we had to do was create the perfect strain to infect them with. The stuff of nightmares was poured into tiny vials, sores, pustules, hallucinations, inflammation of the veins and the quickening of the heart until it literally burst in your chest. We infected our first batch with what was known as 'Strain A' (very fitting for the strain that would start an apocalypse) and celebrated. Then Dr. Carlton Twist made the worst mistake a human has ever made. He forgot to wear his gloves, now I'm not saying that we're perfect but we had specially designed suits that mosquitoes couldn't penetrate. He wore thin gloves and got bitten. He didn't tell anyone and by the time his head hit the pillow that night to go to sleep his entire family had been infected. They awoke covered in welts and hearing voices, his wife ran out onto the street and was involved in an accident. Her blood infecting those who came to her aid. The Doctor in a fit of madness set the rest of 'Strain A' on Brisbane. Within a week 75% of the population had perished. It's now been two weeks and I'm afraid that you are all that's left. I'm sorry for the horrors you must have witnessed and what has inevitably happened to your loved ones. Hopefully you can find something at the end of this to bring you peace, give you one last contact and a chance to say goodbye.

Ideas and writing (where we got to)

A biological apocalypse experience for 8 people at a time. The group starts as 8 then will be broken up into an experience for 4 then 2 and then a solo experience.

The experience will run for 15 mins and at half hour intervals.

The group will continue to collaborate on slack (their chosen mode for sharing info)

Apocalypse thinking

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:24 +0000

Apocalypse thinking

This stage is all about ideas and testing ideas!

Process @ Deception bay Library

Process @ The Edge

First up there were Zine Workshops at an event at the edge

Apocalypse Zine Workshop

Then 2 Apocalypse thinking meet ups.

1. Apocalypse thinking

2. Apocalypse thinking

This phase follows a creative process lead by staff. The process focuses on prototyping and testing ideas that may or may not be useful in the larger One last Apocalypse project. The central idea is to start thinking about what is possible without getting caught up in it having to work immediately.

Documenting what The Edge does:

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

internal

Documenting what The Edge does:

1. How The Edge attracts individuals (be the watering hole) (21st century access to wifi, spaces to gather, accessible programs)

2. How to create a community (like-minded people do something together)

3. How to engage a whole community ( bigger programming to bring individuals together)

4. Cross pollinate (bring different communities together)

Spyder Board up at the Edge

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

Spyder Board up at the Edge

At the beginning of the project this board went up for users that come into The Edge to add any ideas that they have around apocalypse. It has been slowly growing week by week.

Evaluation Deception bay

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

Evaluation Deception bay

See here https://wiki.edgeqld.org.au/doku.php?id=planning:one_last_apocalypse:deception_bay_outcomes:start

Evaluation The Edge

See here https://wiki.edgeqld.org.au/doku.php?id=planning:one_last_apocalypse:the_edge_outcomes:start

Debrief with the community members that created Bio Crisis at The Edge

This group of community members were engaged over a period of 2months in the creation of Bio crisis. Design thinking and making skills were explored.

See full feedback here https://wiki.edgeqld.org.au/doku.php?id=planning:one_last_apocalypse:the_edge_outcomes:start

Feedback from audience who experienced bio crisis

28 people from the public experienced Bio crisis on 3rd December 2017. There was also another 3 test audience members. Bringing the number to 31.

4 people completed the survey online.

Community Development

50% somewhat feel a connection to the edge

Cultural participation

25% somewhat engaged

50% probably not engaged

Community Development

Did you have a conversation with someone new?

75% somewhat yes

Accessing Resources

50% somewhat yes it felt inclusive

Idea building

25% somewhat yes

50% probably not

'The division of tests by blue and red badges was neat, but not obvious to me until the very end, so I think I did the “wrong” tests.'

'Unfortunately, I found BioCrisis confusing. I still don't get the point of the experience. The disorientation, awkwardness with a stranger as a “partner”, and lack of explanatory background meant that I couldn't concentrate on the story that was being told through the headphones. Maybe it's also the subject matter, hard to contemplate on big issues like annihilation of the human race when rushed through a 15 minute physically disorientating experience. (On the other hand, loved the Kaiju game'

Feedback from community groups working on Cardboard Kaiju

'I was so heartened to see a decent sized group checking out the Edge and realising that it is not so threatening being a different space and it is actually really cool!! ' (Flexi school teacher)

This letter is to thank you for your help over the past two months As “oldies” from the men’s shed, we did know what to expect when we rocked up to our first session.

