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1st Annual Workshop on Integrated Design in Games

Name/Name of Organization: Dakota State University

Contact Email: jeffrey.howard@dsu.edu

1st Annual Workshop on Integrated Design in Games

2011 Theme: Horror

Conference Dates: November 3-6, 2011

Deadline for Abstracts: extended to *July 15th, 2011*

Call for Presentations, Workshops, and Activities

The Workshop on Integrated Design in Games is offered in conjunction with Nanocon IX, the ninth installment of the game convention sponsored by Dakota State University’s Gaming Club. The Workshop will be an annual event, and every year’s workshop will feature a different theme. This year, the theme is horror. Integrated design means that all aspects of design come together to create a single experience, unified by a common theme. In relationship to horror games, integrated design means that mechanics, visual art, audio, and narrative converge to allow players to confront and perhaps overcome fear.

This year’s keynote speakers are Chris Pruett, architect of famed website Chris’ Survival Horror Quest and Senior Games Advocate at Google, and Dr. Bernard Perron, acclaimed scholar of horror games from the University of Montreal.

The category of horror games is intended to include survival horror videogames, more recent action horror videogames like Dead Space 2, indie horror games like Amnesia, as well as tabletop RPG’s, LARPs, and board games. This theme is an opportunity for anyone who designs, develops, or studies horror games to give a presentation on any relevant topic of his or her choosing. The proceedings of the conference will be published electronically, so submissions should include a written component. At the same time, we strongly encourage presentations with a participatory and hands-on component involving exercises in game design. Submissions will be selected by a program committee with expertise in game design and horror, including members who have worked in the M.I.T. Gambit Lab, White Wolf, Red Storm Entertainment/Ubisoft, Irrational Games, Fantasy Flight Games, and Wizards of the Coast.

Acceptable formats for submissions include:

· Traditional academic presentations

· Panels

· Short design workshops

· Presentations with an accompanying hands-on activity or exercise

Please submit abstracts of no more than 500 words to the Program Committee Chair, Jeff Howard, by no later than July 15. The contact email is jeffrey.howard@dsu.edu.

Topics include but are not limited to:

· Designing the mechanics of horror

· Narrative design and horror

· Concept art

· 3d modeling/animation/character design

· Audio (voice acting, music, sound effects, interactive sound design)

· Classic survival horror franchises like Resident Evil and Silent Hill

· Action horror (Dead Space 2)

· Particular horror themes or monsters (the Gothic, haunting, exorcism, ghosts, zombies, vampires)

· Indie horror games (Eversion, The Path, Amnesia)

· Transmedia horror (game design in relation to film, comic books, and literature)