radical play

with USC Division of interactive Media and Games

This spring, artworxLA classrooms were inspired by the Radical Play initiative at USC Games and delved into the realm of play, gaming, and digital culture. Guided by the notion that radical play has the capacity to disrupt and transform systems, students explored a critical understanding of the world around them and its reflections, or lack thereof, in digital media.

Whether it was analogue or digital, students developed methods of experimenting with game theory at each workshop. They explored innovative approaches to storytelling through challenges and mock products related to gaming. In the process, they created a supportive and inclusive learning community, collaborating with their peers to develop projects based on teamwork and communication skills. Finally, students developed a critical understanding of their own cultural identities and perspectives within the context of gaming culture. Students learned to question and challenge stereotypes, biases, and inequalities, fostering a deeper understanding of the societal impact of gaming. Most importantly, they considered how gaming can be a tool for community-building and social change.

how can we use play to imagine a better world?

press play.

Click the sound files to hear students’ final projects from artworxLA Teaching Artist Julian Samuels’s Level 1 Workshop at Duke Ellington High School this spring. Over the course of the semester, Samuels taught students key music production techniques with Ableton software. Incorporating existing loops and samples, they experimented with editing and arranging elements to create title tracks and soundscapes for video games of their own imagination.

Student spotlight:

Marina and Keven

Duke Ellington HS student Trina created this intense soundscape for Secrets Untold, a game she would develop with a protagonist who attempts to escape a government building with secret files.

Students Nelson and Ronald collaborated to make this beat in preparation to create a title track for a video game.

Continually working together throughout the semester, students Marina and Keven sought to create a title track for a horror game that would take place in a forest. The two students experimented with the Ableton software by overlaying premade sound effects with their own recordings, adding effects like reverb and echo to produce a haunting result they titled Into the Unknown.

Marina and Keven then went above and beyond by creating an entire ‘game disc and jacket’ with paper, pencil, and pen, writing the lengthy description seen in the image to the right to build out the game of their dreams.