A once-annual games festival held in Nottingham, initially at various venues and then under the roof of the National Videogame Arcade, which I attended on a few occasions until 2016. Its diverse attractions included twin-screen gaming in the Old Market Square, immersive trails through the city and its caves, curated games showcases, and media involvement from The Guardian.
I showed a handful of games there myself, and co-hosted inclusive showcase and mingling events in 2013 and 2014.
2012-2014
I first attended in order to help showcase International Racing Squirrels as a part of indie studio Playniac, when the festival took to a marquee in the Old Market Square. I returned in 2013 to enjoy an indoor showcase venue, playtesting of a card variant of what would become Playniac’s Insane Robots, and the very first LadyCADE gathering.
In 2014, GameCity Festival was inducted to its new home at the National Video Game Arcade — an occasion marked by the showing of an impressive diorama from State of Play’s Lumino City. That same year, my LadyCADE collaborators and I hosted a gallery of women game makers. I also joined a different collaborator in showing our local multiplayer game, Mimic.
2016
I attended this year primarily as a developer, showing “Dragon Queens” with my business partner. It was an event defined by Alistair Aitcheson’s Incredible Playable Show, an unfortunately disparate ‘trail’ of video game showcase venues strewn across the city centre, and a strong presence from Nintendo in connection with Pokémon Sun & Moon.
Unlike in previous years, this year I was able to shoot using an Olympus OM-D compact mirrorless camera.