IGDA Perspectives April 2010 Studio Spotlight Megan Gaiser of Her Interactive In her role as president and CEO of Her Interactive, the pioneer in interactive entertainment targeted towards female play preferences, Ms. Gaiser is responsible for short and long term corporate strategy and day-to-day operations. So, how long has Her Interactive been around? Her Interactive is the pioneer of games created especially for girls and women, opening its doors fifteen years ago in 1995. How many people are on your staff? 30 of us, all passionate! What makes your studio different from any other? Our team and our culture. We are all very dedicated to high quality and have mastered the art of creative collaboration. This has resulted in 21 highly celebrated Nancy Drew games, the majority of which have won Parents Choice Gold Medal awards. Our culture is creative, respectful and fun. Our employees are resourceful, smart, creative and eclectic. Plus, we believe there is a link between employee diversification and product diversification and our games reflect that– we’re balanced evenly men and women. What can you tell me about the projects you are working on? We just released our 21st Nancy Drew game—Warnings at Waverly Academy—you go undercover at a prestigious girls' boarding school to discover the culprit behind threatening notes and dangerous accidents. It’s become one of our fans’ favorite games. We will release our games on Mac for the first time. Also, this year marks the 80th anniversary of Nancy Drew. We are creating a Collector’s edition and also re-mastering our very first Nancy Drew game – Secrets Can Kill with a new ending! We are also in the process of evaluating iPhone, iPad and Facebook games. What's the best part of your job? To guide a highly creative and talented team to create excellence, to transform challenges into opportunities and to evangelize our unique vision and games to people inside and outside our industry. What challenges do you face? Staying nimble and established enough to continue to grow in a constantly changing market and technology shifts. We’ve overcome many obstacles over the last fifteen years and this current landscape requires the same kind of resourcefulness and creativity to not only survive, but also thrive. What made you decide to get into Game Development? I’m a filmmaker and a friend told me about a Creative Director job opening when Her Interactive first got the Nancy Drew license in 1996. I knew nothing about games but was intrigued by the opportunity to create games around a legendary role model. So I took a leap of faith and joined Her in 1997. What do you see as the future of the game industry? Gaming is an art form and an opportunity to be stimulated, engaged, entertained, and inspired through play. The future convergence in platforms and disciplines opens up endless possibilities to create quality entertainment - artists, statisticians, filmmakers, scientists, designers, activists, musicians– everyone is making their way into gaming and joining forces to create innovative interactive entertainment. If you were going to give some advice to a new entry into the industry, what one thing would you say to them? Seek out mentors. They are everywhere. They see our potential and help us to see it, believe it and to never give up. Why is it important to be part of the greater game development community and how does IGDA help you connect? Fostering a well-rounded environment to create games ultimately helps the bottom line too, by creating unique and unexpected games that propel our industry forward. IGDA gives us common ground on which to meet and share our ideas. I am very proud to be on the Advisory Board of IGDA Women in Games. They now publish a quarterly newsletter and program regular ‘women in games’ panel sessions at GDC and GC Cologne. Additionally, IGDA Women in Games has been the principal driving force behind two important community programs, GameMentorOnline and Games2Girls. GameMentorOnline is the premier online solution for students seeking mentorship from professionals in the games field, and will be opening up the free service later this year to serve working professionals as protégés. Games2Girls is a middle school curriculum development program designed to give young girls a chance to learn about game design in an afterschool environment. Scheduled to launch later this year, Games2Girls is being supported by an advisory group of high-visibility women in games. _____________________________________ Autodesk Ad THE QUICKEST PATH FROM WHAT IF? TO OH, WOW! With comprehensive solutions for film, game, and television production, Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation software offers an efficient workflow, from initial concept to final delivery, giving you freedom to transform creative ideas into innovative entertainment. Learn more at www.autodesk.com/me Digital Entertainment Creation _____________________________________ Congratulations to our MVP Awards Recipients and Lifetime Achievement Award Winner This year our MVP award winners were Heather Chandler for her work with the Leadership Forum, Marta Daglow for her volunteer efforts during the Executive Director Search, and Wendy Despain for her hard work with IGDA communications initiatives like the IGDA Magazine and her leadership of the writers SIG. Bob Bates was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement award and given a special lifetime membership in recognition of his outstanding service to our association. IGDA Volunteer Events Each year the IGDA holds a special event to say thank you to the people who work so hard to keep our association vibrant. Approximately 200 IGDA volunteers and supporters gathered at Jillian's Restaurant, located in the nearby Metreon, to share best practices and discuss how to further the mission of the IGDA. Executive Director Joshua Caulfield gave a state of IGDA address that culminated in the recognition of a few volunteers for the extremely dedicated