Continuing Continue
Back in May 2016, we held the first Continue conference. It was a rather unique affair, being fully playable and encouraging the kind of conversations between videogames people and cultural heritage people (and of course, many fell into both categories) that just weren’t happening anywhere else. Director of the National Videogame Arcade and helmsman of Continue Iain Simons has spoken before about the importance of videogame creatives coming together with cultural commissioners in order to allow both sectors to grow and thrive.
Continue’s speakers were an eclectic mix of artists, curators, developers, and cultural industry professionals, and, like the videogames they make and commission, many individuals represent more than one area. Highlights included Twisted Tree Games’ Ed Key and Hannah Nicklin discussing collaboration, where they observed that independent creatives often have more in common with independent creatives from other fields than they do with the larger corporate entities in their own area of expertise; the BFI’s Conrad Bodman describing how he developed the Barbican’s massive international touring videogame exhibition, Game On; producer and consultant Martha Henson explaining how games are put together; and the BBC’s executive product manager Jon Howard talking about the research and development behind the BBC’s slate of digital games and offering insight into the commissioning process.
Sadly, the Guardian Professional Network which assisted in fostering these kinds of connections is no more. Happily, the Continue Network is ready to step up and fill the void by not only maintaining Continue’s original goals of promoting and developing the value and vocabulary of videogames, but also allowing these conversations to endure outside of the confines of the conference.
How will Continue do this? Well, first of all there’s the inaugural Continue Networking event on 21st February at the BFI on Stephen Street (thanks BFI!). This event aims to take all the awkward, clumsy horribleness out of networking and make it a fun, friendly place to be. Secondly there’s the Continue Network mailing list. Subscribe for all the latest news from your fellow Continue Networkers and to be a part of the discussions/arguments around whether videogames are art and how we can ensure the wider world recognises them for the important cultural artefacts they are. Thirdly (and fourthly and so on) there’ll be Twitter chats, interviews with network members, videos from international developers and curators, and whatever else you’d like to see and do. This is your network. Help make it amazing.
