GDC 2014 announces winners for Game Narrative poster sessions

GDC and the Game Narrative Summit are proud to announce the winners of the 2014 edition of the annual Student Narrative Analysis Competition, who will all receive passes to this year's March conference in San Francisco, CA. Here's how it works: Every year, leading game design programs at universities across the country integrate the competition into their academic curricula. Each participating student conducts a detailed structured analysis of the narrative elements of a game title of their choice. The resulting papers are submitted to the GDC Game Narrative Summit advisors for review, and the entrants with the most promising submissions are then invited to present poster sessions of their work to their future professional peers at the Game Narrative Summit. Past winners, available for viewing on GDC Vault, have explored a variety of games in their sessions, from the biggest blockbuster AAA games to smaller, critically-acclaimed indie titles, including games renowned for their storytelling and games designed with no formal narrative at all. Regardless of their chosen subject, past competitors have consistently produced incisive, bold analysis that foreshadows the contributions they will likely someday make to the field of game narrative. 2014 featured an exceptionally strong group of entrants from schools across the country and around the world. For the first time, the competition had an international student among its winners, as well as representation from colleges and universities across the US. We’re proud to announce that this year’s winners are: Platinum Winners John Baxa, CMU Mostafa Haque, Dakota State University Pierre Depaz, NYU Gold Winners Scott Tongue, Becker College Sean Daily, Dakota State University Adam Koerner, Dakota State University Zachary Truesdell, Dakota State University Mariah Beem, Dakota State University Brenda Callender, DigiPen Nicole Maiorano, DigiPen John Douseau, DigiPen Larry Shen, NYU Shoshana Kessock, NYU Benjamin Spalding, NYU John Bowman, RIT Ian Switaj, RIT Curtis Rochelle, Southern Methodist University Jaclyn Huchel, Southern Methodist University Xavier Strong, Southern Methodist University Jordan Roller, Southern Methodist University Drew Hammel, Southern Methodist University The Platinum winners will receive an all-access pass to this year’s GDC, while the Gold winners will receive an expo pass. All winners have the opportunity to present a poster session highlighting their work on the show floor, and those sessions will be available for public viewing after the show on the GDC Vault. The Game Narrative Summit would like to extend its congratulations to all the winners, and to all of the entrants whose fine work made judging this year’s competition both hard work and a labor of love. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.