IGDA Perspectives Newsletter - Text Version _______________________________________________________________________________________ Studio Spotlight Firaxis Games October 30, 2009 Answered By: Kelley Gilmore, Marketing Director, Firaxis Games 1. What is the name and address of the group? Firaxis Games 10 Loveton Circle Sparks, Maryland 21152 2. Name and title as they should be printed. Kelley Gilmore, Marketing Director, Firaxis Games 3. How long has your studio been around? Kelley: Firaxis opened its doors in 1996 and has developed 25 hit titles in 13 years. 4. How many people are on your staff? Kelley: We currently have 120 full time employees. 5. How many of those would you call game developers? Kelley: We all contribute in various ways to game development, but I would say we have about 6 staff members who have more administrative roles and the rest of the group are hands-on developers. 6. What does "game developer" mean to you? Kelley: At Firaxis a game developer can play one of many roles in the making of a game. We have designers, programmers/engineers, artists, play-testers, sound engineers, a quality assurance team, writers, and producers. All of these folks are critical to the development of our games. 7. What makes your group different from any other? Kelley: Firaxis was founded on core values that have remained the driving force behind our success. We value individuals and strive to create an environment that allows them to do their best work every day. We focus on finding the fun in a game prototype first, and then build the game from there. Our resident legend, Sid Meier, is our great mentor in game design and through his ongoing work and words of wisdom he motivates us to create games that make the player the central focus, while delivering endless hours of fun and interesting gameplay. 8. What can you tell me about the projects you are working on? Kelley: We recently announced that we’re developing Civilization© Network™ - a Civ game for Facebook. Sid is leading the design/programming and it’ll offer the famously addictive gameplay that defines Civ, in a fully persistent environment. And it’ll be free to play! We’ll announce a closed beta soon and the full game will be available in 2010. 9. What's the best part of your job? Kelley: Working with some of the nicest and most talented people on the planet! And, as a marketer, this is clearly one of the most exciting industries in which to work. In my 12 years of marketing games I’ve seen what we do become the largest segment of mainstream entertainment – and it’s just the beginning. The non-stop flow of creativity and technical advancements in this business keeps the level of excitement at a fever pitch, and the challenges of capturing the attention of consumers are never ending. I really love it! 10. What challenges do you face? Kelley: The sheer volume of games and different platforms on which to play them creates a very crowded and often confusing marketplace for consumers. The challenge for marketers is finding creative and entertaining ways to capture their attention, deliver the product information you want them to receive and turn them into customers. A successful marketing campaign requires careful planning, lots of creativity, flawless execution, and most importantly, a great game to sell. 11. What's the coolest thing you are seeing in Game Development? Kelley: Social Network and iPhone games have recently exploded onto the scene and it’s very cool to see how many people are now playing games as a result of these new platforms. The more folks we can introduce to the joy of games, the better off the games industry will be as a whole. 12. What made you decide to get into Game Development? Kelley: I’ve been in marketing for about 23 years in a number of different industries and had an opportunity to get into the games industry in 1997 working for a publisher. I was a big fan of Sid Meier games from the Microprose years, so when I heard there was an opportunity to work with Sid at Firaxis I jumped on it. There is a huge benefit to working inside the development studio in terms of knowing the game from day one of development and being involved in the day to day production. It’s much easier to create marketing materials that clearly communicate what’s fun about a title when you’re immersed in the game development process. 13. What do you see as the future of the game industry? Kelley: Games are now well established as a major part of main stream entertainment and the industry will continue to make innovations and deliver a plethora of game experiences wherever consumers want them. Games will be played any time, any place, and any where people want. That kind of accessibility ensures that games will, in fact, take over the world! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Infernal Engine Ad: Infernal Engine is the most cross-platform capable, full-featured foundation for building video games. Built from a team of industry veterans at Terminal Reality, Infernal has the features and support you need. Designed to solve today's real game development challenges, Infernal is a unified system, providing superior rendering, physics, sound, and AI in a single package. Built from the ground up to optimize the game creation process and to take advantage of today’s complex hardware – the Infernal Engine is the best choice for game developers. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRONTLINES Perspectives recently spoke with Mike Worth, award winning musician and composer for video games and television animation. Mike owns a company called Game Music, Inc., which provides original game music to game developers and studios and resides right outside of Philadelphia. So you won an Emmy recently? I received the Emmy award as one of the orchestrators for the Emmy-winning Nickelodeon show, The Wonder Pets. I was one of the team under Jeffrey Lesser (musical director for Wonder Pets), and Larry Hochman (lead composer for the Wonder Pets). My job was to take the composer's music, which was in piano form, and re-create it for a full orchestra (strings, brass, etc.). Then, I would create a synth orchestra mix, and layer it with live musicians (recorded in NYC). It is a great job, and definitely a lot of work. I would orchestrate (write out music for the musicians) and mockup about 10 minutes of full orchestral music per week, which is fairly high compared to the usual industry output. But, working with A-list musicians in New York City is a wonderful experience! It's funny, I never thought of how a music team would get an Emmy. I just see the main composer come on stage to receive his award. But, the entire team (orchestrators, mixing engineers), are part of the process, and they get to share in the glory, so to speak. And, I'm definitely not complaining! Did you all receive the statuette? Well, as one of the team contributors, I received a framed certificate instead of a statue. Apparently, the statue costs $1000, so I guess they only give them out to the heads of the team! Having said that, it's a very nice frame, and it hangs very nicely on my studio wall. Describe your average day? As the head of Game Music, Inc., I spend some of each day connecting with studios who want original music for their games. Phone calls, emails, etc. Of course, I get to write music for about 3-4 hours a day, which is the absolute greatest experience for me. And, since my Philadelphia studio is out of my home, my breaks involve grabbing my 3-year old daughter and heading out to the playground or for ice cream! As an industry professional, I put a bit of time each day into the IGDA Audio SIG, along with Robin Arnott and Mike Csurics. We're creating content to help game designers and game developers understand more about how audio can make their games more fun, memorable, and playable. We're also working to educate them on how to find great audio people, how to budget for audio, and how to communicate with game audio professionals most effectively. The other activity I've been heavily involved with is an organization I co-founded, called VGI Philadelphia, which is an organization dedicated to growing, promoting, and supporting the professional game industry in Philadelphia. What has been your biggest challenge this year? It's definitely been growing my business when there is no industry in Philadelphia. I've spent a lot of time marketing myself remotely, and flying out to San Fran, Austin, driving to Baltimore, etc. And, it's been tough when many of the studios will say, "Hey, your music is great, but we have Marty O'Donnell down the street, so we'll use him." Not a whole lot you can say to that! That actually is why I founded (along with about 6 other people) VGI Philadelphia. Our city has so many great resources, including two top game degree programs (Penn and Drexel), cheap cost-of-living, and a surprising number of industry pros that work remotely! So, I've been tackling the biggest challenge (no local studios to work with), and turned it into a cause. It's been a lot of fun, and, ironically, many more studios have been connecting with me, now, because of my work with VGI Philly! So, what I've learned is, when there's a challenge, find a way to give to the community in a way that solves the challenge. Karma takes care of the rest! What about your job makes you excited? I get excited about making a game more fun, more memorable, and more emotionally exciting. I just think it's the coolest thing in the world to create music for a game that makes the boss battle more gripping, or a cinematic more powerful, or the overworld exploration just a bit more fun and mystical. And, I love working with game developers and producers. I worked in corporate IT for several years as a C++ developer, and I always like the way developers analyze and tackle a problem. Talking through a studio's musical needs with designers and producers is so energizing, so enjoyable, and so relaxing, all at once! Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Okay, dream scenario. I see myself as the following: Composing for more and more projects, both AAA (live orchestras are fun), and the smaller, downloadable titles for Wiiware, PSN, and XBLA. I think those new platforms lend to these great games that are bite-sized, instantly playable, and highly energetic. I also see Game Music, Inc. becoming more of an audio house, where I bring in my teammates to manage a client's audio pipeline. I have some great partners with Game Music, Inc., including an awesome sound designer named Robin Arnott, and I want to bring them in on projects to really make someone's game pop, at least aurally! And, the biggie? After VGI Philly grows the industry in Philadelphia, I see myself sitting in Philadelphia, with 70 or 80 studios, including some large publishers, and seeing a great game developer community in the City of Brotherly Love. Now that's a nice 5-year plan! What is the coolest thing you are seeing in Game Audio? It's actually two fold. First, I'm seeing that Game Audio has become its own legitimate art and craft, with the industry professionals constantly thinking about how to improve their audio quality and emotional content. Working with Mike and Robin on the Audio SIG made me realize that these two people think about game audio as a craft to be constantly pushed, grown, and improved. Mike is Dialogue Supervisor at 2K Marin, and he's constantly thinking about how to make the video game dialogue support the player experience, as opposed to just making the dialogue sound like "cinematic dialogue". To have people like that in the industry, who are constantly experimenting, researching, and growing the craft, it’s an honor to work with them. Second, I'm seeing this real push towards game music that is truly adaptive. That means that it is constantly evolving and changing as the game play and game states develop. We've always had visionaries that have done that (George Sanger and Guy Whitmore are two of my heroes who have created some timeless adaptive music), but now it's being implemented with live orchestral recordings, which is relatively new. For example, Jason Graves (composer of Dead Space) wrote all this live orchestral music that could be stacked, overlaid, and crossfaded. He then worked with the audio programmers to assign a "fear variable" to various objects, that was a function of distance to the object. So, as the player got closer to the object in-game, the fear variable would rise, and the recorded orchestral music would dynamically remix, stack, and layer to get scarier and scarier as the player approached the object. It's kind of like approaching that closed locker in Alien, but the music changes at the player's motion, not on some linear timeline. I thought that that was absolutely amazing, and an excellent step towards music that truly enhances the gameplay dynamically. We also are seeing this in game sound design: Charles Deenen did a presentation earlier this year that showed how the Need for Speed team created a brand new real-time doppler effect for cars driving by. It sounds so realistic, and is happening in real time, as opposed to pre-created audio effects. Just some fantastic stuff! What would games be without audio? Silent movies with a joystick. What's funny is that everyone forgets about audio until the end of a project, but then realize that it is a very important part of making a game fun, and, more importantly, playable. Even as far back as Super Mario Brothers, audio was an integral alarm for the game. If your eyes were scanning ahead for enemies, and you grabbed an invincibility star, the audio cue sounding off would let you know that your game state had changed to invincible. So, besides great immersive effects, like in Bioshock (everything about that game's audio was superb!), game audio is essential to playing the game! It's funny, when we started the IGDA Audio SIG, our purpose was stated as not educating and discussing points exclusively to the game audio community. Hey, they already know how important good audio is! We're actually targeting the non-audio professional game developers and producers, to help them understand how to get great audio, how audio can make their game more fun, memorable, and playable, and to help them communicate effectively with their audio team. So, Mike, Robin, and I are kind of the "aural ambassadors" to the game designers, producers, and developers, if you will. What tools do you need to help you succeed? Oh, I have a room full of toys! Most of my scores are still exclusively using pre-recorded (or sampled) orchestra and rock instruments. Larger projects (like Tom Salta's score for HAWX), will use a lot of live musicians, but many of the mid-level games budget for synthesized/sampled orchestras only. I have 2 computers which I use to create all of my music sounds. I have a big ol' Mac Pro that handles all of my main recording and mixing, and I'm using this fantastic new program, Studio One (by Presonus), that records all of my live instruments, sample libraries, and mixes them. My other computer is a PC, which is my gaming rig, and also loads my choirs and ethnic instruments. To get that big orchestral sound, I use professional orchestral libraries by East/West and Project SAM, which give me that epic, dramatic sound. And, for sound design, I use my creativity! Half of sound design is experimenting. For example, in the XNA game, Fittest, I took my daughter's laugh, dropped it about 6 octaves, and then stretched it out to make this otherworldly, creepy thrum-ming sound. It was awesome! What advice would you give to someone who wanted to do what you do? It's not hard to do, but you have to be patient, smart, and you have to value yourself. First step is simple. The minute you say you want to do this for a living, you stop becoming a composer or sound designer or audio implementer. You become a game development professional who creates original