work they do throughout the year. This year IGDA recognized four individuals who best represented the ideal of outstanding volunteer service to the association. Our MVP award winners were Heather Chandler, Marta Daglow, and Wendy Despain. (See Text Box) Bob Bates, Past Chair was also honored with the Person of the Year award. These four are great examples of service and are all deserving of our appreciation and respect. Thank you again to Heather, Marta, Wendy and Bob! IGDA @ GDC As part of IGDA’s agreement with Think Services, the IGDA holds a meeting within a meeting at GDC. IGDA was active over a five day period from March 9 through 13 in support of our membership. Highlights included the IGDA Booth, IGDA Scholars, SIG and Chapter Meetings, Board Orientation, Panels, Workshops and Roundtables, IGDA Annual Meeting and a Member’s Happy Hour made possible by the efforts and support of GameDev.Net and GameSpy. Special thanks to all of our sponsors who made IGDA’s involvement at GDC possible through their generous financial support. [Sponsor thank you from last month (page 3) and include Digital Extremes (new logo)] _____________________________________ GDC Canada Ad IGDA Members receive a $50 CDN discount off registration May 6-7, 2010 Vancouver, BC _____________________________________ IGDA Scholars The IGDA again provided scholarships to a special group of scholars to attend GDC. This year’s group got the week started off by getting a GDC intro from former IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca. A GDC veteran, Jason shared his tips for having a productive GDC week, with the scholars. IGDA volunteer Chris Hood who has played a major role in the re-launch of multiple IGDA Chapters also shared his GDC knowledge with the group. The Scholars took a tour of local studio, Three Rings Design. Three Rings' founder Daniel James led the tour for the second straight year. Daniel spoke about his journey get to where he is today and also took time for some Q and A with the scholars. 2010 GDC Student Scholarship Recipients • Sebastian Koenig, University of Canterbury, New Zealand • Andrew Brocker, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA • Azedeh Jamalian, Columbia University • Walt Destler, Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center • John Murphy, DePaul University • David Milam, Simon Fraser University School of Interactive Arts and Technology • Kathrin Maria Gerling, University of Duisburg-Essen • Toby McCall, The Guildhall at SMU • Andre Luis Martins Gomes Universidade de Sao Paulo • Zeng Qi, The University of Tokyo • James Wiser, The Cleveland Art Institute • Laura Bacon, DigiPen Institute of Technology • Brianna Lindsay Weaver, Ohio University • Daniel Bahamon, Full Sail University • Stephanie Bouchard, Universite de Quebec a Montreal • Steven Edward Mond, University of Virginia • Gabriel Stephen Deyerle, University of Southern California • Christopher Bell, Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment and Technology Center • Gillian Smith, UC Santa Cruz • Kyle Perkins, Ohio University • Ahmad Jaballah, American University in Dubai • Nathanael Newby-Kew, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute IGDA Booth Special thanks to Chair Emeritus Tobi Saulnier for championing the Katamari, a perfect metaphor for the collaboration and energy required to grow the IGDA. For those not familiar with Katamari it is part art project and part conversation piece and focal point but becomes bigger with collaboration and creativity. It is amazing what can take place when like-minded individuals come together with a few hot glue guns. The booth acted as a home base for IGDA members and hosted several social and Chapter and SIG gatherings. This year the IGDA booth was located in the South Hall Lobby near the entrance. The booth was supported by sponsor and partner dollars and we would like to again thank them for their support. We also had booth signings by Greg Trefry and Eric Lengyel as well as demos by Gamespy and Autodesk. The booth was also the hub of the Backchatter Game that was spearheaded by Local No. 12 and Arkadium in conjunction with IGDA. Thanks for all who participated in the game and the booth, including the IGDA Board and other IGDA member volunteers who skillfully convinced prospects of the importance IGDA membership and renewal for those who let their membership lapse. Some even became lifetime members thanks to positive peer pressure. A big thank you goes out to all the conference associates—most of whom were IGDA members who volunteered to work at the booth—who helped out staffing the booth throughout the week. _____________________________________ IGDA at GDC Thank you to our Sponsors Acredited Language Services Autodesk Digital Extremes Focal Press Jones & Bartlett gamedev.net GameSpy Valve Westwood College the igdA is pleased to acknowledge the invaluable support that the aforementioned sponsors have provided in support of our activities at gdC. _____________________________________ Focal Press Ad l e a r n • m a s t e r • c r e a t e >> w w w . f o c a l p r e s s . c o m Technical information resources for computer professionals >> w w w . m k p . c o m Discount on Distributed Game Development by Tim Fields _______________________________________ Design Considerations for Social Games In this article, game designer Sande Chen describes the distinctive design considerations game designers face when designing for social games. Social networking sites have changed how we consume information and how we play games. It is only fitting that social games reflect the characteristics of the platform. When combined together, the social graph, ambient awareness, and inclusive play are the design characteristics that make social games distinctive to me. Social Graph Games that utilize the social graph cannot be played anywhere else without data portability. Most games do pull data from the social graph for challenges and friends-only leaderboards, but some go