Edinburgh’s Interface3 is a company best known for touch surface technology, augmented reality and co-located games. More recently Interface3 launched its dedicated games label, Tigerface, which is creating multiplayer educational experiences aimed at kids using the same device.
Now however, Interface3 has worked with the Edinburgh Science Festival to create PLAY DAY, a real world experience where visitors can become players in a variety of games and challenges from the purely physical, to those which use games technology in an entirely new way. Games such as Cardboard Tube Fighting League, Johann Sebastian Joust and NO SMILING! will be on offer, alongside many more.
PLAY DAY takes place at the National Museum of Scotland on the 6th of April and it’s entirely FREE OF CHARGE. You can book your tickets here.
We caught up with Interface3’s Kate Ho and Douglas Kelly, who are the brains behind the fun.
Scottish Games Network: Thanks for speaking to us, guys. So you’re a videogames or tech company, why are you doing this ‘real world’ thing?
Kate Ho: As some of you know, Tigerface Games is all about creating multiplayer, collaborative games on a single device. The next place for us to go are multiplayer games, on multiple devices. This challenges us about how to create fun, engaging experiences for a group of people, all co-located in the same place. In our mind, there is this much bigger plan, where in the future, we will create awesome multiplayer, real life, narrative driven gaming experiences and we’ve been talking to theatre companies about this. But first off, creating a playday is the first step.
SGN: Is this your first experience of ‘live’ or ‘real’ gaming, or have you carried out any similar events in the past?
KH: No. But I went to the New Years Games event that was organised by Edinburgh council a few years ago [Editor’s note: created by Hide & Seek]. I took a lot of notes from it and want to make an even better experience.
SGN: Are non-digital games as part of Tigerface’s or Interface3’s ongoing plans?
KH: Inside Interface3 and Tigerface, our drive is crafting these compelling user experiences, and part of that includes digital and non-digital components. That sounds very corporate, but at the heart of it, we like geeking out on making existing technologies do things that people never expect…
Also to say, we would love other people to join in too. If you’re a games designer or you love games and you want to think about how to make video games that don’t include a screen, then please drop us a line.
SGN: Do real world events like this point a greater appetite within the public for gaming and dare we say, FUN?
KH: We hope so. London and Bristol are leading the way at the moment at creating playful cities and we hope that this is the start of something similar in Edinburgh and Scotland in general.
SGN: How do people get involved/get tickets?
Douglas Kelly: The event is completely free and you can drop in without tickets, but we recommend signing up to the event here. This gives us an idea of who is all coming and will help us with future events.
SGN: Give us the elevator pitch, why should people come along and play?
DK: There are always lots of good reasons to come out and play, especially for an event as unique as this! But for those of you who need more convincing, here are some specific reasons:
Tired of all your entertainment being digitally based? We will provide the safety of a few digital games, but most of them will be for the brave who are ready to venture into a world of fun without the screens!
Want to socialise in person instead of using voice chat for a change? Here is a great excuse to play with complete strangers in a real life situation and rediscover the sportsmanship that people show when they are face to face with their opponents!
Worried about what to do if there is a long electricity shortage for say 5, or even 10 minutes? We like to think this event will act as a bit of a survival course for those dreaded moments.
So for all these reasons and many more, come along and join in!
