Find the session’s new website here:

https://www.experimentalgameworkshop.org/

2023 Open Call for Submissions

Click one of these links if you are ready to apply!

GAME PROJECTS FORM | CULTURE PRESENTATIONS FORM
Submission Deadline: Jan 1, 2023

What is new with EGW?

An overview and update on this year’s Experimental Game Workshop at GDC 2023

Formerly the Experimental Gameplay Workshop, EGW is a GDC tradition in its 21st year, an annual session where many developers have shown novel game ideas through prototypes and design retrospective microtalks.

Given the increasing amount of work that broadly fits the scope as "experimental" and the general difficulty in the past of defining what exactly "experimental gameplay" is and isn't, we decided it was appropriate to broaden the scope. So now, the session is just called Experimental Game Workshop, with a continuing interest in play but not a prioritizing focus on it.

We've heard criticism from industry peers about how EGW's prior focus on gameplay often emphasized specific types of experimentation over others. To some, this felt at times overly narrow and missing the bigger picture of what’s happening in different spheres of game development across the world. So we’re opening the selection criteria even further, bringing in a new and expanded set of judges + organizers, and continuing with the evolving goals of the session.

Those goals are:

• Showcase games with unexpected play experiences or unique feelings in interactivity.

• Encourage exploration of uniquely deep and resonant experiences through play.

• Grow diversity in game types, game creators, game subcultures, narrative representations, and the use of new mediums.

• Responsibly steward a tradition of sharing inspiring work.

We want this session to represent a larger swath of the unique and compelling experimentation that is happening in the world of games than it sometimes has in the past. Because of this, we're aiming to turn this session into a showcase of experimentation across the whole spectrum of interactivity: not only in gameplay, but in all aspects of game development. Including accepting new non-game presentations on community and culture!

We strongly encourage designers from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and underrepresented communities to apply. We’re also in the process of growing the EGW community and further developing connections between experimental creators.

For many, the EGW is a first chance to go to GDC and learn from other developers while also showing their work. We have a Discord server of recent EGW participants who are interested in sharing their projects and processes with each other around the conference. We’re actively looking for suggestions on how to grow and support this community at GDC, online, and beyond.

By making a submission, we will consider you a part of that community and extend an invitation to participate in it, regardless of whether your game or presentation is selected for this year’s GDC showcase. We’re excited to see what you’re working on!

What is an experimental game?

Experimental games take interesting and unusual approaches to interactivity that haven't been tried before. They often challenge existing ideas about what can be done in an interactive medium. This definition can be unavoidably vague by necessity, so we've provided some kinds of experimentation that we’re familiar with and may guide your explanation of your submission:

Concise unique or novel mechanical exploration
Philosophical or personal statement / poetic games
Aesthetic or narrative experimentation with resonant affect
Generative or systemic depth, player experimentation within robust dynamics
New interaction methods / models / devices / experiences
And More! Stuff we can’t define! Tell us about it!

How is the EGW changing?

We aim for this session to be more holistically focused on all aspects of game making and game culture than before. Alongside microtalks featuring individual games, we also would like to include presentations about broader cultural movements in experimental game making. If you are a community organizer, academic, culture writer, or some other person with awareness of one of these spaces and would like to speak about it, we’d love to hear from you. In this category we imagine speakers could give presentations overviewing topics such as:

Interactive art exhibitions, modding communities and practices, zine making for critical discourse or generative rpg storytelling, user generated content trends, interactive fiction, alternate reality games, unique game jam formats, or anything else in the larger goal of novelty and expression within interactive mediums.

This aspect is still very much a work in progress and dependent on the submissions we receive in a given year - but is something we’d love to move towards featuring more of in the future.

Who is currently running the session?

Judges: Carol Mertz, Liz Ryerson, Hesi Mendez, Yiyi Zhang

Organizers: Sebastian Gioseffi, Sebastian Blanco, Jake Weidner

Our goal is to cycle judges and organizers every couple years, along with some new longer term advisors to keep the showcase going and evolve its focus alongside the medium. This is, of course, subject to further revision in the future - as the EGW is a growing and evolving organism.

What kind of work is accepted?

For Game Projects

We accept both finished games and playable prototypes. Work presented in submissions that are finished games may be from the past, as long as the concepts still feel fresh in the current design landscape.

NOTE THAT in showcasing finished work from the past, we generally prefer submissions from developers who have had less exposure for their work, or who have not presented their work in a setting like GDC before.

Projects can be in any stage of development, so long as the aspects that make the game experimental are playable. The submission doesn't need to be fun, but the experimental idea behind it has to be interesting and clear. This session is about celebrating the process of experimentation over fully polished and successful results. We look for work that demonstrates a deep and consistent exploration with the game’s mechanics, themes, and/or motifs.

For Culture Presentations

We accept video submissions of the talk you intend to give, a sample of yourself speaking on a relevant topic, or the entire talk itself (if you’ve already given a similar presentation). You can include slides, images, or other materials as part of the submission.

The video does not have to be super polished or have high production value, so no need to to acquire any kind of specialized video or audio equipment. We’ll gladly accept laptop webcam or phone video submissions. We are only assessing the relevance and quality of the content.

Depending on the number of available slots for the session, we may also decide to offer you to show a video instead of a live presentation.

How do I submit?

To submit your experimental games or community/culture presentations for consideration, please fill out the corresponding form:

GAME PROJECTS FORM | CULTURE PRESENTATIONS FORM

What if I cannot attend GDC?

Being unable to attend GDC will not prevent you from sharing the space with our friendly and talented community of creators. We can show a prerecorded video project or presentation during the show.

Although we typically accept a small fraction of submissions to showcase at GDC, you’re welcome to share your games, prototypes, and presentation topics with the EGW community on Discord and in future events. Selections are shown at our session at this year’s GDC (traditionally Friday midday), and speakers who are selected for the showcase will receive a free Speaker's pass to the entire GDC conference.

By submitting, you’ll gain access to the EGW community virtually (initially via Discord), even if your project isn’t accepted for this year's showcase. We reserve the right to deny or revoke admission to games/creators that we feel perpetuate discriminatory values in the community at large or otherwise make the space feel unsafe. Our moderation abilities in this community will be initially “as available”, and if you are interested in helping maintain the online community as an inspiring, safe, and respectful space, please let us know and get involved.

Note: More than one project can be submitted by the same person - and we encourage this when a body of work reflects a series of related or ongoing experiments. If you have submitted a project in the past that was not featured, please consider submitting again as our focus for the showcase is expanding.

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If you have questions about your submission or need clarification about the process, please email us here or find us on Twitter at @ExpGameWorkshop. We look forward to hearing from you - and hope to see you at GDC!