The Creative Gaming Award honors games and playful media that give the player the possibility to interact creatively in and with the game.

The focus is on the game idea and the innovation that is connected with the development of the game. This can be showcased by a special gameplay, transmediality, unknown possibilities of interaction within the game, essential graphic innovations, new interfaces, uncommon atmospheres, visual breakthroughs or new topics that are being dealt with in the game. The Creative Gaming Award will honor the best games in two categories:

Most Creative Game Award
It is possible to submit beta-versions and finished projects.
This award is endowed with 1.500€. Additionally, two members of the nominated teams will be invited to the PLAY – Creative Gaming festival (including festival passes, travel expenses and accommodation during the festival) and the projects will be showcased in the official PLAY17 exhibition.

Most Innovative Newcomer Game
It is possible to submit prototypes, beta-versions, alpha-versions and finished projects.
This price is endowed with 500 €. Furthermore, the developers will be supported by a mentor for one year. Two members of the nominated teams will be invited to the PLAY – Creative Gaming festival (including festival Passes, travel expenses and accommodation during the festival) and the projects will be showcased in the official PLAY17 exhibition.

Creative Gaming Award 2017
The registration and submission for the Creative Gaming Award is taking place online via playfestival.de. All data, videos and other materials need to be sent to Creative Gaming via the form on our website, mail on CD, DVD or USB-stick to address: Creative Gaming e.V., Wiesendamm 59, D-22305, Hamburg. Alternatively, it is possible to make the material accessible via download-link. The submission is only complete and eligible for nomination if all required fields in the submission form have been filled out and the material has been made accessible to Creative Gaming. When all materials have been submitted, a participation confirmation will be sent to you via e-mail.

Deadlines 2017

Start of submission: 15 May 2017

Deadline: 15 July 2017 (00:00 Uhr MEZ), (for mail: the date of the stamp counts)

General Requirements

You produced all contents by yourself and did not violate others’ rights. You did not use property of other’s (music, pictures, etc.). If you did, you have all necessary opt-ins.

By participating you give us the permission to present your work during the PLAY17 festival (1-5 November 2017) and for other purposes related to PLAY – Creative Gaming Festival.

The Creative Gaming Award is a Europe-wide contest, thus we can only consider submissions from European developers.

Your data storage mediums will remain in the property of Creative Gaming (please do not send originals!).

You agree on being contacted via e-mail concerning the PLAY17 festival and your submission.

In case of a nomination, it is required that at least one representative of your submitted project is present during the PLAY17 festival in Hamburg. If you do not send a delegate, the nomination can be denied by Creative Gaming. In this case, another project can be nominated instead.

In case of a nomination or reward, your submitted material will be used for the corresponding websites (playfestival.de, creative-gaming.eu), published on Youtube, used for press releases and presented publically during the exhibition at PLAY17 in Hamburg and used for other purposes related to PLAY – Creative Gaming Festival.

Please prepare the material accurately (pictures, sound, texts) and double check the file regarding bugs and errors (it is recommended to check the file on differents systems).

Data Usage

The team of Creative Gaming e.V. will take the security of your data very seriously. We strictly work by German data protection standards. Personal data is only requested if needed for the award. Your data will never be given to other people or institutions.

Awarding Ceremony

The awarding ceremony takes place on 4 November 2017 during the PLAY – Creative Gaming festival in Hamburg (1-5 November 2017).

Two members of each nominated project will be invited to Hamburg for the entire festival. Travel and accommodation expenses are being covered by PLAY – Creative Gaming festival.