Teaching alt.ctrl and Learning playfulness - EMF 2026

Settle down, settle down, settle down. Um, so hi everyone. Uh, thank you for being here and thank you for having me. Uh, so my name is Jean Cabral. I, um, yeah, and this is the talk. It's like teaching auto. You probably knew it. Yeah. So, it's about teaching out control and learning playfulness because I'm a teacher back in Portugal as I'll mention in a sec and I teach a course a class on actually two classes but I teach um two classes on alternative controllers and um this is talk is a bit about what we're doing and um what we um yeah the results we've had what's been happening in Portugal um yeah and some insights about the whole thing cuz I honestly at the time didn't don't really well I still kind of don't have a clue do what I'm doing. So, um, we're kind of learning. It's a learning experience for me as well. Um, so like I said, my name is John Cabral. I come from Portugal, Lisbon. Um, I like to put LEDs on stuff basically in my personal time and my uh freelance work. I work partly as a um as a uh freelance artist, digital artist. Um, I come from a computer science background, but I I'm kind of sick of computers, so I take every chance I can get to uh get my arts and crafts um done. Um, yeah, I was a coder and a game designer for for a while um at in a video games indie studio company called Nerd Monkeys. Um, yeah, that didn't go very well as you can imagine. Uh and um yeah and for the last five six years I've been lecturing at Luzafne University in Lisbon. Um and it's really funny how I got there because uh basically what happened is what was that I met Philipe Luj. He's the director of the video games course. Um and um we met at the global game jam a few years ago and I well I have kids. I have twins. At the time they were like three and I was like all right I'll go to a game jam and I went to Luzafna because a friend of mine is also teaching there a friend of mine from the industry and I was tired cuz I had twins like I said uh they were 3 years old at the time and um so I didn't want to code so I brought all my electronic junk leds and buttons and all that kind of crap and um and Philipe was like oh I'm sorry I'm not going to participate this year because I just came from a conference from abroad my family um but but He didn't resist and and he ended up teaming up with me and with my friend. Um and we did like this crazy Yeah. So he brought his Vespa motorbike into the classroom and we did an escape room kind of game where you had to open up the lids of the bike or do some solve some puzzle game on the brake handles and things like that. Um so it was a nice introduction and after that Philip um invited me to teach alternative controllers and so I'd really like to um point out that what we're doing back back home in Portugal is really um comes from the vision of Philip's v vision that something like alternative controllers is actually useful in a game development course. um which is which I kind of feel like it does because it's the video games industry is very uh packed very um has a lot of people wanting to do games and a lot of games selling and so it's hard to make yourself noticeable and using this alternative controller since it's a niche um you can really kind of do your thing and be a bit more visible um yeah so um as you can imagine we started out so I have no background in teaching um and I actually don't have a much background in electronics and stuff. I do at the time I did some things at a personal level but I'm not like um I came from a computer science purely software um type of course. Um so as you can imagine we started out with cardboard arts and crafts mostly. Um then we got to the point where well it was nice but students were spending a lot of time doing the cardboard and not doing the actual games cuz you need you want to put buttons and sensors but then you need to put them somewhere. So we started by cardboard and it was really um a lot of effort and lot big time consuming and so we start then we had the idea of going to Zno's junkyard dumpster diving. Yes. So this is within the university as any big um corporation. I guess it's a private university but as any big thing um it has a big dumpster and um and yeah so we started dumpster diving and we started adapting adapting rubbish basically. So this is like an IKEA grater that was thrown away and someone picked it up and someone made um some my students made a a fishing game out of it. Um yeah. Um but uh we eventually we kind of realized that what provided the best games and the best interfaces for games was actually discarded devices that we found. So we did a whole semester just based on old telephones. So we hacked them. We like we opened them up, put an Arduino inside, go get the keypads and go get the lifting and and putting down the the the receiver. And then we hacked the the tiny uh the speaker on on the phone. Well, the microphone as well, but it's a bit more difficult to to use. Um and yeah, we did a whole semester about just using five or six of these telephones. Uh there was actually a very cool game in which you used a real, it was a detective murder mystery game and you used a real phone book. So you go to the phone like you would get an audio saying oh yes uh you have to call the jewelry store called whatever and you would have to go to the to the phone book find the jewelry store find the number type in the