Today’s London Game Festival 2018 coverage is looking at the Demo Zone and Ensemble exhibition of the LGF Hub that took place on the 9th and 10th of April. The LGF HUB was a new addition to the festival schedule and was focused on the industry side of video games and business. An all-access ticket to both days was £99 with an individual day pass being £70. The summits were happening throughout the day and some of them sounded pretty interesting like A.I, Blockchain, Working Culture and loads more. Regardless of not having a ticket (such as myself), there were several gallery spaces and a demo zone that were free to attend, so I decided to check them out.
The main reason I had for wanting to visit the LGF HUB was the Ensemble Exhibit, an exhibition focusing on UK BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) artists and their work in the game industry. The exhibit complied of posters of the eight creatives and on the back was a short profile on their background and what work they had done. At the back of the exhibit was a television which played video interviews and highlighted work of the artists on a loop. The small films were great insights into the artist's work and included concept art, design layouts, sketches and early game prototypes. Even though the exhibit was on the humble side, I do think that it was a step in the right direction of celebrating diverse talents and perspectives since there is a big problem with diversity in the game industry at the moment. You can find a full list of the people presented in the exhibit on the LGF website here.
Further down the hall and past the Loading Bar’s cafe set up (who were giving out free tea and coffee!) was the Demo Zone that was held in the largest area. There were lots of tables set up with different organisations and developers presenting their games and services. A few recognisable devs who were showcasing were Nerd Monkeys with their demo for their game Case and Bot, Firebolt Games were showing their prototype for HexTrax and Funky Gorilla Games where also showing off their VR game Beyond Type 1: 2150 whose lead developer, Nadir Miheisi was a celebrated creative of the Ensemble Exhibit. Bossa Studios had set up a small gallery of beautiful prints showcasing some player-made islands from their game World’s Adrift. Along with this, the studio made a big reveal on Tuesday announcing that the early access release date of World’s Adrift which will be the 17th May 2018.
Another fun announcement made at the event was that one of London’s most prestigious museums, the V&A, will be having a video games exhibition and residency this September titled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt. This is amazing news and hopefully, other museums will follow the example that the V&A has set in showing the public how to look at video games from an artful perspective.
Overall, the LGF HUB was a fun event if you had a paid ticket or were just curious about what was going on. I think the Ensemble Exhibit was definitely worth checking out and the packed summit schedule covered some interesting topics. Make sure you check out what else is going on for London Games Festival on their website and Twitter.
Be sure to check out the rest of our London Games Festival coverage including our impressions of this years EGX Rezzed!
| London Games Festival 2018 |
| Now Play This: Experimental Game Design Exhibit |
| Trafalgar Square Games Festival |
| EGX Rezzed 2018 Event Coverage |
| KeenGamer's Top Pick from Rezzed 2018 |