We were split up into two groups, the CNC team and the Laser cutter team. We left very impressed at what we had learnt. The discovery of what actually happens at the Edge, exited us and we looked forward to our next session.

A few of us, not being satisfied with learning one thing decided to make “The Edge” our home for a few weeks and take on other projects that were being offered. The professional and courteous help we have received has encouraged us to go even further.

We are keen to build a CNC Router for our shed We also wish to pass on our new skills to other members of the Sunnybank District Men’s Shed We are looking at doing a CCC course for members who could not make it to the city or need a lot of understanding of computers. (There are a few issues that need sorting out before we take this step)

We hope that we will continue to drop into “The Edge” to sniff out any other interesting “stuff” that might become available.

Once again our deepest thanks to the team ( Emma, Mick Phil, Andre and Peter )

Regards, Alan, Keith, Bruce and Ted

Cardboard Kaiju survey responses

Community Development

50% probably not connected

50% somewhat

Cultural participation

50% very much so

50% not sure

Community Development

Did you have a conversation with someone new?

50% very much so

50% probably not

Accessing Resources

50% very much so

50 % probably not

Idea building

have any new ideas?

50% very much so

50% somewhat yes

The props were fantastic! Finding some way to encourage players to be out on the board with the pieces more would be great so everyone could feel more like they’re in the middle of a giant boardgame, instead of just watching from the sidelines. Maybe moving the card area to the middle somehow? Or projecting the cards on the wall so people don’t have to be in one cluster to see them?

Event planning skills

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

Event planning skills

Event Management Capacity building intensive (Sunday 5th Nov 10-12.30)

Talk through the following points using examples on how to answer these questions.

1. Who is the target audience for the event?

2. What is the look and feel of the event?

3. Getting the word out there

4. Technical Logistics

5. Execution of the event- who is going to do what when

6. Photo release signs

7. Ensuring safety of the public

Ask participants:

Is there a particular area that is of most interest to you? (Give the space for break off groups with each area of interest- i.e. comms, tech, scheduling.

After this intensive session

It would be great that the community then takes a lead in the different areas for the event.

For the next two sessions working on a plan for execution and a plan for the building phase. There will be opportunities for support from all the Edge staff.

Making the Apocalypse

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:24 +0000

Making the Apocalypse

These sessions are dedicated to the making of the ideas that have been designed. This includes the tech elements as well as the physical set designs.

Making sessions At Deception Bay

making sessions At The edge

At The Edge it was decided upon to do these sessions on Saturdays. This decision was made so as to have the support of the wider edge maker community and more staff available. The fabrication lab is open and many regulars come in and will be interested to get on board.

Making the Apocalypse 1

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:09 +0000

Making the Apocalypse 1

The making sessions involve hands on making of the event. People will be working on different elements and making it all come together

The Plan Saturday 4th Nov

meet in the fab lab. Check in with ideas and then

Break off into groups based on the following

- Check out plastic material as a group.

- work on the design of the foyer space (innovation lab not available until later)

- design of the headgear

- continue with the narrative

- test some audio work

- mark up the spaces in the innovation lab with some tape and test it out (at 3.30pm)

- develop the tests

Preparation

- Get some clear impact plastic (so the group can test it as a material)

- Prepare a Blue tooth audio example

- Have paper and pens for everyone

Reflection

This session was super productive. The groups broke up into:

- narrative

- experience design

- sound

- helmet prototype design

- aesthetics (poster and imagery)

There was overlap between the groups especially narrative and experience. The challenging aspect of this session was that we did not have access to the space that the experience will take place in (innovation lab) until right at the end of the session. There was a paid booking in the space.

For the next session we will need to mark up the space and walk through it as we did not get to that this time.

Photos

Where we got to

Making the Apocalypse 2

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

Making the Apocalypse 2

The Plan Saturday 11th Nov

meet in the fab lab. Those prototyping the helmet etc to come in earlier to use the laser.

As a whole group- Check in with ideas and then

Break off into groups based on the following

- Check out plastic material and tubing. make a tunnel

- work on the design in the innovation lab. Mark it up

- continue with the design of the headgear (Anything else to design gloves & Dr cards?)

- continue with the narrative

- test some space design as well as some audio?

