iGGi - CDN Research Exchange & Writing Retreat, Norway
Our latest iGGi adventure started last week, on Sunday 26 April 2026, when 16 iGGi PGRs and Staff travelled to Bergen where the first two parts of our Norway Research Exchange were had!
The Research Exchange was composed of three independent parts: (1) a two-day game making workshop, (2) a one-day symposium with lighting talks, both hosted by the Center of Digital Narrative (CDN) at the University of Bergen, and subsequently, (3) a 2-day writing retreat for which we relocated to the serene fjord-village Rosendal.
(1) Game Making Workshop
The CDN had pulled out all the stops to turn this interactive gathering into a fabulously productive-while-fun game making exercise on the overarching topic "Game Poetics for Planetary Care".
After a quick intro of all 30 participants, the workshop kicked off on Monday (27 April) with a diverse lineup of engaging keynotes who each represented and pitched for different methods to approach the genre of poetic games. Speakers included Jordan Magnuson (University of Southampton), Jon Stone (Anglia Ruskin University), Doris C. Rusch (Uppsala University & University of Bergen), and Jason Nelson (University of Bergen).
The remaining 1.5 days were spend on game making: groups elaborated a first concept draft and were then encouraged to use an interative process to arrive at a workable prototype that could serve as a proof of concept. The use of Bitsy was recommended, not least in order to be inclusive of those with less game-making experience but also because of its limitations which can be seen as incentive to strip the design idea down to a core minimum.
We're proud to present the resulting proposals here on Itch [link to follow].
You can find the CDN's original workshop announcement and further details here
Networking between all who had joined was continued after the workshop concluded, namely at the highly recommendable SOYA restaurant in the very heart of Bergen town center.
(2) Symposium with Lightning Talks
This one-day event served to inspire discourse between all participants with particular view to exchanging humanistic versus engineering perspectives. Each participant was given 15 minutes for a short presentation + Q&A to spawn thought-provoking debate and share their own research insights, in particular under the aspect of game narrative.
New connections made could then be followed up more informally during the evening's social event which took place in the CDN's office building and included a tour of their premises and facilities.
A massive thanks goes to the CDN team who put the programme for the workshop and the symposium together, in particular to Kristine Jørgensen, Scott Rettberg, and Ola Roth Johnsen, for such seamless and perfect event organisation!
(3) Writing Retreat in Rosendal
It's probably fair to say that Rosendal was the fanciest setting any iGGi Writing Retreat has seen so far. The 12 iGGi/CDN researchers who had decided to stay on for the writing days relocated from Bergen to Rosendal by boat on Saturday, 02 May.
Since we obeyed Friday 01 May as the national holiday that it is in the whole of Norway and after a sunny Sunday spent hiking the sourrounding mountains, all participants were quite happy to "donate" their Bank Holiday Monday to an all-day writing session. Writing goals for the entire retreat and for the individual segments were set, reviewed and re-set at the beginning of each writing block. Historically, iGGi PGRs find the format of these retreats exceegingly useful and report a higher-than-usual productivity, and judging by early feedback, the Rosendal Writing Retreat was no exception.
The weather presented us with an eclectic mix of possible seasonal temparatures and (far less than expected!) forms of downcast, so that we felt we experienced a concise cross-section of Norway-specific landscapes and scenery. iGGi participants of the Norway trip agreed that our time and activities in Norway enriched them, not only in terms of new connections, broadaning their research and its reach, but also with view to new cultural, culinary, linguistic and visual experiences.
We certainly feel we've made new contacts, and we are hoping to maintain and nurture the new relationships that were formed during this trip.
6 May 2026