further by incorporating the social graph into gameplay. In Parking Wars, I can park on each friend's street and in PackRat, I can browse through my friends' pages. In order to do well in Parking Wars, I need to know the usage patterns of my friends. I find that these games have the camaraderie of a board game, in that there are conversations about the game among friends, and yet, it's not necessary for all my friends to be online at the same time to play the game. In theory, any sort of information, like fave bands or travel photos, can be pulled from people's profiles, much like Facebook ads do on the side. Ideally, these games would require people to know something about their friends to do well. Or at least, by playing the game, people would end up knowing more about their friends. Ambient Awareness On social networking sites, information flows at a rapid pace. The Facebook newsfeed is filled with information no one would ever write an e-mail about or call to tell a friend. Each piece of information is trivial -- e.g. "Facebook User made a ham sandwich." -- but taken in aggregate, all of it coalesces to form a daily picture of what's going on in the lives of friends. This clutter of unfettered information leads to what social scientists call "ambient awareness." It's similar to noticing what others are doing in a room without even paying attention to them. Each bit of information accumulates and without even noticing, you learn that two of your friends were in train wrecks, five have the same birthday, or three are attending a conference in Japan. Unwittingly, people's personal lives are scattered across applications, walls, forums, status updates, notes, and comments. Concurrent or parallel conversations are the norm. Similarly, if I have ambient awareness in a game, it means that just by playing, I'm aware of my friends' progress in the game. I don't need to search for this information. For example, in PackRat, since I have to cycle through my friends' pages, I see their cards and activity logs. If I've already gone through that set, then I know exactly which cards they need to complete the set. If I want to learn more, then I can click on my friends' Feats, which are similar to Xbox Live achievements or Pogo badges. As a side benefit, by creating these achievements or checkpoints, the developer can collect and analyze valuable customer data to improve the game. Inclusive Play The average user belongs to more than one social networking site, but devotes the majority of time to only one. As such, users have different participatory rates, logging in to one social network every day, another every once in a while, and yet another, only if an e-mail beckons the user to come back. These different participatory rates translate into different play patterns. Some players have limited time and need a game that can be played quickly whereas others are willing to spend hours on a game. In fact, depending on the day or the social networking site selected, the same user may exhibit different play patterns. Therefore, it's more useful to divide players by play patterns rather than by gender or age. A game with inclusive play satisfies players who want to play sporadically and/or continually. Obviously, real-time multiplayer social games have an issue if there are not enough friends online to play the game. By continual play, I simply mean that the game provides something meaningful for the player to do to further the experience. If I have more than 1 minute to play a game, then I should be allowed to continue. Instead, in a game like Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures, I'm forced to wait. Sporadic play is great for multitasking but if you're not multitasking, then the game gives you no other choices to occupy your time. Decisions made with a button click, such as rearranging inventory, applying abilities, or applying potions, rarely take six minutes. In Mob Wars, the waiting period is required to regain energy. It's patterned after MMORPGs when a player needs to regenerate mana and health. However, in a MMORPG, a player can do something else to get XP without expending a lot of mana and health. Just like "dead air" is anathema to radio, so too is any time the player is sitting around with absolutely nothing to do in a game, and that is, nothing, not even a look at pretty pictures. There is also the danger that the player may leave and forget to return to the game. Much as sporadic play appeals to one player type, it doesn't work for everyone. Asynchronous play, however, fares better with its long history in games. War games such as chess have been fought via postal mail and then on e-mail and mobile phones. Players have an understanding of how asynchronous games work. Still, I have seen Scrabulous games fall apart due to lack of response. The notion that players have to come back to a game because it's sporadic or asynchronous is a hollow one. Games built with inclusive play in mind allow all player types to enjoy the game regardless of whether they have 10 seconds, 10 minutes, or 10 hours to play the game. Most casual games fit this model because a player can keep on playing the same short "coffee break" game continually. The player gets better at the game and perhaps unlocks achievements, but it would be nicer if there was a deeper experience. Other genres, like virtual worlds, RPGs, and strategy games, can certainly take advantage of this design philosophy. Sande Chen is a writer and game designer whose work has spanned 10 years in the industry. Her credits include 1999 IGF winner Terminus, 2007 PC RPG of the Year The Witcher, and Wizard 101. She is one of the founding members of the IGDA Game Design SIG http://gamedesignaspect.blogspot.com/2010/03/design-considerations-for-social-games.html __________________________________ AK Peters Ad Subscription Information for Journal of Graphics, GPU & Game Tools Four issues per year Individuals: $140 Institutions: $275 Plus shipping & handling try issue 14.1 