Play Creators Conference

September’s Virtual Play Creators Festival will mirror the digital format of last year’s event, with two weeks of activity including a week-long virtual conference, a digital awards and a three-day Mojo Pitch event.

“We’re hopeful that this year’s event can be a welcome return to in-person networking, learning and pitching, and we can’t wait to bring the industry’s creative community together later this year,” said Billy Langsworthy, co-founder of Mojo Nation.

We caught up with Jack to find out more about the game’s route to market, why TOMY was the perfect fit, and what to expect next from his team of teen design stars.

How do you become a LEGO designer? What goes into turning classic TV shows like Seinfeld into a LEGO set? And what inspired LEGO Art range, the firm’s new line of sets that allow fans to create LEGO pop art masterpieces? All this and more is explored in this interview with Samuel Johnson, Design Manager at The LEGO Group and Creative Lead for LEGO Ideas and LEGO Art.

How important is great artwork in selling toys and games? What’s the key to thriving as a freelance artist in the play space? Why does the romantic idea of ‘the starving artist’ do more harm than good? All this, and more, is covered in this Art of Play panel session.

Issues of eco-friendly design, manufacturing and social sustainability are in the spotlight at this ‘Sustainability in the Toy Industry’ panel session.

If you could only take one toy, one game and one of your own inventions to a desert island, what would you take and why? That’s the question that WordWhizz Deej Johnson is posing to Phil Sage, Senior Director, Product Development, Design & Inventor Relations at Hasbro, in this Desert Island Picks interview.

Can an inventors’ track-record be a key factor in buying decisions? Should there be more knowledge-sharing happening between these two areas of the industry? Are publishers doing enough to shine a light on their inventor items? All these questions, and more, are tackled in this Buyers & Inventors panel session.

This panel, featuring well-known game designers Dan Klitsner of KID Group and Rob Daviau of Restoration Games, and Shail Mehta, CEO and Founder of The Last Gameboard, will discuss how they envision game design finally crossing the physical-digital divide to create enhanced gameplay and new experiences, and help grow a worldwide community of tabletop fans.

How do IP owners and licensing agents take ‘left field’ brands into the world of toys and games? This session delves into some of the challenges involved and looks at the key to successfully giving these kinds of brands the toy treatment.