The explosive rise of gaming has opened a new frontier for crafting engaging experiences, particularly for science topics. How can writers, artists, designers, and scientists explore the radical possibilities of the medium to communicate, entertain, and inspire engagement with science?

September’s SciComm Studio is mixing things up by hosting a game design workshop. We’ll select a small, interdisciplinary “classroom” of experts in science communication, game design, and beyond, who will work together to develop gameplay for the upcoming science game, MIKMA. Participants will explore the secrets of compelling game design and storytelling while collaborating on a rare real-world example of a science game. 

Each participant will be given a one-page description for MIKMA, followed by a group discussion and work session for each participant. 

About MIKMA

MIKMA is a game in which players explore the relative size of things in the universe. Navigating from the largest to the smallest scale in powers of ten, players discover how those scales relate to themselves. Visualizations from fields including cosmology and quantum physics augment the narrative to reveal the latest scientific knowledge in an accessible and playful way.

Bio

Nadezda Suvorova

Nadezda Suvorova is an interaction designer based in Zurich. Aside from her independent practice, she co-founded Digital Alchemy, an interaction design studio that combines digital and physical creation. In the games field, she’s best known for OKO, a mesmerizing puzzle game based on NASA imagery.

Contributors

• Moderator: Eryk Salvaggio, swissnex San Francisco
• Benjamin Bollmann, swissnex San Francisco
• Bob Kochenderfer, Acionyx Inc
• Chelley Sherman, spaceisthe.place
• Claudia Miranda, ghostmeat.io
• Devika Nair, Research Coordinator, UCSF & Podcaster, The Hidden Addiction
• Johannes Weikenmeier, Postdoctoral Fellow, Brain Mechanics, Neuromechanics at Stanford University
• Katherine Sharmaj, Managing Director, Third Sector
• Laura Perrenoud, fragment.in
• Richard Davis, Transformative Learning Technologies Lab
• Sheila Fakurnejad, swissnex San Francisco

Photo: Still from MIKMA, courtesy of Nadya Suvorova.