number and then you receive the next audio to progress in your in the story line. >> Yeah. So that that came through the suggestion of that that were the students making a game and then you kind of it's cool cuz I get to learn through the through what the students make and it has been like this progression of all right I'm teaching about this but actually I'm also finding cool ideas and cool stuff about what what we're making. So so it's really fun. Um yeah uh so what we currently are doing so yeah so the problem sorry spoilers so the problem was that uh when we're dubster diving it really depended on the season so if they were uh if at at the university there were uh dismantling this uh weird electronics room or some biio medical room. We had a lot of good stuff to work with, but sometimes you went there and there just wasn't enough things uh useful to make games. Um, and since we wanted to discard the devices, um, what we're doing now is actually go to Luzna to Lisbon's biggest flea market. It's called the Thieves Market actually. It's very dear to my heart cuz that's where I went as a child to buy N64 secondhand games. Um, so I really like it a lot. And so we take students there. Um each student takes €5 in their pockets. Yes. And we get there and they're looking out for for junk and for well the same junk for junk and interactable devices. Yes. So we find a lot of secondhand stuff. Um many of them have buttons and they have interactability on them. So that's what we're going for. Um, we find some, um, purely mechanical stuff and they're really hard to hack, but some students are really drawn to that kind of stuff. Um, we find obviously the junk I I I'm sure you'll find here um, and a bit of everywhere as well. Um, some some things are like really really weird. You can't really tell what they are, but they're um, yeah, but they're interesting. And we find some things which which are just like too expensive. Although like they're really So this is a fan, alarm clock, radio, and light um all at the same time. Uh but they were asking for like Yeah, this was really expensive. So just just we didn't bring it. >> Sorry. [laughter] >> Yeah, it's in the the next version. Um all right. So this is um so I got two students, they take €5, they take photographs of stuff, they gang up to buy things. Yeah. Because things are usually more than €5. They group up. They buy the things and they we bring it back to class. And this is how the class looks like. So um my class is actually done in the first two weeks of the semester where no when no other classes are taking are going on. So that's really good cuz the students are really focused on my thing. And also we can make the rooms a mess and leave them a mess and just clean up at the end cuz that was also like a big a big thing. Always having to clean up at the end of each class was really really timeconuming. Um yeah, and so it's a twoe class and during the first week uh basically we're just taking objects apart and finding out what they are and what we have inside because and um and this is a really challenging week for me because um you you really honestly don't know what you're going to find. Well, in most some cases you do, but you don't know what's on the inside. Um and sometimes things don't work as you thought they would. And so you really have to adapt and adjust to the objects that the students got. And so this first week is really challenging cuz we're figuring the objects out. We're okay, how can we make a actually you know what alternative controllers? I mean anything you look at in this festival is an alternative controller. So I think all right and yeah um yeah so first week we're just taking the objects apart figuring out what to do with them and I my job is to suggest and to tell students all right maybe this will be easier this won't be as easier uh because I'm also um during this first week I'm introducing them to electronics and Arduinos and digital electronics um cuz they don't know any of this stuff when I before these two weeks so this is like the introductory class to Arduinos, electronics, and physical computing. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's also important to have a box of electronical components. Um, because what students can do with the objects and what kind of games they can make really depends on what you have available. Uh, we just have the basic uh stuff. It's really fun cuz once in a while um you'll find a new part and it's like, all right, this is really good to make this kind of stuff. And now we buy a bunch of it. So, um yeah, just basic electronics, uh color sensors, distance sensors, light sensors, uh buttons, knobs, toggles, just just the basic things. Um especially cuz they're students and they're going to um break some stuff. But but I usually tell them that if they if they burn some if they if we have smoke, like that student will get an extra grade because it's it means they're trying and they're messing with it. Yeah. They're not afraid of experimenting. Um yeah, I teach them how to solder obviously cuz that's an important part. It's really fun. Um cuz they're not really expecting it. Um oh, it's um it's a video games development course, by the way. I don't know if I mentioned that. Um yeah, and so and they start to integrate electronics into the devices, right? So they have to hack the objects themselves. I really help out a lot in this first week. But