They’re Here! The Games & Speakers of WordPlay 2021!
The 9th WordPlay Festival takes place Saturday, November 13th & Sunday November 14th 2021 starting at 1pm EST both days!
FREE
Watch on our Twitch Channel
What an incredible time of the year! We’ve been waiting for this one for a very long time. We’re so happy and excited to be able to put together another event for everyone a fan of narrative games alike! This year we’re following the same format of being nice and safe online, so you can enjoy the festival while wearing your pajamas! We want to thank the community, friends of Hand Eye Society, the land we stand on, as well as our sponsors, Hand Eye Society members and staff who have worked tirelessly for the past few months to make this event possible, not only for free, but to also be able to support exhibitors for their work!
Well that’s it from me, look at these games! Play them! Buy them! Support the creators! Get cozy and listen to some talks! We got you! Stay safe and we’ll see you at WordPlay this weekend on our Twitch channel! đź’›
Games~
Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance
Rocket Adrift
Toronto, Ontario
Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance is a dating sim about a teen girl who moves to a small secret community of cryptids. Romance a magical Fairy, a sensitive Sasquatch and a bold Velociraptor. A satirical 90’s teen drama about trying to find love in your last year of high school.
Milton Summons the Devil
Gus Fuss Games
Brooklyn, NY
You are Milton, a nine year old boy. You must search your house for the ritual items scattered everywhere throughout the house so you can summon the devil and kill your gym teacher. Just don’t wake up your parents or anger the devil!
Clam Man 2: Headliner
Marafrass/Team Clam
Canada
A combatless stand-up comedy RPG where jokes are loot and the boss fights are comedy shows. Under the sea. With fish people.
Frantic Fantic
Zeekayart and Michael
Toronto, Ontario
A hilarious free-to-play creative writing party game where friends furiously write each other’s fanfiction. A round-robin style story game that is played like exquisite corpse but with words instead of pictures!
The Hayseed Knight
Maxi Molina (SandraMJdev)
Spain
Join a ragtag band of misfits as they piece together how Ader, a one-eyed farmboy with seemingly impossible dreams, becomes the most celebrated knight the kingdom of Acazhor has ever known.
Divide Et Impera
Mauro Vanetti & Open Lab
Pavia + Florence, Italy
Mauro | Open Lab | Itchio | Pino | PietroÂ
You: A disingenuous political leader keen on using some good old hate speech to further your aims.
Your Goal: Splitting your community in half, by detaching at least 12 people from the interconnected grid of 5Ă—5 people.
Your Weapon: You have to choose hateful contents to post online and a specific target of 3Ă—3 people for each post.
CW: Strong Language
Over Easy: A Diner Heist
Julian K. Jarboe
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Twitter | Website | Itchio | Play
You and your crew are regulars at the local diner. This evening, the driver of a certain scrapyard truck will make a final pit stop at the diner before hauling away the remains of your neighborhood’s beloved, unique, and weird old landmark. Unless, of course, you and your crew can snatch it back.
Read The Room
Blah Books Studio
Chicago, IL
Devin | Devin’s IG | Jess | Itchio
Doors are locked and Grandma is missing! People are confused and you can read their minds somehow! What’s going on!?
Karen: An Outrage Simulator
Vagabond Dog
Toronto, Ontario
You are Karen – Argue your way through ridiculous scenarios, and get everything you rightfully deserve in this short comedic game about entitlement.
The Fall and Rise of Sadcock-upon-Avon
Orbis Tertius Games
Lincoln, UK & Berlin, Germany
In the fiefdom of Sadcock-upon-Avon, strange things are happening. There are rumours of penises not looking or acting as they should…
CW: Sexual Themes
Union Drive
Matajuegos
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Itchio | Studio | Lunafromthemoon | Leno | PfQ | Trailer
Union Drive is a Latin-American visual novel about workplace unionization. You’ll step into the shoes of a young supermarket worker trying to strengthen the union at their place of work and fight against unjust working conditions.
Throughout the game you’ll build strong relationships with your coworkers and get to know their stories, all while learning organization skills used by real-world union organizers.
Internet Court
Oh, a Rock! Studios
Ithaca, NY
Twitter | Website | Paul | Arglefumph
A live-action courtroom comedy, where YOU are the prosecution, defense and the judge! It’s the year 20XX, and crime can happen anywhere—even in cyberspace.
If someone gets caught writing bad fanfiction or unfriending without due cause, they get hyperlinked directly to… The Internet Court. Where the courtroom is virtual, and trials are livestreamed for the whole world to watch.
Insomniac: The Movie: The Game
Insomniac Film Festival, Insomniac: The Movie filmmakers, and Lina Wu
Toronto, Ontario
Insomniac’s Website | Lina’s Website| Insomniac’s IG| Lina’s IG | Itchio
Insomniac: The Movie: The Game was developed as an interactive choose-your-own adventure experience in accompaniment with Insomniac: The Movie, a collaborative quarantine community cinema project.
In addition to watching the film, it’s also a way to explore the cinema, chat with filmmakers, and explore the fantastical horizons of the youth film community even during lockdown.
