Created in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, GameCity 9 runs from 25 October to 1 November 2014 in venues across the City of Nottingham, with free access to members of the public.

“We couldn’t be more excited about this year’s lineup,” said GameCity Director Iain Simons.  “We have an incredibly diverse array of games, events and speakers from all over the world: from the smallest indie project to the 30-metre-long projection track of Hiroshi Inukai’s amazing installation Sports Time Machine, playable for the first time ever in the UK.”

A swimming pool, a bandstand and an ancient cave system: just some of the places where you’ll be able to play never-before-seen games during the ninth annual GameCity Festival. GameCity will also be taking to the water with AReef, as children swim with tablet computers in waterproof casing to chase fish and swim through hoops at Victoria Leisure Centre in Sneinton.

Other highlights include a special celebration of the written word when GameCity will temporarily replace all its graphics with text; revelation of the winner of the coveted GameCity Prize, and a dramatic expansion of the Open GameCity programme to showcase new and experimental work.

“Open GameCity enable people from all backgrounds to get new projects, ideas, installations and work-in-progress games in front of an audience,” said Producer Chloe Smith. “And now it’s bigger than ever – more than twice the size of last year. There’s even more variety: more workshops, more talks, and more invitations for players to give feedback directly to game creators through early-access playtesting.”

As a climax to the festival on the afternoon of Saturday 1 November, an ancient Nottingham tradition will be revived as the Sheriff of Nottingham once more invites the public to prove themselves worthy of a grant of land, through trials of skill and ingenuity. Thousands of participants will undertake unusual and exciting challenges at locations across the city in an effort to have a piece of land in Nottingham formally dedicated to them. The two-hour family event will commence in Market Square with a dramatic fanfare specially composed by Daniel Rosenfeld, famed for his work on the Minecraft soundtrack.

More information on the schedule is now online at www.gamecity.org/festival