Curated calendar with indie game events, conferences and play festivals worldwide.
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July 2017
Come Out & Play 2017
Come Out & Play returns to New York City in 2017 for a 12th year of extraordinary outdoor games. We’ll take over DUMBO on July 21 with an evening of street games and play. Then we’ll move the fun to Governors Island on July 22 for a day of new sports and family-friendly games. Charge up your phone, lace up your running shoes and get ready for another two days of wild new games and playful experiences. After Dark DUMBO,…
Find out more »August 2017
Playful Arts Meetup #3
Join us for our third Playful Arts Meetup on 9 August 2017! Location: Theatre Festival Boulevard ‘s-Hertogenbosch Share your projects and thoughts about the cross-over between visual art, performing art, playful design and social interaction. ::::::: CALL FOR TALKS::::::::: Do you have a project you’re working on which you would love to talk about from a playful arts perspective? Let us know via helloplayfulartsfestival.com. We have room for about three 15 minute talks. ::::::::::: ::::::: FEEDBACK ON YOUR PROJECTS?::::::::: Do you have…
Find out more »Contours 2017
A mixtape exhibition of contemporary Australian videogames, split into two sides: Side A explores "Not Quite Games", games that don't quite fit our understanding or expectation of what games are. Side B focuses on "Personal Games", games that are intimate, autobiographical, or personal in nature. Contours features playable games, zines, books, comics, artwork, paintings, sculptures, videos, photography and other cultural gems. Tickets & info: http://contours-exhibition.com/NOT QUITE GAMES AUGUST 15 - 21 A1. Ian MacLarty THE CATACOMBS OF SOLARIS (2016) A2. Bethany Wilksch THE…
Find out more »September 2017
Parallel Worlds: Designing Alternative Realities 2017
What does it mean to create a virtual world? This one day international conference will bring together leading designers, thinkers and players who are creating entirely new worlds and communities in videogames. https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/Elb1YGqV/parallel-worlds-designing-alternative-realities
Find out more »October 2017
IndieCade 2017
The IndieCade Festival is the premiere event dedicated to celebrating independent games in the nation. Now in its 10th year, IndieCade is held each October in the Los Angeles area and is open to the industry and to the public. IndieCade Festival 2017, October 6th - 8th, offers a unique opportunity to play and preview over 200 of the latest innovative indie games of all types and from around the world. Attendees enjoy games, talks, and events with both creators…
Find out more »CHI PLAY 2017
CHI PLAY is an international and interdisciplinary conference (by ACM SIGCHI) for researchers and professionals across all areas of play, games and human-computer interaction (HCI). We call this area “player-computer interaction.” The goal of the conference is to highlight and foster discussion of current high quality research in games and HCI as foundations for the future of digital play. To this end, the conference will feature streams that blend academic research and games with research papers, interactive demos, and industry…
Find out more »SPLASH 2017
Splash - game jam on a cruise ship "A GAME JAM that takes place on a cruise ship waaaay above the Arctic Circle." Follow along for more updates: https://www.facebook.com/splashgamejam/
Find out more »Making the City Playable 2017
From the website: All over the world, play is being embraced as an antidote to the anonymity of the urban environment. This one day conference will explore the theme of the Playable City and how public space, creativity and imagination combines to create unexpected interactions and a new kind of dialogue. We have gathered together an international mix of artists, academics, policy makers and producers to speak about their transformative work in cities from Montreal to Mexico City, Lagos to…
Find out more »The Overkill 2017
Game festival "The Overkill is a 48+1 hour nonstop playful event focused on digital culture. The festival shows connections between different media and their influence on today’s society. During an intense weekend we invite you to play a great selection of games, watch an original movie program, interact and experience impressive art installations! The Overkill is an open platform, a flexible space for creative minds to meet and an intense time to share thoughts and experience. With our partners we are…
Find out more »IndieCade Europe 2017
Independent games festival
Find out more »November 2017
PLAY17
Creative Gaming Festival "From November 1st to 5th 2017 the PLAY17 - Creative Gaming Festival invites all game enthusiasts to Hamburg to join the festivities of its 10th anniversary and celebrate the culture of digital games." "PLAY is the first an only festival worldwide to unite media art, discourse and education with the culture of digital games. It focuses on the creative utilization of digital games: invent, build, tinker, modify, program, dance, discuss - anything goes! PLAY is the festival…
Find out more »Next Level 2017
Festival for Games From the 9th to the 12th of November 2017 Düsseldorf will once again be about the future of digital games in art, education and business. For the second time, the NRW KULTURsekretariat together with many partners invites all friends, fans and experts of the digital game culture to the Next Level Festival in the NRW-Forum. For the first time, other venues such as the tanzhaus nrw and the Filmmuseum Düsseldorf are also present, while at the same time the…
Find out more »Fantastic Arcade 2017
Fantastic Arcade is a celebration of indie and cult videogames, hosted by The Alamo Drafthouse and curated by Juegos Rancheros. Taking place during the weekend of November 17th-19th, Fantastic Arcade will feature more games, tournaments, special screenings, talks, parties and prizes than ever before. http://fantasticarcade.com
Find out more »AZPlay 2017
"VIII International Festival of Independent Games From November 29 to December 3, Azkuna Zentroa will be holding the 8th International Festival of Independent Games AzPlay, a not-to-miss event for independent sector professionals, fans worldwide and local companies who can use it to promote and publicise their work. AzPlay 2017 will be a meeting point for knowledge exchange between local and international companies, and also a space where the public can try out the most creative games."
Find out more »Control Conference 2017
Game Development Conference
Find out more »December 2017
Playful Arts Sessions: Wanderlust
Prepare yourself for a journey through the city by night and let your intuition be your guide. Playful Arts Sessions is an exciting evening where you can get acquainted with leading and emerging artists at the intersection of visual arts, performing arts and playful design. 13 December 7PM-10.30PM: Two playful urban explorations with international artists Aïda Gomez, Thom Kiraly and Sebastian Quack + aftertalk led by Michiel van de Weerthof (Soundtreks - Weerthof & Pagée). Drift Club Thom Kiraly and Sebastian Quack will…
Find out more »January 2018
Ludicious Zürich Game Festival 2018
"Ludicious is a networking and exchange platform for game developers. It features an exhibition, a developer conference, workshops, competitions, matchmaking and networking opportunities. The festival will show the most original games by young and upcoming studios and emerging game developers. The Ludicious Business section will once again connect experienced professionals with promising new projects and technologies." http://www.ludicious.ch/
Find out more »February 2018
[Cancelled] Screenshake 2018
Indie game festival, Belgium
Find out more »April 2018
Now Play This 2018
"Now Play This is a festival of experimental game design, showcasing some of the most interesting games and playful work being made around the UK and the world. It will run for the fourth time at Somerset House in London from 6-8 April, 2018, as part of the London Games Festival." http://nowplaythis.net/
Find out more »Playgrounds Blend 2018
"Playgrounds Blend. This time around we're looking at the relationship between creativity, art design and technology. We’re gathering the most talented and innovative creative professionals in animation, game, interactive design, robotics and creative technology to discuss the 'blend' over a three days fest and conference in Breda. Get ready for an exiting and inspiring program for you featuring 30+ international line up with artist talks, exhibitions, several VR and immersive installations, workshops, portfolio reviews and of course, good food and…
Find out more »Looking for more game industry events?
Check Jurie Horneman’s excellent gameconfs directory.
Looking for festival submission deadlines?
Have a look at the excellent promoter app calendar.
Events for the Dutch industry:
Game Industrie Kalender / DGG / Courage Events