Amble Studio

26/08/2024

Amble's own Hailey Cooperrider is appearing at the Games for Change Festival! 🎲

We're very excited to be part of this panel on games and social change with some wonderful folks (including our TAG partner Ben Pederick 💓)

Can't wait to hear what this collection of folks have to say... 🤔

Learn more and grab your ticket here:

Tickets on sale now!Full price $90Concession $60 BUY TICKETS AT THE ACMI WEBSITE THE GAMES FOR CHANGE ASIA-PACIFIC FESTIVAL 2024PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY ACMI...

12/08/2024

Sharing the good vibes with this one. So rewarding to see a team - both ours and Yarra Ranges' - work hard to get something together, and to see it run so well!

05/08/2024

Our next webinar is next week! We've had such engrossing chats with all the local council and community organiser folks who have attended these webinars.

Come along and join us?

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The Adaptation Game Webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

22/07/2024

So great to see more awareness of the impact of creative work!

In the early days of Amble, we had to a lot of work explaining 'serious games' and 'for purpose games' before we could even get to the actual juicy conversation of co-design with clients.

Now that's work we don't have to do, more and more people just get it. Games and creativity can have powerful impacts!

Creative industries have a key role to play in creating positive social change. Here are six key insights to help them achieve their goals.

18/07/2024

Great talk from Kiri Bear at Social Design Sydney meetup, detailing the social and environmental impact of TAG. She also touches on the business side, and the business of making change while maintaining livelihood. 🌏

And there's great Q&A at the end! 💡

Selling Community Adaptation : Turning a social change, community engagement initiative into a productWhat happens when you cross a team of nerdy role-playin...

01/07/2024

We've been busy bees this year!

Big shout out to the whole Amble troupe (Hailey, Bec, Jason, Kiri, Logan) and our other TAG half Benjamin Theodore Pederick.
Many thanks to all the local councils who have played with us, the community facilitators and change makers, to all the players.

To everyone who has taught us more about resilience, we have all taught each other.

Here's to resilience and caring communities!

Happy New Financial Year 🎉🎉

Let's pause and take stock. In this past financial year, The Adaptation Game has been played:
- in 7 different council areas 🗺️
- by 150+ people 👨🏿‍👩🏽‍🧒🏻‍👧🏽
- by teenagers to 70+ year olds 👧🏾👴🏼
- to raise conversations about bushfire, flood, seas level rise, heatwaves, and storms 🤔
- in community halls, libraries, council buildings, and one pub 🏠

And we're just getting started! 🌱

We can't wait to play TAG with more and more folks, to share knowledge and build resilience for climate events, as far and wide as we can.

Thank you all for joining us, let's keep going 🌏

03/06/2024

Reminder; the first Amble Showcase is NEXT WEEK!

If you haven't booked your spot to join us for a lovely Wednesday lunch hang out, what are you waiting for?

Register here ➡️ https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEudOyqrTgiH9Ren8cn6Bt3UNxOvBvT1qHZ #/registration

Ask any questions in the comments ⬇️

22/05/2024

You’re invited to the inaugural Amble Showcase! 🎉

We know you’ve been hanging out to play the games we’ve been working on this year. Now is your chance! 👀

Wednesday 12 June at 12pm AEST.

Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEudOyqrTgiH9Ren8cn6Bt3UNxOvBvT1qHZ

27/03/2024

Adaptations for the win!

26/03/2024

It's happening! TAG is being played in neighbourhood houses!

First step Sussex Neighbourhood House, next step the world 😉

20/03/2024

We had a truly generative and creative final session with cohealth, exploring what kinds of games and gameful experiences might improve the care that Culturally And Linguistically Diverse communities receive in the mental health system.

We had 3 giant posters to capture thoughts on what kind of experience these games should create - and participants completely filled all 3! There was such generous and engaged energy in the room. 🤩

What you see below is one of 3 prototype games the Amble troupe co-designed with participants on the day. Think Minimum Viable Product. Not bad for one day's work!

We are very grateful to cohealth for having us, and for the work they do toward culturally-responsive care for all.