the idea is that they're they have to think about what they want to do with the objects in order to hack them. Because I always give this example, if you have a toaster and if you're hacking a toaster to make a game out of it, you need to know what kind of sensor you need, right? You might want to put several types of bread in. So you need a bread detector of some sorts. All right? So maybe each slice can be of different breads can be a different colors and we'll use a color sensor for that. Or maybe not. We'll do use something else. Maybe the toast themselves have LEDs because you want to show if it's burnt or not. So, it really depends on what type of game. So, how you hack the objects depends on what game you're building. So, the first week is about what they're doing and figuring the thing out. Um, and come up with solutions for for when they choose objects that actually don't aren't very good. Um, so this is a tough one. Like a short roulette, anything that's that's um moving around, rotating is really really hard. So yeah, but they they they found it out. Um, and by the end of the first week, I always ask for a game design document of some sort. Um, yeah, this is never mind the picture. This is not the document, but um yeah, because it's nice to have students think through what they want to make and have that on paper cuz then at the end when they turn up with something completely different, we can go like, okay, what happened from there? Like how how did this process happen? Um, and it's and it's nice to put some Yeah, it's nice for them to put on paper cuz cuz then they have a guide when they forget what they're doing, they can always go back to the document and kind of remember. Um, all right. And then in the second week, I'm kind of I'm kind of on holiday. I'm not really on holiday, but then it's up to them. So, at the end of the first week, we have a device with a we should have a device with a USB out and possibly an audio audio jack. And they usually since they use Unity mainly on the on the on on the course for development um they connect we connect the devices through USB to the computer and then I suggested them to develop the game in Unity not purely on the microcontroller. Some do but um it's it's up to them to figure it out. Yes. Because that way they can use whatever environment they want um and and and make the games. Um yeah and so that in the second week it's more chill for me. Uh not for the students obviously. Um but for me I can kind of uh just go around and see if everything's going okay. If they have problems they'll always have problems with electronics. That's one of the key takeaways from this talk. You'll see in a sec. Uh let me just check on time cuz All right, we're good. I think. Um so, um yeah, and by the end of the second week, they should deliver a weird game. Yeah, that's that's that's that's that's how we do it. Um >> Yeah. and this two week the fact that they're not uh taking any more classes is really is really helpful with this because they're really just focused on this and doing this thing alone and really makes them um more yeah they have more dedication to it. Um all right and I have some examples of some games that were developed by some international students. So I do this class not only for national BA but also for the international masters. Um so these are students from um all over the world that do this that develop these games uh with Yeah. in my classes. Yeah. Play some I think it's three of them. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Don't make me angry, darling. [music] Is that sad? Remember this means we are going [music] to be together forever. I love you so so much, darling. >> Hello, [music] I am Connor from uh Ireland. >> Hi, I'm Fina from Germany. >> Hi, I'm Leia from Russia. [music] >> I'm Lucia from Singapore. >> Hi, I'm Mortaza. I'm from Pakistan. And we are not Nobody. So, we made a game called Nobody If You Treat. Of course. >> So, yeah. Then then they're going to explain the game and also I'm going to skip that part. Um, all right. The Echo Terminator 2000. [music] >> [music] >> Yeah. And I have one more, I think. Um, yeah, most of your face. >> [music] [music] >> Okay. [music] >> Okay. Um, all right. And, uh, I'd like to give a shout out to these guys. Hold on. It's for them. For them. I'd like to give out a shout out to these guys cuz they, um, all of them like these international international master students. They really took the thing to a whole different level cuz their games are really good. And actually, we um, Yay. Sorry, I did that. All right. I'll just tell it. So, we we did an alternative. Some of the games, some of these games you saw, the one in the mannequin head, it was accepted to GDC. So, they were showing off at GDC. Although, since I've been here um for the last two days, it's the first time at EMF. I think this would be a more uh suitable place to show some of those things. So, hopefully um something will come out of that. Um all right. So, I still have um um so that's what we're doing. And uh I have some uh some insight I've come across while teaching that I think might be interesting. I don't know if any of you is teaching or is teaching related. Yeah. All right. Anyone else? All right. Um yeah. So this I don't know if your teaching is related to this kind of stuff as not but well hopefully something's useful out of this. All right. So the first and I think