Sunday 6th February
14:45 – 15:30 GMT
Keen to design your own game but feeling a bit overwhelmed? Coming up with an idea is just the start. This seminar explores the practical experiences of a first time designer, from making time for game design to the difficult task of finding the right venue, to game day anxiety. Learn from my mistakes and decide for yourself: is it worth it?
About the speaker
Holly is a new game designer with a particular interest in collaborative gaming. Her first game was Fete of the World with True North Megagames.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Saturday 5th February
15:30 – 16:15 GMT
Speakers: Chris Brown and BeckyBecky Campbell-Ladley
Designing a game is one challenge – getting people to come along is something else entirely!
Many megagame designers rely exclusively on tapping into existing megagame networks and Facebook groups to get the word out. This talk will look at the other channels game runners can use to promote their game, how to get your messaging right, and share some top tips for getting your game noticed – both by megagame enthusiasts and those new to the hobby.
About the speakers
Chris’ first megagame was Watch The Skies 4 in 2016 and he’s been hooked on megagames and the megagame community ever since. Chris can generally be found at a megagame causing havoc for himself more than anyone else, but it’s the way he likes it. Chris is an IT professional in his work life, but don’t let that mild-mannered persona fool you as he’d happily nuke you in an instant at a game. He is part of the team behind Megagame Assembly and is also a designer for First Contact: 2035.
BeckyBecky Campbell-Ladley is a professional marketer who ran her own social media consultancy for 5 years, and now works in higher education marketing. She is the narrative-focused designer of Everybody Dies (the Game of Thrones inspired megagame) and Trope High (the kooky American High School megagame), and she blogs voraciously at BeckyBecky Blogs.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Saturday 5th February
13:15 – 14:00 GMT
Speaker: Tim Campbell-Ladley
Designer Drop refers to the phenomenon of designers feeling down and depressed after their game, regardless of how it went. This talk explores why this is; what to watch out for as a designer or game runner; and ways we as players can support designers.
About the speaker
Tim Campbell-Ladley is the designer of The Shot Heard Round The Universe, a sci-fi game inspired by the American Revolution. He has been megagaming since 2012 and appears in both of the SU&SD megagame videos.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Friday 4th February
20:00 – 21:00 GMT
Back for a second year, The Megagame Assembly Podcast kicks off MegaCon 2022 with this live episode, featuring Chris Brown (Megagame Assembly, Very Large Huge Games) and BeckyBecky Campbell-Ladley (BeckyBecky Blogs), where they talk about some of the events they are most excited about at the Con.
About the Megagame Assembly Podcast
The Megagame Assembly Podcast has been running since 2019: rattling on about megagames in general, the ones that they’ve actually attended and interview designers and players alike.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Sunday 6th February
21:00 – 22:00 GMT
Join the organisers of MegaCon 2022 as they close out the Con, reminiscing about the awesome memories from megagames and the other activities that ran throughout the course of the weekend of fun. Harrison Tatem-Wyatt is joined by BeckyBecky Campbell-Ladley (BeckyBecky Blogs), Chris Brown (Megagame Assembly) and Jim Wallman (Stone Paper Scissors) to share their experiences over the weekend and chat about the future of megagaming.
About the Megagame Assembly Podcast
The Megagame Assembly Podcast has been running since 2019: rattling on about megagames in general, the ones that they’ve actually attended and interview designers and players alike.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Friday 4th February
21:15 – 22:15 GMT
If there was a museum of megagames, what would you imagine would be in there? Rulebooks from games perhaps, or maybe some of the best components? Join Patrick Rose as he opens the “Megagame Museum” with the help from a panel of megagamers from across the megagaming spectrum.
The panel will feature:
Panel host Patrick Rose is the treasurer for the Pennine Megagames group that run games in the north of England, and designed the pre-cyberpunk megagame Running Hot.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Saturday 5th February
11:00 – 12:00 GMT
How do some of the biggest, longest running and most successful megagame networks work? How do they tackle challenges like designer drain and pandemics? Different networks, groups and communities around the world are managed in different ways, and this panel seeks to shine a light on some of the complexities, for anyone hoping to help out an existing network or found a new one.
The panel will feature:
The panel is hosted by BeckyBecky Campbell-Ladley, who has previously been Chair of Pennine Megagames and so knows many of the challenges that megagame networks face. Bring along any questions you have to this interactive panel.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Saturday 5th February
12:15 – 13:00 GMT
Jim has often said “no game survives first contact with the players”. In this session Jim will talk about a few of the things he has learnt about facilitating megagames (often through trial and error), and illustrate this with examples of challenges from real megagames he has run and how they were approached. There will be a Q&A session at the end to bring your facilitation problems and thoughts.
About the speaker
Jim Wallman is a professional game designer with over thirty years’ experience in the serious game design field. He has worked extensively with the corporate, public, educational, recreational and voluntary sectors, designing and delivering a wide range of games, such as in support of academic research, on social issues and map wargames & concept development games for the UK Defence community. Additionally active in designing command and decision games covering issues such as political crises, social media and influence, strategic planning, cyber defence and civil disorder.
Jim’s background and education is primarily in the social sciences, psychology and military history fields, with a particular interest in the development of immersive and emerging gameplay. Jim has run over 120 megagames and created over 65 unique megagame designs.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Saturday 5th February
14:15 – 15:15 GMT
Stories are at the heart of many megagames, but there are lots of different ways to tell stories. How do you involve players, and create a story that is satisfying?
The panel will be hosted by Ed Silverstone and will featured:
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Saturday 5th February
21:30 – 22:15 GMT
Speaker: Dr Alan Tsang (Carleton University)
The talk will examine the setup and format of week-long megagames, conducted as part of a senior level university course. Alan will talk about lessons and challenges from the games, and tools to facilitate megagames online.
Join us as we talk about how these games are setup and how they went. We will also go over some of the lessons and challenges from these games. We will also present some new digitals tools that can be used to help run your own megagames in an online format!
About the speaker
In 2021, Professor Alan Tsang adopted megagames in his online classrooms for a senior-level university course.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
