All workshops will be hosted on Monday, 30 June at the conference in Valetta, Malta.
This list will be updated as more calls for workshop participation are announced. If you know of a call and do not see it here, please kindly reach out to digrainternational@gmail.com and we will add it.
MICROHORROR : THROUGH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS Bernard Perron and Jean-Charles Ray (Université de Montréal)
While survival horror classics like Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil and Silent Hill return to consoles, updated with photo-realistic graphics, independent microhorror games (Brycer, 2022; Marak, 2021) lasting no more than 2-3 hours offer an opposite resurgence, proposing new universes that take up the look or formulas of past generations. We’re seeing the resurgence of point’n clicks (the Midnight Scenes series by Octavi Navarro; Now You see, Screaming Void, 2019; Teleforum, Monumental Collab, 2023; The Whisperer, Chien d’or, 2021), fixed survival horror cameras (Cannibal Abduction, Tomés Esconjaureguy, 2023; The Night of the Scissors, Tom?s Esconjaureguy, 2022), and the low-fidelity graphics of analog VHS or of PlayStation One (Rewind or Die, Comp 3 Interactive, 2023; Bughouse, Disrate Studio, 2022; Bloodwash, Black Eyed Priest & Henry Hoare, 2021), microcomputers (The Thing of the Lake, Panstasz, 2020) and Atari 2600 (the Faith Trilogy, Airdorf, 2022). This preference for the medi um’s visibility or hypermediacy (in Bolter and Grusin’s terms, 1999), versus its transparency or immediacy, for a return to the past that reveals its strangeness, is accompanied by regularly nostalgic, intimate or meta themes. The living-room TV (Duck Season, Stress Level Zero, 2017), the portable console (Summer Night, Airdorf, 2020) or the computer (Dreader, Donitz, 2020; World of Horror, Pawel Ko?mi?ski, 2023) become open doors to horror for unsuspecting children.
The main objectives of this workshop are: 1) to shade light on this very rich independent horror production, 2) to better map its family trees in the horror genre, and 3) to see how the past contaminates the present.
We’ll be achieving these through three branches of presentation.
BRANCH 1 : A FRIGHTENING MEMORY
We are all haunted by video game ghosts that reappear in current productions. This branch invites participants to immerse themselves in the haunting of the genre and to associate a recent microhorror game with one they used to enjoy or dread. Just as Laurie N. Taylor (2009) was able to look back on her memories of Resident Evil 2 (Capcom, 1998) to highlight some of the specific aspects of survival horror and its evolution, we wish to learn about an experience of microgaming which has triggered back a reminiscence of one’s gaming life. From nostalgia to new amazement, how this has shaded light on the short experience, whether it’s Link’s screams in Majora’s Mask (Nintendo, 2000), the first confrontation with a zombie in Resident Evil (Capcom, 1996) or the bloody nightmare of Max Payne (Remedy, 2008).
BRANCH 2 : TO SCARE BY DESIGN
Inasmuch as the tools and technology used to create microgames have been democratized and are more accessible, people can now design horror games. Consequently, this branch invites participants to introduce their own games, their inspiration and their thought process, from the frightful experiences they wanted to emulate to their research of new ways to make the genre mutate and evolve. It is also possible to present interviews with game designers regarding their creative process as it is always intriguing to know more about the evil minds behind the dreadful contraptions one loves to play.
BRANCH 3 : FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL HORROR Like a virus, horror spreads by contaminating and phagocytizing other media productions. From the visual artifacts of VHS to the grain of cathode-ray television tubes, microhorror games such as The Tape (Oleg Kazakov, 2015), The Building 71 Incident (Scary Cube, 2021) or September 1999 (98demake, 2018) vampirize analog technologies. In this branch, we wish participants to present a game remediating conventions and aesthetics of analog media such as television, radio, cinema or board games.
The workshop is scheduled to last for 3 hours on Monday, June 30th, 2025. It is mainly structured around :
1) a short introduction of the research corpus by workshop leaders,
2) 5-minute presentations of the microgame by each of the participant, and
3) a plenary discussion during which will draw all together some of the branches of the family tree of microhorror.
We ought to organize a workshop to be able to meet with and to gather other researchers willing to share their interest in horror video games, but who may not wish to give a full presentation on this topic. This is echoing all those Q&A after a normal session during which people are pointing out other works and suggesting ways of looking at the subject. The main outcome of the workshop is then to promote the creation of a better network of colleagues interested in videoludic horror.
By June 1st, we ask the participants to:
1) indicate which branch their short presentation will take place, to
2) clearly identify the microgame they’ll introduce; and
3) send 2-3 screen captures so to help us set our focus for the plenary discussion.
Write to bernard.perron@umontreal.ca and jean-charles.ray@umontreal.ca
Come and share your enthusiasm for scary video games!!
Culture Craft Model Workshop
This is a final call to register for my upcoming workshop at DiGRA 2025, taking place on 30 June at the University of Malta, with both on-site and online participation available.
The workshop introduces the CultureCraft Model (CCM), an algorithmic framework designed to support game designers in navigating the complexities of authentic cultural adaptation. We?ll explore how the model can guide more ethical, inclusive, and efficient game development processes.
If you?re working at the intersection of game design, culture, and representation?or are simply curious about building better cultural worlds in games?I?d love to see you there!
To register, please email: yekta.kalantarhormozi.2023@mumail.ie
Call for Papers: Avatar Aesthetics
The DIGRA workshop on Avatar Aesthetics invites submissions on the characteristic properties of avatar-based videogames as an art form, and on the aesthetic aspects of self-embodiment in videogames. Avatarial aesthetics relate to a broader tradition of bodily spectacles and amusements while also sharing similarities with experiences created by VR, installation art and performance art. Furthermore, avatar aesthetics intersects with the aesthetics of architecture, of space and travel, and with ethical and political philosophy for game worlds. The workshop aims to bring together scholars from philosophy, game studies, media studies, and related fields to discuss a broad range of aesthetic modes and attractions relevant to avatar-based videogaming. Phenomenological and ontological perspectives on avatarial self-embodiment are also welcome.
Please submit an abstract of maximum 300 words and a short bio (max 100
words) to mailto:avataraesthetics25@gmail.com by May 1, 2025. The organizing committee will select participants based on the relevance and quality of their proposals.
Each speaker will be given 15 minutes for their presentation, followed by 10-minutes for discussion.
Writing Gameplay Workshop
A reminder that you still have a week to send your expressions of interest to this address if you want to participate in the Writing Gameplay workshop at this year’s DiGRA conference in Malta. We’ll be discussing texts about play, from the autoethnographic to the poetic, the phenomenological to the journalistic, and exploring where they fit into game studies research and teaching.
Full details here: https://digraconference2025.org/downloads/workshop_calls/Writing%20Gameplay%20Workshop%20DiGRA%2025.pdf