maybe maybe games

games made by kana and miki in chicago

BLOODRAGE SUMMER FIGHT CLUB: LOVE AND WAR

at Night City:

    exhibited at: MAGfest 2025, Bitbash Xtreme Sports 2024, Sugar Gamers National Video Game Day 2024, Hero-Con 2024

    the game:

    an immersive tropical fight-club themed event featuring a game built just for that night.the event started with each guest being given an amount of prize money, which could be used to bet on fighters. the party game revolved around two players (the “fighters”) hitting a punching bag, programmed with a Makey Makey to detect contact as fast as possible in 30 seconds. each punch counted as one point. at the end of the round, whichever fighter racked up the most points won prize money, and whoever bet on them also won prize money. however: during each round, the audience could hit a bell to pause the fight and spend their money to buy “disadvantages” for a fighter, such as fighting blindfolded, punching with one arm, or taking a step back from the punching bag. at the end of the evening, whoever had the most money was crowned king of the fight club.

    goals:

    • create a game with a custom controller that could withstand repeated wear and tear

    • engage 30+ guests in an activity

    • engage people who weren’t acting as fighters by letting the audience bet on fighters, and control the pacing of the fight by pausing rounds to buy disadvantages

    • engage people who aren’t comfortable performing as fighters

    • have tight game mechanics (prize money could be earned, spent and won in multiple avenues)

    • set standards for costumes and role-playing before the event began with thematic “game-ified” invites

    • create a game that lets players be a spectacle for a watching audience

    Hell's Children

    the game:

    a fun immersive dress-up event with a spooky twist.it was a one-to-thirty-plus player alternative controller game that asked participants to hold “seances” to unlock prizes and progress the game. the controller was an “angel” whose hands were hardwired to detect if they were both being held. on-screen prompts would ask certain players to join or leave the seance at different times. guests would play by joining hands with the angel and each other, forming a seance circle as big or small as the game would prompt. successful seances would reveal a “sigil” allowing players to cross off the matching sigil on a bingo sheet. players with completed bingo sheets could "summon a demon" by placing their completed bingo sheets on a pedestal. the pedestal acted as a secondary controller, and by means of a strip of copper on the back of the bingo sheet, would trigger a scene on the monitor showing the random demon the player summoned. the player then received a prize associated with the particular demon

    goals:

    • include 30+ people in a game (prompts would force players in and out of the game)

    • engage people who weren’t actively playing (anyone sitting out could still participate with the bingo sheets)

    • create a collaborative game, since we felt comfortable making competitive games

    • create motivation to play in a collaborative game (players would be motivated to continue playing to fill their own bingo sheets, so would be motivated to continue doing seances with each other,)

    • create “win” moments and moments to be cheered by the audience (players felt successful when completing seances, felt like a “win” when just the right person ran up to fulfill an on-screen prompt.)

    • facilitate friendships between strangers (on-screen prompts were trait-based or conversation starters, like “stay in the seance if you think you could survive a zombie apocalypse” or “add 5 people with pets.”)

    • set the expectations for the party with an equally immersive and interactive invitation (i programmed the invite through Twine and hosted through NeoCities, it asked guests to solve a simple riddle.)

    • program multiple difficulty and accessibility settings we could switch to on the fly during the party, since the game couldn’t be tested meaningfully beforehand.