IndieCade Beyond Screens

Alternative Controller Show

A monthly interview show on the IndieCade Festival Twitch Channel, where creators of Alternative Controller games are invited to talk about and show off their work to a live audience.

Co-hosted with Tatiana Vilela dos Santos, the show is typically split into two-segments.

The first half is an interview looking back over the guest's portfolio and creative development. This segment is typically led by Tatiana, with Alistair serving a live-producer role to cue up appropriate video content to build context.

The second half is a more improvisation discussion, usually led by Alistair, where the guest shows off a work-in-progress project offering the viewer an under-the-hood look at some of their electronics. The show culminates in a live game played with the audience, sometimes using one of Alistair's Twitch bots, or by allowing the audience to remotely take part in one of the guest's games.

Episodes

Interviews with the creators of nominated games, and IndieCade alumni, who exhibited at the returning Night Games event in Los Angeles. This show includes the Tabletop Award winner Desperation, the Bernie de Koven Big Fun Award winning team behind Killer Queen, and Quantum Garden creator Robin Baumgarten.

Interviews with the creators of nominated games, and IndieCade alumni, who exhibited at the returning Night Games event in Los Angeles. This show includes the 2023 Nominee Get Off My Lawn and 2016 exhibitors Ultimate Chicken Horse.

Tim's interactive art background and history with high-profile clients gives him a detailed insight into the creation of alt-ctrl games for large-scale production - including his work as hardware designer on the award-winning board games Beasts of Balance and Return to Dark Tower

A collective of three interactive artists making beautifully glitchy games and arcade cabinets. They've produced work for Meow Wolf, and they give us a first-hand tour of their cabinets.

Gregory is the creator of RotoRing and Skeeper, two incredibly polished alternative controller works, with a keen eye on simplicity and minimalism. He also develops projects for the Playdate handheld console, including the outstanding Omaze.

Alex's games include Morse code machines and giant proddable Operation-style bodies. What really shone through in this interview was his commitment to making alt-ctrl accessible and helping introduce newcomers to the craft.

Martzi Campos' catalogue of work draws on her background in illustration, creating magical experiences in pop-up books and escape rooms.

Out very first multilingual interview - big thank-you to Kaho Abe for translating for us! - with one of Japan's trailblazing alternative controller creators. Miyazawa's games involve giant cardboard wings and squirty soap bottles, and he runs the make.ctrl.Japan exhibition series.

Interview with Jonah Warren, creator of the 2022 Live Action Award nominee Choppy Copies, as well as competitive painting game Sloppy Forgeries and 4-keyboard typing game Word After Word

Interview with the creators of Live Action Award winner TIKATMOS, including Matt Bethancourt, Zayna Shiek and Danny Rankin

A showcase of the projects created for a research project run by Phoenix Perry of University of the Arts London. The project paired alternative controller developers with experts in accessibility and disability studies.

A follow-up interview with the wonderful Kaho Abe, recipient of the Bernie de Koven Big Fun Award at the 2022 IndieCade festival

Amanda's work is vibrant, subversive and experimental, including smashable electric guitars and arcade fightsticks with 100 buttons

Mona and Lynn are designers and researchers art the University of Abertay, using their alt-ctrl creations to explore public play from an academic perspective

Hannes and and Thomas Devillé make beautfiul handcrafted wooden arcade cabinets, both as installations for indie dev collaborators and for their own experimental creations.

It's co-host Tatiana's turn in the hot seat! Tatiana's prolific portfolio spans the art and games world. As a teacher she travels across France to bring alt-ctrl to new audiences. As a creator she's fascinated with physicality, repurposing and mysterious "Rosetta stone" game designs.

Danny's work began in the art world and grew into the world of games and play. He is a teacher and researcher at University of Colarado, and the creator of note one but two finalists in the 2022 Alt+Ctrl+GDC exhibition.

With her background in fashion, Kaho's alternative controllers often centre around wearable components. Built into her work are discussions of what clothing means for identity in a technological world, as well as explorations of performance, scene-building and socialising through play.

An interactive artist building games and installations for galleries, and academic researcher exploring the development of alternative controllers.

In addition to our Beyond Screens slot, Tatiana and I also hosted Day 2 of the IndieCade Anywhere & Everywhere Festival, running a series of interviews and live plays with the finalists

In this episode, Tatiana interviewed me about my own catalogue of work, and I got the audience playing with a new project which uses real paint and is controlled by Twitch Chat

Julia makes custom controllers with an eye on fostering emotional connections, and uses custom-made objects as a way to involve playes in narratives

A musician and technologist making musical objects out of defuct motion controllers and even mushroom spores. This episode featured a live-play of music-controlled robots which the audience piloted on Discord.

Enric approaches alt-ctrl with an eye on politics and uses them to allow players to sit inside big political ideas. We talk about game hardware made of cardboard, designed to be adopted and adapted by anyone around the world regardless of budget.

Chad Toprak has a long history of experimental control projects in games, including games played inside trains. Helen Kwok makes emotionally impactful installations involving fabric and wood. Together, they created Street Tape Games, a compendium of public outdoor games that make use of social distancing restrictions.

Two developers with a long history of collaboration and a focus on the weird, the humorous and the heartfelt. We talk about performative play and an ASMR game played by stroking a house plant.

Two titans of the London alt-ctrl scene. Phoenix Perry's Bot Party encourages players to join hands and explore with motion-controlled, touch-sensitive, smiley-faced boxes. Robin Baumgarten's iconic Wobbler projects are well known for their spectacle and simplicity. Both offer us a look inside the hardware they crafted.