The Gameplay
The Gameplay: Writing for Games and Interactive Entertainment provides continuing professional development for Film and TV Screenwriters. Novelists, Digital Artists, Playwrights, Journalists, Script Editors and Creative Producers who are keen to develop their storytelling skills for employment in the burgeoning games and interactive entertainment industries.
The Gameplay is the brainchild of Scottish based writer and developer Mark Grindle and American novelist and games developer, David Bergantino. They first designed and ran The Game Play in 2003 and 2004 with support from Scottish Screen, Visual Science, Skillset, Scottish Arts Council, University of Abertay and Scottish Enterprise to develop new intellectual properties and build new creative forces in the industry. The Gameplay is now a collaboration between Mark Grinde Associates Ltd and University of Abertay, Dundee.
The initiative has evolved considerably since 2003 and has gone on to inspire and influence the careers of over 100 writers and creative producers. Previous participants have gone on to win awards for their concepts, secure employment at companies like Electronic Arts, Proper Games, Rockstar North etc and have taken up positions in the creative and cultural industries as advisors and commissioners. The initiative has also seeded numerous postgraduate research, knowledge transfer and professional development opportunities in Higher Education across Scotland.
‘We wanted to embrace the opportunities presented by new technologies and distribution platforms by merging the story-telling strategies we were using in commercial film and television with the compelling interactivity we were enjoying in our video games. We wanted to encourage a whole new wave of talent and innovation,’ says Mark Grindle.