Lùdica didactica (Report finale residenza Diego Alatorre Go_Innovation a Casa Netural).pdf

Go_Innovation is a special residency for social innovator held by Netural Coop in Gorizia, European Capital of Culture 2025.

Lúdica didáctica / Play to Connect is a provocation to think outside the box, a methodology to board uncomfortable topics in a respectful and joyful manner and an excuse to discuss unconventional solutions to contemporary challenges, where play is seen as an attitude and game design as a metaphor of creativity by which to imagine, experiment and learn about our surroundings.

Casa Netural residency in Gorizia offered Diego an opportunity to test the ideas that he has been developing over the past years and to enrich them by looking at them from a different and complementary perspective. In other words to put theory into practice.

Along the 4 weeks that he lived in Gorizia he realized how mature and innovative his own understanding of the ludic phenomenon, as most people he connected with, found the value of his research, but what was amazing for him is how much his project was fed back from completely different and complementary perspectives.

Along these days he crafter four game ideas, with different levels of complexity and currently in different stages of development. These are described in the final report.

\\

Industrial Designer by CIDI UNAM and Master in Science of Design for Interaction by TU Delft, Diego ALatorre is currently doing a PhD in Contemporary Studies at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coimbra University.
His research explores the role of games in education: from a multimodal literacy perspective, he explores the creative process of writers, scientists, designers, artists, teachers and reflective players to learn how to critically read the world and creatively write.

Go_Innovation is a project designed and coordinated by Netural Coop Impresa Sociale within the framework of “A THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY AT THE CENTER OF EUROPE: CASTLE BORGO CROCEVIA OF PEOPLES AND CULTURES,” funded by PNRR - Next Generation EU, for the PNRR pilot project M1C3 Measure 2 Investment 2.1 line A - CUP F88F220000007

1. Go_Innovation
Diego Alatorre Guzmán
Game Designer & Social Innovator
Lúdica didáctica / Play to Connect

2. Diego Alatorre Guzmán
Go_Innovation
Industrial Designer by CIDI UNAM and Master in Science of Design for
Interaction by TU Delft, he is currently doing a PhD in Contemporary
Studies at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coimbra University.
His research explores the role of games in education: from a multimodal
literacy perspective, he explores the creative process of writers,
scientists, designers, artists, teachers and reflective players to learn
how to critically read the world and creatively write.
His work has been exposed, played, published and awarded on multiple
occasions: from conferences and festivals to specialized magazines and
books. His most recent game, the FUTURØSCOPIO, is a transmedia
roleplay experience to facilitate prospective thinking across a fantastic
narrative inspired by the own fears and expectations of the players.

3. As result of his doctoral research, Lúdica
didáctica / Play to Connect is a provocation
to think outside the box, a methodology to
board uncomfortable topics in a respectful
and joyful manner and an excuse to discuss
unconventional solutions to contemporary
challenges, where play is seen an attitude and
game design as a metaphor of creativity by
which to imagine, experiment and learn about
our surroundings.
Go_Innovation

4. Go_Innovation
From sports to board games and live action role
playing (LARPs), the relationship between play and
games lies at the very heart of our existence,
reflecting our innermost fears and desires. As a
provocation to dialogue, play entails an attitude to
express without total control of the situation. In
multiple scales and present in every field of culture,
playing prepares people to unwanted results and
uncommon situations, thus incorporating creativity as
a tool for engaging with others and with reality.
Games as evidence of culture

5. The Residency
Bando Go_Innovation- open call for social Innovators
Periodo Novembre 2024
Luogo Casa Netural, Gorizia- Via Rastello 19
Promotore Netural Coop Impresa Sociale


Casa Netural offered me an opportunity to test the ideas that I have been developing over the past years
and to enrich them by looking at them from a different and complementary perspective. In other words to
put theory into practice. Along the 4 weeks that I lived in Gorizia I realized how mature and innovative my
own understanding of the ludic phenomenon, as most people I connected with, found the value of my
research, but what was amazing for me is how much my project was fed back from completely different
and complementary perspectives. Along these days I crafter four game ideas, with different levels of
complexity and currently in different stages of development. These are described below.
Go_Innovation

6. trivia collage
What we play? detective
How we play? asking / finding information that about the game
What we play with?a deck of cards (questions and answers)
Whom we play with?amici + con le persone che incontro
Where we play? different locations around Gorizia
Why we play? curiosidade
Go_Innovation

7. boxxe
Go_Innovation
What we play? kubb + bocce
How we play? building and destroying a tower
What we play with?discarded cardboard boxes
Whom we play with?amici + con le persone che incontro
Where we play? open / public spaces
Why we play? per piacere espressivo + divertimento

8. il labirinto
del castello
What we play? finding the treasure of la dama bianca
How we play? by turns, players can move, discover territory or attack
What we play with?characters, territory tiles, monsters and dice
Whom we play with?amici + con le persone che incontro
Where we play? on a table
Why we play? surprise + discovery

Go_Innovation

9. summer school
What we play? designing games
How we play? cercando relazioni di senso non convenzionale
What we play with?rules and borders?
Whom we play with?teenagers + professional game designers
Where we play? multiple locations (Xcenter, Casa Netural, ?)
Why we play? componer: composing + fixing the broken
Go_Innovation

10. Key connections
boxxe
Go_Innovation
il labirinto del
castello
summer
school
trivia
collage
Tassilo
Teresa
Caterina
Mojca
Angelica
Urban Spartaco
La Via del
Borgo
Associazione
Examina
XCenter
Thiel
Cooperativa
Sociale
DobiaLab
Yo Yo
Kaleidos
Games

11. Key learnings
-The process (play) is more important than the product, but the product (game) is key to keep the process ongoing.
-Trusting the participants (players) allows to loosen the control over the results and therefore for a second order of
consequences that may offer better outcomes (feedback) than what could be planned apriori (original intention).
-Crafting the game is an essential part of the game design process.
-Playing (as an attitude) implies a shared accountability and ownership over the continuous production of everyday
life, in this regard games become an excuse to raise questions, test possibilities and discuss relevant topics.
This experience has led me to think that Italy has quite an interesting combination of critical thinking,
enthusiastic freedom and creative education that match my research. Over this residency, people offered me
key feedback that has helped me to narrow down the focus of my doctoral project and to reflect on the main
findings, the same that are summed up in the following lines:
Go_Innovation

12. Next steps
Boxxe: the game is ready to be uploaded to https://ludocity.org (I tried, but coudnt get an account, so I uploaded
here: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juegos_urbanos )

Il labirinto del castello: I just printed a new version that I have to cut to playtest, fine-tune the rules to make the
gameplay more fluid, find an illustrator and an editor to produce it (I already have someone in mind, but I'm open
to suggestions). In the case that you would like to print, cut and play the game, you can download the file here.

Trivia collage: right now, this is the hardest game for me to play and give continuity, as I left the cards with
Angelica, so my only chance is to wish for some informant to get in contact with her or with Monica (who uploaded
a picture of the game to her Facebook, asking for new leads to finally discover more about the game).

Summer school: I've shared my current understanding of the project with some of my external collaborators and
we are currently planning a meeting to discuss the idea further. You can take a look at the draft of what this might
be, here (still in development).
Go_Innovation

13. CONTACT
Social media:
https://linkedin.com/in/diegoalatorre/
https://www.instagram.com/didi3gogo/
https://sites.google.com/cidi.unam.mx/diegoalatorre/

WhatsApp / Mobile phone:
[phone]

Emails:
[email protected]
[email protected]