Sense of Play returns as Playful: Game Design London

Pixel-Lab has unveiled details of its London Games Fringe design summit Playful: Game Design London.

The day-long event seeks to examine how game design elements can be used across different disciplines, such as television, advertising and the web. It hopes to provoke ‘lively debate’ on what games mean to different people, and to examine different perspectives of gaming from inside and outside the industry.

A wide range of speakers will be talking about a variety of topics, including ‘horror and games’, procedural cities, games in social media, ‘experimental writing from the mid-60s’ and even a performance from the Electroplankton Orchestra. Those currently signed up to present include Blitz Games’ Jolyon Webb, Chris Delay from Introversion and James Wallis from Spaaace.

Toby Barnes, managing director of Pixel-Lab, said: “We’re really pleased to have such a wide range of people coming who are all so passionate about games and their important cultural role. They have all got their own things to show that will entertain and inspire those who attend, and also light the way for future discussions on the important role of Game Design and play in a range of disciplines.”

“Ubisoft believes that creativity and innovation is the most important function of our business at the moment," added Rob Cooper, Ubisoft’s managing director for Northern Europe.

"Playful provides a unique foundation to look at ways we can all push the boundaries of game design and interactive storytelling, and we are really excited to be supporting this event as part of the London Games Festival Fringe.”

Iain Tate, co-founder of top London design agency Poke concluded: “All this play is doing funny things to us. Games are creating experience, interface and playfulness expectations. We all need to care about games. And perhaps we need to think about them a little differently.”

Playful: Game Design London takes place on October 31st from 9:30am to 5:00pm, with tickets costing £25. For more information, check out the Playful website.