SpilBar 58: Playtalks
Welcome to 2024, and welcome to SpilBar: Playtalks.
A Playtalk is an informal short talk, where developers showcase their released game and highlight different perspectives and design choices along the way.
The format always includes a live demo of the game and never use any slides. The focus is on the artistic and tech decisions made along the way; like a live “play-mortem”, and there is always a specific attention to a chosen area like sound, level design, UI, code or graphics. Not only will these Playtalk-events showcase new games and create buzz around them, but also serve as an interesting insight into various difficult game design decisions, and how/why the developers choose that particular solution.
For this first Playtalk we are delighted to present Thomas Ryder and Erwin Kho, who will playtalk us through the new games Midnight Girl & Cocoon, and Ida Hartmann, who will talk about Stilstand.
Everybody is welcome and free admission as always, but our hosts at IDA ask that you register at https://ida.dk/arrangementer/353416 to make sure there is a chair, drinks and snacks for everyone.
About the speakers
Thomas Ryder is co-owner of Italic, and is the art director, graphics artist and musician on the game Midnight Girl. He has specialized in making atmospheric point-and-click adventures, and also known for the time traveling sci-fi thriller “The Silent Age”. Thomas combines a flat 2D art style with eerie synths to achieve a style which he describes as ‘moody minimalism’.
Ida Hartmann, artist and game writer, debuted in 2020 with the interactive comic ‘Stilstand,’ (Niila Games). Ida contributed to the narrative-driven adventure game ‘Saltsea Chronicles’ (2023) at Die Gute Fabrik, and was the lead writer and narrative designer at Triple Topping for the feminist, slice-of-life game ‘Dead Pets Unleashed’ (release TBA).
Erwin Kho is art director and art lead for the award-winning game ‘COCOON’, which was released in September ’23 to critical acclaim. Kho has a background in graphic design and illustration, and moved to Denmark in 2017 to join Playdead alumni Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid at their new studio, Geometric Interactive. For COCOON he was heavily involved in the development; from the earliest visual development and concepts, through to production and leading the art team.
About SpilBar:
Since 2010, SpilBar has gathered professionals and interested in and around the games industry for talks and mingling. The talks are always based around ideas worth spreading and meant to be inspirational and always in a format that is open to everyone. The talks are always followed by time to meet and mingle.
SpilBar is organized by Vision Denmark and the program is curated by Mads Marturin, Thomas Vigild and Kristine Ploug.
The SpilBar format was developed by Interactive Denmark, Thomas Vigild and Kristine Ploug.
Join SpilBar’s Facebook group here.
Join the mailinglist and receive mails about SpilBar events here
SpilBar is supported by the Game Funding Scheme under the Danish Film Institute and the Danish Board of Business Development.
Hourly Schedule
PROGRAM
- 16.00
- Doors open + coffee/tea
- 16.30
- Welcome
- 16.35
- Midnight Girl Playtalk - Thomas Ryder from Italic
- Join us for a trip to Paris in the mid-Sixties, as Thomas Ryder takes you on a tour behind the scenes of the recently released point-and-click adventure Midnight Girl. In this Playtalk Thomas will talk about Midnight Girl's minimalist design and the often simple tricks that have been used to improve the look and feel of the game.
- 17.00
- Creating strange new worlds - Erwin Kho from Geometric Interactive
- In this Playtalk, Erwin will share his thoughts on how the concepts of the game influenced his design choices, and how a childhood of watching ALIEN at the age of five, and pouring through books on anatomy, insects, and marine life, ultimately prepared him for designing the strange new alien worlds of COCOON. COCOON was named Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards ’23 and was offered the Breakthrough Award at the Golden Joystick Awards ’23.
- 17.25
- Short break
- 17.40
- Making The Worst Period of Your Life Into a Game by Ida Hartmann, freelance game writer.
- Ida will delve into some of the design decisions from the process of making the interactive comic, Stilstand (Niila Games, 2020), and how she created an emotional game design and art style to depict the autobiographical plot authentically, without losing herself along the way.
- 18.05
- Announcements and news
- 18.20
- Beer and mingling + snacks
- 20.00
- Doors close
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