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OVERVIEW
The Game Development Conference is committed to nurturing the design and development of new games using the Reacting to the Past pedagogy, as well as RTTP's intersections with many other forms of game-based learning. At our annual conference, participants will play several Reacting-style games that are currently in development; work to expand and explore ideas for new games; and engage in workshops focused on game design principles and processes. GDC is intended for faculty and staff who already have a passing familiarity with Reacting to the Past, or other educational games.
As always, GDC includes after-hours game nights! Explore learning-relevant game experiences of all kinds. A participant can attend any, all, or none of these sessions, but they are strongly encouraged as community-building exercises, and for sharing ideas for the RTTP classroom and beyond. Come to playtest games, share your own nascent ideas through workshops and pitch sessions, make connections with fellow game-based learning fans, and enjoy!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8 |
1:00 PM |
LODGING CHECK-IN BEGINS
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THURSDAY, JULY 9
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7:45-8:30 AM | BREAKFAST |
8:30-9:00 AM |
WELCOME
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9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
| FULL GAME PLAYTESTS 1 & 2 - Choose one: Created or Eternal?: Reason and Persecution in Ninth Century Baghdad - John Eby This game explores the incredibly diverse intellectual climate of the Abbasid Caliphate at a formative moment for Islam. Before there was a clear Sunni identity, before Shi'ites had a theological shape, before Sufi orders had emerged, Muslims, Christians, Jews in astonishing variety engaged widely in intellectual pursuits with Greek philosophy, science, mathematics, and religious texts in the House of Wisdom; while Rationalists curried favor in the Caliph's court and persecuted populist Traditionalists. OR Birth of an Empire: The United States Debates Philippines Annexation, 1898-1900 - Jonathan Sarris Liberty or empire? In the wake of the United States victory in the Spanish-American War, politicians, soldiers, and citizens debate the morality of seizing the Philippines as a colony in a new American empire. |
12:30 - 1:30 PM | LUNCH |
1:30 -2:30 PM | MICROGAME PREVIEWS A - Choose one Speak Swiftly: Reputation and Celebrity Political Endorsements - Jen Edwards Reclaiming Bayreuth: The Battle for the Soul of Wagner, 1924 - Chad Curtis Suppressing the Pirates, 1500-1750 - Richard Bond |
2:30 - 3:30 PM | MICROGAME PREVIEWS B - Choose one Your Real-Life Role Sheet - Felix Racine Apostolic and Epistolary Authority in the Pauline Ekklesia - Tom Fraatz Two Cliques at the Court : Social Deduction in the Court of King Charles VII - Jim Getz |
3:30 - 4:00 PM | BREAK |
4:00 - 6:00 PM | PLENARY - Info to come! |
6:00 -7:00 PM
| DINNER: PIZZA PARTY |
7:00 - 10:00 PM | GAME NIGHT! |
FRIDAY, JULY 10 |
7:45-8:30 AM | BREAKFAST |
8:30-9:00 AM | ANNOUNCEMENTS |
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM | PLAYTESTS 3 & 4 - Choose one: |
The Comforts of the Sick: Making a Hospital in Thirteenth-Century Europe - Lucy Barnhouse In the first half of the thirteenth century, medieval Europe’s cities were growing and religious orders were multiplying. In Mainz, civic and religious officials have to decide what to do about the future of the city's hospital and the men and women on its staff. Crisis? What Crisis? Social Democracy versus Market Liberalism in Britain, 1977-1979 - Joe Sramek This six-session game set in Britain from 1977 to 1979, a period of political instability and mounting ideological conflict between postwar Keynesian social democracy and emerging market liberalism. Players take on the roles of MPs, union leaders, business figures, or journalists to debate austerity, wage policy, devolution for Scotland and Wales, comprehensive education, and more—reshaping history through strategic negotiation and ideological confrontation. |
12:30 - 1:30 PM | LUNCH |
2:00 - 4:00 PM | PITCH SESSIONS - Choose one group: Guardians of Memory: Defining Classical Greece in Hellenistic Alexandria - Felix Racine The Petition of Isidora: Law and Life in Roman Egypt - Felix Racine Missing the Boat: Black Americans and the Struggle to Stay Afloat in a 19th Century Ocean Of Ideas - Jodie Salazar
Group B Stones Against Iron: The First Intifada, 1988–1991 - Sanket Desai Revolt Against Senaccherib - Tom Fraatz Saladin & the Struggle for Jerusalem - Heather Keaney Group C The Haitian Revolution - Zachary Bennett Drawing the Line: Animation, Labor, and Politics in Hollywood 1937-1948 - Chad Curtis Crossroads of Destiny: From Independence to Oregon City, 1846 - Ken Mulliken |
4:00 - 4:30 PM | BREAK |
4:30 - 6:00 PM | PANELS - Choose one: Reacting 3.0 - Nick Proctor, Emily Gray Rapid Prototyping for Game Design - Allen White |
6:00 - 7:30 PM |
DINNER - on your own tonight!
