Date: November 15-17, 2023
Location: Bologna, Italy

The 22nd International Federation for Information Processing – International Conference on Entertainment Computing (IFIP-ICEC 2023) will be held in Bologna, Italy on 15-17 November.

The conference is organized by the IFIP TC14 – Entertainment Computing Technical Committee, and will be hosted by the University of Bologna.

IFIP-ICEC is the longest lasting and prime scientific conference series in the area of Entertainment Computing. It brings together practitioners, researchers, artists, designers, and industry on the design, creation, development, use, application and evaluation of digital entertainment content and experience systems. This event covers a diverse array of related research issues, including interactive art, game-based learning, XR technologies and ethical considerations associated with entertainment.

Important dates

We invite submissions under the following categories (deadlines):

Workshop proposals (April 3 extended April 16)
Full Research Papers (May 22 extended June 5)
Works-in-Progress (June 5 extended June 19)
Interactive Entertainment / Experiential works (June 7 extended June 21)
Tutorial proposals (June 7 extended June 21)
Submissions to Student Competition (June 7 extended June 21)

Notifications to authors:
Full Research Papers (June 20 July 4)
Other tracks (June 28 July 12)

“Camera ready” (July 12 July 26)

Submissions to Doctoral Consortium: October 11
Late Submissions to Student Competition: October 11 (not in time for the proceedings)
Late Submissions to Workshops: October 11 (not in time for the proceedings)

All accepted papers will be indexed by EI, and be published in book form in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.
In order for a paper to be published in the proceedings, at least one author has to register and present at the conference.

Aims

IFIP TC14 aims to encourage research, development and sharing of innovative ideas, models and practices, on computer applications in entertainment.
To enhance computation and use studies in this field, the technical program committee invites original submissions.

Topics

Topics can include but are not limited to:

Design and Analysis
Game Design: Theory, Creation & Testing
Interactive Narratives & Digital Storytelling
Entertainment Robots, Toys & Smart Gadgets
Social Media / Social Computing Entertainment
New Genres of Interactive & Digital Entertainment

Digital Art & Installations
Controllers for Musical Expression
Music Collaboration Tools
Public Interactive Art Installations
Interactive Art, Performance and Novel Interactions

XR Entertainment
Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality & Games
Ubiquitous/Pervasive Entertainment
TransMedia Storytelling
Metaverse Entertainment

Serious Games
Games for Learning, Health & Well-Being
Games For Change & Social Impact Games
Exergaming
Advergames and Digital Marketing

Inclusivity of Gaming and Interactive Entertainment
Game Accessibility Hardware
Guidelines for Inclusive Design
Special Needs Considerations
Theoretical Foundations and Ethical Issues

Experiential Aspects in Entertainment
Emotions and Affective Interaction
Theoretical Basis of Entertainment
Social / Cultural Impacts of Digital Entertainment
Entertainment for Purpose & Persuasion

Computational Methodologies for Entertainment
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning for Entertainment
Procedural Content Generation
Computer Graphics & Visual Effects
Big Data in Entertainment
Security & Privacy in Entertainment

Algorithmic research on board and card games
New types of entertainment using information technologies
Hardware technology research and development to implement entertainment systems
Non-traditional human interface technologies for entertainment

Calls for Submissions

Full Research Papers

Chairs: Helmut Hlavacs, Univ. of Vienna, AUSTRIA and Angelo Di Iorio, Univ. of Bologna, Italy

Full papers are the main media for presenting high impact, mature research with original new results. Submissions should describe novel unpublished work addressing one or more of the research topics listed. All technical papers will be published in the official Springer LNCS proceedings. Papers must be submitted using the Springer LNCS format.

Paper length should reflect the contribution and maturity of the submission and reviewers from the program committee will be instructed to judge the contribution of a paper relative to its length. For example, typical contributions presenting significant research advances/results should not exceed 12 pages in length excluding references (Full Technical Papers). In addition, videos are encouraged and can be included in the paper or as Electronic Supplementary Material.
See the Springer LNCS guidelines on how to include these. The committee may accept submissions conditionally or route them for a different category, when appropriate, and consult with authors to adjust their paper according to the review needs. Accepted papers will be scheduled for long presentations and discussion at the conference.

