Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) 2022 invites research contributions in the form of papers, posters and demos, doctoral consortium applications, as well as panel, competition, and workshop proposals.

We invite contributions from within and across any discipline committed to advancing knowledge on the foundations of games: computer science and engineering, humanities and social sciences, arts and design, mathematics and natural sciences. As was the case in the previous years, we aim to publish the FDG 2022 proceedings in the ACM Digital Library. ​FDG invites authors to submit short or full papers reporting new research. Both short and full papers need to be anonymized and submitted in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template to a paper track. All contributions should be submitted to EasyChair.

The FDG 2022 proceedings will be published with the ACM Digital Library.

Theme
The theme of this year is “Games as culture and communication”. Going beyond their use for entertainment, games can function as cultural artefacts by incorporating the values, beliefs and aspirations of designers, developers, and players. Game mechanics and aesthetics also provide valuable cultural information, both relating to mass culture, as well as sub-cultures and niche themes. This theme challenges current practices in user studies, game technology, game design and evaluation, fostering better representation and inclusion, and a deeper understanding of the user experience. More broadly, "Games as culture and communication" is a relevant theme to incentivize surveys and meta-reviews of past work, as well as vision papers related to the current and future societal and cultural context.

List of Paper Tracks
GAME ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

This track focuses on the many applications of computational and artificial intelligence to the playing, design, development, improvement, and testing of video games. Topics include general game-playing AI, procedural and player-driven content generation, mixed-initiative authoring tools, computational narrative, believable agents, and AI-assisted game design.

GAME DESIGN AND PLAYER EXPERIENCE

This track focuses on research that furthers the practice of game design and development. Submissions that examine, validate, invalidate, or create game making practices, patterns, mechanics, dynamics or aesthetics are encouraged to submit. Such work includes innovative and alternative methods of design, practical examinations of implementation protocol, socio-cultural critique of game-making culture, and empirical analysis of game-making processes and more. The focus of this track is scholarly examination of game design and development, as produced through case studies, A/B testing, review of literature, comparative analysis or other such appropriate efforts.

GAME CRITICISM AND ANALYSIS

This track calls for papers that approach the criticism and analysis of games from humanities-informed perspectives. Submissions are encouraged from scholars engaging in narrative, visual, and software studies approaches to games and games criticism using methodologies such as archival research, hermeneutics, and oral history. This track will also consider critical theoretical and/or historical analysis of games, and game genres from perspectives such as (but not limited to) postcolonial theory, feminism, historicism, subaltern studies, queer theory, the environmental humanities, and psychoanalysis.

COMPUTER-HUMAN INTERACTION AND PLAYER EXPERIENCE

This track focuses on the exploration of different ways for designing and implementing interaction between the player and the game, as well as on understanding the experiences derived from those interactions. This track will consider qualitative and quantitative experimental studies. Topics include, but not limited to, persuasive games, augmented reality, virtual reality, novel controllers, user research, and player psychology.

GAMES BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT AND GAME EDUCATION

This track calls for papers showing results on the use of games, gaming, and game design for primary goals that are not entertainment. Topics include serious or transformational games, educational games, games with a purpose, advergames and exergames, gamification and gameful design, game-based learning and curricula, informal learning in games, and educational and other 'serious' uses of entertainment games and gaming practices. Authors are encouraged to highlight the importance of the target problem that the game is addressing, and how their design or research findings makes a contribution to the current state of research on games for a purpose.

GAME ANALYTICS AND VISUALIZATION

This track is suitable for all papers pertaining to aspects of game data science, analytics and game data visualization. This includes work based on player behavioral data analysis, including player modeling, churn analysis, and creating or understanding players' profiles as well as aspects of business intelligence, such as performance evaluation or workflow optimization. Papers submitted to this track should present contributions that advance the current state-of-the-art, taking into account the knowledge bases in academia and industry, of players, play behaviors, processes or performance. We encourage submissions that span methodological approaches including quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods, as well as novel contributions to methodological approaches. Examples of topics include visualization of game data, analysis of behavioral (or other) game data, advances in methodological approaches to analyze and visualize game data, as well as applying or expanding statistical methods, machine learning, including deep learning, and AI, as well as visualization algorithms used to collect or analyze game data.

GAME DEVELOPMENT METHODS AND TECHNOLOGIES

This track is suitable for papers on game engines, frameworks, computer graphics techniques, rendering, animation, networking, novel interaction techniques (such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and alternate controller schemes) and other technical areas. Papers submitted to this track should advance our technical knowledge in creating games. Papers on analytics, visualization and artificial intelligence should be submitted to the more specific track and not this one.

