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Alt.Ctrl.GDC Inspirations: The innovative and luminous Guitar Wizards

Hey game makers, it's already November, and that means you've got just four weeks until submissions close for the seventh annual Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase at the 2020 Game Developers Conference

All submissions of one-of-a-kind game peripherals, contraptions, and novelties which enhance game experiences and challenge our expectations are welcome, but don't delay: the deadline for submissions to the 2020 Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase is Friday, November 29th!

This showcase of games with unique, offbeat, and just plain intriguing controllers takes place March 18th through the 20th of next year, during the final three days of GDC 2020. If your submission is chosen your team will be asked to showcase their game to GDC attendees at the Alt.Ctrl.GDC exhibit area; they’ll also receive a pair of Core + Summits Passes and a pair of Expo Plus Passes, for a total of four free passes to GDC 2020!

The Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase is always a hit with GDC attendees, so it's a great place to show off your work and connect with fellow game makers. One game will also be selected to win $2,000 and the alt.ctrl.GDC Award at the IGF ceremony during GDC, with judging taking place on-site. There's always a fun atmosphere, too, so don't be shy about showcasing your work!

At Alt.Ctrl.GDC this year, for example, the team behind Guitar Wizards brought stately wizard hats to wear while showing off their unique dueling wizard rhythm game.

Though it was initially dreamed up as a magic dueling game in which players wore gesture-tracking gloves as input devices, the Guitar Wizards team (including Ben McInnes, Adoné Kitching, Jason Sutherland, and Luc Wolthers) wound up building something very different. The version shown off at Alt.Ctrl.GDC had players using Guitar Hero controllers to duel across an arena of light and sound, playing riffs to fire brilliant streams of light back and forth across a table layered with LEDs.

It was a big hit at the show, and an inspiration to any game makers who haven't figured out how to make that one great game idea work; maybe you just need to look at how to build it with a different set of tools. And if you do, make sure to submit it for next year's Alt.Ctrl.GDC -- and hurry, because you've only got until November 29th!

Alt.Ctrl.GDC is part of the Game Developers Conference 2020, which takes place March 15th through March 20th of next year at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. 

For more details on GDC 2020 visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

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