Workshop: Video Games, Society and Story

Gaming the Civic Goes Games as Art Festival!

The Games As Art Festival is a three-day festival happening in Tampere, Finland in October 9th-11th 2026. Festival explores the potential of games as an artistic form. M-Cult has a pleasure to produce unique workshop to the festival lead by experienced narrative designer Brooke Maggs and media artist and game designer Tatu Heinämäki.

Workshop: Video Games, Society and Story

Video Games, Society and Story workshop brings together ideas on how different forms of gaming, in connection with artistic thinking, can tackle contemporary societal issues and what kinds of characters and narratives we can use for these games.

In the first part of the session, led by artist Tatu Heinämäki, participants will collectively develop ideas for games: what civic issues those games could investigate, in which contexts they would work, and what gaming logistics or artistic methods would be utilised. The second part of the workshop, with narrative designer Brooke Maggs, will focus on how to add characters and narrative elements that drive the game forward. 

Workshop is organised by Art and Media Culture Agency M-Cult, and is part of their Gaming the Civic programme. It brings together media art, game design, critical thinking, and the gaming industry. Gaming the Civic supports artists to create works that use digital games and emerging technologies to involve people as active participants in public realms. 

The duration of the workshop is 2 hours. Max amount of participants: 20 people.

What: Workshop, part of the Gaming as Art Festival 2026
When: 10.10.2026
Where: Tampere University- Paidia (3rd Floor Nokia Arena)
Who can attend: Participants 15-20, sign up system. The workshop needs commitment for the whole time, no ins and outs this time.  No need for earlier experience on game development or artistic work. 
Language: English

About the Creators

Brooke Maggs
Brooke is an experienced narrative designer for video games and a fiction writer living in Helsinki, Finland. She has worked on award-winning indie games such as The Gardens Between, Paperbark, and Florence. She currently works at Remedy Entertainment where she has worked on the upcoming Max Payne Remake and Control.

Brooke is also an interactive experience designer who works with contemporary artists and organisations on their digital installations and exhibits. She has collaborated with the Serpentine Gallery in the UK on Danielle Braithwaite Shirley’s ‘The Delusion’ and the ‘Inside/Out’ exhibition at the Melbourne Museum in Australia.

Tatu Heinämäki

Tatu is a media artist and game designer living in Helsinki. He studied visual arts in Tampere University of Applied Sciences and photographic arts and game design in Aalto University. His practice is focused on creating games that have something meaningful to say but don’t compromise on gameness and fun.

Together with artist and designer Camilla Pentti, Tatu founded Part of Noise, a small game studio focused on games that engage in societal discussions through education, raising awareness, and information design. Tatu has been an art teacher for children and young people for the past 10 years.

The workshop is part of their Gaming the Civic programme. It brings together media art, game design, critical thinking, and the gaming industry. Gaming the Civic supports artists to create works that use digital games and emerging technologies to involve people as active participants in public realms.