Gotland Game Conference

The Department of Game Design[4] on Gotland, Visby, has hosted a public event for displaying student projects since at least 2002.[5][6] The event found a stable structure and was branded "Gotland Game Awards" in 2006[7][8] and re-branded "Gotland Game Conference" in 2011,[9][10] when a presentation track was added and the event opened to public participation. In 2017 the GGC added an international summit for game educators[11] — with the intention of annually gathering game educations from across the world to collaborate and share experiences.

• Theme Park / Revive 2002[12]
• Public exhibition 2004[13][14]
• Gotland Game Convention 2006[15][16]
• Gotland Game Awards 2007[17]
• Gotland Game Awards 2008[18]
• Gotland Game Awards 2009[19]
• Gotland Game Awards 2010[20]
• Gotland Game Conference 2011[21]
• Gotland Game Conference 2012[22]
• Gotland Game Conference 2013[23]
• Gotland Game Conference 2014[24]
• Gotland Game Conference 2015[25]
• Gotland Game Conference 2016[26]
• Gotland Game Conference 2017[27] + Game Educators Summit[28]
• Gotland Game Conference 2018[29] + Game Educators Summit[30]
• Gotland Game Conference 2019[31] + Game Educators Summit[32]
• Gotland Game Conference 2020[33] + Game Educators Summit[34] (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)[35]

The event can be seen as consisting of four separate parts (spanning over multiple days);

• Public presentation of student projects to an international jury of developers, designers, academics, journalists etc.
• Followed by The Gotland Game Conference + showfloor, where all student games are made available to the jury and general audience.
  • The conference + show floor is roughly modeled after the Game Developers Conference, but features only a single track of lectures.
• The Award Ceremony
• The GGC Party where students, jury and faculty celebrate their work and end of the school year.

The Department of Game Design maintains a public database of all games and students that have been awarded at the Gotland Game Conference.[36] It is not uncommon for students recognized at the GGC to go on and win other national- and international awards.[37]

• Best Presentation: Take My Shift
• Best Arcade Experience: Coal Rush
• Student Choice: Momentum Drift
• Alumni of the Year: Max Tiilikainen
• The Social Game Award: Twined
• Public Choice: Bench Warmers, Neon Nemesis (tie)
• The Almedalen Library Award: Symbio
• The Innovation Award: Nova Factor
• The Woke Award: Re Leap
• Expression in Game Design: Momentum Drift
• Jury Spotlight: Bolt and Bobby
• Jury Spotlight: Symbio

• Gotland Game Conference - Gotland Game Conference official website
• Department of Game Design blog - the informal department blog
• Department of Game Design at Uppsala University - the formal department website
• Campus Gotland
• Facebook Page for Gotland Game Conference
• Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari blog about GGA
• Steven Milous blog
• Anders “Saint” Ekermo blog - Starbreeze Studios
• Dopefish blog - Starbreeze Studios