Nottingham's annual GameCity festival has provided many unforgettable moments over the last eight years. A live Resident Evil role-playing adventure down a dark hotel corridor; Richard Lemarchand talking beautifully about the influence of indie games on the Uncharted series; Robin Hunickie's live playthrough of Journey in the Old Market Square; an orchestral performance of the Harry Potter game soundtrack in St Mary's Church. But even by those standards, this year's event promises to be rather special.
Firstly, the format has completely changed. For the last few years, the centrepoint has been a large tent erected in the market square, where indie developers got to show off their latest games, and a stage area provided a space for larger exhibitions. Now that is gone. Instead, GameCity director Iain Simons has commissioned a selection of designers to create their own games for a huge pair of screens, which will move into different positions on the square each night of the festival. We have already written about Aim For Love, the live dating sim from Martin Hollis, but bizarre communal interactive experiences will also be provided by the likes of Fez creator Phil Fish and Keita Takahashi, the genius behind Katamari Demacy.
"We started thinking about this in 2001," says Simons. "The original idea was a single screen that would appear magically in different places around the County throughout October, and then end its journey in the Market Square for the festival. I was talking this through with [ex-Lego games producer] Jonathan Smith, who thought it was great, but that there obviously HAD to be two screens - and of course he's completely right. Suddenly with two, the transactions that can take place are massively increased. I'd love to say it was my idea to do that, but it was his.
"From there, the idea of them reconfiguring every night came about easily. If you take away the tent and you have a big open space like a public square, the ways you can play around with people's focus get really interesting. The invitation to make games for big public screens is interesting, but it's much more so if the space the screens are in is part of the design. So, a game where the screens are back to back would be really different to a game where they're on the floor, or swinging from a crane or... of course, that's where the conversations with health and safety begin..."
Meanwhile, the indie developers who would have been in the tent are moving to new locations around the city. "The main one is the 'Creative Quarter pop-up centre', which is a HUGE empty furniture store - bigger itself than the tent on the square in previous years," says Simons. "The Open Arcade is going to be based in there and it's going to be brilliant. One of the things that make me happiest about working on the show is that the variety of work that people want to bring along keeps expanding every year."
Elsewhere, there will be events every morning in the Broadway cinema cafe, where I once presented the GamesBlog breakfast debates. This year, Cara Ellison and I will be hosting our own magazine-style show from 12.30-2pm daily at the Antenna club. We'll have special guests, topical discussion and controversy, and it'll all be streamed live across the internet. That should cause no trouble whatsoever. I'm also hoping to get my sons up for a day or two as the excellent MinecraftEdu will be back, hosting a workshop on Thursday, plus, there's a Minecraft paper craft day on Saturday.
What I've always loved about this event is its inclusivity. There are no press-only areas, no PRs deciding who gets to come in and who doesn't. This is where student journalists and fans get to interview their heroes, and where people who've never picked up a controller before get to play amazing games with the people who made them.
"There's been so much debate about diversity and accessibility in videogames and game culture over the past year, that was something we wanted to confront head-on," says Simons. "We've put a lot of thought into the festival as an invitation – to devs who want to show work, to students who want to make work and to people who want to explore it. We're trying to establish an atmosphere for the festival that unifies everything that happens here, and we want it to be friendly. That doesn't mean it should shirk 'difficult' ideas; we hope you'll come here and feel exhilarated and challenged - just not bullied."
Five events no Guardian gamer should miss
Festival director Iain Simons runs us through some essential GameCity highlights...
The National Videogame Archive 'Antiques Roadshow'
11-4 Angel Row Library
Tuesday 22 October
"A few years into the festival, we (Nottingham Trent University - GameCity's mothership) founded the National Videogame Archive. One of the main aims of it is to explore ways in which we can preserve videogames, and one of those is oral history. This is your opportunity to record your memories of videogames that are important to you. (nb. please do not bring anything along for valuation. It's not really an antiques roadshow...)"
Argy Bhaji
8pm Mogal-e-Azam Restaurant
Tuesday 22 October
"It's been years since we've done an event in an Indian Restaurant, so this return to the official Curry supplier is long overdue. It's curry, beer and a conclusive end to the Commodore vs Spectrum debate."
Silent Enemy: Global Reveal
3pm Council Ballroom
Weds 23 October
"Tali Goldstein from We Are Minority is going to be in town to give the GameCity audience the exclusive first look at their new project, Silent Enemy. Papo & Yo was amazing and Minority are one of the most committed of developers. I think this is going to be really special."
Making Stories: Lucy Prebble meets Steve Gaynor
3pm Council Ballroom
Thursday 24 October
"The most interesting stuff always happens when people from different disciplines talk to each other, so this should be brilliant. Award winning playwright meets award winning game-writer for an hour of conversation about Gone Home and stories."
Volume Reveal: Mike Bithell
8pm Nottingham Castle
Friday 25th
"Bithell returns for his festival hat-trick, this time revealing the story and cast of his much anticipated follow-up in Thomas Was Alone - IN A CASTLE!"
* GameCity runs from 19-26 October and more information is available at the official website.
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