Game Zone

Even though a separate category of documentary games is not theoretically defi ned, many games refer to reality, use real stories, data and situations or portray the workings of social institutions and structures. These are the games the game zone has been following for four years. Serious games, simulations, adventure games, RPG – we explore the ways diff erent genres highlight serious topics: for instance the life in a totalitarian society, the construction of a sustainable environment, the sources and spreading of false news. There is also a “slow game”, a game that can be played only once, visually elaborate and attractive games or games ingeniously using music. Most of them are short and can be fi nished in several minutes or in four hours so that visitors can have a go at several games. The Game Zone was supported by Asus, Genesis, X-Gamer and X-Diablo and can be found on the ground floor of the Horácké Theater.

film database

This visually elaborate virtual exhibition space introduces an exploration of the basic mechanisms and visual qualities of games from the turn of the millennium into the level of digital galleries, thus enabling the presentation, within the medium of digital games, of student works as well as the work of artists selected by the students themselves. Currently exhibiting is Martin Lacko.

4th Tower

2018

section: Game Zone

To help better understand how “fake news” originates and spreads, the player undergoes a simulated process during which a regular social network user becomes the author of such news. They learn about the tricks that conspirators and fake news authors use to deceive users.

Bad News

Jon ROOZENBEEK , Ruurd Oosterwoud

Netherlands / 2018 / 15 min.

section: Game Zone

An intriguing strategy game, in which the player is an archaeologist with 14 days to conduct excavations in the cemetery in Nowe Monasterzysko – their discoveries, however, must also be described and catalogued so that they can become part of the research.

Excavate!

Wacław Kulczykowski, Mateusz Sokalszczuk

Poland / 2015

section: Game Zone

A dystopian simulation in which players learn more about the reality of dependence on oil: they see the economic and social contexts, political dependence and the corruptive mechanisms as well as the rivalry with sustainable energy sources and the ways dependence on oil can be increased.

Oiligarchy

Paolo Pedercini

United States / 2008

section: Game Zone

A seemingly simple adventure in which the world is heading for destruction in 6 days, during which time the player has one chance to change the course of fate. The game can be played only once.

One Chance

Dean Moynihan, Awkward Silence Games Moynihan

United Kingdom / 2010 / 15 min.

section: Game Zone

A sophisticated rendering of life in a totalitarian regime, in which the player finds themselves in a situation in which they are blackmailed and forced to do things with which he does not identify. The story (perhaps tactically a sham) of loyalty to the state and protecting its borders from migrants, with twenty different endings, helps one realize the value of freedom.

Papers, Please

Lucas Pope

Japan / 2013 / 240 min.

section: Game Zone

The game is part of a unique project that helps researchers build the world’s most extensive database for research and treatment of dementia. The player is a seafarer who takes photos of the ocean’s residents with which they are sailing while training their perception and sense of direction.

Sea Hero Quest

United Kingdom / 2016

section: Game Zone

A “slow game” in which an astronaut wanders through a visually arresting monochrome world, solving logic puzzles and overcoming obstacles. The speed of movement while exploring the world cannot be increased, which encourages players to enjoy the architecture of the world.

Starman

Sergio Abril, Jacobo Abril

Spain / 2017

section: Game Zone

A simulation about the options and approaches to building trust lets players test cooperation and cheating approaches, but also to examine what roles errors and accidents play in mutual trust. Based on the Armistice of 1914, the game poses the questions “why do friends become enemies in times of peace, and enemies become friends in times of war?”

The Evolution of Trust

Nicky Case

2017 / 30 min.

section: Game Zone