#amaze2018

“Over the last years, we are constantly fostering authorship, artistic expression and the courage of creating off-the-grid views of gaming and narratives. Once again, games aren’t just products of entertainment, games are works influenced by the knowledge, perspective and experience of the developer, and especially this year we are seeing a manifestation of a clear direction that is inspired by an inclusive,playful and engaging digital culture“, says festival director Thorsten S. Wiedemann

The submitters’ work ranges from all kinds of playful media, which underline the A MAZE. Awards categories. 25 games will compete in the following 6 categories:

Most Amazing Game Award Human Human Machine Award Long Feature Award Digital Moment Award Collider Award
 Audience Award

THE NOMINEES:

Accounting+ by Crows Crows Crows (Germany)

Anamorphine by Artifact 5 (Canada)

Attentat 1942 by Charles University / Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic)

Black Room by Cassie McQuater (USA)

Data Mutations by AAA (International)

Don't Make Love by Maggese (Germany)

eCheese Zone by Seemingly Pointless (USA)

Fountain by Philipp Stollenmayer (Germany)

Genital Jousting - Story Mode by Free Lives (South Africa)

Homescape by Yotam Rozin (Israel)

Homo Machina by Arte France (France)

Hypnospace Outlaw by Tendershoot (Germany)

Knights and Bikes by Foam Sword (UK)

Levedad by Solimporta (Ecuador)

Like Roots in the Soil by Space Backyard (Italy)

Liquorice by Dlareme (Cyprus)

Meryll Wants a Cookie by Lost again (The Netherlands)

Museum of Symmetry by The National Film Board of Canada / Paloma Dawkins (Canada)

Sloppy Forgeries by Jonah Warren (USA)

The Norwood Suite by Cosmo D (USA)

The Zium Museum by Michael Berto (Australia)

Tuned Out by Shallow Games (USA)

Untitled Goose Game by House House (Australia)

Walden, a game by USC Game Innovation Lab (USA)

Witchball by S.L.Clark (USA)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

character.animation.synth by Eran Hilleli, Giori Politi (Israel)

Isometric Epilepsy by Ludopium (Germany)

Nothing Happens VR by Michelle and Uri Kranot (Denmark)

NSFWARE by Pierrec (France)

Ooblets by Glumberland (USA)

Path to Mnemosyne by DevilishGames (Spain)

Pie in the Sky by Matthew Keff (USA)

Spoons by La Générale de Production (France)

Where Thoughts Go: Prologue by Lucas Rizzotto (USA)

The winners of each category will get chosen on-site during the festival in April by the international and multidisciplinary jury.

Sarah Northway (Canada)
 Robert Yang (USA) 
Peggy Schoenegge (Germany) 
Jack King-Spooner (UK)
 Leena Kejriwal (India)

Like the last years, we will have open screens at the A MAZE. / Berlin, where you can present your projects.

You can apply for them here: https://goo.gl/forms/RrXd7G6JNFGStUF73 Every project is welcome! the only limit is the places of slots we have. So get over there, read the info and apply before all slots are gone.

Before applying, please check out the list of things you should know:

- Only the screens are provided! Please make sure to bring everything else along that’s needed to show your project (computers, keyboards, controller etc)

- Currently, the specs of the screens are unknown.

- There should be someone from your team at the exhibition place while you are showing your game at all time.

- After exhibiting please bring your private tech stuff back “home”, since we cannot secure everything all the time. Keep an eye out for your stuff in general! -The exhibition is a public event and there will be a huge crowd of people not only fellow game devs.

- Have some additional material that explains your project (explain your controls, give some additional information)

- Banners/ Roll-ups etc. are not welcome

- Your project looks amazing! Why not make stickers, buttons or posters to let people take your awesome art back home?

- Think of a way to share your contact data easily.

- Your installation and disassembly time is included in your time slot. The faster you can do both - the longer you can show your game. A “ready to run”-account on your device with an already installed (and smooth running…) build can speed up the process enormously. Test everything (and we really mean EVERYTHING) before coming to the venue!

- If everything is ready, you might want to invite the press to your ‘’booth’’. A big screen and all your info material together is the perfect spot for a press presentation.

Contact for further information and requests:

First Confirmed Artists

Follow the updates of the programme at https://amazeberlin2018.sched.com/

###

Sarah Northway (Canada)

Sarah is the creator of the Rebuild strategy series, and a programmer and designer on Fantastic Contraption VR. She spent 5 years traveling the world with her husband and making indie games in remote places, and now explores the worlds inside her Vive.

