First European Game Festival in Zurich

From 19 September 2014 a varied programme will also be offered for interested members of the public. Special highlights of the three-day festival include the awards for the festival’s «International Competition» and «Student Competition». In addition the Swiss Game Developers Association (SGDA) will present the «Swiss Game Award» during the festival. The opening of the third «Call for Projects: Swiss Games 2014/2015» of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia will form a further highlight.

As the first European game festival Ludicious, based on the Zurich Kasernenareal, is explicitly committed to promoting new talent and location development. The balanced programme containing competitions, pitches and matchmaking sessions between young developers and industry representatives makes the festival economically relevant, institutionalises interaction and enables important contacts to be made.

Game designers and new talents can prove their skills in three different competitions: the «International Competition», the «Student Competition» and the «Swiss Game Award». The «International Competition» of the festival with the «Ludicious Award» (€ 8000) is aimed at game designers with a finished computer game project. New talents are supported with the «Student Competition». The «Outstanding Talent» - Award (€ 4000) recognises the most refreshing and trendsetting project of the next generation. In the same competition the «Diamond in the Rough» (€ 3000) is awarded for the best game concept. For the second time Swiss productions have the chance to receive the Swiss Game Award from the Swiss Game Developers Association. Projects for all competitions can be entered on www.ludicious.ch from 6 June to 15 July 2014.

 Additionally applications for the third «Call for Projects: Swiss Games 2014/2015» can be made in the form of game prototypes mainly produced in Switzerland starting on the festival weekend. The participation conditions, the structure of the competition as well as the members of the jury will be announced during the festival. All entries for the «Call for Projects: Swiss Games 2014/2015» must be handed in by 21 December 2014.

The aim of Ludicious is to promote networks between schools for game design, the industry and young developers already during their education. Collaborations between students of different institutions in the area of game design and research should be supported. Colleges like the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) with its  specialisation in Game Design , the Haute École d'art et de design Genève (HEAD) and the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) with its Game Programming Lab will present students’ excellent final and ongoing projects in an exhibition. The gameZfestival is a partner of Ludicious and will organise the second edition of the festival «Play together!» with an exhibition and talks in the Walcheturm Zurich from 19  – 21  September 2014.

The exhibition «Last man standing: 1^st vs Multiplayer» traces the development of multi - player electronic gaming since Pong and also includes Swiss games. At the end of July 2014 the festival programme will be published on the website, through social media channels, the newsletter, as well as in a press release.

Festival location Zurich
The computer game industry is growing and developing in Switzerland. Zurich is one of the youngest locations in Europe for the computer game industry, but also counts as one of its most exciting. Creative industries are flourishing: no other Swiss city boasts as dense a mix of high-quality educational institutions and research labs, trendsetting start-ups and creative enterprises for game design and innovation technology. Funding institutions, investors, incubators and business angels have not missed this diversity and  have unsurprisingly become interested in the Swiss computer game industry.