
GAMES – ARTS – CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY – EDUCATION – WELLBEING
Looking to the games sector for inspiration in an online world
Mon 22nd Feb – Fri 5th Mar
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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
Mixed Realities: Virtual and Physical Interaction
with Yann Seznec, Mona Bozdog, FoxDog Studios and Laura E Hall
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)
Fostering an Engaged Community Virtually and Beyond (SGDA)
with Jamie Cross (SGDA), Susie Buchan (Arcadia Fest), Beverley McMillan (BAFTA Scotland) & Jed Milroy (Tinderbox Collective)
Beyond Parasocial Interaction: Speed Dating for Ghosts
Presentation & Let’s Play with Gabriel Elvery
Game Studies in the Wild: Practical Applications of Games Research
with Ruth EJ Booth, Gabriel Elvery, Charly Harbord, and Arthur Ehlinger
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
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 Shauna Macdonald from Edinburgh Youth Theatre
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 will be showcasing and celebrating the creativity, diversity, innovation, and imagination in games and interactive media. Over 30 game designers, artists, musicians, researchers and others involved in games will be getting together through a series of panel discussions, workshops, demos, live music performances, virtual play sessions and game jams – and we’d love you to join us too!
As well as a festival for people involved in games, we want to invite and involve people from other sectors and different artforms too. There will be a range of speakers and events looking at some of the cross-sections between gaming and education, music, health, wellbeing, theatre and other areas, and we would love to open up some discussion and space for new ideas and collaborations.
The festival is being run on a donations-based model – we want it to be free & accessible for anyone to attend, while paying our speakers and performers fairly.
Check out the events below and we’ll see you there!

Registration
Click on the registration link for each event to book a place for that event.
Most panels, talks & events take place over Zoom, but some may be held elsewhere, like Twitch and YouTube.
Some workshops and events are hosted by other other groups and will have links to book separately.
Explore the Tinderbox PlayAway programme to find an event for you:
Donations / Pricing
The festival is being run on a donations-based model. We want it to be free & accessible for anyone to attend, but we also want to pay our speakers and performers fairly. If you are able to make a donation this would be a big help.
All panel-discussions, talks and demos are free/by donation.
Some of the workshops are managed separately and have a fixed fee as places are limited.
More info and suggested donations here

PRESS & MEDIA
Click to view our Press Release and email playaway@tinderboxcollective.org for more information
A BIG thanks to our Partners & Sponsors

