Greg Trefry
Come Out & Play
Greg Trefry, co-founder of Come Out & Play provides an comprehensive overview of game theory, mechanics and design. Greg proceeds to explain the concept behind the Come Out & Play Festival and lessons he has learned as a game designer.
Come Out & Play, is an innovative festival of street games that turns New York City & San Francisco into a giant playground every year. Lauded by WIRED magazine, The Village Voice, the wildly creative festival even had AD AGE wondering: “why more interactive and imaginative games such as these weren’t being created as advertising programs for...clients”
Founded in 2005 by Catherine, Greg Trefry, Mattia Romeo, Nick Fortugno, and Sueng Taek “Peter” Lee, Come Out & Play’s mission is to provide a forum for new types of public games and play. The Come Out & Play Festival was the first festival of its kind in the world and remains a leader in identifying trends in public gaming. Most simply described as "a festival of street games," Come Out & Play helps people rediscover the city around them through play.
The festival goes well beyond classic street games like stick ball or kick the can, though, featuring emerging types of games that make innovative use of public space, make people interact in new ways, or alter people's perceptions of their surroundings. Most importantly, the types of games at Come Out & Play are a great way to have fun and connect with urban environments.
Street games, pervasive games, new urban games, big games, locative games, location-aware games, location-based games, gps games, flash mob games, augmented reality games, scavenger hunts, art-sports, and even LARPs are all among the diverse kinds of games that can be played at the annual Come Out & Play Festival.
In March 2012, Greg Trefry, co-founder of Come Out and Play, spoke to the audience at StoryCode about game theory, mechanics and design. Prior to starting iPhone game design company, Gigantic Mechanic, Greg was the Creative Director at Gamestar Mechanic, a web-based massively multiplayer game for tweens. Before that he was a Senior Game Designer at Gamelab where he created and led design on the hit franchise Jojo's Fashion Show. In addition to the Come Out & Play Festival, Greg co-designed the Webby-nominated Case of the Coveted Bottle ARG, he also teaches game design and ARG development at New York University’s prestigious Interactive Telecommunications Program and Parsons The New School for Design. Greg's book, Casual Game Design: Designing Play for the Gamer in All of Us was published by Morgan Kaufmann in 2010.
For more information about Greg and his thoughts on game design and user interaction check out his blog: I am the Economy.
