Finding a Balance

As game designers we constantly build systems - to challenge players, to tell stories, to extend the life of our games. But we rarely get a chance to really focus on what it means to design and modify and balance a system in order to get a particular result.

This hands-on, interactive workshop uses a simple tabletop game as the occasion to think deeply about how the same system might be balanced in different ways, how choice and chance interact in a system, and how the rules of systems can express their content.

This workshop is relevant for a wide range of designers, artists, technologists - whether you are working in games, in another creative field, or you just want to better understand how games and designed systems work. Please come prepared to participate and collaborate.

Eric Zimmerman is a veteran game designer who makes award-winning games on and off the computer. Along with Peter Lee, he was the co-founder of Gamelab, a New York City-based studio that created original games like Diner Dash and worked with companies like Lego to create dozens of online titles. He was a co-founder of the nonprofit The Institute of Play, which designed entire schools where the curriculum was based on play and games as the model for learning. Tabletop titles include Quantum (with FunForge) and The Metagame (with Local No.12). With architect Nathalie Pozzi, he has designed installations that have been shown in the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and other festivals and museums around the world. Eric is a professor at the NYU Game Center and his books include Rules of Play (with Katie Salen) a textbook and The Rules We Break. He is always ready to play.

• R SVP required, please show up on time and be prepared to collaborate in the workshop
• Refreshments available
• Bathroom available
• No weapons or fireworks
• ZERO TOLERANCE for illegal drugs or underage drinking.
• Please don't come if you have any cold or flu symptoms.
• By RSVP'ing you are agreeing to join the Night City mailing list.

Masks optional per state and city requirements. We will have hand sanitizer stations and multiple HEPA air purifiers on-site.

Do not attend the event if you have cold or flu symptoms (fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea), even if you have been vaccinated.

Do not attend the event if you have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 7 days.

People with active symptoms or who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 7 days cannot attend the event.

At the event:

• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, or with hand sanitizer.

When you get home:

• Stay home and get tested if you develop any symptoms of COVID-19, even if you are fully vaccinated.

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Also check out other Arts events in Chicago, Workshops in Chicago, Festivals in Chicago.