igfest 2011 - Games season begins

ARCADE ANARCHY - the results

After last years fine weather and once in a lifetime opportunities. This year's street game season has begun in earnest with Bristol based igfest taking place May Bank Holiday. This is the second we have been to but in reality the first proper one (last years being a smaller affair due to them moving and setting up some new ventures), So how was it?

In sheer scale igfest has to be the largest games festival in the UK (of it's type). This is particularly the case with the news that Hide & Seek weekender will not be taking place this year. So we managed to visit on Saturday for a full day of gaming and then we tried our luck at their big headline games 2.8 hours later.

I think for me the issue with every event I have been to within the games festival arena is booking. Due to the very nature of the games which quite often slip time wise it becomes hard to make sure you are able to play a game and not miss your next. This year they had an interesting way of booking up games. You could only book two games at a time, and only 50% of tickets could be booked. The other 50% of the tickets would be allocated within 30 minutes of the game starting.

Compared to our previous experience at Hide & Seek 2010 this seemed to be a slight improvement, but I think there is something that could make it a bit better. The issue is that this in comparison to Hide & Seek is a paid for event and with that comes different expectations. There were a few things firstly why only two games at a time? also why the 50% rule? and if there is a 50% rule you have to enforce it. I was there bang on 30 minutes before one game we wanted to book and the spaces had all gone?? I doubt 6 people had popped up in front of me.

However this did lead to some great unexpected finds. We did manage to go and play a few games that we would not have done otherwise. You can see a list of games we played below. Safe to say for me my favourites for playing were Wiffle Hurling and then for watching it has to be Arcade Anarchy.


All in all we managed to play:
- ARCADE ANARCHY
Great game based on all the arcade classics.

- WIFFLE HURLING
A great fun game, full of humour and nice to get out play sport but one that you have no previous skill of.

- INTERNATIONAL ESPIONAGE
It got better as it went on. I think it has the possibility of being great with a few tweaks (the leader of the team has to be good).

Played for a bit
- MR SMITH
Seemed really fun wish we had time to play it all.

Experienced
- STIMULATOR
Very fun, will never think of honey in the same way.

Watched
- INTO THE WOODS
Would have liked to watch more of it.


Some people dressed up for 2.8 hours, maybe next year.

In the evening we played 2.8 hours as the night drew in and the darkness came. It has to be as I have said many times one of the best games out there. It has a scale and immersiveness that is truly breathtaking and I truly do feel that the both Simon's at Slingshot/igfest have created something EPIC. While it is a basic chase game with a bit of time trial bolted on. It instantly brings you into thinking about the game being real and you are totally set on keeping safe.

Unfortunately our team didn't do to well with four out of the six getting caught and infected. I was one of them as you can see by the picture below.