free now! http://jgt.akpeters.com _____________________________________ Famous Last Words By Jim Charne, Attorney at Law Developer’s Non-Competes Dear Jim: Our studio is known for its work in the fantasy games area. We are negotiating a contract with a big publisher that for us would be a big project. But we are being asked not to develop any more fantasy games for two years after release of this publisher’s game! Why should we be expected not to work in the area that we are best known. Fantasy Developer Dear Fantasy: Non-competes, or as they are sometimes known, “restrictive covenants,” are becoming more and more common in development contracts. Publishers believe that if a developer works on their game, somehow they will become possessed of some sort of secret knowledge that would give an unfair advantage if they were to go on and develop another similar game during the period the first publisher is selling its title. Publishers also believe that after they invest money in development of a game, there is a risk the developer will reuse code or other assets to create a game for a competitor. The way they handle those concerns is through non-compete language in their game dev agreements. Finally, developers are generally able to retain ownership of their tools and technology, and also improvements to the tools and tech created during game development. Publishers certainly do not want to see those improvements being used for a competitive game while they are still in the marketplace selling their own product. When negotiating these clauses, we are quick to remind publishers that game code is often the property of the publisher, and the developer can’t use it without becoming an infringer. In addition, to the extent game features or information constitute confidential information, it is all protected in the NDA between the parties or the confidential information language in the dev agreement. These arguments do not impress publishers. They rightly view the game business as high risk – and the last thing they want is for the developer in whom they invested mega-dollars and mega-management oversight, over the course of their own game development project, to parlay that into a competitive game! So it is rare these days for a dev agreement to be completed without some sort of non-compete. Here’s a typical non-compete clause that we might see in a first draft dev agreement: “Developer will not, for a period of two (2) years from the date that (Publisher’s Game) is first commercially distributed, engage in development of, or assist any third party in the development of, any game that is substantially similar to, or appeals to the same game player, as (Publisher’s Game).” This clause is extremely broad, extremely restrictive, and extremely limiting on the developer from what I call both a horizontal and vertical perspective. In my analysis, the horizontal perspective is the length of the restriction. Two years is an extremely long time for a developer to be kept out of the genre in which it is best known. Two years from “first commercial distribution” of the first Publisher’s game can be even longer – because that date is controlled entirely by Publisher. If Publisher holds the game for six months, Developer’s restriction is similarly lengthened. Also, the two year restriction extends to “engag(ing) in development,” so that it is actually a three-and-one-half to four year restriction, given the length of time it takes to design and program a game. A more suitable restriction might be one year from delivery or acceptance of the Gold Master milestone. If the Publisher insists on some tying to release, the length of time could be 14 months from delivery of the Gold Master, or 12 months from first commercial release, whichever is sooner. We would also recommend strongly resisting the limitation on “engage(ing) in development.” If the purpose of the non-compete is to protect the Publisher’s game in the market, a restriction on releasing a competitive title should be sufficient. There is no reason why Developer should not be able to continue its development business while it waits out the first Publisher’s product in the market. The second consideration is the vertical restriction. This should be cast as narrowly as possible. Our sample language extended the prohibition to “any game that is substantially similar to, or appeals to the same game player.” Besides being extremely broad, this language is also extremely subjective. I do not see how a developer could know with certainty what it could or could not work on! A more narrow vertical restriction can focus on the platform for which the Publisher’s game was developed, and the unique game elements that distinguish the game play. An example of such a narrow limitation could be: “any game for the PS3 platform that is multi-player, in the space fantasy genre, takes place in a future time, in a distant galaxy, and involves freeing slaves from a farm planet.” Using the suggestions here, the substitute clause might read: “Developer will not, for a period of the shorter of: (i) one (1) year from the date that (Publisher’s Game) is first commercially distributed; or (ii) fourteen (14) months from the date of approval of the Gold Master Milestone, release into commercial distribution any game on the PS3 platform that is multi-player, in the space fantasy genre, takes place in a future time, in a distant galaxy, and involves freeing slaves from a farm planet.” Generally, the restrictions in non-compete clauses are negotiable, not the highest priority for the game publisher – so long as it feels its own game will be protected – and can be worked out to permit Developer to get on with its own business in a way that is not damaging to the Publisher. And, after all, if the Developer has a royalty or some sort of contingent compensation tied to the first Publisher’s game, it has its own deep interest in its greatest success! Jim Charne practices law in Santa Monica, CA (www.charnelaw.com) where