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* I3V 2026 | CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
* 3rd Symposium on Research in the Indie Video Game Industry
*
* Important dates
* Abstract Submission: September 6th, 2026
* Notification of acceptance: October 13th, 2026
* Registration: October 25th, 2026
* Date of event: November 13th, 2025
*
* Terrassa (Barcelona), November 13th, 2026
* https://i3v.citm.upc.edu
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[DESCRIPTION]
There are well-known works presented with a clear research background, or published at academic events, which serve to illustrate this fact. From the MDA framework of Hunicke and LeBlanc (published at the “AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI”), to the studies of Lazzaro (“Game Developers Conference”) and Bartle (“Journal of MUD research”) on ways to achieve immersion of the players If we focus on “indie” video games, we find the volume “Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and Quest for Authenticity” by Juul, or the monograph “Indie, Eh? Some Kind of Game Studies”, published in Loading magazine, where the meaning of indie, its relationship with mainstream currents, aesthetics, player communities, etc. is addressed.

Both researchers and professionals in the sector are invited to participate in this symposium. In this regard, contributions are welcome on all the following topics, among others related:

- Animation as a game mechanic
- Procedural animation
- Player agency vs. authorial control in animated worlds
- Transmedia: from animated works to video games (and vice versa).
- Tools and workflows: game engines as animation platforms.
- Reappropriation and re-signification of video game environments (machinima).
- Female representations and gender performativity in animation and video games: from stereotype to subversion.
- Alternative production models: collectives and associations in animation and video games.
- Technologies and gender gaps in the video game industry: presence of women in digital animation and/or indie video game development.
- Animated utopias: imagining ecofeminist futures through animation and video games.
- Women pioneers of video games: the great unknowns.
- Post-mortems: best practices, metrics and quality assurance (QA).
- Integration with new technologies.
- Historical perspectives on the indie video game and independent animation.
- Video games and animation with a purpose beyond entertainment.
- The impact of animation on the identity of the indie video game.

While the emphasis is on the independent industry, all players in the video game industry in general who want to contribute their views on these aspects, are invited to participate and send contributions.

[Submission Guidelines]
Proposals from both industry and academia are accepted. It must be clearly indicated in the text of the summary section (abstract) whether it is a contribution from industry or academia. The works can be written in Catalan, Spanish or English. For languages other than English, the summary section must also be included in English (both languages). The format of any submission is always in PDF, regardless of the format of the template used.

See event webpage for more details.

https://i3v.citm.upc.edu