Summer 2012 Call for Game Project Proposals

Proposals are due November 23rd, 2011. Download project proposal applications here.

The Lab seeks researchers who are interested in seeing their mature research put into practice as a game. In particular, we seek research which poses questions best answered through games, or innovative designs or technologies which are uniquely demonstrated in a game. Participants must be able to devote several hours a week participating in the Summer Program at the MIT Campus Lab from June 11th, 2012 through August 10th, 2012.

Eligibility

Researchers from Singapore and MIT who are funded by GAMBIT are eligible to apply, and proposals from them are strongly encouraged. GAMBIT also accepts proposals from faculty within the CMS Department at MIT.

MIT faculty are eligible to submit proposals, although they are encouraged to contact the GAMBIT Lab and work with a GAMBIT staff member on their proposal and project.

All other researchers must submit proposals jointly with either an eligible researcher or a member of the GAMBIT staff.

Who are we?

The Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab is a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the government of Singapore created to explore new directions for the development of games as a medium. GAMBIT sets itself apart by emphasizing the creation of video game prototypes to demonstrate our research as a complement to traditional academic publishing. Our Summer Program takes place at the lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge. We also have a sister lab in Singapore, which we work with together on games research.

What is the GAMBIT Summer Program?

The primary goals of our summer program are as follows:

• Create games with a meaningful research component, either by their creation or because principle investigators intend to use them for additional research. Games that will be shown at academic conferences or game development conferences, or will be used to support the writing of papers for publishing at conferences and in other relevant locations journals, are also examples of this.
• Create complete, polished, and playable games. A polished game is far more accessible to the general public, and to most intended audiences as well. We still call our games 'prototypes', partially because of their short development period (8 weeks) and partially because they are intended to be a showcase for a particular idea, one that we hope could be expanded to meet its full potential.
• Educate our interns in both the creative development and the practical development of video games.

Interns from the Boston area and from Singapore collaborate on development teams each summer to create games which demonstrate concepts based on accepted research topic proposals. Each team is required to create a 5-30 minute polished gameplay experience which demonstrates or explores a research topic. In addition, the game must target the production values of commercial casual games and be distributed online.

Some of the research topics we've made games for include displaying a new or experimental technology (Moki Combat, 2008/2009), exploring experimental game design methodologies (Akrasia, Gumbeat, 2008), translating literature into games (Seer, Yet One Word, 2010), exploring how learning works in games (Afterland, 2010) and tools for researching how educational games do - or don't - work (Waker/Woosh, 2009; Poikilia, 2010) You can look at the games we've made over the past five summers and their research goals at our prototypes page.

"But I've never made a game before!"

Turning research into games - especially into games that will be played by casual players - is not easy. The Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab has been doing that for five years, and our staff has experience in both research and professional game development environments. During the proposal phase, each project gets a GAMBIT liaison - a staff member who works with the researcher to turn initial proposals into practical projects.

Once final projects are chosen, the projects are assigned an official Game Director - usually the liaison. The Game Director works with the researcher through the summer to translate ideas to the development team, and mentors the development team?s creation of a functional, useful game.

What are my responsibilities to GAMBIT if my project is selected?

Before the summer starts, researchers are expected to work with GAMBIT staff members to insure their proposals are properly scoped and planned for the summer. How much work is needed depends on the initial shape of the proposal, and the difficulty of converting each research topic into a game.

During the summer, every development team needs an expert to explain the core research and assess whether the game is effectively exploring it. Researchers need to be available to their development team for the duration of the summer program, June 11th - August 10th, 2012. For most of the summer, this means about eight hours per week present physically with the team, and responsive to email the rest of the time. During the first two weeks of the summer- during the initial design phase - the team's needs are much greater, and may require daily meetings.

Selected researchers are also expected to collaborate with GAMBIT towards publication of the finished product: be it in academic venues such as conference or journal submissions, or through the professional game industry via festival submissions, commercial development or licensing opportunities.

Application Process

GAMBIT's application process aims to insure that the projects selected for our summer program can be completed in the limited time available, meet the needs of the researcher, and meet our standards for quality. Because of this, submitting a proposal is only the first step of our process.

Once received, proposals are reviewed and evaluated by the selection committee. Selected applicants are assigned a liaison - a GAMBIT staff member - and work together with them to turn the initial proposal into a feasible project. Work on potential projects is reviewed regularly through Spring, and the selection of the final 6 projects will be made in April or May.

Proposals are due by November 23, 2011. Please contact akiru AT mit DOT edu if you cannot make this deadline for some reason, or if you have any additional questions.

Relevant Dates And Deadlines

Proposals: November 23rd, 2011
First Approval: December 19th, 2011
Final Project Selection: April, 2012