- flag a production meeting for the next session

Break off into working groups of: helmet & tunnel making, narrative, developing tests, experience design in the space, audio and sound.

Preparation

Purchase plastic, zip ties, hazard tape, gaffa tape and piping.

Get zoom for recording sound and audio

Have tape for markup available

Reflection

This was a very productive session. 8 people showed up to the session. 2 people arrived earlier to do laser cutting for the helmet design. We had the innovation lab and we really nutted out what will be happening in that space. it took a while to really work on it. The most challenging thing is when people have certain ideas stuck in their head and the logistics of those ideas is not feasible with the time frame that we have.

There were a few tense moments, however, the group chugged along and we all left with certain aspects of the work to take ownership of. it was a great moment when one of the community members said 'ideas are all very well and good but someone has to take ownership of them and make them happen'.

The group stepped up. We have only two more sessions left before we bump in. Some members are keen to come in during the week to work on props etc.

Photos

Where we got to

The narrative is being finalised with the aim to record a version during the next session.

Making the Apocalypse 3

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

Making the Apocalypse 3

This session will be from 9-12 in the actual space that the experience will happen

The Plan Saturday 4th Nov

- Touch base as a group.

- Step through the space as the narrative is read aloud

- Record narrative A.I with zoom or in recording studio

- make tunnels

- test headphones and device

- mark up the space

Break off into appropriate groups

- recording

- experience design (lock down the space for the final words and what this is)

- making helmets and dr cards

- planning out the tunnels in the space and so on

Preparation

have shopping list drawn up

Have roles and responsibilities drawn up

get plinths

Daniel: - zoom - tunnel materials to test a tunnel - new headphones to test

Reflection

This session was very productive with groups breaking off and getting things done. First up we all read through the script and walked through the actual space with it. Many alterations were made based on this walk through. After this the person with the role of the A.I went into the recording studio and we recorded all the audio that needed to be.

Another group marked up the space and measured out the tunnels. They drew it up along with where objects would be.

Another group who have called themselves the branding team worked on poster and aesthetic design. They are also planning to meet up during the week.

Finally, a group member continued to work on the design files for the helmet design to be laser cut.

Where we got to

- We still need to lock down a tunnel design

- Test the experience with audio (and will it be triggered and then if so by whom?)

- make all of the other things (posters, helmets etc)

- place an order for materials that are needed as well

Making the Apocalypse 4

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

Making the Apocalypse 4

This session will run from 9-12

The Plan Saturday 4th Nov

- Walk through test with the A.I recording and alarm sound, also test having someone with the ipad triggering the VO recordings on 'go button'.

- tunnel design and space

- set up all tables and chairs with the real deal

- work on ending with the rope, triggering and recording

- Do we need an ipad stand?

- Bump in roles

- chat about inviting friends and family for test audience

- design a stencil to laser cut for spray painting on the sides of the tunnels?

Preparation

Reflection

This session flew by. I spent most of the time in the innovation lab testing using the ipad and triggering app. We had someone with the headphones on doing the experience and another person triggering it. We found a few glitches and spent time relaying them to another person who is working on editing the sound. Very productive on this front.

Others spent time in the fab lab making lanyards and helmets. We spray painted the helmet and it came up great. The group has decided to meet up on Wednesday from 4pm to further test the sound and to check that using the app and 4 wireless headphones in the same space.

Thursday some of the group will come as well to continue to make things that need making. The session ended up running from 9-1.30pm.

Photos

Murals Deception Bay Flexible Learning Centre

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 15:46:54 +0000

schools

Murals Deception Bay Flexible Learning Centre

The art teacher, Hollie Cassidy worked with four students on these murals. The process involved a discussion around apocalypse and then designing and spray painting their designs onto plywood.

They were then displayed at the library in Deception bay. One of the young women who did one of the murals has since volunteered at the library after having had this experience.

ONE LAST APOCALYPSE

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 11:15:06 +0000

ONE LAST APOCALYPSE

internal

Developed by Daniel Flood and Others…

Not a zombie apocalypse; that is officially cliche. This will be a community engagement and development process. It will run 18-36 hours. It will have educational outcomes built into the experience. It will run in December 2017. It will be the version of the major project we couldn't deliver. It will be a response to space and assault/challenge the perception of The Edge space. It needs to take in all that we've learned about running events of this nature and activate all the gear we have. It needs to start early next year and get budgeted fully before things start to be built.

