Archive · 2003–2015

Richard England

Creative coder in Leeds and founder of Reflex Arc. Earlier experiments, installations and games – from Makaton signing games and Kinect walls to EEG performances and early VR.

Current work at Reflex Arc →Browse the archive ↓

Now, at Reflex Arc

The work these days – robots, AI, painting tools and immersive experiences.

The archive

Clients and collaborators over the years included the BBC, Channel 4, the Co-op, Mencap, Guide Dogs, the National Media Museum and many more.

2014–15

Makaton signing game with real-time gesture recognition

Children learn Makaton by signing to play: motion tracking and machine learning recognised their signs in real time, back in 2014. A TIGA award winner, and runner-up at NHK's Japan Prize in 2015. (Originally released as The Boris Games.)

Souls as Software Objects

An installation and performance with the Frozen Music Collective, using EEG brain scanning and face tracking to turn the audience's own brain activity into sound and visuals. Featured by Vice.

The Nepalese Necklace

An audio game that helps visually impaired children practise movement exercises, made with Hassell Inclusion and Gamelab for Guide Dogs. Shortlisted for Best Game Design at the TIGA Awards 2014.

Ways of Seeing

An interactive projection-mapped installation for Leeds College of Art at Light Night 2014, playing with the hidden histories of the building.

VR cycling safety simulation

An early virtual-reality prototype on the Oculus Rift: a real bike on a trainer, wired with sensors, to teach road safety.

2013

Waves Around Us

Software for artists Jens and Morten at a festival in Denmark: an interactive oscilloscope projection that children performed in front of.

uKinect: TIGA award winner

Gamelab's uKinect and Boris won Best Educational Initiative at the TIGA Games Industry Awards. The signing work was also shown at the Special Educational Needs show in London.

Guide Dogs: Partner of the Year nomination

Nominated by the charity as Partner of the Year, with Hassell Inclusion and Gamelab, for a prototype game built around physical exercises for visually impaired children.

Beacons Festival

With Amorphous Orchestra: interactive projections mapped onto a festival tent, with multiplayer arcade games the audience could play.

2012

National Media Museum: Games Lounge

A Kinect wall installation for the newly revamped Games Lounge in Bradford, plus a family workshop – “Boom, shake the room!” – where families made their own soundtrack and played inside it.

The Enchanted Forest

With Amorphous Orchestra: an interactive forest – waterfall, pond and seasonal surprises – in the children's library at Redbridge Library, Ilford.

Kala Sangam: Flux

A gesture- and sound-driven installation at the Kala Sangam arts centre in Bradford – a digital flow of ribbons you play with your body.

Kinect experiments

An interactive music visualiser and other depth-camera experiments – one featured in Microsoft's Kinect Fun Labs vote around E3.

Teaching Unity in Hong Kong

Twice invited to Hong Kong to teach Unity 3D modules for Leeds Metropolitan University, alongside HTML5 courses in Leeds.

Amorphous Orchestra

Collaborations with Dave Lynch and Paul Miller: audio-visual experiments, installations and festival work, including Frozen Music at Recon Festival.

2008–11

uScreen

Tools for young film-makers, built at Gamelab: a storyboard tool, a collaborative cutting room, and a media player with community-led accessibility – BSL sign captions, audio description and subtitles.

Blind cricket simulator

An immersive practice environment for blind and visually impaired cricketers, using 3D sound and Wii controllers.

NDCS Family Sign Language

A video dictionary and signing game for the National Deaf Children's Society, for families of deaf children (2010).

Mencap Plannet and Us5

Plannet: an online planning tool for young people with learning disabilities aged 16–25, built at Gamelab with Mencap and BBC Future Media. Its Us5 video stories, made for the BBC with actors with learning disabilities, were nominated for a Children's BAFTA (Best Children's Drama) and a BIMA in 2009.

Salts Mill website

A website for Salts Mill in Saltaire, with Jonathan Wilkinson, capturing the romance of the mill through an interactive experience.

David Hockney studio intranet

Image and video archiving tools for David Hockney's studio in Bridlington, synchronised with a custom iPad and iPhone app.

2003–10

Experiments and writing

Accessible keyboard-focus handling for Flash, an interactive 3D panoramic video, webcam motion interfaces, an MSc 3D collaboration prototype (2003/04, Distinction) – plus an article for Software Developer's Journal and technical review of the Flash iOS Cookbook.