Robert Yang (USA)


Robert Yang makes surprisingly popular games about gay culture and intimacy -- he is most known for his historical bathroom sex simulator The Tearoom and his male shower simulator Rinse and Repeat, and his gay sex triptych Radiator 2 has over 150,000 users on Steam. He is currently an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU Game Center, and he has given talks at GDC, IndieCade, Queerness and Games Conference, and Games for Change. He holds a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School for Design.

Peggy Schoenegge (Germany)


Peggy Schoenegge studied art history at Humboldt University and Technische University in Berlin. Since 2016 she is a curator and project manager at peer to space. Amongst others she assisted realizing the VR exhibitions The Unframed World, Reset III and Virtual Reality and curated together with Tina Sauerländer Uncanny Conditions.

Jack King-Spooner (UK)

Jack King-Spooner is a Scottish artist who seeks the best medium to convey an idea. His game-works often disregard conventions and instead create novel, unorthodox experiences.

Leena Kejriwal (India)

The A MAZE. Awards are since 2012 the highlight of A MAZE. / Berlin. After a 2,5 month submission period we have this year 192 games submitted from 36 countries (alphabetical list enclosed). Big applause to all submitters worldwide. Their work ranges from all kinds of playful media, which underline our A MAZE. Awards categories.

“Over the last years, we are constantly fostering authorship, artistic expression and the courage of creating off-the-grid perspectives of gaming and narratives. Once again, games aren’t just products of entertainment, games are works influenced by the knowledge, perspective and experience of the developer, and especially this year we are seeing a manifestation of a clear direction that is inspired by an inclusive, playful and engaging digital culture“, says festival director Thorsten S. Wiedemann

ALL SUBMISSIONS FOR A MAZE. AWARDS 2018

End of February, we will reveal the 25 nominees and honorable mentions of the A MAZE. Awards 2018. The nominees will compete in the 5 award categories freshly introduced in 2017. The winners of each category will get chosen on-site during the festival in April by our wonderful international and multidisciplinary jury.

Sarah Northway (Canada) Robert Yang (USA) Peggy Schoenegge (Germany) Jack King-Spooner (UK) Leena Kejriwal (India)

The A MAZE. Award Show will take place on April 27, 2018 at 8 p.m. (Entrance at 7 p.m.) at Urban Spree and will be hosted by Tim Rogers (US)

List of submissions by country, 2018.

Australia 5 Austria 5 Belgium 1 Canada 16 China 1 Colombia 1 Croatia 1 Cyprus 2 Czech Republic 1 Denmark 7 Ecuador 1 France 17 Georgia 2 Germany 40 Iran 2 Ireland 2 Israel 6 Italy 3 Latvia 1 Netherlands 3 New Zealand 1 Norway 3 Pakistan 1 Poland 5 Portugal 2 Romania 1 Russia 1 Serbia 1 South Africa 3 South Korea 3 Spain 3 Sweden 3 Switzerland 4 Taiwan 1 UK 15 USA 27

A MAZE. / Berlin 2018 is looking for support! The 7th international games and playful media festival will bring together independent game developers, artists and musicians from all over the world to Berlin, to present their work, compete for the five awards, and celebrate the greatness of independent games.

We are looking for reliable and responsible game lovers for the following tasks during the festival from April 25-29 (with work happening from April 23-30):

Set up of exhibition, press conference, workshop spaces 

Cashiers at ticket counter

Supervising and providing information to attendees at the conference, workshop and exhibition spaces

Dismantling exhibition, conference and workshops spaces

Assistance to our main staff, i.e. helping out with the award show

In exchange for your help you’ll receive a full access festival ticket, a unique team t-shirt and food/drinks during work hours. You will be part of great international team and have the possibility to network with amazing people in the game culture scene from all over the world.

If you’re interested, please apply via the volunteers form:

http://goo.gl/jgDCh6

You can find information about the festival at http://amaze-berlin.de . If you have any questions, please get in touch by writing an email to [email protected] .

Best,

ZUR ANDEREN WELT ON VALENTINES DAY ! AND IT WILL BE ROMANTIC AS HELL.

February 14, 2018 - Start 8pm Location: KIM BAR BERLIN - Brunnenstr. 10, 10119 Berlin

Artists: VR Coven

A Berlin based collective of women and femme postive men creating femme focused virtual experiences. Corpus Misty is a proof of concept that works with immersive story telling and education through lived experience. 

Artwork: Corpus Misty

An immersive labyrinth touring the female* body told through lived experiences.

More about the experience and the Coven: https://corpusmisty.com/

####

Each wednesday until April 11, 2018 we invite one artist with one VR artwork for one unique experience.

For a supernatural setup we are working together with Poptikum, a collective of architects and artists exploring new materials, dimensions and playfulness in space.

Facebook event: https://tinyurl.com/yborfu39