Tinderbox PlayAway Games Festival 2021
GAMES – ARTS – CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY – EDUCATION – WELLBEING
Looking to the games sector for inspiration in an online world
Mon 22nd Feb – Fri 5th Mar 2021
Join our newsletter to get updates about the festival
Or follow us on facebook, twitter or instagram
About Tinderbox PlayAway!
At a time when so many people are moving online, we wanted to turn to the Games industry for inspiration – to ask how games are adapting and responding to the pandemic, and to explore what role they could play looking ahead.
What are the most interesting ways of playing and interacting both online and offline at the moment? Are there possibilities for new connections, learning & collaborations between gaming worlds and other sectors? And how can we build a more playful and creative way forward for us all in the future?
Over 2 weeks, from 22nd Feb to 5th March, we showcased and celebrated the creativity, diversity, innovation, and imagination in games and interactive media through PlayAway, an online two-week festival. Over 30 game designers, artists, musicians, researchers and others involved in games got together through a series of panel discussions, workshops, demos, live music performances, virtual play sessions and game jams joined by close to 1000 attendees and participants.
As well as a festival for people involved in games, we wanted to invite and involve people from other sectors and different artforms too. A range of speakers and events looked at some of the cross-sections between gaming and education, music, health, wellbeing, theatre and other areas, and during the festival we filmed a series of Conversations opening up discussion and space for new ideas and collaborations.
The festival was run on a donations-based model – to keep it free & accessible for anyone to attend, while paying our speakers and performers fairly.
Take a look at our Videos, Conversations and Programme where you can see what was on and watch the events back!
Event Recordings
Recordings from the live events during the festival
Note: We are editing these videos as quickly as we can and will add them here as soon as we can!
Games, the Pandemic & the Future
with Jane McGonigal
Fireside Conversation with Q&A
Gaming for Health, Education and Wellbeing
with Brian Baglow, Game Doctor, Yaldi Games, Civic Digits and Glitchers
Live Coding Music Patterns with TidalCycles
with Alex McLean
Games Composer Panel
with Jenny Nelson (Scala Radio), Nainita Desai (Telling Lies), Guy Jackson (Sea of Solitude), Tess Tyler (PLAYNE: The Meditation Game)
Game Design Panel
with Shay Thompson (BBC Sounds), Jon McKellan (No Code), Dan Pinchbeck (The Chinese Room), Malath Abbas (Biome Collective)
Virtual Reality (VR) Mini Talks
with Jung In Jung, Paul Blackham, Brian Allen (Bearharmmer Games), Thomas Kildren (Fletcher Studios), Andy Antoniou (Furry Tail Dragon)
Beyond Parasocial Interaction: Speed Dating for Ghosts
Presentation & Let’s Play with Gabriel Elvery
Zine-making & Interactive Art Workshop
with James Morwood
Artificial Images: An Introduction to Art and Machine Learning
with Derrick Schultz & Lia Coleman
Paths to Games Research
with William Kavanagh, Robin Sloan, Dr David Farrell, Dr Romana Ramzan
Postgraduate Research Panel
With Dr Matthew Barr, Lauren Watson, Francis Butterworth-Parr, William Kavanagh, Kirsty Dunlop, Monica Vazquez
Game Studies in the Wild: Practical Applications of Games Research
with Ruth EJ Booth, Gabriel Elvery, Charly Harbord, and Arthur Ehlinger
Intro to Bitsy Workshop
with Claire Morwood
Zoom Obscura Works in Progress
with Ilsa Pouwels, Michael Baldwin, Bea Wijshijer, Paul O’Neill, Martin Disley
Mixed Realities: Virtual and Physical Interaction
with Yann Seznec, Mona Bozdog, FoxDog Studios and Laura E Hall
Games & Empathy Mini Talks
with Marina Diez (3 of Cups Games), Alastair Low (Lowtek Games), Natalie Schmidt, Nida Ahmad
Intro to Pure Data & Interactive Sound Workshop
with Yann Seznec
Fostering an Engaged Community Virtually and Beyond (SGDA)
with Jamie Cross (SGDA), Susie Buchan (Arcadia Fest), Beverley McMillan (BAFTA Scotland) & Jed Milroy (Tinderbox Collective)
Live Music Show + PlayAway Party!
with Jed Milroy & Jo Jeffries, The False Economy, Jellyman’s Daughter, John “Slide20XX” Smith and The Gamba Geek
PlayAway Conversations
A series of pre-recorded conversations with people working outside of the games sector about games, creativity and the crossovers between real-world and online environments.
Note: Videos from these conversations are being edited and will be shared over the festival.
Games, Theatre & Hybrid Environments
A Conversation with Dougie Irvine from Visible Fictions
Games, Creative Ageing & Festivals
A Conversation with Dominic Campbell from Creative Ageing International
Gaming & Music in Secondary School
A Conversation with four music teachers across Scotland through Music Education Partnership Group.
Gaming and Youth Theatre
A Conversation with Shauna Macdonald from Edinburgh Youth Theatre
Games, Arts & Community
A Conversation with Kate Wimpress & Genevieve Kay-Gourley, from North Edinburgh Arts
Audience Feedback
Thank you for joining us for our first PlayAway!
If you attended the festival we’d love to know what you think – our feedback form is now closed, but please feel free to contact us at playaway@tinderboxcollective.org with feedback or questions directly.
PRESS & MEDIA
Click to view our Press Release and email playaway@tinderboxcollective.org for more information
A BIG thanks to our Partners & Sponsors
