Schedule

All times CEST (UTC+2)

Conference Day 1
Conference Day 2
Conference Day 3
Conference Day 4

April 15 – 18 2025 // Vienna & Graz

Conference Day 1

Tuesday, 15.04.2025
University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien

7:30	Departure Graz
	Inffeldgasse 25d
9:30 - 16:00	Registration at University of Vienna
	Garderobe / Wardrobe
9:30 - 10:30	Arrival at University of Vienna & Coffee
	Garderobe / Wardrobe
10:30 - 12:00	Workshops
	Sixth Workshop on Tabletop Games ((Room: Elise-Richter-Saal) 2nd Eudaimonia in Digital Games Workshop (Room: 30) 16th Workshop on Procedural Content Generation Room (Room: 16) xAI in Game Playing (Room: HS 27) Professional Development in the Game Industry Work processes and workers’ well-being in Digital Games Production (Room: HS 33) Workshop on Live Game Design (Room: Erika-Weinzierl-Saal)
12:00 - 13:00	Lunch
13:00 – 14:30	Workshops
	Sixth Workshop on Tabletop Games ((Room: Elise-Richter-Saal) 2nd Eudaimonia in Digital Games Workshop (Room: 30) 16th Workshop on Procedural Content Generation Room (Room: 16) xAI in Game Playing (Room: HS 27) Professional Development in the Game Industry Work processes and workers’ well-being in Digital Games Production (Room: HS 33)
14:30 - 15:00	Coffee & Cake
	Garderobe / Wardrobe
15:00 - 16:00	Keynotes
	(In)accessible worlds, united through play? with Sabine Harrer & Katta Spiel (Kleiner Festsaal / Small Ceremonial Hall)
16:30 - 18:00	Sightseeing
	Explore Vienna and the University of Vienna in your pre-registered tours. Meeting point for the guided tours: Aula University of Vienna Tour 1: A Guided Walk Through Vienna’s Historic Center Tour 2: Exploring the University of Vienna Tour 3: Exploring the University of Vienna
18:00 - 20:00	Dinner Break
	Free time – Explore local restaurants and cafes on your own!
20:00	Return to Graz
	Meeting point for the departure: Parkplatz Rathaus / City hall parking lot

Conference Day 2

Wednesday, 16.04.2025
TU Graz, Campus Inffeldgasse 25d, 8010 Graz, Austria

9:00 – 18:30	Registration & Poster Session
	(Room: Lobby Inffeldgasse 25d)
9:30 - 10:00	Coffee
10:00 - 10:30	Keynotes
	Welcome from the Organisers (Room: HS i7)
10:30 - 12:00	Paper Session 1A: Technical Game Dev (& AI)	Paper Session 1B: Game Design I
	(Room: HS i7) Stories from the Bottom Up: Emergent Narratives with Composable Story Sifting Patterns Lyu, Millard and Gibbins Souls-VR: Dodge-Rolling in Virtual Reality Kirjonen, Slezas, Dutta, Laattala and Hämäläinen Is the Jedi Force Pull Method Effective? Evaluating Eye-Tracked Object Grabbing in VR (remote) Shishir and Zhao Live Game Design: Prototyping at the Speed of Play van Rozen	(Room: HS i3) Beyond Satisfaction: Game Feel Design for Emotionally Impactful Experiences Bhatnagar, Laattala, Dutta, Cole and Hämäläinen Understanding Game Art Practice Beyond Technical Expertise: A Qualitative Study Hawey Virtual Proximity, Real Anxiety: How Co-located VR Gameplay Increases Mutual Player Distance and Fear of Colliding Tietenberg, Ring and Masuch "Pull the Lever, Kronk!": Mapping Controller Affordances to Collaborative Sense-Making in Play (remote) Truesdell
12:00 - 13:00	Lunch
13:00 - 14:30	Paper Session 2A: Game Design II	Paper Session 2B: Game Analytics
	(Room: HS i3) A Design Toolkit of Ludic Contentious Politics: The case of Protest in Videogames Bashandy Computational Tools for Table-Top Role-Playing Games: A Scoping Review Shyne and Cooper Tracing Research Through Design with Ponte: bridging game development repositories and qualitative research tools Granzotto Llagostera, Khaled and Sinervo Mobile Augmented Reality: A Systematic Review of Current Research and the Untapped Potential of Interactive Marker-Based Games Tawde and Kriglstein	(Room: HS i7) Explaining and Clustering Playtraces Using Temporal Logics Gutiérrez-Sánchez, Pérez-Liébana and Gaina Player Perception Matters: Insights into the Use of Esports Live Companion Tools Wang, Dormann and Wallner STRIVE: Socio-behavioral Taxonomy Representation for Interactive Virtual Environments Bisberg, Chen, Twyman, Williams and Ferrara Trends in Gaming - Views of Industry Professionals and Game Scholars Kultima
14:30 - 15:00	Coffeebreak
15:00 - 16:30	Panel: "AccessibleWorlds? Accessibility, Design, and the Right to Play"	Paper Session 3B: Game AI I
	Chen, Dewinter, Hanifah and Smith (Room: HS i3)	(Room: HS i7) Language Models as Narrative Planning Heuristics Senanayake and Ware Analysis of Robustness of a Large Game Corpus (remote) Bazzaz and Cooper Towards a Celeste AI Framework: Agent-free Automated 2D Level Generation for Multidirectional Platformers Robinet, Gómez-Maureira and Preuss Analytic Procgen with Composable Design Space Expressions Mawhorter and Smith
16:30 – 16:45	Break
16:45 – 17:30	Anniversary Keynote
	FDG 20th Anniversary Plenary Session (Room: HS i7)
17:30 – 18:30	Poster Reception
	Room: Lobby Inffeldgasse 25d)

