Indie gaming and arts festival Playtopia returns to Cape Town this year with a large continent of global developers and local talent.
Indie gaming and arts festival Playtopia returns to Cape Town this December with what organisers said may be its most ambitious edition yet.
The event promises more than one hundred games to explore and a fresh festival arcade.
The event takes place at the Mother City’s Homecoming Centre on 5 and 6 December. As before, visitor numbers will be capped at 1000 to, said organisers, ensure the intimacy of the event.
Now in its fifth year, the festival has expanded its programme significantly, introducing a newly constructed fantasy environment called Arcadia to house the main arcade and installations.
Arcadia was designed by décor artist Natasha Davidson and is set to feature oversized books, glowing bottles and fabricated curiosities intended to merge game worlds with physical space.
Festival director Dominique Gawlowski said the aim was to create an instant sense of wonder. “Like their forgotten childhood dreams have just come true.”
Art and gaming in one
Playtopia will also host the global public premiere of new, unreleased levels from Team Lazerbeam’s Shroom and Gloom, published by international label Devolver Digital.
Visitors will enter the redesigned arcade through a Shroom and Gloom tunnel installation before accessing the new fantasy library.
Gawlowski said the partnership carries significance for the local industry.
“I hope it serves as an inspiration that it is possible to land a publishing relationship like this as a local developer. That being local should not in any way be the reason that your game doesn’t make it out there.”
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The 100 titles plus that will be showcased include selections from the festival’s international partners BitSummit (Japan), BCN Games Fest (Spain), A.Maze (Germany) and Freeplay (Australia).
Gawlowski said the continued return of overseas creators to local gaming shores shows the strength of South Africa’s development community.
“South Africa has an extraordinary local game development community. I don’t think there is such unity and community support in any other country like there is in South Africa. It’s very nice to be around.”
Global developers descend on Cape Town
This year’s installations will be led by The Art Massive, a collective formed by artists who have contributed to the festival in previous years.
The group has held community jam sessions and collaborative build sessions in the months leading up to the event.
“The Art Massive is pretty much founded by the artists who have had the most works shown at Playtopia over the years and then me,” Gawlowski said. “So it just made sense to bring them in as part of the family.”
The Playtopia Foundation, the event’s social arm, she said, will continue its work in access and early development through initiatives such as the Jam Dole, which funds prototypes and provides entry points into the industry.
“We don’t promise to teach skills, but we do promise to provide accessible environments for people to learn and connect with people in the industry and self-skill up in the field,” Gawlowski said.
