The days in which computer games were nothing more than pre-programmed play experiences belong to the past. Today, many games offer instruments which enable players to be makers and to create their own world and stories. In this respect they have inherited the mantle of traditional construction toys such as, for example, Lego.
Friedrich Kirschner is an artist who regularly makes use of game technology for his projects. He has won prizes with his beautiful machinima-films (films made in computer games), such as Person2184 and The Journey, and has also created interactive story environments.
Daniel van Gils is an interaction designer and programmer who constructed a new application with which media makers and artists can apply game technology simply and easily in their own designs.
Alongside their own projects, Kirschner and Van Gils provided an insight into a number of crossovers between game culture and other cultural activities. These include game-comics, animation driven by live music and games that take place simultaneously in physical and virtual spaces.
These readings formed the kick off for the Mediamatic workshop Games-in-Crossmedia@Cinekid 2007, in which international makers created prototypes of cross-media projects involving games.