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7:30 - 10:30 PM | GAME NIGHT 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO |
TIME TBA |
BREAKFAST
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9:00 AM - 12:30 PM | PLAYTESTS 5 & 6 - Choose one: |
Crisis in the Land of Snows: Buddhism, Communism, and the Struggle for Tibet, 1957-1959 - Javier Hidalgo The game is about the struggle between the traditional Buddhist elite of Tibet and Chinese communists and their allies in the late 1950s. Players in the game debate how to reform society and how to respond to growing resistance to Chinese rule. In exploring these issues, participants draw on diverse traditions and value systems, including the ethical teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and ideas about justice, equality, and revolution found in communist writings. Syria 1920: Negotiating the Nation - Heather KeaneyPrince Faisal has returned to Damascus after representing the Arab cause for independence at the Versailles Peace Conference. But despite his efforts, the British and the French appear committed to dividing up Arab lands between themselves as "Mandates" bestowed upon them by the newly created League of Nations. Now Faisal must meet with representatives from the different regions of Greater Syria who advise him on how to respond to the Europeans: compromise or resist. At the same time, regions and individuals have particular concerns and goals; they must persuade Faisal and the group that their concerns are national rather than regional. Victory is successfully persuading Faisal and others to support your region's priorities as a) national priorities that will b) lead to the greatest amount of independence for Syria. |
TIME TBA | LUNCH BREAK & END OF CONFERENCE |
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
Includes all conference events, as well as three breakfasts, three lunches, snack breaks and Thursday's dinner. Members need to sign into your account in order to register at the member rate. Become a member here.
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Consortium Member |
$300 |
| Non-Member | $350 |
| Conference Staff & Students | $150 |
There is no early discount or late fee regardless of when you register, but we ask that you sign up for the conference by the end of day June 30, 2026.
ON-CAMPUS HOUSING
Housing is available for $55 per night, plus a one-time $15 linen fee. Each person will be given a separate room within a 2-3 bedroom apartment with a shared bathroom. You can request to share a room with some at the point of registration, otherwise you will be assigned to an apartment with others of the same gender. Check-in will be on Wed. afternoon July 8, Checkout on Saturday afternoon, July 11, with early arrival (July 7) and late departure (July 12) possible.
The closest airport is Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF), approximately an 7.5-mile car ride from the Canisius University campus, located at 2001 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14208.
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If you drive, parking will be available on campus near the dorms. Taxis and ride share are available from the airport – exit the baggage area and go left to the bus shelters.
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Amtrak has two stations in the Buffalo area, but you will want to go to the Exchange Street Station.
The Greyhound station (181 Ellicott St, Buffalo, NY 14203) is near the Church Street Metro Station.
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The Niagara Frontier Transit Authority runs from Canalside (downtown Buffalo) to the University of Buffalo. Exit at the Humboldt Hospital Station.
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