2008 Sandbox Symposium

ACM SIGGRAPH Sandbox Symposium 2008

Second Call for Participation

The third annual ACM SIGGRAPH Sandbox Symposium on videogames calls for papers, panel proposals, and presentations. We are looking for work that describes or illustrates innovative research in videogame theory, practice, methodologies, and criticism. Video games are a singular technological medium, comparable in cultural impact to the telephone, television or the Internet. What are the creative, technological, and commercial challenges facing this medium today and in the future? How do we relate engaging stories and worlds that leverage advances in technology? What is the continuing impact of this medium on individuals and society?


We seek original papers from the creative and technical communities that develop videogames and from academic researchers who study videogames and relevant technologies and disciplines. We also invite proposals for panel discussions. Selected papers and panels will be those judged to be highly- relevant to the research community and having the greatest potential impact on the practice of videogame development. All papers should meet the standards of their respective disciplines and will be peer-reviewed. For an indication of the conference's breadth, please visit http://sandbox.siggraph.org for a look at last years' programs.


Suggested Topics include:

- Transmedia storytelling and games
- Real-time animation and computer graphics for video games
- Distributed simulation and communication in multi-player games
- Game console hardware, software, tools, and middleware
- Psychophysics and user interfaces
- Artificial intelligence in games
- Interactive physics
- Developing games in virtual worlds
- Uses of GPU for non-graphical algorithms in games
- Multi-processor techniques for games
- Speech and vision processing as user input techniques
- Development tools and techniques
- Literacy and gaming
- Procedural art
- 3-D game worlds
- Ethics and games
- Sound Design and music in games
- Mathematical Game Theory applied to video games
- Cinematography in games
- Game design and game genres
- Story structure (setting, plot, character, theme) in games and interactive fiction
- Games (e.g., Casual, Serious, Mobile, Networked, Alternative Reality, Pervasive)
- Legal, political, and societal impacts
- Women and diversity in games
- Gamer culture and community (e.g., modding communities, LAN parties, creative gamer content and machinima)
- Independent game developers
- Economics and business models in the game industry
- Game production and labor


Feel free to submit papers on other relevant topics as well.


Papers
Please submit full papers (maximum 8 pages). All papers will be reviewed by an independent committee, which will provide written feedback on each paper.


Panel Proposals
Proposals for panel discussions should include a statement of purpose (1 page) and 3-5 participants. Each participant should provide a biography and a brief discussion (2-4 paragraphs) of the topic under discussion.


Presentations
In addition, we seek demonstrations of innovative projects and/or previews of unreleased videogame titles. Presentations should be two minutes in length and must show gameplay. Use Quicktime format, either NTSC (480p) or HDTV (720p).


Submissions

The deadline for paper and panel submissions is April 25, 2008. The deadline for presentations (see above) submissions is June 30, 2008.

All submissions should be in PDF format and follow the SIGGRAPH style rules and Instructions for Authors (http://www.siggraph.org/publications/instructions). A sample paper is available at http://www.siggraph.org/publications/instructions/threepage.pdf.

Papers and proposals shall be sent via e-mail to Dr. Michael Wagner at michael.wagner@donau-uni.ac.at
Please feel free to also forward any questions about submissions to Michael.


Location
Sandbox 08 will be co-located with SIGGRAPH 08 and will start on Saturday, August 9 through August 10, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. More details about location, times, and dates will be posted on the conference website.



Organization

If you have questions please contact the organizers.