the main insight I've got so I don't come from a video well I come from video games background kind of but not from alternative controllers background um and I'm not a researcher of any kind. So my these insights are just that they're insights that I've had over the few over the last years while teaching um because of the things that happened in the way. So um the first I think the main biggest or one of the biggest insights or more interesting one is about how we play games. So um we um in traditional video games um this is my kids actually. Well in traditional video games um the way you play doesn't really matter for the game. So the playing the game, the a physical actions you take while playing of using a controller, it should be transparent. If it's well done when it doesn't get in the way cuz we humans have this cap amazing capacity of expanding our body. So when you're using a hammer to nail a nail to hammer a nail that's um your the hammer becomes part of your body as well. You get that while driving like you your the car is part of you. Um, and that's kind of what happens in traditional video games. So, the controller, the controllers or the controls should not get in the way and you should be able to up transmit your brain directly into the screen and what's happening on the screen. Uh, but with alternative controllers actually the way you play really matters for the experience. Yeah. like um how you play the game is very important and it's a direct it's directly correlated to what's your experience and experiencing the game itself. And so on one hand you have how you play the game doesn't really matter should not get in the way. Then you have alternative controllers where you how you play the game matters for the game and and is part of the game. But then you have a whole different set of games in which how you play is the actual game. There's no distinction between how you play and the game itself. And you've all played it. Everyone's played them. Anyone has any No. Huh? >> Sorry. >> Not so much sport. Yeah. Sports. Kind of like hideand-seek and traditional child's games. Cuz if you think about like hide-and-seek or playing tag, like how do you play hide-and-seek? go and hide and other people seek. How do you play tag? You run around and you touch people like that. So by describing the game, you're also describing the actions and how what you have to do um to play the game. So I find that that um well in this idea um traditional video games and playground games are kind of um in opposite spectrums and alternative controllers is somewhere in the middle. Um yeah. Um, other than that, I think in terms of game design, uh, it's really important to keep like push students towards keeping it simple because things get really complicated really fast and so even the smallest most simple electronics will often break. So, it's really important to push them into making very simple interactions and very simple um things. Um, we have be a bit careful while choosing the objects. like some students, these were um really hardworking students, but they decided to make a game within a flash um a flash of a camera, photograph photography camera, and it was just really small, so tiny. Everything got packed up and everything was disconnecting all the time. So, it's um yeah, it's really unfortunate and it's about choosing the objects, but they took a gamble. It was all right. Um also like design to your strength. So, this game was also for the masters. Um, and the team didn't really have developers or didn't have people with knowledge in with a lot of knowledge in coding and so they did this really really simple game and they focused more on the art part and on the electronics and how to present the things that they were doing. So they used these buttons. So it's game Ninja where you have to tap other people's hands I think. Yeah. But they did electronic version of Ninja where you had buttons um light switches on your hands and you had to hit the other people. Yeah. Um and this is a really good example of the team of designing to the strength of the team that they had. So so I think that's also a good insight. Um, I try to push uh students not to use screens because if they have a screen in their game, then they'll they'll have to do all this work uh to make things to put on the screen. And so, usually I just push them out of screens and and try and kind of um the object itself kind of loses some focus. And so, um, usually I try to push them into making a no screen game and having feedback through audio or through LEDs or through whatever it is. Oh, 5 minutes flight. Sorry. Um, but I'm easily convinced, right? So, if they tell me, "No, no, we really need a screen like we really need this or otherwise it won't work." I'm well, if they convince me, um, it's good, but I'm and I'm easily convinced. Um, especially because I let them fall on their own traps. So they're going to say that they really need to have this really complex thing and I'm well I don't think you should but they'll no no yes we we all right you do it then but then well but I think um it's important because they feel responsible I feel uh for what they're making. So if it goes badly it's on them they decided to actually do something really complex. Um so so they have a good learning experience. Yeah. Um yeah, be care be wary about the set and set settings. So you need to um not only is your device the game