We are delighted to announce the fourth annual International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons, and Game Creation Events (ICGJ 2019). ICGJ is an interdisciplinary conference for researchers, educators, professionals, and event organizers across various fields related to game jams, hackathons and other game development events. This one-day conference is hosted at GitHub HQ in San Francisco on March 17, 2019. Pre-conference activities are run on March 16, 2019 (Location TBD).
The fourth ICGJ builds on the previous three conferences, as well as numerous workshops and discussions on the subject. The previous conference proceedings have been published in the ACM Digital Library, the same is expected for 2019.
Aims and Scope
Game jams and other game creation events have established their role within game development communities for the past decade. Game jams, hackathons and similar events for game development have their own unique features and they foster maker communities around the globe in various ways. Game jam and hackathon events are run by educational institutions, companies, communities and individuals alike, in smaller or larger scale providing platforms for a diverse set of studies as well as spaces for learning and experimentation. The impact of these events extend to the social, technological, educational and other elements of the maker-community ecosystem. For these reasons is an important area of scholarly interest.The aim of the conference is to improve our collective understanding of the widespread cultures of game creation events as well as provide a platform for critical examination, information sharing and future collaboration between scholars, participants, industry professionals and mediators.
Themes and Suggested Topics
We invite scholars to submit research relevant to game jams, hackathons and game creation events from various points of view, disciplines, methodological perspectives, and theoretical frames. Some inspirational topics include:Emerging topics and issues:
VR, AR and XR on game jams and other game creation eventsLocal and global cultures of game jams and other game creation events
Comparative studies of game jams and other game creation events
Politics and critical studies of game jams and other game creation events
Game jams and creation events at game studios
Organizers’ role on game jams and other game creation events
Role of development tools on game jams and other game creation events
Established topics and issues:
Tools and technologies used or produced at game jams and other game creation eventsImpact of game jams and other game creation events
Participation motivations and group dynamics at game jams and other game creation events
Creativity and innovation at game jams and other game creation events
More themes and topics listed at http://icgj19.gameconf.org/p/themes-and-topics.html
Resources and Collaboration
ICGJ19 is all about collaboration and growth. This year we are particularly dedicated to grow the research community and facilitate future collaborations. To spark new research, we organize pre-conference activities and invite you to join the discussions also prior to the event (see channels and opportunities at gameconf.org). To make sure also existing discussions are developed further, you are encouraged to check the previous research on games jams available at icgj19.gameconf.org.Paper and Showcase Submissions
ICGJ 2019 has four categories of submissions:1. Full papers
2. Short papers
3. Event reports
4. Showcases
Each full paper, short paper, and event report submission will undergo a double-blind review process. The previous conference proceedings have been published in the ACM Digital Library, the same is expected for 2019. The paper and report submissions utilize ACM template: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-conference-proceedings-template/bmvfhcdnxfty
Showcase submissions will undergo a single-blind review process. Selected showcase submissions are published at ICGJ 2019 website and presented at the venue of the conference.
Papers and reports are submitted through EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icgj2019
Showcases are submitted via separate form at icgj19.gameconf.org.
The number of submissions is not limited.
Relevant Dates
December 12th, 2018: Submission deadlineJanuary 28th, 2019: Notification of acceptance
February 6th, 2019: Late-breaking deadline
February 18th, 2019: Notification of acceptance for late-breaking
February 25th, 2019: Camera-ready deadline
March 16th, 2019: Pre-conference program
March 17th, 2019: Conference
Original and Unpublished Research
We invite contributions on all aspects of game creation events using scholarly methods. Descriptions of new algorithms, processes and scientific findings as well as empirical studies of implementations and applications are welcome. Papers will be reviewed on their relevance to the conference, clarity of writing and presentation, and their contribution to the field. Submissions can be full papers about results from novel research (up to 8 pages long, including references) or short papers describing works in progress or position papers (up to 4 pages long, including references). Match the length of your paper to your contribution.Late Breaking Work
We invite scholars to submit papers that are complete, but depend on data from the 2019 Global Game Jam or other events taking place between December 2018 and January 2019. Papers will be reviewed on their relevance to the conference, clarity of writing and presentation, and their "in-progress" nature. Late breaking papers can be submitted as short papers (up to 4 pages long, including references) or long papers (up to 8 pages long, including references) depending on their contribution.Event Reports
We invite event organizers to submit reports of innovative game jam, hackathon or other game creation events’ designs. We aim to provide a forum for presenting, sharing, and discussing interesting event concepts, approaches, and other elements of game jam and hackathon design. We are particularly interested in concepts to inspire organizers and educators to innovate new jam formats and improve existing methodologies. Papers will be reviewed on their relevance to the conference, clarity of writing and presentation, and their contribution to the field. We prefer submissions that include visual material, such as photos or other materials illustrating the events. Event reports will be up to 4 pages long, including references.Showcase Submissions
We invite jam games, and playful projects from game creation events and hackathons to be submitted to our showcase track. Our goal is to recognize games and playful projects that best demonstrate what is possible to accomplish during a game jam or hackathon.Games and projects submissions must include a video and still imagery.
Awards
At the end of the conference, there will be a short awards ceremony. The awards are:Best paper award
Best showcase award
Conference Chairs
Annakaisa Kultima, Aalto University, Finland (General Chair)Lindsay Grace, University of Miami, USA (Program Chair)
Alexey Izvalov, Kirovograd Flight Academy of the National Aviation University,
Ukraine (Program Chair)
Foaad Khosmood, California Polytechnic State University, USA (Publications Chair)
Jeanette Falk Olesen, Aarhus University, Denmark (Local Chair)
Program Committee
See full list of program committee at http://icgj19.gameconf.org/p/organizers.htmlParticipating Online
We acknowledge that not everyone can travel to the US: to ensure inclusiveness of the conference, we consider up to 2 papers as online presentations. At least one of the presenters is expected to register to the event, send a short video (10 minute) presentation of their paper according to the camera ready deadline and be available for live Q&A session on the time of the conference.For the regular papers, we expect at least one of the authors to register and participate to the event in person.
Pre-Conference Program: Paper Jam
For the first time, we will organize a “paper jam” on the day before the conference to facilitate playful interdisciplinary collaboration between our participants with a goal of abstract length academic papers (author teams can include also non-academic participants). The expected results of the jam will be 1-2 page abstracts on the topics of the conference. These papers will be published on the website of the conference and presented as mini-presentations on the conference day. More information on how to sign up for the event will be published later at gameconf.org.Location
GitHub HQ, 88 Colin P Kelly Jr St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USAContact
For further inquiries on the conference, please contact icgj@globalgamejam.orgSee full list of program committee and organizers.
Participating Online
We acknowledge that not everyone can travel to the US: to ensure inclusiveness of the conference, we will consider up to 2 papers as online presentations. At least one of the presenters is expected to register to the event, send a short video (10 minute) presentation of their paper according to the camera ready deadline and be available for live Q&A session on the time of the conference.For regular papers, at least one author is expected to register and participate in the event, in person.
