Submit your Game to the Experimental Game Workshop 2024!

Workshop Goals and Session Details: What is the Experimental Game Workshop?

The Experimental Game Workshop (EGW) is a GDC tradition in its 22nd year: an annual session where many developers have shown novel game ideas through prototypes and design retrospective microtalks.

The session is a selection of about a dozen microtalks covering the design process and creative expression of developers as they present their experimental games. 

The format is always evolving, so the takeaways of any given session are determined by the individual creators and how they showcase their experiments. Attendees can always expect to find something fresh and interesting happening in games, and leave inspired.

Over the last few years, the workshop team has pursued a broad set of goals:

• Showcase games that extend the boundaries of games as a medium.

• Encourage exploration of unique and deep experiences through play. 

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

• Establishing a tradition of sharing inspiring work.

We strongly encourage designers from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and underrepresented communities to apply. 

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 kind of work is accepted?

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.

Projects can be in any stage of development and made for any medium (videogame, tabletop, alternative controller, etc), 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.

In your submission, please describe what makes your game experimental clearly and concisely.

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.