music, sound design, or programming for a game. We are professional craftsmen, and we work 9 to 5 jobs like anyone else. Second, do your research. Go to IGDA's FAQ's and forums, hit up gamedev.net, and go to amazon and search for books about "game audio programming" "game development". Read those resources, find out what technology you need to make game audio, what creative skills, and most important, what the industry rates are. Music and sound design that enhances a game is a legitimate expense, and you should charge for it. That's what a professional does. Last, but not least, network, network, network, but, don't start with Ken Levine or Clint Bajakian. Find the smaller, up and coming devs and studios. Build your list of credits, grow with a studio. Set up a business plan (you have gotten books on small business plans and how to grow a small business, right?) Expect to get your first gig in 2-4 months, and expect to really be on your way in 12-18 months. This is a marathon, not a sprint. And, definitely join trade organizations. IGDA and GANG (Game Audio Network Guild) are two of the best organizations to be active in, if you're a game audio professional. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Seeking Permission to Work on Outside Projects (November 2009) Dear Jim: I recently came to a verbal agreement with the head of my studio regarding an exemption to the non-compete clause I signed upon employment. I was asked for a write-up of the game to verify they had no interest in developing the idea and then he would follow through on the paperwork. I submitted the design, but no paperwork has yet to be provided. It’s a busy time, I don’t want to “bug the boss,” but I am concerned. How much can I do based on word alone and how much do I need to insist on something in writing in order to proceed? So far it is only my time that will be thrown away should there be a problem, but I am close bringing additional people into the project. Can I do this safely or should I wait? I don’t want to imply that I don’t trust my studio head’s word, but it was a closed door meeting between just the two of us and I really want to make sure that everything is done legally. Nervous Dear Nervous First year law students learn that the elements of a contract are an offer, an acceptance, and consideration. Provided that all three elements are present, there has been a meeting of the minds, and that constitutes a contract. In this case, you offered to let your studio head see your game design in exchange for his or her agreement to waive the non-compete (and presumably the “no-moonlighting”) restriction from your employee agreement for this one game if the studio had no interest. (Did he or she sign an NDA before you shared the document? – that’s another column topic.) It appears to me the formation requirements of your contract may have been met. You showed the studio head your design. You performed. You are waiting for his or her reciprocal performance of your agreement. But is an oral contract enforceable? Movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn famously said, “A verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on!” But in the end, that is not really true. A verbal contract is enforceable. The difficulty comes in establishing that there was an agreement that rose to the level of a contract; and, once that requirement has been met, determining exactly what the contract is. Proving these aspects is much simpler when everything is neatly down on paper. In situations like this, it is good practice to create a paper trail. An email describing the arrangement, sent right after the meeting, is a good way to start. Then at each step along the way, a confirming email sets a record of the arrangement, your performance, and your expectation of performance of the other side. It is more difficult for the other side to deny there was an agreement when you have been “papering” the performance, and there has been no response along the way denying or refuting the existence of your agreement. Where a person has an opportunity to respond and disclaim the deal, but does not do so, it creates a presumption that there is such a deal. And it becomes more and more difficult to deny its existence as time goes on. The law recognizes this in the form of the doctrine of equitable estoppel (a party can not deny the existence of an agreement that has been partially performed, where that party has enjoyed the benefit of the other side’s performance). The greater the extent of performance, the longer a party is permitted to continue to perform, the more difficult it becomes for the other side to deny there was an agreement While the best-case scenario is to confirm in writing and continue to confirm in writing as performance continues, it is never too late to start. I suggest a general email recounting the history of your meeting, the agreement reached, and a query as to whether a decision has been made as to interest in your design. If a decision has been made and passed along to you, your email might state that in accordance with your arrangement, you take this as confirmation the studio has waived the non-compete - no moonlighing provisions in connection with this design. If no response is received denying the deal, it sets a strong (but refutable) presumption that there is such an arrangement. Each studio situation and culture is different. But your question raises the point that exceptions can be made to employee agreements, and taking the initiative to ask can create individual opportunities for creative people that might otherwise not be available in the studio setting. Jims Bio 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, in 2010 will chair the Practicing Law Institute video game law segment the week after GDC at its annual Entertainment Law Symposium in New York, 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. ©2009 Jim Charne. All rights reserved. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dolby AD Dolby technologies for games offer developers a powerful voice platform for an incredible experience. The most innovative and creative game developers in the world know they can make game play even more realistic with Dolby technology powering every audio detail of their virtual world. Dolby Axon Dolby® Axon is an integrated voice solution that delivers immersive, high-quality 3D voice for all types of games and virtual worlds. Dolby’s highly efficient server software allows thousands of players to communicate on each server, and for large worlds, scales across servers. games.dolby.com ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Game Experience a La Carte: The Rise of the Microtransaction in Western Markets Erin Hoffman For several years now the online game community has been aware of the term “microtransaction” and its impending arrival on western shores. Microtransaction – the act of paying for a game experience in increments from $0.25-$5.00, usually for small “bites” of gameplay (so-called ‘virtual goods’, in-game benefits or ‘buffs’, UI elements, minutes of play-time) – has been a staple in Asian online gaming for years now, with titans like Tencent, Nexon, and NCSoft making billions of dollars a year on the sale of low-cost game elements in game worlds like Maple Story, Kart Rider, and Habbo Hotel (owned by Finnish company Sulake). “Virtual” goods – online game items transferred between players – have also been a part of western online gaming for years, even supporting niche livelihoods for players of Ultima Online and finally World of Warcraft – but it’s necessary to distinguish between online good sales in fundamentally retail-powered worlds (a game that still has to be purchased in a box for upwards of US $50) and microtransaction-founded “free-to-play” games. It’s long been anticipated that microtransactions would make their big break in the US as the game structures so reliable in Asia and then Europe debuted on American shores – but few anticipated that Facebook would be the platform to bring them here. Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish – called the “big three” in “social” gaming – have carved a replication of the Asian microtransaction model in the US, and earned unprecedented tens of millions of players and billions of dollars in the process. Zynga recently surpassed 60 million players across its games (notably Farmville, Mafia Wars, and the new Café World) and earns upwards of an estimated $200 million in annual revenue – challenging in a handful of years the registration and revenue of the long-established online titan World of Warcraft (approx. 11.5 million subscribers, $1 billion annual revenue). Players of games like Farmville and Mobsters log in for short periods of time, engage in simple tending or hyper-compressed questing behaviors, and turn over small amounts of real currency – or consumer attention – in exchange for benefits in the game. Unlike a retail box game, a free-to-play microtransaction-driven game has only a short period of time – usually seconds – to hook a player, and depends heavily on viral propagation and recruitment of the player’s friends. The more players the network has, the faster it spreads, and the greater the percentage of players who will pay money for benefit inside the system. In addition to collecting currency directly from the player through payment systems like Paypal, most microtransaction-focused games have also moved into “lead generation” revenue stream models, where the player exchanges some of their time – filling out a survey, signing up for a promotional offer – for the same in-game benefits, usually expressed in game currency. This is a win-win situation for players who see genuine product benefit in, for instance, signing up for a Netflix subscription, but would ordinarily be resistant to paying money for a simple online game. By directing potential customers to these vendors, companies like TrialPay, PeanutLabs, and Super Rewards exchange large prizes – often vendors like Netflix will pay $20-30 to the game for an acquisition – for the delivery of a new customer. These new frontiers mean thousands of jobs and sometimes unimaginable riches for corporate and independent game developers alike, and as games continue to expand into the mainstream, new ways of accessing and profiting from them also continue to rise. By creating simple, fun games on major social platforms like Facebook, independent developers can hope to latch onto a new hot play structure (or fantasy – running my own restaurant, tending my farm) that spreads like wildfire through the network, and rakes in cash in