Theme: Research through Games; Research for Games
The special theme for FDG 2026 is “Research through Games; Research for Games.” This theme highlights a core strength of FDG: bridging the gap between scientific and humanistic approaches to games research by exploring the dual role of games as both objects of study and powerful tools for discovery.
Paper Submissions
FDG invites authors to submit papers reporting new research. Authors may submit either full papers (two columns, up to ten pages in length, excluding references and appendices), or short papers (up to six pages, one column or four pages, two columns in length, including references). The length of these submissions should be commensurate with contribution of the paper, in the judgment of reviewers; papers that are significantly longer than recommended page limits without clear justification (e.g., significant use of images) may be desk rejected. Note that reviewers are not required to read material in appendices during the peer-review process. Submitted papers will need to be anonymized by the authors by removing any identifying author and institution information from the submission. Additionally, papers will need to be submitted in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template.
Please note that for Regular Papers you are required to submit an abstract by December 5th to register your submission, with the full paper following on December 15th.
FDG also provides the option for “Abstract Only” submissions. Abstract Only submissions should be submitted to the “Abstract” track, regardless of thematic area, and may be up to five-hundred words on any subject related to digital games. Accepted abstracts will not be published in the conference proceedings, but abstract authors will be given an opportunity to give an oral presentation of their work at the conference
Submissions are handled using the FDG 2026 EasyChair. When submitting a paper, authors will be asked to select one of the conference’s tracks. Please select the track that you feel most closely aligns with the topics covered in your submission. Accepted papers will be included in the proceedings under the track they were accepted for.
The template for the submissions can be found under the following link ACM Template. Please use the template with 2 columns for submissions.
Workshop proposals
Workshop proposals can be up to 6 pages (excluding references) in the single-column paper submission format. They should include: a background section explaining and motivating the workshop, the objectives of the workshop, planned activities, the background of the organizer(s), publication plans (if any), anticipated number of participants, and the means for soliciting and selecting participants. And finally, workshop proposals will not be included in the conference proceedings. Submissions must be made through https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=fdg26
ACM Open Access Fees
This year, ACM has implemented a new system whereby authors are required to pay open access fees (called an Article Processing Charge, see: https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess). This requires authors to:
a) Be affiliated with an institution which has made an institutional agreement with ACM concerning these fees (called ACM Open, see list of participating institutions here: https://libraries.acm.org/acmopen/open-participants). Only one paper author needs to have this affiliation to cover fees for the entire paper
(b) Pay the Article Processing Charge
Many institutions have funding available to cover publication costs such as this. If your institution has such funding, please use it to cover these fees. If your institution lacks such funding, and all paper authors also lack grant/gift funding to cover such fees, the Foundations of Digital Games conference can reimburse you for these fees. To apply for ACM Article Processing Charge fees, please send an email to Jim Whitehead [ejw@ucsc.edu] and Phil Lopes [phil.lopes@ulusofona.pt] with the following information:
(a) paper title(s),
(b) requested reimbursement amount,
(c) a copy of an email from your institution showing you were unable to secure funding from your institution (e.g., from a department chair, etc.), and
(d) a PayPal account.
Note that we are unable to provide reimbursement to authors from Russia due to the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Details about publishing fees will be updated soon.
Full details of the new ICPS publishing model: https://www.acm.org/publications/icps/faq
Full details of the ACM Open program: https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess
Doctoral Consortium
A Doctoral Consortium (DC) will be held at FDG 2026 to enable PhD students to discuss their research with fellow students and professors. While the consortium is designed for senior PhD students who will pursue a career in academia, any PhD student is welcome to apply.
The DC is an in-person event to be held at FDG 2026, but efforts will be made to accommodate online attendees if necessary. Subject to the total number of participants, the DC will likely be held in a separate space with participants and selected mentors. The DC event is expected to last for about half of a conference day.
Accepted PhD students may be invited to present a poster of their work during the poster exhibition, in addition to attending the DC session. Accepted PhD students will be asked to participate in a round of short talks to solicit and receive feedback from the audience, and will then be paired with faculty mentors for one-on-one discussions. Among others, PhD students can ask questions to faculty mentors about 1) the content of their research proposals, 2) navigating the PhD process, and 3) looking for jobs in academia. We recommend that you pose these questions in both your application to the DC and, if selected to participate, the short talk itself.
We solicit applications as a single PDF in the following format:
- CV and a short cover letter explaining expected benefits from attending the consortium and questions to discuss (general and/or specific to their research)
- 2 to 4 pages about the PhD work (excluding any number of pages for references) in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Primary Template. Submissions should address the goals of the research, the proposed approach, any results, and plans for completing the work.
Note that submissions should include the name and university affiliation of the applicant.
Remote Participation
FDG’26 will feature hybrid sessions allowing for remote presentations.