Works in Progress

Chairs: Erik van der Spek Eindhoven University of Technology and Andrea Nuzzolese National Research Council of Italy

Work in Progress (WiP) contributions provide an opportunity to present late-breaking work, new experimental projects, research in early phases or with more limited scope than typical full papers. A WiP submission is a shorter submission describing the research problem, contribution, and value to the community, submitted as a PDF file. Accepted papers will be included into the official Springer LNCS proceedings and will be scheduled for presentation and discussion at the conference.

WiP submissions should not exceed 8 pages in length, excl. references, in Springer LNCS format. Submissions with exceeding length relative to their contribution can be rejected. The committee may accept submissions conditionally or route them for a different category, when appropriate, and consult with authors to adjust their paper according to the review needs.

Workshops and Tutorials

We invite proposals for workshops and tutorials that will be held at IFIP-ICEC 2023.

Workshops

Chairs: Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge KTH Royal Institute of Technology Sweden and Barbara Goebl University of Wien Austria

We invite proposals in all areas of entertainment computing and serious games research (see conference topics listed above) and particularly welcome proposals
that will focus on and promote discussion on new and emerging trends in these areas. Workshop proposals must include the following information:

– Workshop or tutorial title and short abstract (max. 50 words)
– Workshop summary, short review of state of the art, motivation and goals
– Workshop format (an activity plan and its rationale towards the goals)
– Workshop format for participant enrollment (e.g. position papers, prior expression of interest, or other applicable requirement for planning and organization);
– Profile of participants (and estimated number of participants)
– Contact of the organizers (name, affiliation, address, phone#, email);
– Short but relevant bio information of the organizers;
– Expected workshop outcomes (proceedings, special issue of journals, project proposals, etc.);
– Proposed workshop due dates (take into consideration conference schedules); workshops can be scheduled for either half a day (4h) or a full day (8h).
– Workshops are open to all IFIP-ICEC attendees at no additional cost, even if not submitting contributions.

Submissions need to adhere to the stated workshop proposal deadline. Additionally, to be considered for inclusion in the conference proceedings, authors of workshop proposals may also submit a 6 page (maximum, excl. references) paper in the Springer LNCS format, observing the deadline for full paper submission. Regular workshop proposals will not be included in the proceedings.

Tutorials

Chairs: Allegra De Filippo

We invite proposals for tutorials that will be held in conjunction with ICEC 2023. We invite proposals in all areas of entertainment computing (see conference topics listed above) and particularly welcome proposals that will focus on and promote discussion on new and emerging trends. Tutorial proposals should be two pages in length and must include the following information:

– Contact information (name, affiliation, address, phone number and email) of the tutorial organizer(s);
– Relevant CV information of the tutorial leader(s);
– Tutorial title;
– Tutorial objective;
– Background/relevance of tutorial topic;
– Intended duration (3h or 6h); and
– Brief summary of the content.

To be considered for inclusion in the conference proceedings, authors of tutorial proposals may also submit a 6 page (maximum) paper in the Springer LNCS
format, observing the deadline for full paper submission. Regular tutorial proposals will not be included in the proceedings.

Interactive Entertainment / Experiential Works

Chairs: Jerome Dupire CNAM Paris and Andrea Poltronieri Univ of Bologna

Interactive demonstrations, installations and games show early implementations of novel, interesting, and important entertainment computing concepts, systems, installations or games, or can serve to showcase results not previously described in the research literature.

Both research and industry is encouraged to send in and showcase demonstrators of novel approaches to entertainment. We particularly encourage demonstrations with which attendees can interact and play.

Demonstration, installation, or a game submission is a shorter submission describing a novel approach to entertainment computing concepts. The submissions will be peer-reviewed and should be composed of a document with 4-5 pages using Springer LNCS format, and structured as follows: (1) up to four pages for an extended abstract and (2) a final page that contains the link to an online video, a list of technical requirements (including electrical and connectivity needs), and physical space requirements (including display and footprint needs). Successful submissions will be included in the conference proceedings.

The extended abstract should be written according to the underlying structure of the structured abstract and must be clear, straightforward, and easy to understand. The extended abstract must contain the following sections: abstract and keywords, introduction, methodology, findings, conclusion, and references.

Sections can be named differently, and subsections can be included. Supporting figures, tables and images of the results may be included in the extended abstract.