GAMES AND THE HUMANITIES

This track calls for papers that relate game design, aesthetics and content to facets to culture and sub-culture. Topics include design for multi-cultural gameplay, design for player autonomy, identification and incorporation of user preferences and traits, culture-aware game adaptation, inclusion and representation in game design, games for social issues and games for mental health.

Other types of submissions
LATE-BREAKING SHORT PAPERS (deadline: May 27)

FDG accepts late-breaking short papers, with a maximum length of 4 pages in the final two-column format, including references. Late-breaking papers should follow the one-column format of the ACM SIGCONF available in both Word and LaTeX templates HERE. Note that the one-column format is less dense than the final two-column format, so one or two pages longer papers (than the 4-page limit) can be submitted for review. However, on acceptance, the authors will need to work with the ACM digital library to ensure that the final submission in the two-column format is maximum 4 pages long.

Late-breaking papers need to be anonymized and submitted to the Late-Breaking Papers track on Easychair. The papers will be reviewed by experts in the paper's topics, and accepted papers will be included in the proceedings. Relevant topics for the late-breaking papers should align with the topics of FDG tracks. The deadline for late-breaking papers is 27 May 2022, with acceptance notification tentatively by end of June.

WORKSHOP PROPOSALS (deadline: March 25)

If you are considering running a workshop, or a workshop-like event FDG2022, please submit a short proposal before the deadline listed above. FDG workshops are usually full-day or half-day sessions focused on current and emerging game-related topics. They can provide a setting for new developments to be presented, discussed, and demonstrated, or be hands-on or studio-based. We especially encourage workshops and topics that involve participants from diverse disciplinary and other backgrounds working together to explore and advance new areas of game-related scholarship. We also encourage creative workshop ideas going beyond the common format of invited and submitted talks.

Concise workshop proposals (2-4 pages, excluding references, in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template​) should include: a background section explaining and motivating the workshop, the objectives of the workshop, planned activities, the background of the organizer(s), publication plans (if any), anticipated number of participants, and the means for soliciting and selecting participants. Workshop proposals will not be included in the conference proceedings.

PANEL PROPOSALS (deadline: March 25)

FDG welcomes debate-style panels and emerging-area style panels that consolidate and explain recent work on a subject of interest to the FDG community. An interested researcher that wishes to carry out a panel should first recruit members for the panel and discuss the topics before submitting a panel proposal to FDG. Please consider diversity and representation when recruiting participants to the panel. Panel proposals are a maximum length of 2 pages (excluding references) in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ​ACM Master Template. Contents of the proposal should include the topic, participants, how the panel is organized, and a citation-supported statement of why the event is relevant and topical (also accounting for this year's theme of "Games and their Heritage"). Panel proposals will not be included in the proceedings.

COMPETITION PROPOSALS (deadline: March 25)

FDG welcomes competition proposals, with a maximum length of 2 pages (excluding references) in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ​ACM Master Template. Contents of the proposal should include a description of the competition and the organizers, the criteria for winners, anticipated number of participants, past number of participants (if the competition is ongoing), and how entries to the competition will be submitted. Competition proposals (or outcomes) will not be included in the proceedings.

GAMES AND DEMOS (deadline: June 25)

The games and demo exhibition provides a forum for demonstrations of work best suited to interaction rather than a paper or a formal presentation. This track encourages submissions of games in various stages of development, from playable physical mock-ups to full-fledged implementations, as well as technical demos showcasing the latest tools, techniques, and systems created for games by academic or industrial research groups, or other early-stage or late-breaking research not yet ready for formal presentation.

Submissions are handled using EasyChair. They should include a 4-page extended abstract, an unedited video illustrating the game or technology, and (if possible) a link to the demo. Games and tech demos will be presented at a dedicated games and tech demo session open to the general public. Selected students projects receive a conference registration waiver for the day of the demo session.

DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM (deadline: May 27)

FDG 2022 will include a Doctoral Consortium where PhD students can receive early feedback on their research from fellow students, researchers, and experienced faculty in the area. The consortium is primarily for PhD students who intend to pursue a career in academia and who will soon propose, or have recently proposed, their dissertation research.

To apply, students should submit a non-anonymized 2-4 page paper (excluding references) in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ​ACM Master Template describing their proposed research. The paper should address the goals of their research, the proposed approach, any results, and plans for completing the work. This should be accompanied by their CV and a short letter explaining how they would benefit from the consortium and what questions they want to discuss (general and/or specific to their research). The submission should combine all the above in a single PDF file.

Accepted Doctoral Consortium students will give a presentation and are invited to present a poster on their abstracts during the conference. Doctoral consortium papers will not be published in the main proceedings.