Over 450 developers gathered at WX in Wakefield on 21st November for the biggest indie game developer gathering in The North for GaMaYo and the Game Republic Awards. 45 new games were shown off to developers and a full list of studios and their games can be found here and interviews with 29 of the developers are on this website.
The event was sponsored by Plus Accounting and WX, with support from Game Republic’s Official Partners Red Kite Games, Escape Technology and Barclays Games and Creative. Thanks to Em Aspinall, the event also raised over £800 for Safe in Our World from a raffle to win a sword – but no ordinary sword – Andúril, the Flame of the West, wielded by Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Winner was Brandon Briggs from Rebellion North!
MD of Game Republic Jamie Sefton said, “This was our biggest event ever and we are so pleased to have welcomed such a huge turnout from triple A studios to solo developers from across the North, from publishers, investors and platform-holders to service providers and educators. The event really showed off the entire games industry ecosystem at work and we all got to play retro and some fantastic new games too.”
New venue preview
The event was held at WX, a brand new creative space in Wakefield which was formerly the market hall. The venue is not open to the public as yet but is set to open in January 2025. At the event Julie Russell from Wakefield Council shared the vision for the venue and city.
Dr Jackie Mulligan – codirector of Game Republic said “the venue was wonderful and the team at Wakefield Council and our suppliers including Replay Events and Innovation Productions were superb. We were also able to enjoy excellent food and drink from The Otley Burger Company, Jolly Boys’ Brewery and Gray’s Coffee providing an array of hot drinks of sweet and savoury treats.”
Game Developer Advice
The event included well-attended roundtables with PQube, ID@Xbox, Curve Games, Epic Games, Eaton Smith, Mastered, Keith Stuart, Bobby Wertheim, Red Kite Games, Plus Accounting on a wide range of topics for game developers.
45+ new games on-show
Games being demo’ed on the night included:
ALJO Games’ Radiant Vines winding up a central pillar in the venue for players to water and grow
– Badgerhammer’s fantastic multiplayer action basketball game Dunk Dunk (which was recently signed to Playtonic Games after showing at a previous GaMaYo)
– Creature Cauldron’s bullet hell action adventure Star Gunners
– BetaJester Ltd’s cosy game Haberdashery
– Fast Loris Studio’s doggy adventure Walkies
– Hamstarz Battle Arena from Dink
– Panda Cat Games returning to GaMaYo with their fabulous new kawaii game Spirit of Heartwood
– Brickmouse with the twisted sheepdog sim Zombie Dog
– Dicealot from Goodview Games (complete with fully-dressed knight!)
– Witchmarsh from long-time GMY dev Inglenook Games
– Futuristic Tron-inspired racer Positron from Retroburn, finally released on Steam on the same day as GaMaYo
– Maximalist’s mythological naval game Wyrd Waters
Sobering homelessness VR experience Streets of Change from Dreaming Methods / One to One Development Trust
– Miami Avalon’s third-person action adventure game Pandora – Chains of Avalon
– Close to Flight by Northrak https://store.steampowered.com/app/2589480/Close_to_Flight/
– ShotDash games’ multiplayer Three Finger Battle Arena
– Vext Games’ mind-bending puzzle game Vextorial
– Cellular City, inspired by the buildings of Sheffield by Callum Deery
– Strange and funny adventure game The Chair by Wolfman Studios
– Cloud Lantern’s physics-based deliver game Steady, Steady, Steady!
– Key Compass Games’ supernatural thriller point-and-click The Void Between
– Theo Clarke and Chloe Page’s puzzle game Plantoons
– Madcowie Productions’ racing game Soapbox Unleashed
– Iteration Games’ strategy adventure chess game Elaborate Chess
– World 1-1 Studio’s immersive VR defence game, They’re in the Walls
– Dream on a Stick’s cosy café game Kopi
– Logic Labyrinth’s first-person hack-and-slash chess game (!) The Eternal Exodus
– Snowglobe Interactive’s narrative-driven puzzle exploration game Book of Bhanu
– North Breeze Entertainment’s rally driving game Project Leo
– Blueshift Interactive’s arcade gravity game X-GRAVITY
– Gravy Crew’s puzzle game Rules & Rodents
– Syndicate Smackdown by Raygun Renegades
– Unseen Forms’ VR fantasy photography game Spirit Lens
…and more! 45+ games were on-show – and one of the comments we heard was it was so refreshing to see “such a fantastic variety of games that weren’t just about killing!”. Publishers that attended including PQube, Devolver, Curve Games, Yogscast Games, ID@Xbox and Thunderful were all impressed by the quality and breadth of games on-show at GaMaYo at WX.
At 7.30pm Jamie Sefton presented the Game Republic Awards explaining that this year due to the volume and quality of nominations, Boss Judge Keith Stuart had included special commendations as well as winners – for a full list of winners and commendations visit gamerepublic.net/awards
Game Republic Awards
Winners on the night were
Cooperative Innovations – Best Small Studio
Red Kite Games – Best Mid-sized studio
Double Eleven-Best Large Studio
Pitstop Productions won Most Innovative Use of Technology
Inclusivity Award – Chokepoint Creative
Community Player – Stacey Jubb, National videogame Museum
Games Legend – Martyn Brown
Inspiring Course leader – Renzo Palmisano Burnley college
Best game related research – IGGI
Studio Hero – Kerrie Holland
And a special surprise Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Roger Womack
Best indie game made in The North since Sept 2023 was subject to a public vote and the winner was Revolution’s Broken Sword – The Shadow of the Templars: Reforged
Much networking and game playing continued until 10.30pm
Gallery below including late night and morning social posts about the event