he represents developers, designers, composers and other clients in the games industry. Jim has been a frequent speaker at GDC, is active in IGDA from whom he received an “MVP” Award at GDC 2006, and is a member of the Advisory Board of G.A.N.G. Jim served as President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences from 1998 to 2001. Is there language in your contract that has you scratching your head? Found something confusing or worse? Send it to “Famous Last Words” for developer-oriented analysis. Famous Last Words is intended for general educational and entertainment purposes and is not legal advice. Every situation and circumstance is unique. Anyone entering into a software-related contract should have an experienced lawyer who can provide counsel throughout the process. ©2010 Jim Charne. All rights reserved. ___________________________________ THANK YOU TO OUR NEWEST SPONSOR IGDA is pleased to announce a partnership with our newest partner – Offerpal of Fremont, California Offerpal Media is the leader in virtual currency monetization for online games, virtual worlds and social networks. The company's turnkey payment platform gives consumers the opportunity to earn virtual currency for free by taking part in targeted advertising offers, shopping at big-brand retailers, completing online surveys, watching videos or otherwise engaging with brands. Or they can simply buy the virtual currency through Offerpal’s array of direct payment options available in nearly 200 countries worldwide. Since its launch in 2007, Offerpal has issued more than 1 trillion virtual points to over 200 million consumers across 2,000 publishers. The company is headquartered in Fremont, California. Investors include Interwest Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, and D. E. Shaw Ventures. For more information, visit www.offerpalmedia.com. ___________________________________ Quickie Survey Results The IGDA wants to hear from you. Each month IGDA hosts a “Quickie Survey” designed to dig deeper into topics that are of interest to you, our IGDA members. Thank you to our sponsor: remote control productions gmbh. This month’s topic was on the impact of negative users. One Hundred percent of respondents believe that negative play is having little to no impact on game play on their sites. Thirty-three percent of senior management place maximum priority levels on online safety while another third place little to no importance on this topic and most have not quantified the impact and utilized metrics. Most companies offer some form of in-house moderation—pre, post, in-game—but many are hands off. The vast majority of companies have homegrown technology for dealing with negative users. Open-ended suggestions: limitations on being able to message other users; fraud models; improved security to prevent exploits; better hiding of adult-only content from minors Zero tolerance policy for harassment, bullying, griefing, sexually explicit behavior, or seriously disruptive behavior. Large companies have multiple games/platforms and the approaches would be different based on the age ranges, safety encompasses many things rather than just moderation. Everything from account hijacking, fraudulent purchases, PII sharing, and the traditional avenues such as pedophiles, cyberbullying, and cheating. NetModerator by CrispThinking.com (amazing tools!) If you are interested in writing a future Quickie Survey please contact igda@igda.org.. Next Month’s Survey: Mike Worth with Game Audio and Game Audio Production ___________________________________ As a past participant of Into the Pixel, we are pleased to announce that Into the Pixel 2010 is now open for submissions. Into the Pixel is the world’s only exhibition that brings together the fine art and digital art worlds to explore and celebrate the art of the video game. The twenty four pieces that will be selected for this year’s class will join the well-regarded permanent Into the Pixel collection featuring notable artists such as Daniel Dociu, Jeremy Bennett, Ryan Church, Tyler West, Stephan Martiniere and Ryan Stevenson. The Into the Pixel collection has been featured at both national and international events including the Toronto International Film Expo, South-by-Southwest, Design-Center in Stuttgart , Germany, AnimFX New Zealand and a tour of major universities in China. Our esteemed jury; curators and artists from the Smithsonian, the Getty Research Institute and University of Montreal, to name a few, represent both the interactive and fine art worlds. Their knowledge and diversity among our 2010 jurors will result in a very impressive collection. We ask that you please forward this email to anyone you know who may want to submit their art for consideration by the 2010 Into the Pixel Jury. The deadline for submitting art is April 20, 2010. For questions or more information on this year’s jury, past years’ Collections, and/or to submit art, please go to www.IntoThePixel.com or contact Christine Cahill at Christine@interactive.org. MARK YOUR CALENDARS for ITP 2010: • April 20, 2010, is the deadline for submitting art • The Into the Pixel 2010 Collection will be announced and "unveiled" at the annual ITP Reception & Jury Panel discussion in June. A gallery featuring the framed 2009 art will be featured at the event (Date TBA) • The 2010 Collection will be unveiled to the interactive community at the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo June 15-17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center The 2009 Collection will be on display at the Hotel des Arts 447 Bush (at Grant), San Francisco starting March 11 through April 2010. You are cordially invited to the Opening Reception on March 11, 6pm to 10 pm. Into the Pixel is a joint effort of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the Entertainment Software Association. __________________________________ Announcements 2010 IGDA Leadership Forum Call for Submissions Call for Papers Deadline Extended We invite your participation in the 4th annual IGDA Leadership Forum, focused on advancing the state of the art in game production and management. The 2010 IGDA Leadership Forum is seeking session proposals from speakers with thorough industry experience to offer insightful leadership and production-related sessions. If you share our passion and commitment for better leadership in the game industry, please submit your proposal by Midnight (EST) on Sunday, April 25th, 2010. Game Accessibility Day The schedule for Game Accessibility Day at Games for Health presented by The AbleGamers Foundation has been posted at http://gameaccessibilityday.org/schedule.html - This year will feature many important topics, discussion groups, presentations, doughnuts, and a few surprises! Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Chapter News IGDA Salt Lake City IGDA Salt Lake City is normally dormant during the month of April, but thanks to the Global Game Jam we are gearing up for a special joint meeting with the local indie scene. At our local studio of XBLA developer NinjaBee we will be giving all the teams from Salt Lake City's Global Game Jam a chance to give a postmortem of how their projects went, what they learned, how their games are doing, and what they still have plans to do with them now. We will also give out the t-shirts they can wear throughout the year and build excitement for the next Global Game Jam. Other events coming up include the Gaming and Electronics EXpo (http://geexshow.com) and our chapter's inaugural yearly summer bash. Feel free to catch up with us at http://igda.org/slc and see how your local chapter can help you! IGDA JAPAN Kenji Ono Please let me share the information of GDC report by IGDA Japan and DiGRA Japan at Tokyo University in March 27th. It was about 6 hours, About 150 developers attended, and there were 8 lectures including me. #1 igda information update and social gaming #2 current trend of metrical development in western games #3 localization summit report <== Me! #4 report of indie games world #5 from lecture of Sid Meier and Will Wright #6 from visual art sessions #7 from current CG sessions #8 from AI summit I wanted to explain all lecture's summary, but the each lecture's time was only 30 minutes and I just reported only two lectures in summit. BioWare and Buzz!. This is a slide I used there and I translated it into English roughly. I am glad if you check it in your free time. http://www.slideshare.net/kono3478/gdc10-report-in-english And I informed the slide list on GDC Vault. We would like to translate them into Japanese and share in Japanese community. Thank you so much. http://www.gdcvault.com/ SIG News Here's why you should join the new Audio Development and Implementation SIG: Previously known as the Audio Liaison Group, this is a cross disciplinary SIG for anyone with a stake in how audio makes it into the game. There is no shortage of enthusiasm regarding the impact that artfully developed and skillfully implemented audio can have on a game. Recent achievements in the advancement of interactive audio (Uncharted 2, Bioshock, Dead Space…) have drawn unprecedented attention to the importance and potential for advancement of sound design and music in games. Nevertheless, even the most basic principles and issues relevant to this essential aspect of game design are as of yet unfamiliar to the broader development community. The mission of the IGDA Audio Development and Implementation SIG is to promote awareness and understanding, across the full array of game design disciplines, of the process and mechanisms of game audio content creation and deployment. For more information, check out https://www.igda.org/audiodev and our google group. Robin Arnott Sound Designer IGDA Audio Development and Implemnetation SIG, Chair www.robinarnott.com Quality Assurance SIG The Quality Assurance SIG's goal is to elevate the awareness of QA as part of the development process, improve and standardize QA practices, create a community for QA people (or those responsible for getting QA into the game creation process) and to get together and work out the issues that affect them most. All are welcome. QA, QA Managers, Producers, and anyone interested in the QA process. We'd also love to hear from academics and those studying Quality Assurance in other industries. To get involved in the Quality Assurance SIG, start by joining our mailing list. We have an active community of QA enthusiasts that are regularly discussing tactics, techniques, tools and tales that involve the QA process and the relationships needed to ship games! The mailing list can be joined using this link: http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/qa WESTWOOD COLLEGE HOSTS GATHERING OF VIDEO GAME LEGENDS Event to Raise Funds for Get-Well Gamers Foundation WHAT: Westwood College Gathering of Video Game Legends For more information, visit www.Westwood.edu/Gaming Westwood College is again bringing together some of the interactive entertainment industry’s most accomplished professionals to share their experience on getting started in gaming, what they’ve learned along the way and to discuss the future of the gaming profession. This is a full-day event with the first half for invited guests only (including media). The second half of the day is open to the public. The public portion will feature several leading industry members. A $5 minimum donation will be asked of all attendees with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Get-Well Gamers Foundation, a nonprofit organization that brings video game systems and games to dozens of children’s hospitals across the country. In addition to an afternoon of featured speakers, attendees will also have the opportunity to play video games and participate in a game play tournament with finalists competing on a 12’ x 14’ LED wall inside the stadium. WHEN: Saturday, April 17, 2010 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. Speaker presentations along with interaction