Well, we're back. After four days in East Lansing Michigan, the GAMBIT group has returned to the relative normalcy of the office (which by any standard is not so very normal). The Meaningful Play conference has come and gone, and we return to our desks, fingers to keys, pens to pads, to make sense of the newly created mess of thoughts in our heads.

I think the quality of any conference experience can be measured in an economy of ideas. I have returned with many more ideas than I had when my tiny commuter jet from Detroit landed on the runway in Lansing. I met some great people, doing truly amazing work in the game space, and I re-entered the GAMBIT-sphere with a renewed sense of purpose.

Our games were very well received by the Meaningful Play Conference audience and jury, and for this we are eternally grateful. Recognition is weird, and I loath the notion of using acclaim to motivate work. That said, the awards presented to Afterland, Elude and Yet One Word are welcome and much appreciated.

More than anything, the awards recognize the dedication and hard work of our student-interns. With most projects, and especially in the case of these three projects, the interns are asked to engage in game design from a unique and relatively unorthodox perspective. Designing a subversive game, a game about clinical depression, or a game about personal reflection requires a degree of maturity and thoughtfulness that would be a tall order for any group, let alone a team of relatively inexperienced developers. I think it can be said of all three teams, that their commitment to the projects was at times surprising, and continuously impressive.

So, Gapapa Games, Birdy Inc., and Team on Fire, congratulations. We are all so very proud of the work you did, as you should be too.