This is the work we love doing - creating games that meet people where they are, just as they are, and encourage them to talk, share, and grow together in fun and caring ways. 💖

Here's to more like this! 🎉

20/03/2024

It was great to play TAG: Port Phillip with Council members and members of the community in the same room. There was such a breadth of expertise and experience being shared.

Can't wait to take it to the next level with even more players in April! If you live in Port Phillip, you won't want to miss this...

13/03/2024

Get ready Pascoe Vale, TAG is coming to your neighbourhood! 🏘️

We're not shying away from the realities of climate change that are coming and happening right now. Let's play and see how we might prepare for that future - together. 🌏

19/02/2024

Found this quote on LinkedIn via Richard Gold today;

"Play doesn't mean that the work is frivolous. Far from it. All it means is that we take play very seriously. Play warms the heart and cools the head. It's fun, it's liberating, it's empowering and it gives us that compelling combination of engagement and objectivity that enables all of us to generate meaning, take risks and find things." - John Wright.

I think Wright writes right! 😆

And I would add that while play can be a stage for useful objectivity, it can also raise subjectivity.

Play can bring bias, assumptions, communication styles, and other personal elements to the fore in a low- or no-risk environment. This is serious work too. Humans are not solely objective beings, and intentionally taking subjective experience into account will only strengthen our relationships and the work we all do, regardless of sector. This too is a way to 'generate meaning, take risks and find things'.

So let's play!

13/02/2024

So great to be doing good work with good people 🤩

09/02/2024

My next favourite thing about running our Game Design for Facilitators workshop is our participants reactions when we show them the possibilities of our favourite type of game - 'storytelling games'.

We love the intuitive nature of these games, how they're collaborative not competitive, and how they build connection and creativity.

And most of all, how they are applicable in such a broad range of sectors.

Learn more here:

Get Tickets on Humanitix - Game Design for Facilitators - February 2024 hosted by Amble Studio. Online. Tuesday 13th February 2024. Find event information.

05/02/2024

It was hard to narrow my favourite part of running Game Design for Facilitators down to just one so I'll share a few, starting with...

The online platform! 🖥️

We use GatherTown to run our workshops. Why? Because it:

- is intuitive to use 💡
- gives participants agency over where they go and how they interact 🚶🏽‍♂️
- has cute graphic design 🤩
- you can pick your own digital outfit! 👒👕👖

And I haven't even started talking about the workshop content yet... stay tuned!

Learn more about this awesome workshop here: https://events.humanitix.com/game-design-for-facilitators-february-2024

29/01/2024

Hello everyone, we're back in town! Who's ready for more awesome game experiences?

11/12/2023

As the end of year approaches, so does our need for a rest. 📅

Amble Studio will be in 'low power mode' from 18 December - 28 January.

We will still be taking meetings and answering emails, and we might be slower than you're used to as some of us take the time to rest, spend time with family, and prepare for 2024.

Wishing everyone a smooth and joyous end of 2023! 👋🏼

04/12/2023

Are you signed up to the Amble Studio newsletter? 📧

It's light, infrequent, and friendly. And each one has a puzzle at the end!

Our newsletter is a great way to keep up-to-date with all the Amble Studio goings on, especially if you're not much of a social media user.

Our last newsletter for the year is dropping soon, so sign up here to make sure it's in your inbox! ⬇️

https://share.hsforms.com/1b6KQUaKeQnyZl8-rVHTdlw5atv9

27/11/2023

So much excellent conversation was generated that night - and it's still bubbling away!

We're so thrilled that TAG continues to have lasting impact on the people who play it 🎉

Shout out to TAG Directors Logan Timmins and Jason Tampake for running another excellent demo session of TAG at a local library!

We had an excellent crew playing, bringing a wide variety of life experience, professional experience, and future dreaming to make this unique TAG experience.

Thank you Luisa, Vincent, Sarah, and Vince for playing with us, and for the rich conversation that followed.

Where will we play next? TAG, you're it!

15/11/2023

Coming from an overlap of facilitation and game design expertise here at Amble, we've seen plenty of different expressions of agency. And you probably have too!

