It’s official! The EU’s Youth in Action program has agreed to sponsor GameLab, a European young people’s conclave developed and submitted for funding by Ars Electronica together with mb21 (Germany), bugnplay.ch (Switzerland) und C3. We’re thrilled; the participants will be too! But, like, what’s this GameLab all about, actually?
At GameLab, the accent is on European networking and creative collaboration on the part of young people. Here, 16 youngsters age 14-19 from Austria, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland will design and program a serious game, a computer game with a relevant, important background. Support provided by gaming experts will enable these young people to perform all the necessary steps themselves—project planning, storytelling, graphic design, programming and, finally, marketing the finished game at the Festival. Everything is in the hands of 16 young specialists who, in competitions held by each of the four partner institutions, demonstrated that they possess outstanding design skills, solid technical know-how and the requisite creativity.
GameLab as part of the u19 exhibit 2012
u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD has been working together with mb21 (Germany), bugnplay.ch (Switzerland) and C3
Planning of a new game at the u19 CREATE YOUR WORLD Festival 2012
This will all be happening at the u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD Festival held in conjunction with Ars Electronica September 5-9 in Linz. This future festival of the next generation is an ideal setting to develop creative, sustainable ideas for the world of tomorrow and to get hands-on experience with new technologies. The aim is for festivalgoers and project partners to make exciting discoveries, have new experiences and get hooked up in networks that endure beyond the festival’s run. This is precisely what’s in store for GameLab participants. The theme of the serious game will be decided at a preparatory get-together in August. In September, visitors to the Festival will be able to test-play the outcome and watch these bright young game developers at work.