MD of Game Republic Jamie Sefton described GaMaYo #25 at WX in Wakefield as “buzzing” as over 500 developers from across The North and Scotland gathered for biggest ever event to show games, meet game developers and celebrate the achievements of the games industry in a brilliant event at WX in Wakefield. He explained
“The 25th GaMaYo exceeded all our expectations, drawing record crowds and still maintaining its friendly and supportive atmosphere.”
For this year’s event, Game Republic partnered with the Scottish Game Developers Association (SGDA) which brought an additional ten studios to the popular annual event.
68 new games were showcased at the event, with many of the developers being interviewed in the run-up to GaMaYo. Publishers were impressed with the vast array of games ranging from puzzle games to deck-builders, narrative games to cosy games, action adventures to RPGs, horror games to immersive experiences with social impact. Games came from newer studios including Devroom Vantasia, Panda Cat Games, Shot Dash, Hawaiian Shirt Games, Point Reverie as well as larger studios including Dink, Sigtrap, Huey Games, Pitstop Productions and Rebellion. Alongside publishers, platform-holders and support services, the games industry media were also in good attendance. Sixteen of the games shown at GaMaYo will go on to be showcased at MCM Comic Con as part of a playable games Game Republic zone 28th-30th November in Birmingham.
GaMaYo was sponsored by Plus Accounting, HP, AMD with Escape Technology and formed part of the Game Republic programme of events supported by Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays Games and Creative and Xsolla.
Dr Jackie Mulligan, Development Director for Game Republic and coordinator of GaMaYo said “It was a fantastic atmosphere and it was great to see good attendance at the roundtables where game developers and studios were able to get such good advice on publishing, investment, legal and financial issues.”
From 5-6pm attendees were invited to join tables hosted by Epic, Parker Consulting, Digital Bandidos, Xsolla, Department for Business and Trade, Devolver Digital, GameMaker, Yogscast Games, Molly Holmes from Panda Cat Games, Eaton Smith Solicitors, Plus Accounting as well as Game Republic.
Photos taken by Yijia Zhang studying Journalism at the University of Leeds. The event was also supported by Game Republic Student Club members Louie Taylor and Julia Trojanowska from University of Salford, Daniel Saxton from Wakefield College and Manaal Adam and Yija Zhang from University of Leeds
At 8pm, crowds gathered around the stage for the reveal of the Game Republic Awards. See full story here
GaMaYo and the GR Awards is a free event for Game Republic members, educational partners, award nominees, sponsors and members of the free indie gamedev network GaMaYo. To find out more visit gamerepublic.net/join-us and/or if you develop games or support game development in The North, join The Great Northern Games Discord. Students studying at educational partner universities and colleges can also join the exclusive Game Republic Student Club.
Here is a gallery of pics to enjoy. Photos taken by Yijia Zhang studying Journalism at the University of Leeds.
