Melanie Frances

Artist, Change agent, Environmentalist, Producer, Writer/Editor

I'm Mel Frances, a game designer, writer and creative mathematician. I make interactive experiences - books, performances and games - that travel to unknown places, speculative futures and alternative realities. My work is for people who like adventures, systems thinking, probing rules, and finding hidden possibilities. Photo Credit: Shamphat pro

Living a life where care is at the core - care for others, care for the planet, care for ourselves, care for justice.

The power of play. Play is a wonderful tool which we can use to better understand the world around us, connect with one another, and imagine what could be possible. Games are systems, and in playing games, we can become system thinkers, through play we can understand new perspectives and we can change our point of view, and when we play, we conjure possible worlds. More than thinking, we can feel how things could be different. In our current age of chaos and uncertainty, I believe deeply in the power of play as a tool to sit with what is, move through the rift, and find our way to something other.

Games and Experience Design, Narrative Design and Storytelling, Science Art & Communication, Speculative Worldbuilding and Futures Imagining, Systems Thinking, Theatre and Performance

When I was a student I watched Tom Bowtell’s TedX talk - Can Theatre Actually Change Anything?, which was my introduction to the possibility of merging theatre and play, and making games for change. The practice Tom discusses is now at the centre of what I do, but I can still remember the very first moment as a 19 year old, when I realised what could be possible - and I am still driven by the magic potential of that.

Algebra. I’m a big maths nerd. It’s maybe more of a passion than a skill at this point, but I’m a lover of group and set theory, and have a small side hustle in writing mathematical formulas for theatre shows.