The Peripherals Initiative
In: Cultural Perspectives of Video Games: From Desiger to PlayerSearch for other papers by David Bouchard in
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This chapter reports on the Peripherals Initiative, a workshop dedicated to fostering collaboration between indie video game developers and hardware hackers. The goal of the initiative was to experiment with how video games could evolve in nontraditional ways by not only focusing on the software, but also on the hardware. Many indie games feature innovative audio, visuals, narrative and gameplay mechanisms, but are often bound by the constraints of available commercial game controller combinations. While the video game industry has already been experimenting with alternative controllers, such as full body interaction, we believe this could be taken further by empowering developers to create and experiment with hardware technology. In addition, we have witnessed a recent resurgence of the DIY maker movement as well as the widespread availability of accessible tools and platforms for electronic prototyping. These changes provide an opportunity to bring two thriving communities that were previously developing in a simultaneous, but more disparate fashion, together in a formal context to meet and learn to collaborate. The chapter will also present a discussion of the game prototypes that were created as a result of the workshop, as well as the challenges involved in establishing a multi-disciplinary learning environment for the participants.