with Westwood College gaming students and invited guests (this segment of the day is closed to the public) 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Speaker presentations and interaction with the general public. Attendees can also play video games and participate in a tournament game session with finalists competing on a 12’ x 14’ LED wall WHERE: The Diamond Club at Angel Stadium 2000 E Gene Autry Way Anaheim, CA CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Brian Fargo is CEO of inXile Entertainment and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the software publishing industry. He was behind some of the greatest game franchises of all time including The Bard's Tale, Wasteland, Descent, Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Sacrifice, Icewindale, Star Trek and Battle Chess. He is currently publishing a number of iPhone games like Line Rider and Impossible Quiz and is working with Bethesda on a major release entitled Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Bill Fisher is president and founder of Quicksilver Software, Inc. His interests range from strategy game development to simulation-based training and artificial intelligence design to usability and user interface design. His works include B-17 Bomber, Castles, Shanghai: Second Dynasty, and Star Trek: Tactical Assault. Justin Lloyd is a serial entrepreneur, founder and chief evolutionary officer of Infinite Monkey Factory, a video game development studio. His career spans more than 30-years in video game development having worked on more than 50 titles including Shrek, Star Wars Galaxies, Civilization: Call To Power and Pitfall 3D. David Perry is a 29-year industry veteran who has developed, produced and directed multiple No.1 hit games, selling over $1 billion at retail originating with the classics like Earthworm Jim. Today, he's the CEO and co-founder of Gaikai, Inc. Prior to that he was the founder of Shiny Entertainment, Inc., which was purchased by Atari. Voldi Way is the founder of WayForward, an independent development studio that has created more than 100 retail games for various platforms including the SNES, Gameboy, DS and Wii. His work includes A Boy and His Blob (Wii), Baseball Blast! (Wii), and the upcoming Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Wii/DS) among others. Feargus Urquhart is the CEO of Obsidian Entertainment, a company dedicated to creating role-playing games. Entering the industry in 1991 at Interplay Entertainment as a playtester, Urquhart is best known for his work as the president of Black Isle Studios. His works include Fallout, Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and, soon to be released, Alpha Protocol. Ru Weerasuriya is co-founder and VP, Creative Development of Ready At Dawn Studios®. His work includes World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3, Starcraft: Brood War, Daxter and God of War among others. John Say is the founder of Say Design. Having started as a design studio back in 1990, he began building online games starting in 1999 and aside from countless innovative Flash games for many top entertainment brands, has designed and developed award winning casual games such as PokerPop, MTV Obsessed, and Puzzle Arcade for the XBOX 360. John's team is busy launching virtual worlds and social network games as well as a number of iPhone application games. Harvard Bonin is a 17-year industry veteran and has been with Electronic Arts and Westwood Studios. He is now a senior producer with Sony Computer Entertainment. He has over 20 game titles to his credit that include Warhawk, Command & Conquer Red Alert 2, Command & Conquer Generals, and The Lord of the Rings The Battle for Middle-earth. Rusty Buchert is a senior producer with Sony Computer Entertainment. Rusty is a 20-year veteran that started at Interplay Productions back in 1990 as their QA department of one. At Sony his focus has been on PSN, Indie development and student game development and is now focusing on the Playstation Move. His game titles include: Flow, Flower, Everyday Shooter, Linger in Shadows, Descent 1 and 2, Star Trek: Judgement Rites, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and many versions of Battle Chess. About Westwood College’s Video Game Program: Westwood College offers two bachelor’s degrees in video game development, Game Software Development and Game Art. Approximately 18 percent of Westwood and Westwood Online students are enrolled in a gaming degree. www.westwood.edu/degree-programs/gaming/game-software-dev/degree.asp About Get Well Gamers Foundation The Get-Well Gamers Foundation was founded in 2001 with the goal of bringing video game systems and games to children's hospitals. Video games are an effective and proven pain management tool and provide needed entertainment during long hospital stays. The Foundation currently serves dozens of children's hospitals across the U.S. in an ever-expanding donation network that has already brought much-needed entertainment to hundreds of thousands of children each year. For more information, please visit www.get-well-gamers.org. April, 2010 International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU) Valencia, Spain April 07, 2010 to April 10, 2010 International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (WEBIST) Valencia, Spain April 07, 2010 to April 10, 2010 The Business of Being Creative Sunnyvale , CA, United States April 07, 2010 IGDA Los Angeles April Meeting Santa Monica, CA, United States April 08, 2010 Indie MMO Game Developers Conference (IMGDC) Las Vegas, NV, United States April 09, 2010 to April 11, 2010 Game Play: A Juried Exhibition of Game Inspired Ar Omaha , NE, United States April 12, 2010 to April 21, 2010 WESTWOOD COLLEGE GATHERING OF VIDEO GAME LEGENDS Anaheim, CA, United States April 17, 2010 Nordic Game 2010 Sweden April 27, 2010 to April 29, 2010 May, 2010 FMX 2010, the 15th Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media Stuttgart, Germany May 04, 2010 