BACKGROUND

The Edge has delivered three LARP/ARG events which were named the Zombie Climate Apocalypse. First delivered as a part of the Future Cities Festival program in 2011. This was written and produced by Daniel Flood with help from Mick Byrne and Matt Fallon. Subsequently two further events were delivered, written and developed by community members in collaboration with Deb Polson and Daniel Flood with a bucket load of help from Mick Byrne. These events were focused on game design for purpose, with hard and soft skill learning outcomes built into them. The community members that developed the game also worked with The Edge programming team to manage the delivery of the events. They were a bit rubbish in the cleanup. Community members were invited to apply to be players or volunteer to be zombies. The events ran @ 36 hours, with players camping on the roof in tents. Over the time they were presented with a variety of puzzle challenges, narrative events and Nerf Gun battles with the hordes and other adversaries. The events were received well by the community members involved in the development and those involved in the playing. They were run on the cheap, which each event costing @ $5000 in materials, equipment and contractors. Staffing cost was high, as working with the community was intensive in the lead up and execution. The Edge stopped delivering these events as companies across Australia started to deliver these kinds of events commercially. One company went so far as the rip off the custom logo that The Edge design team put together to market the event.

WHY NOW?

While we did a lot of work to develop an interesting event, when the third was delivered it felt like - to Mick and Daniel - that there was still something to be done in that space. We stepped away as the market crowded in and we had a less than amicable split with one of our contractors in this space. Now these kinds of events are turning up everywhere (perfect example is the explosion in Escape Room projects) and other matters that have arisen with SLQ, it seems a fitting time to revisit this kind of a project one last time, as a nostalgic return to an old platform we have something to contribute to now that the time has passed, we've gotten older and little wiser (a little bit like T2 Trainspotting).

WHOSE JOB IS IT?

~~Primarily Daniel and Mick's~~ with a big assist from the Program Support Officer. It will end up dragging the entire team in and if I can find the funding/partner a contractor to assist in the delivery. The overall project will have a focus on activating the community to write, develop and deliver the program. We will have a more than usual active involvement in the process. We will be partnering with anyone that would like to collaborate with us on it. Essentially, people will be as involved as they need to be to make it a viable project and baulking will not be an option.

BUT DANIEL, WHY NOT ZOMBIES? THEY'RE STILL COOL... RIGHT?

Yes, zombies are still cool but kids, they ain't what they used to be. When we did our first Zombie Apocalypse The Walking Dead was yet to screen in Australia (it was starting to gather momentum in the USA. Both Matt Fallon and I had gotten a hold of it through various methods; I'd imported my copy from the USA on BluRay) and I (with the crew from Fade In Productions) had just won the People's Choice Award at the MTV Project180 event for 15:52 - a pitch for a zombie apocalypse tv series set fifteen years after the apocalypse in the Australian desert. If you haven't already, you can see the trailer here. It still doesn't suck much to my surprise and I need to do something with that idea at some point…

Since then there has been a deluge of zombie related media, games and events on this nature (if you haven't already, the only ones I recommend are iZombie and Archie Afterlife, both of which are really quite awesome). A certain cultural venue in Queensland is looking to deliver an zombie event in the next twelve months. See this article where George R Romero blames the destruction of the zombie genre on Brad Pitt's cinema adaptation of World War Z. I thought it was the deluge of crap film and television, but maybe I'm wrong. I liked the movie of World War Z but it has nothing on the book.

There are other kinds of apocalypses and apocalyptic narratives; Mad Max, The Seventh Seal, War of the Worlds, Day of the Triffids, When The Wind Blow, Fahrenheit 451, The Exorcist, 1984, Brave New World, The Road (plus everything else Cormac McCarthy has ever written; All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men are amongst the great apocalyptic texts for my money). We can avoid being cliche and as Monty Python would say; now for something completely different.

Long and short of it; zombies are still cool but we can do better.

DOES THIS CONNECT WITH THE SIGNATURE PROGRAM?

It could and that is a conversation for The Edge programming team to have in the immediate future. While I do not want to overtly impose of the community engaging with this project, it is probably a good idea. A lot of apocalyptic science fiction deals with identity at it's core; lack of, loss of, erosion of etc. So long as it isn't zombies.

