In the months during and after the development of the game, Swim Pony has shared the content and our experience in game/theater project development in a variety of ways.

Public Engagement

On February 26th, lead creator of The End Adrienne Mackey gave a talk at the Philadelphia Museum of Art sharing the results of Swim Pony’s 18 month research project using data analysis to discover meaningful patterns within the game’s 2017 run.

Six months from the end of the game, Adrienne gave a public talk on the project diving into the genesis, development, and lessons learned from the playthrough. You can check out the full talk here:

If you’re interested in the audience Q & A that followed it, check that out HERE.

Following this talk, which looked at incorporating game design into theater in ways specific to The End, we put out an open call to other artists working on their own projects in hybridizing games and theater. These one-on-one consults were an opportunity to exchange ideas and information with a specific focus, since each game/theater project is so unique. Participants’ feedback was very positive, with an average 4.5/5 rating on the usefulness of the consult on feedback surveys.

Academic Conferences

In November 2016 and 2017, Swim Pony academic papers on The End as part of the Game/Theater Working Group at the annual conference for the American Society of Theatre Research. The 2016 paper provides a snapshot of the piece in development and some of the core principles that went into its creation. The 2017 paper presents the completed project and an evaluation of its role in the field and how it invited people into an innovative kind of role play. You can find the abstracts of both papers below; if you’re interested in reading them in full, please contact admin@swimpony.org.

ASTR 2016 Abstract

ASTR 2017 Abstract

Non-Academic Writing

Throughout the development, performance run, and aftermath of The End, Swim Pony published a series of reflective essays on our blog, some obviously obviously tied to the project and some more abstractly so. To get a sense of how this work had an impact on its creators far beyond the game in and of itself, take a scroll through posts tagged with “The End” from the past few years.

Finally, for a perspective on The End outside the creative team, check out this article from game participant JoAnn Greco, written for Knight Foundation and detailing her own journey through the month of play.