Games Talks Live: Scotland Returns This Month
Short talks and networking for the Scottish games industry both live in person and online
Edinburgh, Scotland - 4th March, 2022. After a two year ‘IRL’ hiatus, Games Talks Live: Scotland makes its long-awaited, in-person return this month with three dates confirmed in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Created by industry veteran Colin Macdonald in 2018, the Games Talks Live: Scotland event is an evening of short talks from guest speakers interspersed with general networking opportunities, aimed at encouraging collaboration and communication between local Scottish developers and visiting guests.
The events run over three days, one in each of Scotland's games hubs of Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow
- Tues 8th March; Edinburgh (4pm till late, at The Liquid Room, 9c Victoria Street, Edinburgh EH1 2HE)
- Weds 9th March; Dundee (4pm till late at Beat Generator, 70 North Lindsay St, Dundee DD1 1PS )
- Thurs 10th March; Glasgow (4pm till late at Revolution, 84 Mitchell St, Glasgow G1 3NA)
Each evening will have an array of speakers from local developers, visiting publishers and others to be announced nearer the time. Speaking sessions will be interspersed with networking breaks to encourage everyone to get to know as many people as possible and help foster potential future collaborations. The golden rule of the event is there should be no recruitment activity - even from companies that are kindly sponsoring or speaking at the event.
"I started running the events pre-Covid because it seemed ridiculous that everyone in the Scottish games industry often only met in Brighton, San Francisco or Cologne.” said Colin Macdonald, Games Talks Live: Scotland organiser. “ I wasn't sure what the appetite would be for bringing them back, but the number of incredible speakers who were eager to come and talk to all the talented developers in the Scottish games industry has blown me away. Although virtual events will now always have a place going forwards, it's simply not the same as getting to meet people face to face."
This year, Games Talks Live: Scotland is delighted to welcome Rami Ismail as the event keynote speaker for all three events. Rami is a Dutch-Egyptian industry ambassador and independent games developer with over 20 titles across PC, console, web, and mobile. His development of tools like the industry-standard dopresskit.com, his prolific and popular public speaking, and highly-regarded consultancy and insights have helped shape industry opportunities for game communities and independent game developers all over the world.
In addition to Rami, Games Talks Live: Scotland is proud to announce the full in-person speaker line up for the three events. (E/D/G after each speaker signifies if they're speaking at all cities, or just one/two events)
- Rami Ismail, indie champion (E/D/G)
- Garnett Lee, Game Scout/Producer, publisher Raw Fury (E/D/G)
- Stephen Hey, scout for publisher Merge Games, and Marketing Consultant (E/D/G)
- Anna Mansi, Head of Certification at the British Film Institute (E/D/G)
- Cécile Fléchon, Publishing Coordinator at publisher Focus Home Interactive (E/D/G)
- Imre Jele, co-founder of developer Bossa Studios (E/D/G)
- Ian McGregor, Head of Publishing, Green Man Gaming (E/D/G)
- Mark McCready, Scottish Liaison Officer at British Esports Association (E/D/G)
- Phil Scott, European Director of Developer Relations, chip manufacturer NVIDIA (E/D/G)
- Ken Gordon, Regional Ambassador at the European Space Agency (E/D/G)
- Tom Methven, aka developer Amicable Animal (E/D/G)
- Brian Baglow, Director, Scottish Games Network (E/D/G)
- Ron Ashtiani, founder of art studio Atomhawk and co-founder production house Big Thursday Creative (E)
- Paul Farley, Founder/CEO at publisher Firestoke Games (D)
- Max Scott-Slade, Game Director of developer Glitchers (E/D/G)
- Niamh Loughran, Producer at developer Hyperluminal Games (D)
- Gary McCartan, CEO of developer Pocket Sized Hands (D)
- Kyle Banks, developer of Farewell North (E)
- Simon Meek, director at developer Stacking Chairs (G)
Tickets for the in-person events can be purchased here with pricing set at £10.00 for each event or £25.00 to attend all three. The talks will be streamed live on YouTube for people unable to attend in person. The link to this is available by signing up for a (free) livestream ticket here. Please note that there will not be any hybrid meeting opportunities for those watching virtually.
There will be a charity raffle held at each of the events with all proceeds going to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Additional information on the events can be found here