BOOK LINKS

There are a bunch of books linked off of this page. They're Daniel's personal copies and only intended for use by internal team. Once/if this site goes live to the world (as we hope it does) these links will need to be changed to 'where-to-buy' links.

THE PROCESS

As this is primarily a process driven project with the community, some kind of structure will need to be established. Last time the programs were developed in an organic fashion that proved ultimately unwieldy to properly deliver, control or evaluate. This is not to say that the events were badly managed or unsafe in any way; far from it. Now we look at them and realise they could be much better handled.

The below structure is a modular approach to development. It sets a more leisurely pace (the previous events were developed - woe to go - in a matter of weeks, not months) of ten months, with time taken to explore the concepts and ideas fully, ensuring we have a solid and manageable idea to play with.

Each of these processes allows for entry and exit from the project. Community are welcome to engage with the project over the entire run or not. If in the end it is The Edge programming team running the actual event; so be it. We'l not have done our jobs properly as it is an awesome idea but that is the way these things work sometimes.

Each of the below modules will be broken down into discreet sessions with plans and materials (where possible) provided or points towards where they need to be purchased. We will try and avoid this wherever possible but sometimes the best options cost twenty dollars. From an externals perspective playing, they can simply ignore a given session and where feasible we will provide alternative options/session plans.

BUT DANIEL, ISN'T THIS A LOT OF WORK?

Yes, but this is the work. The intention is not to cut corners, to be far enough ahead of the process that we can avoid desperation and falling behind with the work.

APOCALYPSE BOOKCLUB

A bi-weekly bookclub looking at and discussing apocalyptic texts in relation to the project. Why? 'Cause we're a library and it's cool. Like bow ties.

APOCALYPSE MACHINE

This title is ripped from a really awesome table top gaming book called Chuthulu Apocalypse. The core conceit is a central set of game rules that allow you to design and develop a unique post (or mid) apocalyptic world for the players to engage in. I like the idea as it suggests a machine you feed ideas into and out they come; pre-packaged apocalypses :). If anyone is interested, I can loan you a copy to look at but figure that might be a touch too nerdy for most people reading this,

We're going to develop a series of workshops and gaming opportunities for the community to engage with. The purpose is to develop an understanding of apocalyptic gaming - what is fun about that space. This would include sessions of games like The Quiet Year, Apocalypse World, Fiasco, a session out at Escape Hunt and other opportunities as they arise.

The focus of these sessions on critical thought and taking the processes apart. It will have a focus on building community, there will be food and we'll take the opportunity to broaden out the communities we generally engage with. I see this running for a couple of months, one night a week or fortnight; whatever we feel is achievable. We will look to engage with groups like League of Extraordinary Gamers, Go Play etc. We will engage with universities and high schools. We will engage with some of the designers of interesting games. These workshops won't have anything to do with game design; that's another process we'll call Apocalypse Thinking.

SESSION ONE: APOCALYPSE MACHINE

Conversation about Apocalypses. Some facilitated conversation, a really short game of some description. A setting of the ground rules around what this process is looking to develop. It really is an introduction and launch of the project, so some deeper thought would need to be had around what it might look like.

SESSION TWO: THE QUIET YEAR

The Quiet Year is a strange board game crossed with a story game where the players design a post-apocalyptic settlement over a series of turns. Each players turn is informed by the turn of a playing card that introduces some complication to the narrative. The game is broken into four phases; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. When the King of Spades is turned in the Winter Deck, the Frost Shepherds arrive and the game is over.

The game takes 3-4 hours to play (depending on how quickly the King of Spades card is turned) including instructions on how to play. The play instructions are included in the text of the rules book and are handled by one of the players (probably the one who know's the rules best). Ideally we would have several tables of this game running at the same time to maximise involvement. This will require several staff to be involved and having played the game at some point.

Reason for this game, it is an example of a shared story game that doesn't get bogged down with characters. Players work towards a common goal and the menace it not clearly defined. It is also interesting mechanically, which can't be said for all games. Above all else, it's a fun game to play!

At the end of the session there will be a facilitated conversation about the game and what to take away from the playing.

APOCALYPSE THINKING

The initial design process will take at least three months. It will focus on prototyping and testing ideas that may or may not be useful in the grand scheme of the project but might be cool. The central idea with this part of the process is to get people thinkings about what is possible without getting caught up in it having to work immediately. It gives room for mistakes to me made, ideas discarded and progressing through the crap to find the interesting work underneath.

