The Incredible Playable Show
Spirit of the Festival Award
GameCity Nottingham 2016
Jury Choice Award
IndieCade 2017
A 1-hour interactive stage show where everybody in the room gets to be a part of the action.
Each show comprises of multiple games custom-made for the stage or with specially-made custom controller. They involve barcode scanners, inflatables, wearable tablets and a big cardboard Mega Zord costume.
As well as creating all the games seen in the show, Alistair also dons the ringmaster's outfit to become The Incredible Playable Host.
With the humour of the shown driven by the audience's creative interpretation of the rules, it takes influence from clowning and improv comedy.
The Incredible Playable Show has been performed around the world, at venues including
- ScreenShake 2017, Belgium
- Creative Coast 2017, Sweden
- The National Videogame Arcade, Nottingham
- NozStock Music Festival, Herefordshire
- Bristol Improv Theatre
- Develop Converence 2017 & 2019, Brighton
- IndieCade 2017, Los Angeles
- AdvenctureX 2018, British Library
- Yorkshire Games Festival 2019, Bradford
- Spielkulturfestival 2019, Germany
- Overkill Festival 2018, Netherlands
- Playful Arts Festival 2019, Netherlands
- Sheffield DocFest 2018
- Play17, Hamburg
- IndieCade Europe 2018, Paris
Tech Stack
Unity C#
All four games in the show were developed in Unity and programmed using C#. The games are run on a Mac or PC.
Arduino C
Codex Bash is a codebreaking game used in the show. It uses a specially-made kit of four coloured buttons at the end of long cables, attached to a central unit. The buttons light up and flash based on Serial inputs from the game. The unit is built from an Arduino and programmed in C.
Barcode scanners
Barcode scanners are used in both Match Me if You Scan and Buoy Racers - attached to wearable barcode vests and inflatables. Scanner messages are interpreted as keyboard inputs and parsed by the game.
RPC Networking
The final game, Go! Power Team! has four volunteers from the audience wear Android tablets on their stomachs, as they run around pretending to be Power Rangers. Each tablet runs a Unity app that sends and receives messages to the main game app, showing when they have been pressed and prompting them to make noises and animations.
Testimonials
Whether it was the group of stakeholders, sponsors, games industry professionals and students at the Launch Party event, or at the public weekend family show, the audience had such a fun-filled and immersive experience and loved the opportunity to connect to different people.
I'm already planning the next event and can't wait to get Alistair involved!
The Incredible Playable Show is a rare spectacle I'd encourage everyone to go see and be a part of. The performance blends theatre, games, and improvisation so seamlessly into a form that is fun, innovative, and unashamedly silly. Everything is made by Alistair himself, which is a window into the weird and wonderful creative mind of the showman himself, making the show truly unique.
Alistair’s own stage persona also plays a big part here: He’s an unfailingly charming host who manages to make you feel safe and confident to be playful, because every laugh will be in good fun, and only ever at his expense.
Very much recommended! Will definitely book again!