It's November, so you know what that means: the mad geniuses behind the Experimental Gameplay Workshop have issued their call for submissions of intriguing new (and playable!) video game prototypes. The more interesting and experimental, the better!
Select entries will get to make an appearance in the two-hour Experimental Gameplay Workshop session at GDC 2018 in San Francisco next March. You want to be there, because it's a fun and perennially popular showcase for offbeat, unusual game concepts that explore new ideas and genres.
Workshop organizers Robin Hunicke (Luna, Wattam, Journey) and Daniel Benmergui (Storyteller, Ernesto) aim to give developers from all over the industry a chance to show off games that stretch boundaries and -- hopefully -- move the industry forward.
Sometimes those games go on to become high-profile success stories, to boot; a number of "experimental" titles that appeared first at the EGW (Portal, for example, as well as Katamari Damacy, Braid, Spelunky, and more) went on to become some of the most well-regarded games in the industry.
To submit your own experimental prototype for this year's workshop, you must have a playable build of your game ready for consideration and fill out the official submission form. While your (playable) submission can be in any stage of development, it must match up with the expectations for experimental gameplay outlined in the call for submissions.
Organizers expect to select 15-20 prototypes from the pool of submissions, and if your prototype is selected for the EGW (and you can attend the session in person) you'll receive a full GDC 2018 Speaker Pass, allowing access to the entire conference.
This call for submissions will remain open until 11:59 PM Pacific time on Sunday, December 31st, 2017.
Folks submitting from outside the US are being encouraged to submit on the earlier side of the window, so that organizers have time to help work on visas and letters should the need arise!
The Experimental Gameplay Workshop is expected to take place Friday, March 23rd -- the final day of the 2018 Game Developers Conference, which runs March 19th through March 23rd next year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
For more information on GDC 2018, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
