Symoné – Artist in Residence

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley & Symoné – The Rules of Watching: Game Jam

The Rules of Watching: Game Jam was a two day game jam that responded to the central theme of spectatorship and agency in collaboration with London Games Festival 2026.

Co-hosted by artists Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley & Symoné, this collaborative game jam explored experimental approaches to gaming/playable art, live art, and immersive digital practice. The game jam was open to any form of making, including any combination of digital tools or non-digital tools, embodied interaction, craft materials, drawing from folk games, performance, party games, video games, table top and card games, depending on the needs of each idea.

Game jammers collaborated in groups and had the option to experiment with both physical objects, bodies and digital tech, using open source software of their choosing such as; Godot, Twine, Bitsy or Ren’py, as well as other experimental or unconventional digital formats. The two days celebrated DIY making and prototypes rather than slick finished projects. The emphasis was on experimentation, collective problem solving and peer exchange, with space to test and reflect on how different modes of play shape relationships between subject, player and viewer.

Participants – Arthur (Garfield) Aben-Athar Nirenberg, Anatta Anatta, Savannah Andrews, Eli Baldacchino, Kin Chui, Daniel Coppen, Ama Dogbe, Nick Forbes, James McColl, Emily Rose, Marcus Round, Ocean Stefan, Keisha Thompson and Xavier Velastín.

Team 1: Razzle Dazzle (aka Pirates Anonymous) – “Our games were all on the concept of pirates and pirating. We chose this theme as we understand the notion of pirates as a form of resistance and a reclamation of agency which has been lost. We discussed all aspects of pirates from their history, to their modern romanticisation, and of course to ideas of piracy and ownership in the digital age.”

Team 2: Robo Limbo – “We wanted to challenge the usual perception of the player controlling a controller to control the player on screen. We wanted to make the controller a character that interacts with your decisions.”

Team 3: Magic 8 Dog – “Magic 8 Dog is an immersive experience where you build an intimate connection with a dog doll by asking 5 questions about your current decision you need help with, just like when you were young, playing pretend with your dolls. Spoiler: the dog is not talking to you, but instead, behind the scenes, there is another human controlling the answer. Reflecting the spectatorship of how much privacy you have in modern-day society, especially with the rise of AI, and the questioning of inanimate object agency. “