Registration will be in the prefunction space outside Simmons A in the Tepper Building on the CMU campus.

Keynote

Presented by Azadeh Jamalian and Jessica Mezei Join us for an inspiring keynote that’s been six years in the making. In 2018, The GIANT Room began as a simple pop-up creative studio where kids could get messy, make things, and think big. Our mission was clear: take kids' ideas seriously and collaborate with them to create extraordinary projects alongside STEM professionals. Fast forward to today, and that vision has grown into a comprehensive, successful STEM curriculum, the GIANT Design Lab where we partner with industry leaders to co-design products, policies, and learning experiences for kids and with kids, and we’re building a new creative AI design and publishing app. In this keynote, we’ll dive deep into the transformative power of co-design—how we work side-by-side with children to shape products, policies, and their own learning. You'll learn practical strategies for applying co-design principles to your work, no matter your field, and hear the hilarious, insightful stories of what happens when kids' imaginations run wild. Come away inspired with actionable tactics for harnessing creativity and innovation, and discover how co-design can unlock fresh perspectives for you and your team. Whether you’re in education, design, tech, or any field that values creativity, this keynote will leave you thinking differently about the future.

Interactive Session
Play Session

During this play driven session developed at Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Transformational Play, participants will experience various LEGO based frameworks and methodologies designed to create deeper engagement while supporting social and emotional well being. The three pillars of the workshop are remixes of the Six Bricks activities, developed by the LEGO Foundation, LEGO Serious Play, designed by the LEGO Group, and the Brick-By-Brick program, by Play Included, an official partner of the LEGO Foundation. Beyond the workshop attendees, will be able to reference free resources and deploy some activities into their learning environment.

Interactive Session
Play Session

Microtalks

Featuring 4 Microtalks: Reading Games Well: A New Perspective on Meaningful Play 10:30 AM - 10:40 AM - Presented by Tracy Fullerton, Matthew Farber Embedding in Practice: Including Subtle Persuasion in Commercial Games 10:40 AM - 10:50 AM - Presented by Max Seidman, Mary Flanagan Digital Terminologies: Categorizing the Persona in the Meta-Stage of Interaction 10:50 AM - 11:00 AM - Presented by Oskar Milik Shaping the Future: The Role of XR, AI, and Blockchain in the Metaverse 11:00 AM - 11:10 AM - Presented by Rabindra Ratan

Interactive Session

Interactive Session
Play Session

Divisions abound in our world today - and creating empathy is on everyone’s radar. Broke the Game, both a board game and an app, creates and enhances empathy for individuals struggling to overcome poverty. Originally conceived to create empathy for unhoused individuals living in shelters, Broke the Game has expanded to include the challenges experienced by multiple segments of the US population caught in systems of poverty. Based on situations pulled from real-life, Broke’s game-play environment mimics the high stakes situations of financial precarity where the contraction of cognitive function occurs. During this session, participants will play Broke the Game, be introduced to the research behind the impact it has on empathy creation, and be able to contribute their insights as Broke undertakes the process of validation as an evidence-based tool for empathy creation.

Interactive Session

Interactive Session

Microtalks

Featuring 4 Microtalks:Land of the Three Fires: Sharing Indigenous Land Narratives via Informal Game Spaces 1:00 PM - 1:10 PM - Presented by Ahu Yolac, Julia Kiernan Can “Evil Monster Races” Make Us Biased? Exploring Avatar-Environment Interaction Effects in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. 1:10 PM - 1:20 PM - Presented by David Beyea Playing Revolutionaries: Difficulties in Designing Left-Wing Games 1:20 PM - 1:30 PM - Presented by Jess Levine “I Want to Be Invisible”: Alternate Reality Games as Research-Creation 1:30 PM - 1:40 PM - Presented by Yifat Shaik, Alex Borkowski, SK Sabada

Interactive Session

Microtalks

Featuring 3 Microtalks:Learning about climate change and climate action through VR animal experiences 3:00 PM - 3:10 PM - Presented by Laurie Heller Tabletop Game Design Considerations for Voice and Speech Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease 3:10 PM - 3:20 PM - Presented by Maura Philippone Tavix: A RoboCo AI robot design assistant 3:20 PM - 3:30 PM - Presented by Ross Higashi

Play Session

CW: animal, sibling, & parental death; adoption; fatal injury; terminal illness The Monster’s Last Request is an educational American freeform larp designed to promote empathy-based decision making (or ethics of care). Each group of players must decide how their six forest animals will handle a dying mother bear and her cub. The game is mainly for an ethics or science class of 10-11 year olds, but it works well with older people also. Its primary themes are stereotypes and prejudice; sustainability of ecosystems; and end-of-life care. This game was written as part of my first two classes in Uppsala University's graduate certificate program in Transformative Game Design, and is my first edu-larp for kids. The shorter version with the cover art came first. I will be running the short version with the cover art, not the all-day field trip. The story begins in a secluded valley in the Allegheny National Forest, in the early 19th century. (All mountain lions and wolves in Pennsylvania were killed by about 1870, which has been affecting our ecosystems in unsavory ways ever since.)

Interactive Session

Reception

Hosted by the Center for Transformational Play at Carnegie Mellon University The CTP invites you to join us for board games. We will have an inviting selection of our favorite games, but we also encourage you to bring things you want to share.

Play Session

Hvid død (White Death) is a black-box larp in the Nordic style focusing on non-verbal physical play. It portrays an allegorical story of settlers trying to set up a community, but breaking apart and dying one by one. The play uses physical restrictions and symbolic props as a central mechanics, as well as a theatric lighting and a thematic soundscape.