WordPlay is Coming
The 7th annual WordPlay Festival takes place Saturday, November 9th & 10th 2019!
Sat. November 9th, Sunday November 10th
Saturday 11:00am – 4:30pm and Sunday 1:30pm – 4:30pm
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St. (Bloor-Yonge subway)
Free!
Did you hear the good news? WordPlay 7 is happening THIS WEEKEND!
We’re so excited and proud to be able to bring you games from all over the world by the amazing creators and hand-picked speakers which some, by the way, are flying into the city just to talk to us! We also have tons of workshops–we know you like those! It’s going to be a fun time especially that WordPlay is now TWO (2) days of narrative fun instead of one, so get plenty of rest, don’t want to miss any of this!
Just as a reminder, let’s be sure to make WordPlay a safer space together. Here is our Safer Spaces Policy that we will abide by including all speakers, participants, volunteers, and staff members. We will have Safety Check Personnel on site which is comprised of both staff and volunteers. They will be wearing prominent red ribbons and will be present throughout the weekend. If you have any questions or concerns during WordPlay, we can help to address them. If you would like to contact us after the event, you can email us at safe@handeyesociety.com or you can fill out this anonymous online form.
But allow me to break down the event for ya, like cookies in milk!
Look at this cool WordPlay poster! Oh my god! Credz to Elizabeth Zhang.
Where to go
Saturday
| Main Stage (Atrium) | Learning Centre 1 (Showcase Space) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Speakers | Event | Event |
| 11:00 AM | Festival Begins – Welcome and Opening Remarks | Arcade Showcase | |
| 11:30 AM | Kate Gray | How Romance In Games Can Change The World | |
| 12:00 PM | Alexander King | Artisanal Procedurality: Designing Procedural Word Puzzles using Classic Literature | |
| 12:30 PM | ~Break~ | ||
| 1:00 PM | Jordan Jones-Brewster & Carol Mertz | The Design of ‘We Should Talk’: Putting a New Spin On Narrative Choice | |
| 1:30 PM | Robert Kori Golding | Pushing Storytelling in Location-Based Games | |
| 2:00 PM | ~Break~ | ||
| 2:30 PM | Betty Robertson / Evangelia Fahantidou | Mission Design & Game Writing: A Marriage | |
| 3:00 PM | David Evans | A Soundscape is Worth a Thousand Words. | |
| 3:30 PM | ~Break~ | ||
| 4:00 PM | Micro-Talks | See Below | |
| 4:30 PM | End of Saturday Talks | ||
Micro-Talks
| Main Stage (Atrium) | |
|---|---|
| Speakers | Event |
| Alfe Clemencio | Making Choices Matter and More! (explained in under 6 mins) |
| Benoit Esmein | The importance of showers in Indie Game Localization |
| Xalavier Nelson Jr. | We Don’t Talk About The Toilets: Worldbuilding with Purpose |
Sunday
| Learning Centre 2 (Workshop Space) | Hinton Theatre (Performance Space) | Learning Centre 1 (Showcase Space) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Speakers | Event | Speakers | Event | Event |
| 1:45 PM | Jim Munroe | Creating Interactive Fiction With Texture Writer | Xalavier Nelson Jr. | Disco Never Died (But It Is Trying To Kill You): A #DISCOGAME | Arcade Showcase |
| 2:00 PM | |||||
| 2:30 PM | |||||
| 3:00 PM | |||||
| 3:30 PM | Em Lazer-Walker | Chill With Em! (Details TBD) | Squinky | How Making Videogames Turned Me Into a Depressed Gay Communist | |
| 4:00 PM | |||||
| 4:30 PM | ~End~ | ~End~ | |||
What to Play
Sharang Biswas
Smolghost
Nicholas O’Brien
Local No. 12
Emily Flynn-Jones
Demi Schanzel
Ian Michael Waddell
Recalculating
Jessica Zhang, Benjamin Mora-Davison, Christine Kilfoil
Sisi Jiang
Greg Buchanan
Bryan Depuy
Xalavier Nelson Jr., Natalie Clayton, Priscilla Snow
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening to Steal Treasure
Alexander Blechman
John Vanderhoef
St. Catherines, Canada
Freya Campbell
Jack Sanderson-Thwaite, Matthew Weekes, Vlad Abadzhiev, Michael Becze
Michael Arcadi
Kat Aguiar, Nobonita Bhowmik, Francesca Carletto-Leon, Jordan Jones-Brewster, Carol Mertz, Jack Schlesinger
Mary Arroz & Xinran Ma
G.C. “Grim” Baccaris
Apologies, for what it’s worth
Shrunken Studios
Our Partners