Conference Day 3

Thursday, 17.04.2025
TU Graz, Campus Inffeldgasse 25d, 8010 Graz, Austria

8:30 – 17:00	Registration & Poster Session
	(Room: Lobby Inffeldgasse 25d)
8:30 – 09:00	Coffee
9:00 – 10:00	Keynotes
	Free for All? Player Autonomy and Equitable Access to Playful Experiences with Kathrin Gerling (Room: HS i7)
10:00 – 10:30	Coffeebreak
10:00 – 12:00	Doctoral Consortium
	(Room: HS i5)
10:30 – 12:00	Paper Session 4A: Game Design III	Paper Session 4B: Game AI II
	(Room: HS i3) Enhancing Player Satisfaction Through Personality-Based Narrative Adaptation in Digital Games Auer and Lankes The Many Views of Game-Related Experiences with the Experiential Tetrad Soraine and Carette Accessibility and Inclusion in the Game Industry: A position paper Westin, Brusk and Palmquist Thematization of actions in openworld action-adventure games Junnila	(Room: HS i7) Slice of Life: A Social Physics Game with Interactive Conversations using Symbolically Grounded LLM-Based Generative Dialogue Treanor, Samuel and Nelson Playing RollerCoaster Tycoon with Reinforcement Learning (remote) Campbell and Verbrugge The Procedural Content Generation Benchmark: An Open-source Testbed for Generative Challenges in Games Khalifa, Gallotta, Barthet, Liapis, Togelius and Yannakakis Evaluating Large Language Models through Communication Games: An AgentBased Framework Using Werewolf in Unity Poglitsch, Szakács and Pirker
12:00 – 13:30	Lunch
12:00 – 13:30	Doctoral Consortium Lunch
13:30 – 15:00	Games & Demo Session
	Hongwei Zhou, Fandi Meng and Katherine Kosolapova Sea of Paint: A Critical AI, Text-to-Image Narrative Game Without Text-to-Image Model Florian Glawogger, Michael Holly and Johanna Pirker Habitat: A Game About Protecting the Climate and Environment, Encouraging Players to Adopt Eco-Friendly Behavior Costantino Oliva Night Parade of 100 Demons: Musical Improvisation with Digital Games Wieger Wittrock and Marcello A. Gómez-Maureira De Weg naar Boven: A Hearing Test Video Game Xinya Yang Demo Abstract Kseniia Harshina, Dipika Rajesh, Georgia Samaritaki and Tom Tucek Dynamic Problem Solving with Local Generative AI: One Spell Fits All Fiona Shyne, Shripad Agashe, Rana Jahani, Kaylah Facey, Erica Kleinman, Seth Cooper, Casper Harteveld and Eileen McGivney Multi-Modal Escape Room for Reflective Learning Bjarke Alexander Larsen, Xuyuan Cai, Andrew Li, Nic Junius, Jason Xu, Kyle Gonzalez and Elin Carstensdottir Telegrams from the Choir Train: A Perennial Discord Bot Game Fiona Shyne, Kaylah Facey and Seth Cooper Narrative Logic Grid Puzzles Basil Lim, Denis Barry and Dearbhla Cullinane XR Neuroanatomy training tool utilizing cadaveric brain photogrammetry Zhou Zhou, Melika Haghikia, Alisa Kontorovič and Huajing Pan Tessellate Caspar Krijgsman, Jackie Poos and Rafael Bidarra A VR and AI-powered game-based approach to minimally-invasive social cognitive assessment (Room: HS i6)
15:00 – 15:30	Coffeebreak
15:30 – 17:00	Games & Demo Session
	Hongwei Zhou, Fandi Meng and Katherine Kosolapova Sea of Paint: A Critical AI, Text-to-Image Narrative Game Without Text-to-Image Model Florian Glawogger, Michael Holly and Johanna Pirker Habitat: A Game About Protecting the Climate and Environment, Encouraging Players to Adopt Eco-Friendly Behavior Costantino Oliva Night Parade of 100 Demons: Musical Improvisation with Digital Games Wieger Wittrock and Marcello A. Gómez-Maureira De Weg naar Boven: A Hearing Test Video Game Xinya Yang Demo Abstract Kseniia Harshina, Dipika Rajesh, Georgia Samaritaki and Tom Tucek Dynamic Problem Solving with Local Generative AI: One Spell Fits All Fiona Shyne, Shripad Agashe, Rana Jahani, Kaylah Facey, Erica Kleinman, Seth Cooper, Casper Harteveld and Eileen McGivney Multi-Modal Escape Room for Reflective Learning Bjarke Alexander Larsen, Xuyuan Cai, Andrew Li, Nic Junius, Jason Xu, Kyle Gonzalez and Elin Carstensdottir Telegrams from the Choir Train: A Perennial Discord Bot Game Fiona Shyne, Kaylah Facey and Seth Cooper Narrative Logic Grid Puzzles Basil Lim, Denis Barry and Dearbhla Cullinane XR Neuroanatomy training tool utilizing cadaveric brain photogrammetry Zhou Zhou, Melika Haghikia, Alisa Kontorovič and Huajing Pan Tessellate Caspar Krijgsman, Jackie Poos and Rafael Bidarra A VR and AI-powered game-based approach to minimally-invasive social cognitive assessment (Room: HS i6)
17:00 – 20:00	Break
20:00	Conference Banquet & Awards Ceremony
	Schlossberg Restaurant

