A new gaming festival is coming to Kendal next year.
RapidEyeMovers, a game production studio and publisher based in London, is getting ready to launch Humanise Festival of Play – a new kind of gaming event that aims to feel similar to a music or literary festival.
Company director Jörg Tittel and Matt Burke, co-producer of the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, are working together on the event and are hoping it will revolutionise gaming festivals and reconnect games to the human experience.
Taking place over three days, the festival will see the entirety of Kendal and its surroundings transformed into a giant playable map that aims to bring the mechanics of games into the real world.
It will also involve multiple venues across the town who will host everything from world first gaming competitions to tabletop RPGs.
Events will include an arcade competition with the world’s largest arcade stick, requiring multiple players to control one character, as well as the world’s first VR eSports tournament with RapidEyeMovers’ Golden Joystick nominated full-body C-Smash VRS.
Creators will also be put on the theatrical stage and board games events and miniature figure painting meetups will go ahead alongside intimate talks from indie game developers, live music events and open mics.
Dates for the festival are still to be confirmed – but it is hoped it will become an annual event in the town.
Unlike other gaming events, Jörg said the festival won’t see people sitting alone in front of computers and instead, will aim to transform games back into a communal experience instead of a solitary one.
He said: “The idea for Humanise came after Matt approached me to do a games event and I said I wanted to do something different that’s an addition to other gaming events out there.
“A lot of gaming events can feel like purely consumerist garage sales for the most part, where there’s no real experience to it and it’s come here, stand in line and see if you want to consume this thing.
“I want Humanise to be a physical and experiential cultural festival. I want to feel music and see art and I want to see humans and have an unforgettable experience for three days.
“It’s going to feel very much like a community driven event and the response from people in the games industry so far has been amazing. Ideas are coming together rapidly and partners have been very willing to get involved. I think we’re onto something really special.”
Jörg added that he hopes the event will transform Kendal into a place to meet new people and experience an event centred around shared experiences and not consumerism.
He said: “Since their birth in the arcades, video games have been social and physical experiences, bringing people from all ages and backgrounds together in the joy of play.
“With the rise of digital platforms – and accelerated by the challenges of the pandemic – games have been further removed from their roots. Games are not tech. They are culture.
“With games now the world’s dominant art and entertainment, it is time to celebrate, explore and remind people of what makes games human.”
All events at the festival will be organised into three separate ideas: think, feel, and move, which aim to offer something for everyone, regardless of interests, abilities, and needs.
Funding has been obtained from Kendal Town and venues involved include Kendal College’s Mall, and The Box Theatre, as well as several restaurants and bars.
