James Medd

Anna Anthropy

Robin Baumgarten

Charlie Deck

Mauro Gestoso

Paolo Pedercini

Tatiana Vilela

Christiaan Moleman

Awkward Arcade

Arduino Leonardo

<h3 >Overview</h3><p ><em >This is a truncated version of the full story. Read all about that </em><em ><a href="http://awkwardarcade.co.uk/">on the Awkward Arcade site.</a></em></p><p >I’ve been throwing the label ‘Awkward Arcade’ around for a little while now, and the original concept was quite different to what it has become. It started with the idea of taking familiar games - those that we’ve played hundreds of times - and making them more difficult to play.</p><div class="se-component se-video-container __se__float-none" contenteditable="false" style="width: 100%;"><figure style="width: 100%; height: 56.25%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; margin: 0px;"><iframe frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MR_AnxguTRE" data-proportion="true" data-percentage="100%,56.25%" data-size="100%,56.25%" data-align="none" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" data-index="0" data-file-size="0" data-origin="100%,56.25%"></iframe><figcaption contenteditable="true"><div>First 'Awkward Arcade' project - an orientation-sensitive Pac-Man controller</div></figcaption></figure></div><h3 >How I decided to do it</h3><p ><span >It wasn’t until later on in 2015, after I had been invited to attend </span><a href="http://www.digitalmedialabs.org/">Digital Media Labs</a><span >, when I considered that the Awkward Arcade might work well as a concept for the creation of original games. This would involve breaking down game mechanics, basing entire games around them, with specialized, per-game interfaces. What I created in the days leading up to Digital Media Labs was a prototype of The Mashing:</span></p><div class="se-component se-video-container __se__float-none" contenteditable="false" style="width: 100%;"><figure style="width: 100%; height: 56.25%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; margin: 0px;"><iframe frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Se6G2qGbao" data-proportion="true" data-percentage="100%,56.25%" data-size="100%,56.25%" data-align="none" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" data-index="0" data-file-size="0" data-origin="100%,56.25%"></iframe><figcaption contenteditable="true"><div>The Mashing - a 10-player button-mashing tribute</div></figcaption></figure></div><p >Finally, in 2016, I decided to create an arcade full of these games. I spent February-May developing cabinet designs, and contacting developers, and launched an arcade full of 'awkward' games. Each one of these cabinets has an Arduino inside!</p><div class="se-component se-video-container __se__float-none" contenteditable="false" style="width: 100%;"><figure style="width: 100%; height: 56.25%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; margin: 0px;"><iframe frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gwEAPPhNhrM" data-proportion="true" data-percentage="100%,56.25%" data-size="100%,56.25%" data-align="none" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" data-index="0" data-file-size="0" data-origin="100%,56.25%"></iframe><figcaption contenteditable="true"><div>The launch of the full Awkward Arcade!</div></figcaption></figure></div><p ></p>