BITBANG 4th International Independent Video Game Competition

BITBANG International Festival of Animation, Videogames and Digital Art opens the call for the fourth international indie videogame competition.

Declared of cultural interest by the City of Buenos Aires.

For the fourth consecutive year, BITBANG welcomes indie video games from around the world for the ninth edition of the festival, from October 7 to 14, 2023.

BITBANG disseminates and promotes innovative artistic proposals of an experimental and authorial nature through projections, exhibitions and competitions. We promote audiovisual creation in the country, oriented towards the development and consolidation of the industry as a cultural contribution worldwide.

Since 2014 we have been organizing BITBANG, a unique experience that in each edition allows all those interested in art, creativity and innovation to meet with the most important references in the country and the world. It is a meeting point between animation, videogames and digital art that enables collaboration between artists from different disciplines and generates the construction of new languages and other ways of seeing.

In previous years, the venues were the CCK, the Galileo Galilei Planetarium, INCAA Km 0 Gaumont Space, C3 Science Museum, Cosmos UBA Cinema, Da Vinci School, Local, Club Lucero, Otra Historia Cultural Club, Arcade Social Club and Bar El Destello, in Buenos Aires.

. . .

RULES

1. GENERAL CONDITIONS

1.1 Individuals or legal entities, individually or collectively, over 18 years of age, of any nationality, may participate by submitting video games that meet the requirements established in the following rules.

1.2 The call is open for independent video games made in any country and in any format (PC, consoles, mobile, web, laptops, but not VR), which HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED since January 1, 2022. School graduation and institution games are exempt from the requirement of having already been published and can compete with a Vertical Slice / MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

1.3 A video game will be considered Latin American when half or more of its creators reside in any of the countries in Latin America.

1.4 A video game will be considered international when the majority of its creators reside outside the territory of Latin America.

1.5 A video game will be considered in the “Graduation” category when all its creators are students regardless of their country of origin, and it has been developed as part of a final year project or graduation thesis.

1.6 An “independent” video game is one developed by individuals, groups, or collectives that do not depend directly on public or private institutions and represent a unique take in artistic expression, narrative, and/or experimentation in any of the game development disciplines.

1.7 The Festival’s Curatorial Committee reserves the right to reject the work at its sole discretion.

1.8 The participating video games must be based on an original idea and cannot be a modification of an existing game.

1.9 Participation in the competition is free.

. . .

2. APPLICATION DEADLINE

2.1 The submission of video games in competition is from June 1 to August 30, 2023, at 11:59 pm (GMT-3).

. . .

3. CATEGORIES IN COMPETITION

BITBANG Awards

• BITBANG Award for Best Latin American Videogame
• BITBANG Award for Best International Videogame
• BITBANG Award for Best Graduation Videogame

The BITBANG Awards will be accompanied by two special mentions to the games that stand out in any of the development disciplines.

. . .

3.1 BITBANG Award for Best Latin American Video Game: The Latin American video game that concentrates the highest number of jury votes will be the winner.

3.2 BITBANG Award for Best International Video Game: The international video game that concentrates the highest number of jury votes will be the winner.

3.3 BITBANG Award for Best Student Video Game: The video game (published or in an advanced development stage) made by students from anywhere in the world that concentrates the highest number of jury votes will be the winner.

3.4 Special mentions: Up to two special mentions per award will be given, at the discretion of the jury, to those video games that stand out in their category for their gameplay design, sound, art, or narration.

. . .

4. REGISTRATION, SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF ARTWORK

4.1 The participating works must be registered and send the press materials (images, logos, screenshots, trailers) and the necessary instructions for the jury to install the competing video game, including download codes or installation links (Steam, Android , iOS, web, etc.). The jury will be assigned based on the devices necessary to install and test the submitted video games.

4.2 The works received to apply for the competitions will be submitted to a Pre-selection process carried out by the Festival’s Curatorial Committee. The decision of the Curatorial Committee is final.

4.3 The registration of a game in this call supposes the total acceptance of these terms. By submitting a game to compete in any of the categories, the applicant declares to be the owner of all copyright on the game and/or to have the power to authorize public communication of the game between the moment of acceptance and the end of this festival edition.

4.3 In the event that the project compromises, affects or includes the total or partial use of works protected by national or international legislation on Intellectual Property, and whose copyright holders are persons other than the Applicant of the project, the signatory of the application further declares to have the express authorization of said work, given by the owner of the copyright, complying with the formalities indicated in these terms. Authorization is understood as permission granted by the copyright holder, in any contractual form, to use the work in some of the ways and by some of the means that the legislation on intellectual property establishes. The applicant is responsible for any infringement of said rights and is obliged to defend and leave the Festival organization harmless in any claim submitted by third parties for this purpose.

4.4 The Festival organization reserves the right to make the decisions it deems pertinent regarding situations not expressly provided in these terms.

. . .

5. JURY

5.1 The jury will be made up of professionals in the field of video games, such as game designers, producers, game journalists and other professionals familiar with video game development.

5.2 Persons directly related to the game in competition and to the organization of the Festival will be disqualified from being part of the jury.

5.3 There will be only one winner per category.

5.4 The Festival jury may declare one or more award categories void.

5.5 The jury’s decision is final.

. . .

6. OFFICIAL SELECTION

6.1 The Official Selection will be published on the bitbangclub.com website and the creators of the selected games will be notified by email.

6.2 When applying for the selected works, the applicant authorizes the use of images, logos, cinematic videos and gameplay videos (supplied by the representative of the selected works) to carry out the promotion of the Official Competition of the Festival.

6.3 The games that are part of the Official Selection will receive laurels from the Official Selection BITBANG.

6.4 The delivery of the competing game (code or installation link) must be made within the stipulated deadlines. Otherwise, it will be disqualified.

6.5 The selected games will be notified by email, along with instructions about format, deadlines and delivery of the selected works for its exhibition to the public.

6.6 The Festival will not cover transportation, accommodation, food, health or other costs to developers whose works are selected to attend the event. However, the Festival may provide letters of support to manage the necessary resources before the institutions that favor the attendance of those selected.

. . .

7. VOLUNTARY AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN TRAVELING EXHIBITION

7.1 BITBANG performs free activities of exhibition of animation, video games and digital art during the year. The participants who register their artwork also accept, unless expressly agreed to the contrary, its presentation in traveling exhibitions of the Festival, Film Cycles, etc. These activities will always be free and have as its only purpose the dissemination and promotion of animated films, video games and digital art.

Participation in the Festival implies full acceptance of this regulation. The Festival will resolve according to its judgment and in an unappealable character any eventuality not specified in these terms.