OSFest 2026 is scheduled to take place across the hypergrid from October 12 to 26, organizer Lisa Laxton said. Hypergrid businessThe community is now voting on festival themes through a custom ranked choice platform she built for the event. Voting closes on May 31st.
The community submitted 18 topic suggestions this year, Laxton said. Hypergrid business. Instead of choosing one through a simple poll, organizers are using a ranked consensus voting system that produces a composite ranking based on the choices of all participants.
The voting page will be public so anyone can rank the proposals, Laxton said. The results help organizers decide on one or more themes for the festival.
Built for global hypergrid users
Last year’s OSFest drew avatars from a grid of more than 150, and Laxton said the new voting tool was designed with an international, accessibility-minded audience in mind.
The tool supports 16 languages and automatically detects the browser’s preferred language, Laxton said in an email. It also includes an AI-powered election assistant that inputs voice or text in the language of your choice.
“The palette and fonts used are dyslexia and neurodiversity friendly,” Laxton said. This page is compatible with screen readers, and because the site is built as a progressive web app, users can participate with mouse, keyboard, or voice from any device.
OSFest 2025 welcomed events from all grids that can provide a stream URL via simulcast handled through 0HubRadio.com’s Hypergrid broadcast system.
This year follows the same opening pattern.
“This year, anyone can vote and host an event on any grid,” Laxton said. The OSFest calendar will be activated after the election, and the OSFest grid will be updated to support physically-based rendering.
Organizers used community voting to choose the theme for OSFest 2024, but those rounds were conducted via Discord emoji reactions and emails.
