Experimental Gameplay Workshop returns to GDC 2014 with star lineup

With less than two weeks remaining before the Game Developers Conference 2014, show organizers are detailing the lineup of the ever-popular Experimental Gameplay Workshop, which returns to GDC for its 12th year. This jam-packed two-hour session -- which takes place Friday, March 21 at 2:30pm in Room 135 of the San Francisco Moscone Center's North Hall -- will showcase an eclectic mix of unusual game prototypes that defy convention and explore new ideas and genres. This year the EGW is curated and organized by leading creators Robin Hunicke and Daniel Benmergui, and it promises to be an exciting opportunity for presenters and attendees alike to explore some fresh territory in game design. A number of 'experimental' titles that debuted in previous years have gone on to become some of the most well regarded in the industry. Some of these standout games include SpaceTeam, Starseed Pilgrim, Braid, Portal, World of Goo and Soundodger. This year, the session aims to recapture that innovative spirit, with over 20 titles from some of the industry's most creative developers, including folks from Tale of Tales, Harmonix, Double Fine and more. Plenty of cool prototypes and games in development will be showcased during the workshop, including the recently-announced Chroma from Harmonix, Digital Dreams' upcoming PlayStation Vita game Metrico, QWOP developer Bennett Foddy's new game Speed Chess, the Global Game Jam game Fru, and the work of independent developer Mahdi Bahrami, who worked on the IGF award-nominated Engare. Show organizers are especially excited to welcome Bahrami to GDC this year, as he first submitted his work to the EGW when he was just 16 and still living in Iran. Bahrami, now 21 and a student in the Netherlands, has been unable to attend the conference in the past due to visa issues, making this his both his first appearance at the EGW and his first time at GDC proper. Since limited information on many of the titles is available online, the best way to see what's on offer is to check out the Experimental Gameplay Workshop in person. You can find full details on it and all of the other announced talks in the online GDC 2014 Session Scheduler, where you can begin to build your conference week and later export it to the up-to-the-minute GDC Mobile App, coming soon. GDC 2014 itself will take place March 17-21, 2014 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. You can register for the event by visiting the info page on the official GDC 2014 website. For more information on GDC 2014, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech