During the planning stages of GameCity5 we opened up the programming of the festival to the public. We wanted to allow anyone to create an interesting/fun/exciting event of their own if they wanted to.

We think it worked brilliantly.

Here’s a quick recap of the events that became part of the festival through the OpenGameCity platform:

The Romantic Encounter - A live participatory performance in a real and virtual café.

For one night only the real and the virtual mingled as Lee Rosy’s café became the stage for a chance romantic encounter with an avatar.

Official website: the-romantic-encounter.blogspot.com

My Go – An interactive installation by Engagement Party

‘My Go’ was a new exhibition presented in Nottingham to coincide with the British Art Show 7, Sideshow and GameCity5, The exhibition drew together the experience of the artists to create a cabinet of digital curiosities where audiences were invited to interact and play with the artworks. With 3 new commissions and a selection of reworked pieces from the artists’ back catalogue ‘My Go’ was sited in a retail unit in Nottingham’s Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.

Gambling Lambs’ Board Game Library

The lovely hosts of Gambling Lambs (supported by Mondo Comico) brought along a huge pile of boardgames and interesting things for the public to play with. You may have seen them in the GameCity Lounge discussing the rules of Dixit, or Through the Desert’s amazing cover art.

Gambling Lambs is a games night held on the first Thursday of every month, downstairs at Lee Rosy’s Tea Room in Nottingham, between six and ten in the evening. You should go.

Blackcurrant and Strawberry Jam

Richard Brooksby of Otterly hosted two game jams, one lasting 3 hours and another lasting a whole 24 hours. At game jams, people get together and make video games in a limited time, with a surprise theme. Attendees were challenged to make complete, playable games, working individually, or in small groups, starting from scratch. The results can be found over at CambridgeIndies with entries for Strawberry Jam and Blackcurrant Jam.

SpikySnail

We were so pleased to provide an opportunity for SpikySnail to come all the way from Israel to make their DEBUT festival appearance and let you play on their DEBUT title – Confetti Carnival.

Thanks in part to OpenGameCity, this year’s festival reached developers on a wider scale than ever before. This year we welcomed international guests from the US, Japan, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, as well as homegrown talent from all over the UK.

We seriously can’t wait to open up OpenGameCity again next year.