Peter Blenkharn Creative · Engineer · Educator

Peter Blenkharn / field notes

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Bring me the awkward problem.

I get inside unfamiliar systems quickly, find the structure that matters, and build unexpected, resourceful solutions that work — and open up new possibilities.

immerse→map→reframe→make→open

My name is less well behaved than it looks. Try it three times.

01 / Research · Narrative systems

Stories that think.

What changes when story is treated as a living, stateful system?

RESEARCH THREADNARRATIVE SYSTEMS

This is the wider research practice: formal questions, methods, papers, talks and studies about narrative as a dynamic system. Doom Castle is one applied project inside it, not the whole enquiry.

APPLIED PROJECT / 01 · WORK IN PROGRESSDOOM CASTLE

One small object.
A very large possibility space.

A handheld physical narrative game in which the enclosure, electronics, interface, sensors and story engine all belong to the same fictional system.

HARDWAREcustom ESP32-S3 PCB designed in KiCad OBJECT3D-printed gatehouse with a spectral OLED display SOFTWAREdevice runtime plus browser authoring and diagnostic tools NARRATIVEpersistent-state storylets built for replay and discovery
UNFOLD TOYStorylet eligibility pump2 ELIGIBLE
STORYLET PUMP / COMPRESSED MODELRUN 01
RUN 01 KNOWLEDGE 0 TRUST 0 ALARM 0 BRIDGE SHUT

Two storylets are eligible immediately. Pump one and watch the pool change around the new state.

FIRED 0 / 6 · deterministic architecture sketch, not final game prose.

research → executable world model

hypothesis: story is a stateful system under pressure

BENCH

02 / Public & cultural work

STORIES IN PUBLIC

Complex material, made navigable without making it simple.

research01 translate02 invite03

Tap a frame to bring that layer forward.

EXHIBITION / PRODUCED · DESIGNED · BUILT

Mary Robinson Exhibition

An exhibition identity, explanatory graphics and touchscreen interactive produced as one coherent public encounter.

complex material → public experience

INDEX

03 / Creative engineering

STRANGE
MACHINES

Interfaces you feel before you fully understand.

INPUTawkward
constraint
OUTPUTunexpected
possibility

LIVE BUILD / MACHINE VISION GAME

GESTUROIDS

Two hands become a spacecraft controller: one pilots and one operates the weapons. PLAY THE FULL BUILD ↗

COMMUNICATION GAME / IN PROGRESS

HUMAN TOUCH

A communication game in development.

constraint → prototype → possibility

TOYS

04 / Interactive experiments

Playable
systems.

Abstract ideas are easier to understand when you can poke them.

Choose a piece. Change the system.

abstract concept → tangible experiment

TOYS
MICRO STUDIO / UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH

05 / Summer programme · Games Development

12 Weeks
to Steam.

Undergraduate teams move from an ambitious idea to a playable, published Steam demo.

Weeks 1–3Find the game. Control the scope.

undergraduate teams → published Steam demo

ask about the programme ↗ LATEST GAME / STEAM DEMO Whoever Left the Light On VIEW STEAM PAGE ↗
TOYS

06 / Teaching · Games + Computer Science

Making
things click.

Teaching is another form of system design: reveal the structure, let people change it, then help them explain it.

Select a layer to inspect the teaching logic.

difficult idea → interactive understanding

TOYS
PUBLIC TOOL / WINDOWS

07 / Open-source product engineering

Cabinet Crafter app icon

CABINET CRAFTER / v2.0.0

Build before
you cut.

A parametric arcade-cabinet design and fabrication tool that exposes expensive mistakes before sheet material meets a saw.

  1. 01Design
  2. 02Hardware
  3. 03Review
  4. 04Sheets
  5. 05Export
PARAMETRIC PROFILE / COMPRESSED SKETCHPREFLIGHT DUE
PROFILE

Change a dimension, then check the sketch before moving into fabrication planning.

Interaction sketch only · the full app generates geometry, manifests, checks, sheet layouts and production exports.

SOURCE + DOCUMENTATIONOPEN PUBLIC REPO ↗ RELEASE CHANNELCHECK RELEASES / DOWNLOADS ↗

parameters → preflight → production pack

BENCH
100%