Institute For The Future

Games of Improvisation and Bodystorming for the Future of California

We have the questions, we know the answers and Specimens for Improvisation are two games about the future of California that I have been developing and prototyping during my internship at the IFTF.

We have the questions, we know the answers is a collaborative brainstorming platform designed to help Resloc plan a system of local integrated foodsheds. Resloc will be founded in the future somewhere between 2020-2030, in the Central Valley of California. By then, the amount of water deficit will probably match the quantity of water that we spend today, and the demand for it will be even larger, as the Californian population will be around 75 million people. Competing for water against Los Angeles and San Francisco, and trying to make the most out of the available resources, the areas of the Central Valley will form larger unions that will resemble more to urban centers. Resloc, the first city to create a network of local grocery stores functioning as foodsheds with integrated food plantations, is seeking out for your ideas and responses. We have the Questions, we know the answers is a game for young people, the potential future residents of Resloc. Using a map of your local grocery store in the future, and provided with prop cards, you can propose your ideas that will help the store use energy and water resources in the most efficient way and become part of the local community. The vegetable and fruit plantations, the packaging lab, the kitchen and the recreation area are the different departments that your group is called to manage. We have the questions, we know the answers is a brainstorming platform that relies on the knowledge produced by synergies and collaborative participation. A game designed entirely out of paper so that you can write, draw, and interact, while tracing connections through its network notation system.

    Specimens for Improvisation is a card game for fun and bodystorming inspired by design solutions found in nature. You can make up stories, improvise a sketch, or create your own dancing moves to appropriate the features of organisms and ecosystems presented on the given props. Did you know that empathizing with sea animals, carnivorous plants, and bananas can help you come up with ideas to improve your life and environment? Play the game to have fun and collaborate with the members of your community, while engaging with active problem-solving and futures thinking.

    We have the questions we know the answers and Specimens for Improvisation are the result of fascinating conversations with my peer interns and the members of the IFTF. Special thanks to Miriam Lueck Avery, Jason Tester, Bradley Kreit, Anna Davies for their input and help. Stay tuned to learn more about the development of these two games.