Wherever there is an opportunity to test, we will test in public and take feedback wherever we can. Testing and reiteration and applying design thinking principles wherever possible to the development of these new ideas. Adam - the new manager of APDL starting in January - is a huge design thinking person and will be a great resource in this situation. The aim of this process is not to come up with the final design process. That comes out of the Apocalypse Design process discussed below.

The aim with this is to develop a better understanding of how this process might work, how it will work and lay the ground work to undertake the design process. There will be elements and bits that come out of this process that will translate into design. This process can be undertaken in multiple places with a number of different groups of people as it is not a design process so to speak.

There will be the opportunity for some of the content developed as a part of this process to be publicly exhibited/presented at the end of the financial year. We wouldn't look at this costing us any money.

APOCALYPSE DESIGN

Everything the community learning in the Apocalypse Thinking process plugs into the Apocalypse Design process. This will see the development of a full-fledged game design document (akin to a LARP script) that will form the basis of the event. This will take the form of a wiki and will be developed with the community. This process will take four months and will involve a lot of testing and retesting. Nothing lands in the final product unless it is right and as we have a long runway with limited commercial imperatives we can avoid the usual pitfalls.

Like the other apocalypse events, I don't see it costing more than $5-8000 dollars to deliver. I also might be very wrong and we have to go out and find money :) I also see this document being finished a full two months prior to the event actually happening so we can deliver it clear of any real developmental processes (I think that makes sense). This is acknowledging that there will be things that need changing right up until delivery but that the foundations are solid.

APOCALYPSE DOCS

Goes without saying, we will be documenting everything from a back and front of house perspective. We will be providing the how to plan to the communities we engage with in real time, which is to say we deliver the howto document the week after we deliver a process so the people following at home can play along also. This will take some commitment.

APOCALYPSE MANAGEMENT

We will be running an event management training process that will see community deliver this event to the public playing. The learnings will be planned and staged as required, rather than organic and seemingly random (like the zombies was). We will outdo the better attempts around town to achieve this. Because we’re awesome.

APOCALYPSE REGIONS

This project is not intended to be be delivered only at The Edge. We will look to engage with regional partners to deliver satellite events. After all, Apocalypses are not the sole domain of urban communities. We will explore how these regional events plug into the main event and each other to create a broader story. We would look to bring leaders from these communities into The Edge to provide training and support to deliver their event. If there was a regional centre that was looking to run a large event we might send someone up there to help them. Maybe a community member…

APOCALYPSE LEARNING

A key outcome for this project is to embed learning outcomes/modules into the project. These outcomes are skinned with the game framework. These learning outcomes (number to be determined) will be designed by the community engaging in the design process.

APOCALYPSE WEEKEND

It will happen and it will be awesome. It will be the best thing we’ve ever done. It will be December 2016 and it will put other people’s work to shame. Below are notes about 'possible' events within the event. Nothing is set in stone, it's all just the things that come to be surface as the thinking happens and might make a good fit. Some of the events that take place in the program will have external producers and sit to the side of the main game from a design perspective. These will be produced by some of our favourite people.

APOCALYPSE BALL

It all come to a major event held in the auditorium. Idea has come from Mandi McIntyre, so credit and probably producing will go to here. As a part of the weekend there would be a formal event that works into the themes of the show. This will include guests from outside of the game event and will be a large scale event for The Edge's community and supporters. More about this will either be found elsewhere or here at a later date.

APOCALYPSE RESOURCES

project_plans

Nordic LARP

Larps From The Factory is a collection of LARP scripts from a Norwegian research project. It is accompanied by the LARP Factory website. This is Daniel's personal copy and not intended for distribution.

NordicLARP.org is a site outlining what Nordic LARP actually is.

Critical Success Factors

Which of the critical success factors does this project target? For more details see SLQ-Strategic-Plan-2016-20

Enable Access

[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Provide life skills and early childhood literacy programs
Increase free access to digital content
Strengthen Queensland library infrastructure and discovery platforms

Engage Community

Grow the State’s historical collection of Queensland culture and heritage
[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Engage with communities of interest through dedicated centres of engagement
Facilitate the community’s use of and interaction with content

Build Capability

[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10] Build capacity within our communities of interest
Generate new revenue sources
Position our workforce for the future

Delivering of The Edge Promises

Aside from the SLQ Strategic Plan, there is The Edge's commitments to the community and the lens we look at it through. Here are a few more check boxes for you to answer

This empowers creative experimentation across...

