Game Developers Conference (GDC) is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Play (and Vote on) These Showstopping alt.ctrl.GDC Games at GDC 2025

Ride a seesaw, pet a kitty's rear end, and take a shower: These are just some of the things you can do at GDC's alt.ctrl.GDC exhibition this March! 

The Game Developers Conference is excited to share the 20 games that were selected to showcase at GDC 2025's alt.ctrl.GDC event. This exhibition, co-helmed by indie curator John Polson, is dedicated to showcasing some of the most unique, offbeat, alternate controllers in modern games. 

Join the Movement and Register for GDC 2025!

All GDC attendees are encouraged to come to this collaborative community space, located on the Expo Floor, to play these innovative games and meet the developers who created them. The exhibition will be open March 19-21 during expo hours.

Make sure to vote for your favorite alt.ctrl.GDC game on Wednesday, March 20. The winner will receive the alt.ctrl.GDC Award onstage at the 2025 Independent Games Festival Awards—part of the longest-running festival, summit, and showcase celebrating independent games and their creators. Last year, escape room game Chú Mó by The Chú Mó Team @ ArtCenter took home the coveted prize. 

Here are the games you can check out at this year's showcase: 

Back Off Me Booty (Scallywag Studios)

Badger Badger Badger (Sam Brown, Justin Chang, Ruby Chen)

Breaking News (Kathy Wang, Chloe Li)

ChromaCorp (The ChromaCorp Team)

Clench The Stench (Yuhan 'Harry' Cai, Zheng 'Soap' Gui, Heejae Lim, Chai Lin, Preston Phung, Roberto Reynoso, Gabe Robinson-Barr, Arjun Shivakumar, Yunhao 'Edmund' Ye, Zishuai Zhang, Zhexuan 'Victor' Zou)

Cooked Intel (Wenxiao Ding, Lu Lyu, Luna YiXi Wu, Steven Jinyuan Yang)

Dance Of The Sky Carver (Team SkyCarver)

Gemzy Frenzy (Angel Wong, Baiyuan Xing, Nathan Duker, Siqi Cheng)

How to Pet Your Cat (Dachu Interactive)

I’ll Meet You In The Rain (Xiangrui Zeng, Olivia Yin, Xiao Tan, Coco Ma, Shuang Cai, Lancy Zhan)

Kick & Loud (Mountain Donuts)

Kneedle Drop: An Into The Woolderness Game (Immortal Funk Games)

Limbitless Journey (Limbitless Solutions)

OWSU1! (Jasmine Sumpter, Jada Sumpter, Christopher Kim, Stanley Chen)

Paco's Anatomy (Scotty Fremin, Alex Foussat, Victor Lacombe, Ema Ouardi, Santino Romero, Marion Puigcerver, Chaher Himaya, Lionel Bourgeois)

RICE!! (Sangyu Chen, Isabel Wu, Steve Sun, Max Sun)

Sashimi Slayer (Alex Ling, Arthur Gan, Shenwei Zhu, Kay Krachenfels)

The Lawn (Ian Tang)

The Shower Must Go On (Carlos Barcelo)

Wind Will Tell (Yichen Pan, Hannah Oh)

The alt.ctrl.GDC showcase takes place March 19-21, during the final three days of GDC 2025 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. For those eager to try these incredible controllers out, make sure to buy a pass for GDC 2025! 

It's Your Time: Sign Up for GDC 2025!

GDC returns this March 17-21, 2025, and our Early Rate is currently live (for a limited time)! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC2025 hashtag on social media. 

Subscribe to the GDC newsletter and RSS feed.

Get regular updates on GDC social media—including Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Tags:
GDC, gdc 2025, alt.ctrl.gdc
Advertisement

Connecting the Global Game Development Community