to May 07, 2010 Future Play 2010 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May 06, 2010 to May 07, 2010 June, 2010 Festival of Games Utrecht, Netherlands June 03, 2010 to June 04, 2010 Workshop on Procedural Content Generation in Games Monterey, California, United States June 18, 2010 Looking For Group Expo (LFGX) Minneapolis, MN, United States _________________________________ IGDA PRESENTS – WEBINAR SERIES Dear Members, Many of you have asked me about how you can work more with musicians and audio artists to incorporate current songs and albums into your games. NARM, the national association that works with music retailers (Not the RIA!) runs a number of events on just this sort of collaboration. Bill Wilson has offered to do a webinar for our membership on the fundamentals of finding and building relationships with Artists and Retailers for the Game Community. Please Join us next Thursday for this session: IGDA Presents: Bill Wilson - Game Developers and Music Producers, fundamentals of the perfect match Join us for a Webinar on April 15 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/998925291 Bill Wilson Director, Digital Strategy and Business Development for NARM, the association for music retailers, will take IGDA members on a brief tour of the internal machinations of the music business. Topics of discussion will range from content licensing deals, publishing, xml, digital supply chain, and other topics related to creating a better ecosystem for innovation with the developer and gaming community at large. Title: IGDA Presents: Bill Wilson - Game Developers and Music Producers, fundamentals of the perfect match Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010 Time: 12:01 PM - 1:01 PM EDT After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. <<<>>> We also have the following additional webinars coming up: --- IGDA Presents: Game Law with Tom Buscaglia Join us for a Webinar on April 29 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/411042482 Join us for our second IGDA Presents Webinar featuring Tom Buscaglia, The Game Attorney. Tom is a current IGDA Board Member who devotes a great amount of time to IGDA and The IGDA Foundation. Tom will be presenting: The scope and types of contracts in Game Development. As a game developer you'll be working on a wide range of contracts; from NDA's to Licensing to Employment Agreements to Mergers. Tom will walk through the range of contracts typically found in the industry and discuss the variations in each and areas where you should pay special attention. Title: IGDA Webinar Series Presents: Members Only with Tom Buscaglia Date: Thursday, April 29, 2010 Time: 12:01 PM - 1:01 PM EDT --- IGDA Presents: Enrique Fuentes - Game Development in Latin America Join us for a Webinar on May 13 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/448259771 --- IGDA Presents: How to get and maintain a successful and rewarding career in the games industry. With Mary-Margaret Walker Join us for a Webinar on June 10 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/911276171 We look forward to seeing you all at these excellent webinars. Game on, Joshua ____________________________________ Hello IGDA Members, Amazingly, it seems like GDC happened a very long time ago, however, it was only a few short weeks and we have all moved forward with our normal lives. I'm still sending and receiving follow-ups from folks I met at GDC for the first time in person, and it was a great experience. I appreciated meeting so many of you face to face, and the opportunity to chat about the industry and your individual places within it. I was also very grateful for the amount of support and outstanding suggestions to make the IGDA better. For an industry that lives so much in the virtual world, I was delighted to find that most of you really enjoy meeting and connecting with each other in person. We were happy to provide our members with the educational and networking opportunity that our involvement in GDC provides. In terms of our next wave of new programs and events, we've got a few new things that are in the pipeline. Some will be focused around helping our members who are currently between opportunities, some will be focused on strengthening our relationships with our partners in the industry, and we're also looking at growing the means by which we can bring more of you together on specific topics and events in support of each other. So you're going to see some changes to things like the website, where we are cleaning up a number of the issues that have been brought forward by the SIG and Chapter Leaders. We're also going to be asking you for input on a number of new plans and presenting you with some new programs to try out. At the same time, I would like to encourage you all to keep using the tools that you have available to you. Take a look at the SIG list and decide if it wouldn’t make sense to join a Special Interest Group. Another way to get involved is through attending your local chapter meetings. You might also consider submitting a presentation for a webinar or the Leadership Forum in November. There is a lot of great stuff going on, please take advantage of it and help build IGDA and your career. I want to take an extra moment here to thank Marta Daglow, Wendy Despain, and Heather Chandler, our 3 MVP Award winners. They really helped the IGDA out this year in a number of critical areas, and they are great volunteers. I also want to recognize the IGDA's Person of the Year, Bob Bates. Having served on the Board for many years, and having stepped in during the absence of an Executive Director, his support of the Association has helped in so many ways that helped make the IGDA viable through 2009. If you see him, you should give him a clap on the back and thank him for his unfaltering service. Congratulations Bob, Heather, Marta and Wendy for your selfless service to the IGDA. I look forward to seeing more of you at future industry events. Game On, Joshua