[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Art?
[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Science?
[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Technology?
Enterprise?

It will inspire...

[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Whimsy?
Nostalgia?
[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Curiosity?
[✓ daniel, 2016-11-10]Awe?

baker_-_apocalypse_world_-_printer.pdf

OLA PHOTO ALBUM

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

OLA PHOTO ALBUM

Planning

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

Planning

It is important to plan for your final event.

Things to think about when planning your event

- risk assessments for your venue

- make a list of everything that you need for smooth sailing running of your event

- design a logo for promotion and write copy

- think about the best time for your event and how it will roll out.

- Create a running order for the event (what will happen, where it will happen and the timing for it)

- write down the roles that everyone will take on. This will also help with the group taking on responsibility for getting these aspects done.

3D printing, casting and moulding PD

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

3D printing, casting and moulding PD

Over 2 sessions the Deception Bay library and community representatives are invited to explore 3D printing skills and/or expand upon existing skills of running 3D printing workshops. The sessions will also explore 3D casting and moulding.

Areas that will be covered are:

- 3D printing inductions (with paperwork)

- supporting community to engage with 3D printing

- how to train community from a range of backgrounds and literacy levels

- how to use free cad and drawing software

- Using basic moulding, casting and vacuum forming techniques to extend the applications and community engagement potential of 3D printing.

What could you make in your community after this process?

There are so many possibilities!

- Design and make masks,

- Make items out of plaster of paris (garden gnomes, eggs for Easter etc) that then could be painted by children.

- Make small replacement parts for everyday equipment.

With the moulding and casting capabilities you can make large numbers of objects that

Running the event at Deception bay Library 28th Nov 2017

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:24 +0000

Running the event at Deception bay Library 28th Nov 2017

The Deception Bay library staff took ownership over certain aspects of the final event, DBCYP also took responsibility of other aspects. It was a joint event with the steering group working together to come up with how the event would look and feel.

The grand final – one last supper. This event was the culmination of the previous events. A gala night to show case the work from the other sessions. For family and friends to come along and celebrate the new community. (new friends and new skills)

Materials needed

Items made from previous sessions (masks, posters, music lists, dioramas, 3D print outs)

Food and drink

Face painting

Photo booth with costumes and props and backdrop

Mask making table – glue, crayons, jewels, glitter sprinkles, feathers

Music device (with internet connection) and speakers

Art work from the Deception Bay Flexible Learning Centre for wall mural

We set up the space with the help of DBCYP busievents students, who made the decorations and organized the food. It took around 2hours to set up. We moved the furnishing (tables and chairs) from our main library area to facilitate a party area so we could include the activity stations (face painting, mask making, food area and photo booth).

Recommendations

Locate props for photo booth from second-hand/op shops – clothes, hats and photo frames.

Discussion

The evening started with the participants coming through the door to their new community. They were directed to the mask and face painting tables where they could choose their new identity (faces) Then they moved onto the photo booth. Food and drinks were provided and everyone mingled, chatted and reflected on what they had experienced through the program and that might be possible in the future – new friendships were made. We had around 40 people (26 children) attend the event and they all had a brilliant time.

Reflection

We loved holding this event. The smiles and friendships made were brilliant. And the best outcome was showing our community that libraries are not just about books but helping each other through mentoring and showcasing individual and team work.

Photos Deception Bay

Running the event at The Edge

To run an event everyone needs to know what they are most interested in running and the skills needed to run those elements for the event.

Event planning skills

Running the event

There were 2 events at the Edge on 3rd December 2017. One was called Cardboard Kaiju. Go here for more about it

https://wiki.edgeqld.org.au/doku.php?id=planning:one_last_apocalypse:design_kits_1

The second event was created fully by the community and was called Bio Crisis:

Here are a couple of screen shots of what the event looked like online:

Bio Crisis Script

Here is the script that the community wrote:

biocrisis.pdf

Photos of Bio crisis

Running the event

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:10 +0000

Running the event

At the Edge we will be running the event with those of the community that would like to get involved in doing it.

