Foundation of Digital Games

April 26th to 30th, 2009

On-board the Disney Wonder cruise ship, departing from Port Canaveral, FL, USA

Corporate Sponsors: Microsoft Research, Electronic Arts

FDG ¹09, the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, is a focal point for academic efforts in all areas of research and education involving computer and console games, game technologies, game play and game design. Previously known as Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education (GDCSE 08), this year's conference expands its scope to encompass all aspects of Computer Science focused game research, along with game-oriented education research, and game studies and game design research. The goal of the conference is the advancement of the science of digital games, including new game technologies, capabilities, designs, applications, educational uses, and modes of play.

The conference will be held aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship, departing from and returning to Port Canaveral, FL with port calls in the Bahamas and at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. FDG 2009 will include presentation of peer-reviewed papers, invited talks by high-profile industry and academic leaders, hands-on tutorials and topical panels on a range of subjects related to games research and education. We invite researchers and educators to share insights and cutting-edge results relating to game technologies and their use.

Confirmed keynote speakers for FDG 2009 include:

Chris Satchell, Chief Technology Officer, Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft

Matthew MacLaurin, Microsoft Research

Confirmed invited speakers include:

Yasmin Kefai, University of Pennsylvania

Additional keynote and invited speakers will be added shortly

Panels at FDG 2009 will cover the following topics:

The Games Funding Landscape, including representatives from a number of private and governmental funding agencies leading the sponsorship of games research.

Designing and Managing a Successful Games Education Program, including faculty from a range of colleges and universities that have built successful programs teaching the process of game creation

Industry/Academic Collaboration, including faculty and industry leaders active in the process work working together on joint research projects

Building the Games Research Community, including academic leaders working to create a scholarly community around the multi-disciplinary efforts in games research

FDG 2009 will accept both full paper and poster submissions (the details of each are described below). To encourage submissions across a range of topics, this year's program includes six distinct theme areas. Authors may choose to submit their papers to the general conference or to a specific theme area of particular relevance. The conference themes are a) artificial intelligence, b) computer science and games education, c) databases, d) game studies/game design, e) graphics and interfaces and f) networking and security. Papers that fall outside these topic areas are strongly encouraged and should be submitted to the general track. All submissions will be rigorously peer reviewed for their technical merit, significance, clarity and relevance to the advancement of the sciences of games. All full papers must describe a completed unit of work and show rigorous and compelling evaluation of the ideas they present. Poster submissions should describe novel work in progress that is not at the same level of research maturity as a full submission.

All accepted paper and poster submissions will be published in the conference proceedings, which will be available on a USB drive. For a paper or poster to appear in the proceedings, at least one author must register for the conference by the deadline for camera-ready copy submission. One author of each accepted submission will be provided with a special registration package that allows them to register at the early registration rate. Papers from the previous year's conference are in the process of being included in the ACM Digital Library and we anticipate that all paper, poster, and doctoral consortium publications from this year's conference will appear there as well. Conference organizers are working with the ACM to obtain in- cooperation sponsorship status, and anticipate approval soon.

Electronic paper and poster submission is required. Authors should submit their papers at the conference submission site, http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icfdg2009 . Both paper and poster authors must submit their papers by 11PM Pacific time on December 19, 2008. Papers must not exceed eight pages and poster submissions must not exceed two pages. All submissions must comply with the official ACM proceedings format using one of the templates provided at http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/ template.html. FDG 2009 will not accept any paper that, at the time of submission, is under review for or has already been published or accepted for publication in a journal or another conference. This restriction does not apply to submissions for workshops and other venues with a limited audience.

Authors whose papers align with a particular theme area should choose to submit their paper under that theme. Theme areas for FDG 2009 are defined broadly and include Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Games Education, Databases, Game Studies | Game Design, Graphics and Interfaces and Networks and Security. For more details about the specific tracks, please see the conference website (http://www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org ).

