Experimental Gameplay Workshop 2009

There is a really neat call for submissions going on right now. It's for the Experimental Gameplay Workshop. There was a Gamasutra article on it not long ago. On the official site they have several useful bits of info. But before I get to those, let's look at the purpose of this event.

"Our goals are to:

* Showcase experimental, creative, non-traditional designs and ideas;
* Publicize the process of gameplay experimentation;
* Strengthen the community of experimental game developers;
* Advance computer game design as a craft and art form.

Today's mainstream game industry provides almost no support for experimentation in game design. Experimentation involves risk, and the industry is very risk-averse. But for the field to remain healthy, risks must be taken somewhere, and we must learn from the successes as well as the failures.

We strive to support risk-taking and to provide channels for communicating the results. We aim to legitimize and popularize gameplay-oriented research and development."

I like the sound of it, do you? Experiments in gameplay to find out what works and what doesn't are just the sort of thing to possibly help the game industry and let the little guys show what they can do. As one of those little guys, I'm really interested in having my work shown at a GDC. Sounds like a great opportunity to me. In fact I've got somebody to work with on making a submission or two for this. So let's get to the important info.

When's the deadline?

Monday February 16, 2009

What is to be submitted?

They have a set of questions about your idea to be filled out and sent to workshop2009@number-none.com, before or on February 16th. To get a copy of the questionnaire, go here (http://experimental-gameplay.org/2009/cfp.html).

What is "experimental gameplay"?

Non-mainstream gameplay mechanics seems to be their target. On their page it is described in examples of what would count and what would not count.