Here are the steps that we took as a group at the edge:

1. We created a shopping list and added to is as we went along

2. met with the venue team to run through what spaces we were planning to use

Created the following document to follow for set up in each space:

venueola.docx

A risk assessment was also carried out on all spaces

On the event day the edge team did a safety brief chat with all involved on the day.

Staff had walky talkies on at all times as well.

The Templates

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:03:23 +0000

The Templates

How to begin

Book Club

Game Nights

(Both The Edge and Deception Bay combined the book club and games nights into one program. The Edge called it 'Pop culture book club' and Deception Bay called it 'Larger than life at the library' )

Apocalypse Thinking sessions

Doing outreach

Your community may have some awesome ideas by this point and have a clear direction to go in next.

Follow their lead and go with the next stages of the process.

If you would like to follow a pre-made design, use this design kit called 'Cardboard Kaiju'

Design kit

One Last Apocalypse

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 May 2021 14:25:17 +0000

One Last Apocalypse

What is One Last Apocalypse ?

One Last Apocalypse (OLA) is a community engagement and capacity building project consisting of a series of workshops and meetups that culminate in an event. It focuses on skill building, development and community ownership through engagements, leading to a final event.

It explores the idea of Apocalypse as a conduit for discovery, change and renewal.

By definition an apocalypse is:

(Ancient Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω, literally meaning “an uncovering”) a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities”.[1]

What will your community learn?

During the initial phases of OLA (book club & game nights) engaged communities will develop skills in critical literacy and social literacy whilst unpacking ideas around apocalypse through a variety of mediums and genres.

The second phase focuses on the process of creation, putting ideas into motion and delivering the final event.

The different phases will focus on the following areas of learning:

Thinking:

This project creates a space for the exploration of big ideas through facilitated sessions utilising stimuli such as books, movies, graphic novels and games to encourage learning, sharing and critical thought.

Design:

Participants will actively engage with design concepts through play and will be empowered to generate their own designs as a preparation for event design and fabrication.

Making:

Participants will be guided through the making process through a series of workshops and will have the opportunity to use the Edge facilities including digital fabrication tools.

Event Planning:

A key part of the project is to develop participant skills in event planning and management. OLA will be achieved through focused event capacity workshops and a series of event planning meetups supported by a producer.

WHY OLA?

The Edge is a visionary space for ‘creating creatives’, a 21st century library, with a purpose to empower Queenslanders to explore creativity across art, science, technology, and enterprise.

Since 2010 The Edge has been a space to engage in programs and a facility to visit, use and meet like minded people.

Then, between 2011 and 2012 The Edge explored the idea of engaging a community as a whole. They developed a series of creative thinking role playing challenges called the Zombie Climate Apocalypse. This explorative process engaged local communities and gave them permission and agency to have ownership of The Edge space. They were given help to develop the content and events that took place.

‘One Last Apocalypse (OLA)’ is a finalisation of this work. This time The Edge is engaging multiple communities to explore their creativity to develop this project. Community members will be involved in the process of structuring, planning and running the event.

This wiki is where The Edge is sharing all of its learning and the process of creating The One Last Apocalypse program. Other libraries who use this framework will also share their process and learning.

Project History and Background

For a (not so brief) background check out Daniel Flood's initial brief for this project.

Contact AC team for permission to read this Internal planning document.

Outcomes & Reflections

These documents record the experiences and conversations of community participants, and collaborating library staff. Reading them will give you a sense of how this project could grow in your hands, and what additional resources others found wanting as the project proceeded. And some of the really rewarding feedback you might expect.

Delivery at The Edge allowed participants to access a range of tools and techniques in the Fabrication Lab, not widely available in other library spaces.

The Edge Reflections

Delivery at Deception Bay public library tested the project in a small (3 staff) public library, with the facilities and community connections typical for such a space, with intermittent access to workshop facilities at The Edge.

Deception Bay Library reflections

How to engage with this wiki

- Use the templates

- Remix the templates

- Create your own templates

The Templates

Planning your OLA process

Book Club

One Last Apocalypse Game Nights

(Both The Edge and Deception Bay combined the book club and games nights into one program. The Edge called it 'Pop culture book club' and Deception Bay called it 'Larger than life at the library' )

Apocalypse thinking

Doing Outreach

Your community may have some awesome ideas by this point and have a clear direction to go in next.

Follow their lead and go with the next stages of the process.

If you would like to follow a pre-made design, use this design kit called 'Cardboard Kaiju'

Design kit