PLAY19

Hamburg, November 21th, 2019. When humans encounter monsters, a spectacle is always guaranteed! The PLAY19 Creative Gaming Festival from November 14th to 17th in Hamburg proved that not just fear was on offer.

Under the motto “Of Monsters and Games” PLAY19 presented an extensive and diverse Festival program that brought together people of widely differing backgrounds who were enthused about a cultural and social examination of the significance of games. Games enthusiasts, parents and children, students, media experts, teachers, games developers and artists were able to play, discuss, program, even iron – not to mention expansively celebrate – together.

Some 19 workshops and advanced education sessions, excursions to Hamburg game development companies, fascinating impulse presentations and roundtable discussions offered opportunities where various facets of the gaming culture were illuminated. Workshop participants were able to learn how to provide game monsters with sound, or how artificial intelligence can be used to create a feeling of fear in games. The developer of the award-winning game “Sea of Solitude” explained in an impulse presentation how human emotions become monsters. On the PLAY Couch, discussions were held on how monstrous (and monstrously important) communities can be or how game designers find their ideas for new games. In the evenings Rock & Wrestling’s monstrous interactive wrestling show and the PLAY party created a high-spirited mood for the festival public.

“With PLAY19 we wanted to create a free and open space to make a convergence of the civil society possible. Our plan worked”, so Andreas Hedrich, member of the PLAY19’s leadership team. “For the 12th year in a row, PLAY has provided a platform for the creative examination of digital games. Our thanks go out to all the protagonists who have supported our efforts. To the institutions that make PLAY possible, to our great team, but above all to all festival attendees, who enrich PLAY with their passion and enthusiasm for the games culture and who at the same time create an open familiar atmosphere.”

The PLAY19 attendees also had a decisive voice in the selection of the European Creative Gaming Awards. The People’s Choice Award this year went to “Grave Call” by Totally Not a Game Studio from Sweden. In this game one player is placed in a coffin with a mobile telephone with only 10% power remaining; in this cooperative game the person aided by teammate on the outside, must find a way out of the coffin.

The expert jury gave the Most Innovative Newcomer Award to “Pile Up” by Seed by Seed from France. In this game, four players represented by cardboard boxes maneuver their way through a cartoon-like game world. After a stimulating discussion, the Most Creative Game Award went to “Welcome to Elk”. Triple Topping Games from Denmark convinced the jury with their in-depth stories from real life which were retold in a tender point-and-click adventure in a creative game world. Visitors were, of course, able to form their own impressions of the three winners in the PLAY exhibition. The exhibition included 27 selected creative games whose consoles, PCs and in VR captivated visitors at the controllers.

Further Information
For questions and photo requests please contact Tina Ziegler
Tel.: 0174-4440454 or 04523 – 98412-33
tina.ziegler@creative-gaming.eu / www.playfestival.de

Background
Since 2007 the PLAY Festival has united the areas of media art, discourse and education with the digital game culture. Its primary focus is the creative application of digital games – inventing, building, tinkering, modifying, programming, dancing, discussing – everything is allowed! PLAY19 is the Festival for games lovers, gamers, Indie game developers media artists school children and students, teachers and educators, researchers and people from the Games sector as well as all who want to learn and play digital games.