Have you always wanted to try Dungeons & Dragons but never had the chance? Or are you just a D&D player looking for something new to try? Well, we have 3 unique campaigns for beginners to try out and explore, with three super friendly Dungeon Masters who will aim to ease you in but will also make sure you have a fun and wild adventure!
Venture deep into damp and filthy dungeons in this daunting introductory campaign designed to pull you into a thrilling adventure amongst the hordes of Kobold that call these dank caverns their home. Battle through ambushes and work around the traps set by the Kobold Menace as you're pulled deeper into the dungeon’s depths...but be weary. Whispers among your enemies tell of danger all the more fearsome hiding deep within.
﻿﻿Fear grips the village of Gnarlwood. Your Lords most trusted advisor, Knight Aria, has been kidnapped by the goblin scourge while returning home from a heroic quest. Now the Lord Needs your help to get her back. Will you answer the call of adventure?
The Deadman’s Rose, a stunning ruby lost to the depths, traced to no avail by many an adventurer before you. Delve deep underwater into beautifully overgrown, ancient temple whose caverns, corridors and halls, search for the long-lost gem and be wary. There are those who wish to see the jewel remain hidden.
Find out about the future events we're running here! We'll be adding new and exciting events all the time as well as showing photos and updates from our previous events. Keep an eye on our Facebook events page for further info too!
Bear in mind we may film or take photos of our events, so if you don't want to be involved do let us know and we'll make sure to accommodate you.
The Arcade Vaults and Team Odyssey present an exciting introduction to the world of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
In this session the guys from Team Odyssey will show you the basics of the game, how to win, how to lose and of course how to play, compete and have fun.
With a full presentation from Team Odyssey's very own Benji Hutchings, this event promises to be an engaging and interesting opportunity for anyone thinking of taking their first steps into the world of Pokémon TGC, looking to learn and develop their base knowledge and even take advantage of an opportunity to meet and discuss the game with some of Cardiff’s experienced and competitive players.
Aspiring game artists will attend a one-off game skin workshop and learn 2D art techniques and character design tips. Attendees will use pen and paper to design skins that will then be digitally displayed on 3D models. See the skins you’ve designed in action!
The workshop session will take place across three hours. Introductory lessons and a showcase of the available 3D models to design skins for will kick off the workshop. From here the learners will have time to design and draw their skins with the provided drawing equipment. Staff will be working with the learners as they iterate upon their designs and work towards finished skins to be shown off on the digital 3D models.
The last part of the session will see all the skins be wrapped around the digital 3D models for a showcase of everyone’s work. The staff will highlight how the taught techniques have been implemented into each skin, and learners will be given a certificate that includes instructions on how to see their skins at home!
This Easter, in conjunction with Mi Little Pad Ltd, we're running sessions for kids between the ages of 6 and 12 who love Minecraft! On provided tablets, they'll get the chance to play in a shared world and take on a challenges and group builds, run by an experienced co-ordinator who will help guide Minecraft beginners and experts alike.
Parents and guardians are welcome to grab a coffee or tea at our bar and relax whilst the kids are occupied. And, as a bonus, the ticket price includes access to our arcade full of games both old and new!
Want to be an Indie Game Developer? Have a bedroom, or shady corner, to do just enough of everything to make a simple, addictive game like "Celeste", "Binding of Isaac", or "Thomas was alone", all of which started small, but soon grew big. Attend this one (or two!) part workshop and learn just enough "Programmer Art" and (more than) enough coding to make your own "vertical slice"; a prototype to show off the game mechanics, and allow you to decide if your demo is good enough to develop further.
Participants will use the popular "fantasy game console", Pico-8, which has pixel/sprite art, music editing, tile map creation, and LUA-based coding all built into one great SDK (software developer kit), capable of 2D (and limited 3D) development as standalone and web-based games. Every game made with Pico-8 saves as a single PNG file that contains all the source code and art, etc, so you can take existing games and alter them, to learn how they were made. If you have your own laptop or PC, we will provide you with a temporary copy of the software. If you don't, we will have raspberry Pis - the single board tiny computers that can cost as little as £7 each! - keyboards, mice and screens for you to work on your games. At the end of the four hours (or eight, if you attend both days), you will have a game to take away, which you built, made art for, and programmed.
The workshop will take place across four hours. Introductory lessons, and a showcase of what is possible inside Pico-8, will kick off the session. From here the learners will have time to design and draw their game art assets with the built-in tools, working with existing code to test them out. Staff will then work with the learners as they take the reigns, begin coding, and work towards a small, but finished game of their own choosing. The last part of the session will see all the games available for a showcase of everyone’s work. The staff will highlight how the taught techniques have been implemented into each game, and learners will be given a certificate that includes instructions on how to play their games online, as well as how to purchase the SDK to carry on creating at home!
Its the return of our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournament in conjunction! This time, we're donating to the MS Society who are a community dedicated to people who have Multiple sclerosis or care about someone who does.
Ticket covers running costs for the weekend, and access to Levels 2 and 3 of The Arcade Vaults. This includes free teas and coffees, plus access to a kitchenette with a fridge and microwave. There will also be a lot of pizza available to all on the Friday night! We're located right in the City Centre so you will have access to plenty of other food options for the entire weekend.
Remote jammers are absolutely welcome to participate as long as they are based in Wales or are Welsh, and are willing to link up with the main jam site via video contact (Skype, Facetime etc). If you want to participate remotely you'll still need to get a ticket though which will give you access to the upload site for the games to be submitted to.
Note that this will not be a 24 hour site - access will be limited to 8/9am at the earliest and around 10/11pm at the latest. If you are coming in from outside of Cardiff there are lots of places to stay nearby.
We're back with the second 6-week series of Melee events across April and May, featuring a mixture of Singles and Doubles tournaments with cash prizes as well as some free play set-ups for getting some practice in.
We're also awarding points to players each week depending on where they finish, which will go towards a league table over the 6 weeks.