The GALA2023 Serious Games Competition aims to celebrate the best digital games for learning in the world. Organized by the Games and Learning Alliance conference as a friendly game contest, the awards are based on an analysis of the games by experts of the Serious Games.

The competition theme for this year and the submission dates and instructions will be available in the next weeks.

This year’s shortlist is comprised the following games across three categories:

Academy: Serious Games that have been designed and produced in a scientific environment

• Space Adventure: defend the planet!
• Go Nisha Go: A Roleplay Game for Girls in India to Experience the Power of Their Choices in Creating a Better World
• “Fresh Start”: An Innovative Video Game for College Alcohol Education
• Charlie and the Quantum Factory

Business: Serious Games that have been designed and produced by a professional game studio or independent developers

• Runo
• FLIGBY The ‘Good Business’ Serious Game
• Math Ascension
• Travle – A game of getting from A to B

Student: Serious Games that have been designed and produced by students (masters degree or lower).

• Darurarurat
• It´s Ukraine – Not A Game
• Numbers and Letters – Numbers Whack & Archery VR

Shortlisted games will be voted on by all conference attendees during the exhibition on Wednesday 29th November 2023 to decide the final winner of each category.

Jury

The shortlisting jury was composed of established Serious Game designers and researchers.

🏆Prizes

A total of 2000€ cash prizes have been announced! Four prizes of 500€ each will be awarded to the winner of each of the three categories (Academy, Business and Student), plus a fourth special prize sponsored by CAPTRS (Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation). CAPTRS is sponsoring a special prize for serious games, which address crisis and emergency preparedness, response, recovery and resilience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if my game gets shortlisted?

The whole team or at least one person from the shortlisted game team will be expected to present their Serious Game at the GALA Exhibition at TU Dublin organized during the conference. You will be expected to attend the conference (if possible for at least the awards ceremony/exhibition) and pay a registration fee. We will shortlist the top 3-4 games from each category.

I’m an individual developer and would like to submit an indie game. Which category should I submit via?

We would recommend submitting via the track that is most representative of you. Indie games which are not student or academic are likely to fit best in the business category.

My game is a physical tabletop game (board game/card game), can I still submit it?

Yes, but you need to submit a digital version of your game using Tabletopia (or equivalent) and a playtesting video. We also encourage you to bring your game to the conference exhibition.

How long should the demo video last?

We believe that a video between 8-10min might be enough to showcase the game experience. However, you can also send a full gameplay video if you feel it is necessary.

What language can I submit my game in?

English is the preferred language for submissions and unfortunately this is the only language we can guarantee the jury will be able to work in. If submission in English is not possible, games can be accepted provided: 

• The game instructions are in English
• The games is easy to understand 
• The game is not completely reliant on language to function.

How is my game going to be assessed?

Our highly experienced jury uses a rating scale from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest) to score each submission against 10 core criteria, plus the relevance to the conference theme.

These core criteria are:

• Effectiveness: the capability of the game to reach its learning objectives
• Efficiency: the capability of the game to reach its objectives without wasting time 
• Usability: ease/pleasantness of use and learnability
• Feedback and assessment support ease
• Exploitability in a learning context: how simple is to use the game in a real context
• Reusability in different learning contexts
• Capability of motivating the user (on the learning topic)
• Capability of engaging the user (in the gameplay)
• Originality: plot, characters, user interaction, etc.
• Technological Innovation and value: graphics, artificial intelligence, etc.

What is the conference theme and does my game have to align to it?

This year’s conference theme is “games for a better world”. While we do also accept submissions which are not aligned to this theme, relevance to this are is part of the judging criteria. When assessing games against this criterion we are looking for games that have an impact in society, community and/or wellbeing.

Are we expected to come to the conference?

Yes, we would love to have you at the conference.

Would we still be eligible to win the category if we weren’t able to attend?

The shortlisted games will be voted on by conference delegates, after they have played the games during the exhibition. We therefore recommend that you attend the conference to receive the award.

How are you recommending teams/individuals travel there? 

Please see the travel recommendations outlined on the conference website.

Will there be a stipend available for shortlisted games?

No, there is no stipend available for shortlisted games.

Is it possible to give us an idea of how many submissions there were and how many participants there are now in the shortlist?

This information can be confirmed after the closing date for submissions.

Who can I contact for more help?

Please feel free to contact our competition chairs with any further questions:

• Kristina Risley K.Risley@soton.ac.uk (co-chair)
• Mariana Rocha Mariana.Rocha@TUDublin.ie (co-chair)