By default, demos and games will have a table, chairs and internet connection available. By their nature, interactive installations are intended for larger, potentially public spaces. We will try to accommodate for the needs of these types of installations, but please include a minimal set-up so that we know the range of requirements that we will need to meet. Successful authors of demonstration/installation submissions will be contacted by the chair to confirm the availability of the requested resources. The abstract, digital video and requirements supplement must be submitted electronically.

Student Game and Interactive Entertainment Competition

Chairs: Erik van der Spek Eindhoven University of Technology and TBD

Next to the Interactive Entertainment expo, IFIP-ICEC 2023 also organizes a competition for student games and interactive entertainment. All students up to and including PhD candidate level are eligible to send in their game or interactive entertainment installation, as long as the demonstrator is fully experiential, and the demonstrator is part of a research endeavor. This could be a platform to perform research with, a research through design contribution, or a design exemplar of something that advances the state of the art, but the paper detailing the game or interactive entertainment installation should make clear what the development of it may add to our knowledge of games and entertainment. For PhD candidates, this could be a good venue to have the artifact contribution of your game peer reviewed and published in official proceedings.

Submissions to the game and interactive entertainment competition should be done in a 4-6 page extended abstract in Springer LNCS format, that among others clearly describes the research goal, a description of the experience of the demonstrator with pictures, and how the demonstrator advances the state of the art.

Submissions furthermore require a video of at least 1:30 minutes that clearly shows the experience of the game or interactive entertainment installation. A download link to the executable in case of a game is highly appreciated. Teamwork is allowed, as long as the total amount of work into the game or installation does not exceed 48 person-months.

At least one of the student authors on the paper needs to register and be physically present at the conference to showcase the game or installation in order to have a chance at winning the competition. A jury of experts is formed at the conference to select the winner, and the winner will be announced at the end of the conference.

There are two submission moments for the student competition. In order to be eligible for the proceedings, you have to submit your paper by the early submission deadline. If you want to participate in the competition without a conference proceedings paper, there is also a late submission deadline.

Doctoral Consortium

Chair: Esteban Clua

The Doctoral Consortium provides an opportunity for doctoral students to explore and develop their research interests in an interdisciplinary workshop, under the guidance of a panel of distinguished researchers in entertainment computing and/or serious games. We invite students who feel they would benefit from this kind of feedback on their dissertation work to apply for this unique opportunity to share their work with students in a similar situation as well as senior researchers in the field. The strongest candidates will be those who have a clear idea and an area, and have made some progress, but who are not so far along that they can no longer make changes. Also, as well as stating how you will gain from acceptance, both you and your advisor should be clear on what you can contribute to the Doctoral Consortium.

The Consortium will provide a supportive setting for feedback on students’ current research and guidance on future research directions. It will also offer each student comments and fresh perspectives on their work from researchers and students outside their own institution and promote the development of a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research.
Current graduate students pursuing a PhD project who would benefit from detailed workshop discussions of their doctoral research should submit a single PDF file consisting of a 4-page extended abstract of your thesis work in Springer LNCS format, clearly specifying the originality of the work with respect to current concepts and techniques, the importance of the work with respect to fundamental issues and themes in entertainment computing, results to date and their validity and contribution of the work (expected and/or achieved) to entertainment computing and/or serious games.

Candidates must also send a biographical note, the sponsor or project grant name (if applicable), and affiliation, as well as a one-paragraph statement of expected benefits of participation for both yourself and the other consortium participants (i.e., what will you contribute as well as gain).

Organization

Contacts
icec23@cs.unibo.it

Scientific Committees chairs

Program Chairs: Helmut Hlavacs and Angelo Di Iorio
Work in progress chairs: Erik van der Spek and Andrea Nuzzolese
Workshops Chairs: Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge and Barbara Goebl
Tutorial Chairs: Allegra De Filippo
Interactive Entertainment / Experiential Works Chair: Jerome Dupire and Andrea Poltronieri
Student Game and Interactive Entertainment Competition Chair: Erik van der Spek and Mara Dionisio
Doctoral consortium: Esteban Clua

Conference Organization chairs

General Chair: Paolo Ciancarini
Local Chair: Andrea Poltronieri
Proceedings Chair: Francesco Poggi
Publicity Chair: Marco Ferrati

Steering Committee
Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge (KTH, Sweden)
Jorge Cardoso (University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Esteban Clua (Federal Fluminense University, Brazil)
Rainer Malaka (University of Bremen, Germany)
Erik van der Spek (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands)