Events
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Virtual Nebula: album listening party
You’re invited to a listening party… in space! Featuring vibey, spacey music from the new album, Virtual Nebula, by dani orizaba, plus a selection of interactive works that evoke the themes of the album, including a new immersive installation by Carolina Reyes created just for the event. Come celebrate music, games, and community with us at Night City!
dani orizaba is a Chicago-based music producer, indie game developer, and pixel artist. Her debut album Virtual Nebula is a collection of synthwave, video-game-core music, that explores mental health and hope via an energetic, spacey sound.
Event info
Friday 03/01/25
7PM – 9PM
@ Night City
Free / suggested donation
RSVP Required
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Artist Salon: Building Community / Activating Storefronts
In partnership with ArtHouse Chicago, we’re hosting an artist salon on February 27th. At the event, we’ll discuss how building a sense of community can help your practice and keep the neighborhood you live and work in vibrant.
Doors open at 6:00PM for light refreshments and the program will start promptly at 6:30.
Event info
02/27/25 @ Night City
Doors: 6PM | Program begins: 6:30PM
RSVP (email)
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Love + War: Bloodrage Summer Fightclub
Bloodrage Summer Fight Club, created by maybe maybe games, is an in-person interactive experience where combatants play a punching bag minigame and general attendees wager in-game money on the outcome. While a victor will emerge in our tournament of fighters, the ultimate winner is the attendee that ends up with the most in-game money, earned by clever bets and stacking the deck by paying to sabotage fighters in key moments.
Also featuring a live DJ set from JUSTAWORM to keep the vibes going between bouts!
Free with RSVP. Donation at the door suggested to support the artists and future events.
- NOTE: This is not real fighting! It is an alternate controller digital game where a punching bag is the controller.
- NOTE: This is not real betting! We will strictly be using in-game currency, allotted to attendees for free when they arrive.
Event info
02/15/25 | 6PM – 9PM
@ Night City
RSVP Required – first come, first served
🥊 Fighter registration
We’re planning to orchestrate a live interactive narrative experience along the lines of professional wrestling, including feuds, factions, baby faces and heels, interviews and promos, cheating, crowd interaction, etc. and we want your help! If you’re interested in creating a persona and participating as a fighter, sign up through our fighter registration form.
Fighter registration closes Friday, February 7th, 11:59PM CST
If you’re simply interested in a fun evening of cheering on the combatants and betting play money, RSVPing on Eventbrite is all that’s required.
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The Weird Algorithm: Robot Karaoke
Join us for karaoke night on impossible mode as we host Jamie Brew and THE WEIRD ALGORITHM from New York City!
At this event we will replace the lyrics to any SONG with words from any TEXT, then try to sing the results on the spot. It all happens live, so each song has never been heard before and will never be heard again.
The songwriting system, THE WEIRD ALGORITHM, matches each line syllable-for-syllable, so you can sing along if you know the original tune.
Request any of the 50+ songs and 40+ texts in the catalog. Sign up to sing as an individual or a group…or sit back and watch the karaoke carnage.
Past combos include:
YELP REVIEWS OF PSYCHICS to the tune of TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART
CRAIGSLIST VEHICLE ADS to the tune of TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS
NEGATIVE REVIEWS OF PROFESSORS to the tune of VAMPIRE
BERNIE SANDERS EMAIL SUBJECT LINES to the tune of DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’
Hosted by Jamie Brew, a tech entrepreneur on a mission to make karaoke harder and worse.
Event info
Friday 01/17/25
7PM – 9PM
@ Night City
Free / suggested donation
RSVP Required
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Playtest Planet ’24
Explore a galaxy of community-developed games at Playtest Planet, a free public playtesting event.
The spirit of Playtest Planet is to break down gatekeeping and expand our community by highlighting new (to Night City) and unfunded developers. Developers that have shown work at Night City in the past are still welcome and encouraged to submit with the understanding that space will be prioritized for new artists.
Additionally, through the event this year we will raise funds for La Casa Norte to support their mission of providing stable housing to Chicago youth and families confronting homelessness.
Submit your in-development game!
Submissions close Sunday, December 1st, 11:59PM CST
Event info
12/14/24 | 6PM – 9PM
RSVP Required – first come, first served
@ Night City
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Call for Submissions: Playful Resistance
Night City is co-curating a selection of games on playful resistance for a show in Brooklyn, NY organized and hosted by boshi’s place on November 21st, 2024. This show is funded in part by the New York University’s Game Center.
We are currently seeking submissions from local Chicago developers to showcase as part of the exhibition. Developers of accepted submissions will receive a stipend of $100. Submissions are due Tuesday, November 5th at 11:59pm CT.
Submitted games can be already released, works in progress, or made specifically for this event, as long as they are submitted before the deadline. Presence at the showcase is entirely optional. Please see the submission form for complete details!
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Chicaghoul 2024
Game Jam Submission Deadline: 10/18/2024
Developers are invited to submit original horror and Halloween themed games created during the jam period to a juried game jam. Five Official Selections will be made by a review committee and five will be determined by Itch.io community votes.
Game Showcase: Saturday, October 26
After the conclusion of the jam, Night City will host an in-person community reception and pop-up gallery showcasing all Officially Selected games from the jam!
5PM – 9PM
@ Night City
RSVP Required
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10/09/24: ASK + GIVE
We’re hosting AIGA Chicago’s October ASK + GIVE at Night City!
An open-mic networking event where you can ASK your fellow designers to GIVE you feedback, advice, or even recommendations. Because we know that the design community has ALL the wisdom needed to solve the current problems/issues our fellow designers have or will face in the future.
Be it through a lived experience anecdote, a resource name or even a contact, maybe even just a donation of time to listen to an issue, we all have the power to create change if we simply ASK or GIVE.
Featuring guest speaker Seb Galvez!
Seb Galvez (they/them) is an independent, multi-media artist with a focus on interactive art and narrative. Their current work focuses on experimenting with short-form horror and rural America, as well as community organizing as part of Chicago nonprofit Indie City Games. They recently released Backwater Eulogy, an experimental narrative exploration of grief.
Event info
$5 for Professionals
Free for Emerging Designers and Students
Doors: 6:30PM | Event: 7PM
10/09/24
@ Night City
Registration Required
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Indie City Allstars 2024
Game Jam: June 28 – July 17
Competitors are invited to create a single-player arcade style game for a competition judged by Iron Galaxy and Itch.io community votes.
Pop-up Arcade: Saturday, July 27
After the conclusion of the jam, Night City will host an in-person community reception and pop-up arcade showcasing all officially selected games from the jam!
5PM – 9PM
@ Night City
RSVP Required
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Print n’ Play
Game Jam: April 7 – April 21
Print n’ Play is a Chicago community game jam where participants create a zine as a component of their game—or even as the game itself!
Game Showcase and Zine Swap: Saturday, April 27
At the conclusion of the jam, Night City will host an in-person community reception and showcase of all of the officially selected games submitted to the jam!
Additionally, attendees are encouraged to bring along their own zines to exchange at the showcase.
6PM – 9PM
@ Night City
RSVP Required
