Friday, January 16, 2015

Different Games 2015, call for submissions / session proposals


Different Games is a fantastic games conference running again in New York City on April 3-4 2015, geared toward diversity and inclusion, and they are actively soliciting game submissions and session proposals due by February 1st. Academics and non-academics, indie and not-indie, cisgender or trans or nonbinary, all are invited and encouraged to participate.

The three suggested tracks are:
Arcade: Designers interested in showcasing their game in the Different Games arcade should submit a brief overview of their game (no more than 500 words) that includes their design vision and concept of the game. In addition, please submit cover art and one or two screenshots of game play. We welcome pieces that will be in (beta) or play-testing phase as well as those further along in the development process.

Paper Presentations and Talks: We invite academics and creative minds alike to share recent work (written or otherwise) as speakers on our conference panels. We encourage participants from every field to submit writing or talks exploring topics pertaining to diversity and inclusion. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to: post mortems, design methodology, reflections on playtesting, analysis/commentary on games content (theme, gender, sexuality, etc.), game reception, and game culture/communities.

Breakout or Workshop Sessions: Topic-related discussions or those exploring challenges and solutions to promoting diversity and inclusion in the broader game community/communities and other pertinent subjects AND hands-on workshop sessions geared towards learning design and development skills are both invited (Your proposal should include an explanation of any equipment participants need to experience your workshop.) If your session will be facilitated collaboratively please include bios and links for all participants.
What are you waiting for? Hurry and submit! I'll be there too, presenting a bunch of games featuring photorealistic gay dudes, as part of the Different Games NEA artist grant. See you there!