December 19, 2008 Full paper, poster and doctoral consortium proposal submission deadline

January 9, 2009 Early registration deadline

January 30, 2009 Paper, poster, and Doctoral Consortium notifications of acceptance/rejection

February 20, 2009 Camera-ready copy due. Presenting author conference registration deadline

April 26-30, 2009 2009 Int¹l Conference on Foundations of Digital Games

April 30, 2009 Doctoral Consortium

The FDG Doctoral Consortium provides an opportunity for a limited group of Ph.D. students to discuss and explore their research interests and career objectives with a panel of established games researchers and industry professionals. The consortium has the following objectives: (1) to provide a setting for mutual feedback on participants' current research and guidance on future research directions; (2) develop a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research; (3) support a new generation of researchers with information and advice on academic, research, industrial, and nontraditional career paths; and (4) contribute to the conference goals through interaction with other researchers and participation in conference events.

The Doctoral Consortium will be held on April 30th, 2008, the last day of the FDG conference, and will be hosted at the Orlando offices of Electronic Arts¹ Tiburon Studios. Attendance will be limited to a) FDG Program and Organizing Committees (who will serve as reviewers and discussants for student presentations) and b) graduate students whose proposals are accepted for presentation. Students whose submissions to the Doctoral Consortium are accepted for presentation will receive complimentary conference registration and a fixed allowance for travel/ housing.

The deadline for application to the Doctoral Consortium is December 19, 2009. For more details, see the Doctoral Consortium Call for Papers available on the FDG web site or contact Ian Horswill, Doctoral Consortium Chair, at [email protected].

Conference Chair Jim Whitehead, Univ. California, Santa Cruz

Program Chair R. Michael Young, North Carolina State Univ.

Finances Chair Magy Seif El-Nasr, Simon Fraser Univ.

Local Arrangements Co-Chairs Kent Foster, Microsoft Corporation G. Michael Youngblood, Univ. North Carolina, Charlotte

Doctoral Consortium Chair Ian Horswill, Northwestern Univ.

Webmaster Bruce Gooch, Univ. of Victoria

Program At-Large Members

Ian Bogost, Georgia Institute of Technology Pat Langley, Arizona State Univ. Nick Montfort, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mark Overmars, Utrecht University Ian Parberry, Univ. of North Texas Yusuf Pisan, Univ. of Technology Sydney Zoran Popovic, Univ. of Washington Walt Scacchi, Univ. of California, Irvine Gita Reese Sukthankar, Univ. of Central Florida Bill Swartout, Univ. of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies R. Michael Young (program chair), North Carolina State Univ.

Program Theme Area Members

Artificial Intelligence Ian Horswill, Northwestern Univ. Simon Lucas (theme co-chair), Univ. of Essex Michael Mateas (theme co-chair), Univ. of California, Santa Cruz Julian Togelius, IDSIA

Computer Science and Games Education Tiffany Barnes (theme co-chair), Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte Wanda Dann, Carnegie-Mellon Univ. Andrew Phelps, Rochester Institute of Technology Michael Zyda (theme co-chair), Univ. of Southern California

Databases Johannes Gerhke (theme chair), Cornell Univ. Beng Chin Ooi, National Univ. of Singapore Walker White, Cornell Univ.

Game Studies | Game Design TL Taylor (theme chair), IT Univ. Copenhagen Tracy Fullerton, Univ. of Southern California Doug Thomas, Univ. of Southern California

Graphics and Interfaces Bruce Gooch, Univ. of Victoria Jessica Hodgins, Carnegie-Mellon Univ. Steve Feiner (theme chair), Columbia Univ.

Networking and Security Mark Claypool, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Wu-Cheng Feng (theme chair), Portland State Univ. Travis Schluessler, Intel Corporation FDG STEERING COMMITTEE

John Laird, Univ. of Michigan Ian Parberry, Univ. of North Texas, Jim Whitehead, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz R. Michael Young, North Carolina State Univ.

External Link

Call for Papers PDF

Please click here for additional information, or email Jim Whitehead, Conference Chair, at [email protected]