Talk & Play is a free event, taking place every two months, that provides the opportunity to game enthusiasts, players and makers to meet and exchange knowledge in a friendly, relaxed and safe environment. 

Everybody’s welcome, regardless of their background and knowledge level: if you like games, we’ll make sure you have a good time! Important: this is NOT an event only aimed at developers.

Important: RSVP via meetup.com is mandatory to attend the talks, due to limited seating capacity. Registrations will open on Tuesday, August 9th at 14:00 CET (Berlin time). Please note that registration won’t be required to attend the event from 21:00 for the game showcase part. 

HOW IT WORKS

The event is structured in two parts:

— TALK: A series of short game-related presentations

— PLAY: All participants are welcome to bring games they’ve made or are still working on so that the audience can play them – a perfect opportunity to discover and play new games, collect feedback and, who knows?, maybe find collaborators for future projects.

THE TALKS

Let’s continue with the new format introduced at the beginning of the year: 5 minutes for each presentation, with no questions – if you want to ask a question to the speakers just go talk to them! ;)

Quantcept by Anastasia (alpha_rats)
Making a game about dreams and call-centers.
—
Anastasia is a Berlin-based illustrator and game developer.
http://alpharats.com // @alpha_rats

Codecks, a project management tool inspired by collectible card games by Emmanuel Tabarly
Looking for the sweet spot that will make game developers enjoy using project management tools!
—
Emmanuel (Manu) is an old man, but don’t remind him of that. He spent too many years as a project manager in video games, web development and even hard-core industrial projects. The scars run deep. He’s currently developing Codecks with his partner-in-crime Daniel. Most of his free time is devoted to games (with pixels and cardboard), and tabletop miniature painting. That’s what happens when you get old.
https://www.codecks.io // @codecks_io

Snake in 3 Languages by Lisa (lislis)
What’s a good language to start writing games in? I don’t know, that’s why I wrote the same game in three different languages so you can choose!
—
Lisa is a frontend developer in the real world and a game enthusiast anywhere else.
https://lislis.de

Closer: a game for two people by Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan
What I learned from weirdos, cheaters, and other miscreants who refused to play my game properly.
—
Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan moved to Berlin from Canada to teach herself to make experimental games. She founded a day to celebrate drone music, has a store for selling experimental cassettes and LPs, and runs a website called Weird Canada.
http://marieflanagan.com // @omarieclaire

3 Level Design Do’s & Don’ts by Martha Schoppa
In this talk you will hear about some typical mistakes doing levels and how to do it better.
—
Martha is Level Designer at Wooga working on the puzzle game Jelly Splash and worked on 700 levels there.
http://www.martha-schoppa.de // @marthi_party 

This is how I VJ by raxter
With no actual VJ experience, raxter demonstrates how he blindly and drunkenly stumbled and flailed making a neat little visual thing for performances. Also combinations rule ❤
—
raxter is a freelance game developer who embraces the creed of: “I have no idea what I am doing”
@raxterbaxter

THE GAMES

Here’s the list of confirmed games that will be shown during the second part of the evening, from 21:00:

— 3Souls by Red Column
— Caravan by it Matters Games
— Card Battle Kingdom by Rebusmind
— Clans of Caledonia by Juma Al-JouJou / Karma Games
— Closer by Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan
— Codecks by Emmanuel Tabarly
— DuelVR by BoosterSpace
— DYO by Team DYO
— DYSTROPICANA by MerleCaliope + OutlandsGames + troyduguid
— Games Input Pal by Xanto
— Glimpses of Summers by Lunidas
— Harvest Hunters by Trite Games
— Hubert’s Hideout by TeamOmelette
— Make More! by Bad Crane /
— MOMENTUM by TeamNeonChameleon
— Pastoral by Chris Manthey
— Pip World by David Smit
— Planet Elysia TD by Mad Hats Assembly
— Pool Party Arena by 7Liter
— Trick Typer by Sven Ahlgrimm
— Unforeseen Incidents by Backwoods Entertainment

Game showcase registrations are now closed. If your game is not on the list above you’re still welcome to bring it, but we can’t guarantee there will be space to show it – please check with a member of the team from 21:00.

If you want to make it easier for people to understand your game controls at the event, the Games Input Pal tool (made in Berlin!) might help you: http://xantomen.com/gamesinputpal/

AGENDA

— 19:00 Doors (if you come earlier you’ll have to wait outside, as we need to prepare the venue)

— 19:30 Talks start

— 21:00 Game showcase & networking: play games and chat with their creators, or just hang around and meet new people

— 23:00 The end aka “Gone Home”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Our Safe Space Policy encourages the behaviour at Talk & Play. We request that everyone who is affiliated with and participates to the event honours it.

Besides recording the talks (thank you Iwan!),  we’re also documenting the game showcase part in pictures (thank you Julian!) and vines (thank you Nomi!). Documentation is important for us, as it helps promote the event and attract a new, wider and more diverse audience (that’s how it worked so far at least). For those who’d like to attend, but don’t want to be appear in any pictures or videos, we’re going to distribute some neon stickers at the door that you can wear on your chest to make it clear that you don’t want to appear in any picture or video.

The event is free to attend.

FINAL NOTES

Do you have any questions? Would you like to give a talk in the future? Then get in touch!

Talk & Play is organised by BerlinGameScene.com with the promotional and technical support of the monthly Berlin Mini Game Jam and A MAZE.