but the table around the device or whatever is physically around the device is also part of the game cuz that's where you get some immersion. Um and so students well yeah usually they don't think a lot about that but that's really important part of it and also um thinking about the performative side of the thing. So maybe yeah, some games end up being really performative and that's also a dimension of these types of games cuz you might have someone hosting the game or helping the game out. So this is I didn't show the video, but this was a um master galabin. Well, it was like a space uh intergalactic um intergalactic cooking show. Uh, so like you humans got abducted and you're in this intergalactic cookie show and um yeah, that's that's the dish you had that's the dish you had to cook at the end. It's really fun. Um yeah um something that's also important is about the grading thing. So students are also are always very worried about the grading stuff and I think some of the decisions we've made kind of help out and um so basically first um I think mentioning that these are all just prototypes and proofs of concepts uh really helps cuz in 2 weeks you're not going to get a very polished thing by the end. Um and so I think that takes the the stress out of actually having to build something really complex. Um, also that the time they they are away from keyboard and actually just painting. For this is the dollhouse from before. So this is the inside of the dollhouse. They turned it into a murder mystery game and they spent a long time painting the thing. And so making um making getting across that that is also work and that is also meaningful um is important because then then they don't think they're wasting their times if they're not making developing stuff directly. Um also that it's okay to fake it. So sometimes you want to do this really um complex thing or maybe it's not complex but you just don't have the electronics for it and it's okay to fake like for the user it's the same experience. You can have just someone sitting back on the keyboard and when they do this you press the button when they do that they press the other button. It's okay cuz for the user it's the exact same experience. So it's it's fine. Yes. The electronics sometimes doesn't work and that's part of the learning experience. Um, and also, um, I don't demand that the games are good at by the end. So, they might have deliver a really lousy game, but maybe they work really hard cuz they tried this, didn't work, they tried that, didn't work, and then they end up with a really horrible thing, but they'll have a good grade. And I make sure that that's part of the grading system. Like, if you work hard and you try different things, then oh then um, you're going to get a good grade. Um, also the deliverables are really important, I think. So, we force them to deliver an each.io page. Um, and also to do a trailer like the ones you saw. So, we make them do not a not a presentation video, but a trailer for the thing. And I feel that really um makes a distinction cuz you saw that those trailers are really good and they well they Yeah. And then by the end of it like you can't some some games you can't keep the objects. So the trailer and the this page that they make is actually what ends up the the proof that they were there working and so it's really important to register stuff and and that's part of the evaluation of grading as well. Um yeah so I just only have one minute but yeah tech breaks easily. Uh we can do a lot with just the small stuff. physical world is really cool because we have physical bodies since we were born. So you have a lot more interaction in the physical world than you have in in the digital environment. And also um I really feel that these types of game are actual augmented reality because looking at reality through a screen is not augmenting reality in any way. Um but these types of game actually embed technology into the physical world. And I think that's a a more honest augmented reality. Um uh really important bits. We're repurposing junk. Yes, which is cool. Um, we're doing low tech games, so everyone's moving on to AI and ultra ultra realistic graphics and reality is out there. You can just go outside and you'll find it. So, you don't really have to do all this comp really complex stuff and that also ties to an ecological uh theme which is important because yeah, computers waste a lot of energy um waste spend um and everyone has a really good time and I think that's the most important bit. I I would like to add that um yeah K the students really relate and I think I hope it's a favorite class because they they really get to experiment and try different things. Um and um I actually wanted that's a fun the end of the talk but I actually I wanted to just make another point because I'm for the first time here at EMF and this is like the perfect playingground to show this kind of stuff. So I'm hoping I can go back. So I came with the university gave me some money to come. So I'm kind of like the ambassador I guess. So I'm really hoping that we'll have uh Lisbon Lisbon village somewhere or something like that because I think this this would be if if the students knew they would have the opportunity to come here and show their games, I think they would work really hard for it. And so uh thank you all for having me and thank you all for um yeah for being here. Nothing. [applause]