Quick Fix
Lawrence Le
Ontario, Canada
A short visual novel with point-and-click elements. What starts off as a simple errand quickly (d)evolves into a tale of fake currencies, goose sleuths, and caffeine abuse. Rub elbows with the oddball inhabitants of Yorkel and outsmart its cruel, coffee-drinking despot to finally secure some decent internet service.
Glom
Nice Games Club
Minneapolis, MN
Website | Twitter | Ellen | Mark | Stephen | Dale Lynn
You have three minutes to come up with a Glom: Re-write the Phrase, while following the Rule, to best meet the Goal… that’s it!
A romp of rewording regular remarks, for wordsmiths of all ages and skill levels. A tabletop party game from the hosts of the gamedev podcast “Nice Games Club.”
Loopy Lore
Guilherme Bandini and Thi My Nguyen
SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil & Toronto, Ontario
Loopy Lore is a co-op storytelling game where friends collaborate in telling a story they know nothing about.
Using the cards and their imagination, players take turns as the narrator, giving shape to their tale. To win, they must work together to reach the ending created during setup.
An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs
Strange Scaffold
El Paso, Texas
An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs is a first-person open-world comedy adventure game with a very long name. You and your fiancée are the last two human beings left in the universe.
Dogs run airports, along with the rest of society. Deal with alien logic, travel issues, and strange stock photo dogs as you attempt to stay in touch with the person you love, when you both live your lives on the go!
Speakers~
Martin Hanses (he/him)
Roleplaying Comedy: Letting the player have the last laugh
In this talk, Martin Hanses goes over his work with the design and philosophy of writing comedy for role-playing games that the player can deliver, rather than be the recipient of.
Based on the work and research done for the stand-up comedy game Clam Man 2, the talk covers a series of techniques and approaches that can be implemented in the writing of most games, with a specific focus on player expression and assuming choice ownership.
Ryan Woodward (he/him)
Cute, Funny, and Sad – Writing on Button City
Button City is a colorful game about a cute fox who tries to save the local arcade in the sky.
In this talk Ryan Woodward goes over how he approached writing for Button City to create a lighthearted comedy experience while also incorporating sad heartfelt moments.
Colton David (he/him)
Oops, All Characters: How to Write a Hundred Different Humans*: A character writing panel
Video games have characters; oftentimes, many characters. From RPG towns full of one-liner
randoms, to visual novels with 30 person main casts, game writers constantly need to fill space
with unique and memorable voices. Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, oftentimes pointless –
this panel seeks to share practical ways game writers can harness their brain to produce
characters that stick with players. Many, many characters.
The panel will have a light-hearted, conversational bent to it. Attention will be given to writing
funny characters, in keeping with the comedy theme of Wordplay, while also delving into pulling
deeper emotions from.
Carrie Patel (She/Her)
Game Director at Obsidian Entertainment
Carrie has been writing with Obsidian since 2013, writing and co-leading the Pillars of Eternity
franchise, narrative designing The Outer Worlds, and directing an exciting unannounced project.
Aside from her game writing, Carrie is a published author, having released acclaimed
speculative fiction novels: The Buried Life (2015), Cities and Thrones (2015), and more!
Giselle Francis (She/Her)
Writer at Red Thread Games
Giselle is a writer and game designer, currently working on Dustborn, an upcoming title being
developed by Red Thread Games. Previous to that, Giselle has worked on Project Alina, a
puzzle-action RPG for Microfun Inc. As well, Giselle has also done advocacy work and panels
with Latinx in Gaming.
Cobysoft Joe (He/Him, They/Them)
Writer, Artist, and Composer of Dome-King Cabbage
Cobysoft Joe is the one-man band behind Cobysoft Co. a real (but also fictional) gaming
company that makes the award winning Dome-King Cabbage. Dome-King Cabbage is a visual
novel that takes place within the world of a monster collecting RPG. Joe currently lives in the
Midwest of the United States after having spent three years in Japan teaching English. Joe
spends his spare time making 3D images on his computer and playing with his hamster
Thimble.
Jaclyn Seto (She/Her)
Writer at Respawn Entertainment
Starting her career in the medical field, Jaclyn transitioned from physician’s assistant, to writing
on Apex Legends, carrying with her a unique insight into both fields. An avid fan-fiction writer in
her youth, Jaclyn persisted with her passion, graduating from Vancouver Film School’s
screenwriting program in 2019, then working on Project Alina, a puzzle-action RPG for Microfun
Inc.
Marina Kittaka (She/Her)
Co-Director at Analgesic Productions
marinakittaka.com
Currently working on Sephonie.
Melos Han-Tani (He/Him)
Co-Director at Analgesic Productions
@meloshantani (tiktok)
Currently working on Sephonie.
Host & Panel Organizer
Colton David
Writer at Lo-Fi Games
Colton is a writer and narrative designer based out of beautiful Toronto, Canada. For his day
job, he writes with Lo-Fi Games on the sequel to the hit sandbox RPG Kenshi. In his off-time he
develops games with Bad Pet, notably releasing Devil Express in March of 2020. Devil Express
has gone on to be one of the top 10 highest rated adventure games on itch.io! Currently Colton
is working on Anti, a narrative platformer, with his friends at Bad Pet.