Conference Day 4

Friday, 18.04.2025
TU Graz, Campus Inffeldgasse 25d, 8010 Graz, Austria

8:30 – 17:00	Registration & Poster Session
	(Room: Lobby Inffeldgasse 25d)
8:30 – 09:00	Coffee
9:00 – 10:00	Keynotes
	Demystifying Creativity with Fawzi Mesmar (Room: HS i7)
10:00 – 10:30	Coffeebreak
10:30 – 12:00	Paper Session 5A: Game Design IV	Paper Session 5B: Game Criticism I
	(Room: HS i3) Lushness in Game Design: The Role of NonInteractive Visual Embellishments in Player Experience Meiners, Reich, Gerling, Hicks and Alexandrovsky Crunch on video game production: practices to avoid for healthier workplaces in Game Development Bourscheid, Steil and da Silva Paixão Understanding Disengagement From Competitive Multiplayer Games: An Exploratory Study of League of Legends Seim, Strobel, Gerling and Alexandrovsky “At first I wanted to design the exterior, but figured that it would most likely not be shown in-game” Game Engines as Sites For Creativity and Constraint in Higher Education Healy	(Room: HS i7) Anti-Games, Fantasy Consoles, and the Rise of Speculative Game Development on Itch.io (remote) Berge Between Illusion and Reality: A Philosophical Reflection on the Fantasy Created by Video Games Pan Form and Function: Toward a Better Understanding of Design-Based Games (remote) Sullivan, Salter, Stanfill and Wardrip-Fruin Twitch Synchrony: The Emissions Impact of Streaming (remote) Kerich
12:00 – 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 15:00	Paper Session 6A: Game Criticism II	Paper Session 6B: Games Beyond Entertainment
	(Room: HS i7) The Intersection of Play and History: Integrating Historical Content in Tabletop Role-Playing Games for Education Petousi, Katifori, Sakellariadis, Servi, Kougioumtzian, Koutiva, Roussou and Ioannidis Exploring the Purpose and Development of Academic Games: Analyzing Games Reported in FDG Publications from 2007 to 2024 Chen and Morrell Temporal Collisions: On the Use of Narrative Conventions from Genre Fiction for LocationBased Cultural Heritage Games Haahr, Nisi, Vreeke and Hargood Shifting Genres: Limits of Video Game Genre Taxonomy in Roguelikes Boucher, Telliel and Smith	(Room: HS i3) Dice Adventure: An Asymmetrical Collaborative Game for Exploring the Hybrid Teaming Effects Zhang, Smith, Li, Dong, Harpstead and Maclellan Evaluating the Impact of User and Learning Experience in Three Cultural Heritage VR Applications Liu, Hargood, Tang and Hulusic Mapping Practices of Academic Game Development Yeung, Friehs and Gómez-Maureira “I want to let them in”: Exploring Critical Consciousness Development through Roleplay and Reflection in “Papers, Please” Turay, Baca Vázquez, To and Smith
15:00 – 15:30	Coffeebreak
15:30 – 16:30	Paper Session 7A: Games Pedagogy (& GBE)	Paper Session 7B: Game Design V
	(Room: HS i7) LEGO Prototyping in an Introductory Game Development Course Horn Game Design Games: Designing Games for Teaching Game Design Wetzel Routine, Twisty, and Queer: Pasts and Futures of Games Programming Pedagogy with No and Low Code Tools (remote) Cox, Murray and Salter	(Room: HS i3) Building Story and Interest: How Lore and Atmosphere Affect Immersion Within an ARG (remote) Cox, Forsting and Mosher Toward Understanding Display Size for FPS Esports Aiming Madhusudan, Spjut, Watson, Schneider, Boudaoud and Kim
16:30 – 17:00	Break
17:00 – 17:30	Closing
	(Room: HS i7)

STATEMENT OF VALUES

The organizers, general chairs and program chairs of the Foundation of Digital Games 2025 conference affirm the event's commitment to scholarly integrity, collegiality and professionalism, and inclusivity towards scholars of all backgrounds. Read our code of conduct here.