GAMERS will be in heaven next month with a range of new games, interactive live shows and challenges at the Yorkshire Games Festival.

The weekend event at the National Science and Media Museum also features education and careers advice from BAFTA Games and Bradford College.

The Let’s Play family weekend on Saturday and Sunday, February 9 and 10, takes place throughout the museum.

It explores unusual, boundary-pushing titles in Videogames But…, celebrates some of the region’s most innovative independent developers, and brings one of the liveliest comedy shows imaginable to the stage in The Incredible Playable Show.

Highlights include ten independent developers and designers from the north of England giving visitors the chance to get hands-on with their latest projects in the Northern Games Showcase, celebrating the region’s innovation and providing lots of fun alongside beta-testing and feedback.

The Incredible Playable Show puts visitors at the heart of the action as they compete as human buttons, zappers, or live characters in a game of Pac-Man, complete with inflatable toys.

Elsewhere there are more hands-on activities, including the award-winning WizeFloor, a digital interactive game that combines play, movement and learning for children aged 3-plus; building working games controllers out of fruit for the Banana Spaceship, courtesy of the National Videogames Museum; analogue gaming (board and tabletop games) hosted by Bradford’s Button Mash group; plus screenings of Wreck-it Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet for just £2 a ticket.

For anyone wishing to find out more about education and career opportunities in the industry that, according to recent figures, accounts for more than half the entertainment market in the UK, the BAFTA Careers Bar offers just that. It includes short talks from developers such as Sheffield’s Sumo Digital, Liverpool’s Lucid Games, and the Bradford community games company Impact Gamers, on a range of related subjects as well as information about the BAFTA Young Game Designers competition.

On Saturday 9 February, the Advance Technology Centre at Bradford College, hosts the Creative Crunch, a free day for games enthusiasts aged 14 and over to gain invaluable advice and skills in games design, music, art and even developing a creative pitch, as well as compete in coding challenges (book free places online).

Kathryn Penny, festival director, said: “The Yorkshire Games Festival aims to inspire the industry’s next generation, but the Let’s Play family weekend is all about having loads of fun as well.

"Come along for a taste of the some of the latest and most unusual titles around, celebrate talent from our region, and get careers advice direct from BAFTA Games.The live-action Incredible Playable Show is also an experience that should not be missed, so grab the family for an entire weekend of gaming action.”

Let’s Play follows the Yorkshire Games Festival’s Schools Programme on February 6, then two full days of industry icons delivering Game Talks for older students and early-career professionals, as well as the Up Your Game business matchmaking event on February 7 and 8. There are games demos and drop-ins throughout, plus a festival party at the Brick Box Rooms in Bradford from 7pm on February 8.

Full details are available at www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/YorkshireGamesFestival. Tickets for The Incredible Playable Show cost £6/£5 – book online or on the day.