AN ANNUAL Bradford festival is to return this week - albeit virtually - complete with online activities and a line-up of guest speakers

The National Science and Media Museum will host the Yorkshire Games Festival, beginning on Friday and running until the end of this month.

The festival is returning for its fifth edition and will be hosted by Jordan Erica Webber - podcast host and presenter of The Gadget Show - and Keith Stuart, author and journalist for The Guardian.

Speakers include Max Pears of CD Projekt Red - the company best known for The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077 - and Sallyann Houghton of Epic Games, while Melissa Phillips from Silver Rain Games, freelancer Lucy Kyriakidou and Max Mead of Ubisoft Leamington will also speak.

The festival will also feature a virtual 'meet the developers’ networking session, while The Guardian Virtual Gaming Pub Quiz will take place in the evening.

World-renowned Yorkshire games company Team17 will also be bringing back its virtual usability lab, but this time beaming directly to festival-goers at home.

Games usability combines psychology and sociology to help bring developers and gamers together.

By working with Team17 to help test new games in development, attendees will not only be providing valuable feedback to make games better for users, but will gain real-life experience to add to their CV. There are several time slots with limited space available on Friday, and those wishing to attend can sign up online now.

Throughout the month, there will also be resources available from BAFTA Young Game Designers, designed to encourage and support young people to develop their own games, which they can then submit to the Young Game Designers competition, where entrants can be in with a chance of winning a BAFTA YGD Award, along with once-in-a-lifetime experiences with industry professionals.

To help improve access to learning resources and activities, the museum will also be distributing up to 2,000 printed activity packs to families and schools in Bradford as part of the festival, from this month onwards.

Festival Director Kathryn Penny said: “This year’s Yorkshire Games Festival will look quite different to previous editions, with all activities taking place online to account for the latest Covid-19 guidelines.

"Regardless of this virtual approach, we are welcoming an amazing line-up of expert industry speakers at this year’s Game Talks and there will be a host of fantastic learning resources and games available online throughout February for families to have fun with at home.

"We’re looking forward to virtually seeing lots of faces, new and old, to celebrate the brilliant and ever-growing games industry in the north.”

Tickets for Yorkshire Games Festival: Game Talks 2021 are now available and can be booked on the Yorkshire Games Festival website.

Joining instructions and other important information will be sent a few days before the event.

Talks and masterclasses will be presented via Zoom Webinar with content becoming accessible on the day, and there will also be a dedicated discord server operating throughout the day for attendees to network with speakers, submit questions and to talk all things gaming.