Play The City

Each hand drawn level will then become part of a playable game based on young people’s hopes and aspirations for the future of Sheffield.

Collection Inspiration

There is a long history of using pencil and paper within videogame development, to design characters, background art and maps. This project takes inspiration from a key item in our collection that demonstrates this, a hand-drawn map, created by the Oliver Twins in 1989.

The “Fantasy World Dizzy”  map (pictured), features hundreds of intricate level details such as clouds, trapdoors and beanstalks, all sketched out in pencil.  Objects such as this emphasise the art and creativity that goes into videogame development and help form the basis of many of our workshops.

The map is part of our The Art of Play exhibition which takes you “behind the screens” to reveal the art, creativity and people behind five UK-made videogames.

Play the City – In Development!

As we run more and more workshops, we gather more and more levels for our playable game. As it is currently in development it is not available to play online yet, but in the meantime you can find (and play) the game on a specially installed Arcade Cabinet in the Sheffield Children’s Library in Sheffield City Centre.

Take a look at some of the levels below, which include everything from a Sheffield Space Port, a city centre made of sweets, and a Sheffield alien invasion! 

BBC Children In Need

BBC Children in Need believes that every child should have the chance to thrive and be the best they can be.

They are committed to being there for children across the UK when they need us the most. Together with the BBC and their partners, they inspire the nation to support this work.

They are committed to funding the grassroots organisations and project workers across the UK that provide the vital positive relationships children need to help them navigate the challenges in their lives. They fund thousands of charities and projects in every corner of the UK, that support children and young people to feel and be safer, have improved mental health and wellbeing, form better, more positive relationships and be given more equal opportunities to flourish.