The brilliant Phil Harris returns to tell you (yes, you!) why Edinburgh Interactive 12 is such a big deal.
For the tenth year Edinburgh hosts one of the longest standing games industry related conferences in the heart of Scotland’s capital on the 9th August.
Edinburgh Interactive’s 10th Anniversary promises another strong line up of speakers and guests, discussing the future of the videogame industry from the most casual of games to the AAA titles discussing the economics, industry and development that is taking place. Each year has brought some pleasant surprises and interesting speakers and 2012 looks no different, the convention being followed directly by the public sessions the on Saturday 11th August.
For developers in Scotland the main event ticket price is reduced. For those who can’t make it, aren’t developers but maintain an interest in the industry and want to keep up-to-date with what is going on I’ll be discussing the highlights of the days and all the latest gaming news in detail on CalmDownTom, while writing more detailed reports for ScottishGames.net; where my team and I will be covering every facet of each session.
The public events are free, taking place in the Radisson Blue Hotel, close to Waverley Station and in easy access of the rest of the city, which will be in full festival flow. Giving people of all ages a chance to not only see the games development process but also to hear from, and question, some of the great people in the industry today.
If you can make it to Edinburgh you really can’t lose by attending one, or all, of these events and they include:
BAFTA’s Young Game Designers Workshop and Coding for Kids make a double session – allowing kids from 11 – 16 to have a go at creating a game in a day. A good chance for parents to go and see a serious show in the Fringe and let their children have a go at games design under the tutelage of gaming professionals. They’re always great fun, but hard work, and give a taste of what games development is all about, with something to show for all the work at the end of the day.
The excellent Ian Livingstone, Life President Eidos (they make Tomb Raider don’t you know), talks about his time in the games industry and the 30th anniversary of the Fighting Fantasy books. Ian is always a good speaker to listen to and is a fantastic spokesman for the UK industry.
Nathan Brown (Edge Magazine) discusses games journalism, just before the lunchtime break and then after lunch Rob Davies (Playniac) creates the human games console, with Cat on Yer Head. Turning the room into an interactive game to explain how games are designed. With a talk about story and character development in games this should round things off nicely.
The public sessions give all the opportunity to discuss more about games and the games industry. I’ll hover over the word free again, as you may want to know how to book tickets for these sessions.
And all you need to do is use the following page to book through Eventbrite, it has a handy map of the venue and all the event times:
So, we’ll be there. They’re free events. So will you?