Sometime in early 2010 we decided that just producing one big event a year wasn’t quite stressful enough for us. Hence, in February that very year we launched GameCityNights – our brilliant – and AFTERDARK – celebration of videogames.

Here’s what happens…

• People turn up and have something to eat and drink,
• we tell folks news about the festival and invite their input into stuff we do,
• we have a (very, very difficult) quiz,
• a headline developer who has travelled up talks to the audience about something AMAZING and then we all settle back to play, eat, drink and talk about videogames and other interesting stuff.

The only other REALLY important part, is that all around the room on big plasma screens we invite people to show their work to everyone else, sort of like Later with Jools Holland (but for nerds). This might be student work, indie devs, part-finished tech-demo’s that people want some feedback – it’s basically a really friendly environment to hang out with other people who like this sort of brilliant stuff.

We’d really like it if you came along – maybe you should come and show some work?

Season One

Episode 1: Joe Danger (Feb 25th, 2010)

In the inaugural GameCityNights, Hello Games brought along IGF nominated thrill-fest, Joe Danger.

“We’re incredibly excited to be making the pilgrimage to GameCity to come and show what we’ve been up to with Joe Danger at the very first GameCityNight!”, said Sean Murray, MD of Hello Games. “In these faithless times, it’s only through events like these that we can really start to make sense of it all. I can’t wait!”

Episode 2: Chime (Mar 25th, 2010)

Ste Curran made the trip all the way from BRIGHTON near LONDON to deliver an amazing second GameCityNight. Afterwards, unprompted, he volunteered this :

“Despite my youthful good looks and effervescent vigour I am secretly old and tired, and only have the energy and inclination to talk at events that are fresh, exciting, and fun; places that offer the opportunity for me to try new things and meet people who get me excited about the future of games. GameCityNights follows in GameCity’s tradition, demonstrating that conferences about games don’t have to be the same-same people talking about the same-same things. It is important and I love it.”

Episode 3: Plain Sight (Apr 29th, 2010)

Having been beaten back on the runway (by the volcanic ash – remember that?) for a previous special event we were going to be running, Remedy’s very own Sam Lake joined us at the opening of Episode 3 for a live video linkup on the eve of Alan Wake’s European release. Following him, Beatnik Games’ Robin Lacie rode into town to talk up their new PC Robot-Ninja-Shooter, Plain Sight.

It was ace.

Episode 4: Blur (May 28th, 2010)

Long-time friends of the festival Bizarre Creations managed (just) to beat horrendous motorway traffic to show and tell their new arcade racer Blur the night before its release. Chris Downey and Ben Ward gave an amazing insight into the track design and the hazards of photographic civic buildings in Los Angeles.

We love Bizarre.

Episode 5: Keita Takahashi (June 25th, 2010)

Him again? Back in town to get to work on further designs for our playground project at Woodthorpe Park, everyones favourite gaming iconoclast Keita Takahashi elected to demonstrate iPad Noby Noby Boy by speaking only through the mouth of a beautifully fashioned glove puppet dog, ‘Mr Dog’.

Following this spectacle a rapt, confused and hugely excited audience went on to attempt to design new pieces of playground equipment using plasticine they had been given on the night. Their creations were then judged by Takahashi-san, Simon Hunter of Nottingham City Council Parks Dept and of course, Martin Hollis – producer of Goldeneye 64.

You had to be there.

Episode 6: Doctor Who (July 23rd, 2010)

A panel of esteemed contributors to the Doctor Who Universe, including Charles Cecil, James Moran and Anwen Aspden, joined us to talk time and relative dimensions in space. Compered by OneLifeLeft’s Simon Byron, the panellists treated a rapt audience to inside information about the creation of the first two phenomenally successful Adventure Games episodes and teased us with minute details of the third.

Fuelled by delicious themed cocktails, including the bright green ‘Sonic Screwdriver’, teams competed in a game of Consequences to create incoherent but hilarious micro episodes of Doctor Who. The panel then chose the winning entry and a lucky member of the audience won a pair of tickets to Doctor Who: Live, courtesy of Trent FM Arena.

Episode 7: Festival Preview

Coming Soon!