Take a video game - many have a single, fixed storyline for you to uncover as you go. 🪧
Others, especially in the Roleplaying genre, have a list of dialogue and action options that change how that storyline progresses. 🌿
Still other games allow you to create that dialogue or name your own action entirely from your own creativity. 📝

The type of game you're most familiar with will drastically change your perception of agency in all the other types of games. 🤔

And work life is similar in a lot of ways. What kinds of decisions and actions you're used to being able to make impacts your perception of agency in that context.

Meredith speaks a little more on this topic and she reflects on her conversation with Ambler Logan Timmins, read on below!

“I think everyone has, depending on the context, a different understanding of what agency looks like.”

08/11/2023

Our next Game Design for Facilitators Workshop is booked for February 2024 (only 3 months away 😱) !

If you're looking to add creativity, play, and excitement to your facilitation practice, this is the workshop for you. 🤩

Early Bird tickets are on sale now - for a limited time! 🐣
We also have some sliding scale tickets for those who need it.

Learn more and sign up here: https://events.humanitix.com/game-design-for-facilitators-february-2024

31/10/2023

Our first inter-state TAG!

Thank you to everyone who made this possible, who supported us, who attended, and much more.

Let's keep creating games for impactful experiences!

17/10/2023

Introducing TAG Player 4: Samuel Austin

Samuel Austin is an award-winning urban planner, and TikTok influencer, with over 6 years of experience undertaking land use analysis, community consultation, social policy development and permit assessment, working in a combination of municipal governments and private consultancies. Through his involvement in the media and policy submission work, Samuel has been a fierce advocate for the issues faced by today’s young adults, including addressing the housing crisis, improving the night-time economy, and helping make our cities more resilient and climate-ready.

Follow Sam on TikTok:

TAG: The Adaptation Game is a serious game to help communities prepare for climate change in their own towns.

Join us for TAG SXSW Sydney Live Play
👉 16:00 |18th Oct 2023
👉 Alienware Arena
👉 https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/sessions/ca3d6006-504d-5506-97c9-c8bfabcf87d1

13/10/2023

Stoked to announce Aussie music legend Josh Pyke will be playing TAG with us at SXSW!

Introducing TAG Player 1: Josh Pyke

A multiple ARIA-winning musician from Marrickville, Josh Pyke is a prolific songwriter, with a successful and critically acclaimed career both domestically and overseas. Josh's 6 studio albums to date have all debuted in the ARIA Top 10. Amongst numerous other honours, he has received 4 ARIA Awards, 10 ARIA nominations, and gold/ platinum accreditations. Josh is a member of the AGSC, and a respected composer for Film/TV– having received an APRA Award for film composition, Josh has also worked on a slew of recent TV/advertising projects, including the popular ABC series The Justine Clarke Show, Miki Vs the World (Season 1&2) and the upcoming dark drama Troppo. Through his work with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Josh has also run numerous songwriting workshops with Indigenous communities and raised over $50,000 for the organisation through his Busking For Change events.

TAG: The Adaptation Game is a serious game to help communities prepare for climate change in their own towns.
Join us for TAG SXSW Sydney Live Play👉 16:00 |18th Oct 2023
👉 Alienware Arena
👉 https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/sessions/ca3d6006-504d-5506-97c9-c8bfabcf87d1

12/10/2023

TAG is off to Sydney next week! ✈️

We're very excited for our first inter-state game, with 4 excellent players.

Who are they? Well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out 😉

TAG @ SXSW SYDNEY!
You’re invited.

For the 1st time ever TAG: The Adaptation Game will be ‘live-played’ on stage with special guests. Buckle in for a scary fun empowering ride into the near-term future of climate change in your life.

TAG SXSW Sydney Live Play
👉 16:00 |18th Oct 2023
👉 Alienware Arena
👉 https://schedule.sxswsydney.com/sessions/ca3d6006-504d-5506-97c9-c8bfabcf87d1

Climate change is here. You will be your own first responder. TAG is a serious place-based game that helps communities prepare for climate change in their own towns.