7 teams competed in the first-ever Story Hackathon. Their challenge: create a cohesive narrative spanning 3 or more technological platforms and will execute a single one over the course of 36 hours this weekend. Projects created by the diverse group of hackers ranged from animated space journeys led by the audience, to interactive social good/activism experiences.

Two prizes were awarded at the Demo Day Event. For “Best use of Twilio”, Team Rodan picked up a special prize given by Twilio for their clever hack “What’s Your Failure Engine”.

The Grand Prize was awarded to Team Cupcakes and Rainbows for their innovative mashup of story and technology. They created, “Future Mate” - a fully immersive storytelling-meets-technology experience. Winners Gyda Arber, Brian Fountain, Allen Hahn and David Gochfeld represent a group of theater, technology and film professionals. They wowed the audience in 15 minutes with their gripping immersive theater experience/dating app hybrid.

Watch the Livestream of the Story Hack Demo Day Event

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 7pm

Elinor Bunin Theater at Film Society Lincoln Center

May's StoryCode Forum features an awesome double header:

Guidestones
Can a mysterious monument hold the key to humanity’s future? This is the question viewers will be able to answer when they sign-up for Guidestones, an interactive web series that tells the story of of two journalism students who uncover a global conspiracy while investigating an unsolved murder.

Guidestones is a new and unique form of storytelling, a hybrid mix of traditional narrative and formal and non-formal documentary styles. Shot vérité style in Canada, the USA and India, the series moves seamlessly between the real world and the fictional account of how a young
woman named Sandy (not her real name) stumbled upon a murder mystery. Check out: www.guidestones.org.

Jay Ferguson, the writer/director of this project is an award-winning filmmaker who has contributed as a writer, director, producer and cinematographer to over 15 feature films. His work with institutions such as The National Film Board of Canada has garnered him several awards, including the top cinematography award at the Atlantic Film Festival (Animals, 2005).He is the President of 3‘oclock.tv, an entertainment production company that focuses on original, high quality, serialized content for distribution via the Internet and mobile devices.

PunchDrunk / Sleep No More
The New York Times called this groundbreaking theatrical adventure “A merry macabre chase. A voyeur’s delight. Messes with your head as thorougly as any artificial stimulant. Spectacular!”

Described by the Huffington Post as "a wordless, nonlinear mash-up of Macbeth and the darker psychosexual corners of Hitchcock?" and "A six-story Jazz Age haunted house for grown-ups and anyone who’s ever entertained sick cineast-y fantasies of living inside a Kubrick movie?", this immersive show has run in New York since 2011 to sold out audiences.

Now, PunchDrunk the theater company that created the show, has teamed up with the MIT Media Lab to create a unique type of immersive teleperformance in conjunction with the New York production of their popular theatrical experience. This project pairs online participants with members of the live audience during performances to actively experience a unique version of the show through a variety of media. PunchDrunk's Peter Higgin delves into the details of both the production and the online extension at this meetup. Check out: www.sleepnomorenyc.com.

Register here!

Monday, June 18, 2012 to Wednesday, June 20, 2012

NYU Skirball Center

Through case studies, roundtables, lectures and demos, the Games for Change Festival (June 18­20, NYC) highlights models for collaboration on game development and distribution, bridging the gap between commercial and issue driven games. Featured presentations include Game Designer and Author of Reality is Broken, Jane McGonigal, leading researcher, Dr. James Paul Gee, Valve Software, Navid Khonsari (Grand Theft Auto, Alan Wake), and Chris Bell (WAY, Journey). Highlighting the discussions on Games in Cultural Spaces will be representatives from the TATE, Smithsonian, California Academy of Sciences, and more. New features include the Federal Games Working Group, a day-long track uniting federal agencies working in games with game developers and an evening program, "Agitprop Game Design", curated by the NYU Game Center. Other features include the Games for Change Awards, Demo Spotlight (for projects in development) and Games for Learning Day, curated by the Games for Learning Institute.

Use your promo code, "storycode" save on registration.

Register here

More information on Games for Change