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Submissions for the popular Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase at GDC 2019 close a week from next Friday, so now's the time to submit your weird, offbeat controller prototypes! To inspire you, here we profile

November 14, 2018

2 Min Read

The call for submissions to Alt.Ctrl.GDC is still open, and Game Developers Conference 2019 organizers are eager to see a broad array of wonders in this popular on-site showcase of unique, offbeat game controllers.

The deadline for submissions to the showcase is Friday, November 30th, and organizers welcome any and all one-of-a-kind game peripherals, contraptions, and novelties which enhance game experiences and challenge our expectations.

The showcase itself takes place during the final three days of GDC 2019, March 20th through the 22nd.  Teams for each submission chosen will be asked to showcase their game to GDC attendees at the Alt.Ctrl.GDC exhibit area; they’ll also receive a pair of All-Access Passes and a pair of Expo Passes, for a total of four free passes to GDC 2019!

Every year the Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase ends up being a panoply of ingenious and truly inspired creations, so to help spread the inspiration around a bit and get your creative juices flowing, today we'd like to highlight the very first Alt.Ctrl.GDC award winner: Fear Sphere!

Created by Andrew Genualdi, Henry Lam, and Jaeseong Yi (who now work together as New Arcade), Fear Sphere is an eye-catching piece of work.

One player climbs inside a big inflatable sphere and takes hold of a custom-built flashlight controller, which uses some projection tricks to make the player feel like they're trying to get out o a spooky dark place while being hunted by a mysterious foe. All the while, a second player stands outside the bubble and, using a set of blueprints, tries to act as guide.

It's a remarkable engineering feat that manages to convey a real sense of being "immersed" in the game, without any headsets or motion trackers. A sort of escape room in a bubble, Fear Sphere made such a splash at the GDC 2017 Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase that it wound up winning that year's inaugural Alt.Ctrl.GDC Award at the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards. 

There's still a few weeks left to submit your own projects for next year's Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase, so get to it! Someone is going to win that Alt.Ctrl.GDC award next year, and it could very well be you.

Alt.Ctrl.GDC is part of the Game Developers Conference 2019, which takes place March 18th through March 22nd of next year at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. More information about Game Developers Conference 2019 is available via its official website.

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