the process. References & Further Reading - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/26/social-games-how-the-big-three-make-millions/ - http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/09/zyngas-cafe-world-game-hits-10-million-users-in-just-a-week/ - http://games.venturebeat.com/2008/10/28/playfish-raises-17-million-for-facebook-games/ - http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/10/01/playdom-upwards-of-50-million-in-annual-revenue-and-growing/ - http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/06/20/virtual-goods-the-next-big-business-model/ - http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_46/b3959401.htm - http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11747 - Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, by Julian Dibbell, 2006 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Focal Press Titles Ad Need help with 3Ds? Take your 3ds Max skills to new levels with these valuable guides from Focal Press, official publisher of Autodesk 3ds Max Courseware and Techniques titles. Available at at www.focalpress.com and your favorite bookstore or online retailer. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ IGDA Nov Newsletter Tobi Saulnier, Chair The mission of the IGDA can be boiled down to three parts – Community, Professional Development, and Advocacy. It’s not a coincidence Community is listed first. For an industry to thrive and prosper, the community and connections to other professionals are important to nurture and inspire the individuals that make up our industry. Without that human connection and support no professional occupation can survive let along continuously improve, as demanded by the progress of technology and marketplace. There are two structures within IGDA that are core to the community focus. One is regionally organized chapters, which allow developers connected geographically to meet, build relationships, and provide local leadership development opportunities. The other is our Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These are virtual groups intended to allow people with common interests in discipline or industry are to connect with other similarly interested people. The value of this cross fertilization is huge to the industry in terms of inspiration and sharing of best practices that improve our industry overall. We've had a couple major initiatives that have been in the works and just launched this Fall 2009. Both are intended to provide a better long term foundation for both of these needs. One is establishing a baseline for democratic elections for SIG and Chapter leadership, now that many are past their infancy phase. The other is of course our website. Once hardcoded, the new Drupal-based infrastructure is intended to provide a flexible open source based architecture on which to build the new features that were impossible in the prior hardcoded site. Many of the more visible features related back to Chapters and SIGs, including a common interface for members who belong to multiple Chapters and SIGs, as well as a supportable infrastructure that can support the rotating leadership in a volunteer-based organization. We were able to finally convert our systems to this new system in October, establishing a base functionality we can evolve and adapt. Our current focus is to ensure our server and performance parameters are tuned to the workload, especially as it pertains to community features. Our next focus will be on establishing the process to identify and integrate new Drupal modules or alternative solutions, especially for areas like forums, which is one aspect of our community which have faced the biggest challenge on the new platform. The gatherings IGDA organizes and sponsors are another aspect of community. For example, this week at the Leadership Forum, industry leaders at all levels will gather to share information, experiences, and inspiration as we all look to tackle another challenging year ahead. Partners like Think Services also bring value add to our members’ ability to attend and connect at GDC conferences world wide. All totaled the discounts for IGDA members, just at conferences, total approximately $600. Not bad for a $48 member fee. Community is also one of the hardest goals to achieve. Some of the strengths of our profession - our diversity and change orientation - can also make it challenging to build a mutually supportive community. Building and maintaining relationships requires being able to see the bigger picture, and overcome differences to work together to achieve overarching goals. IGDA is striving to foster these relationships, allowing people to identify and connect with like-minded professionals and work through shared difficulties and develop creative solutions. A strong and supportive community is key to the success of our association, and well worth the effort. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ AK Peters Ad CGER will be a peer-reviewed academic publication addressing issues that concern the teaching of game design and development including, but not limited to, curriculum organization, teaching techniques (e.g.,conceptual vs. exemplary), methodology, assessment, tools for facilitati ng game design education, game typology, societal impact, economic and commercial issues, legal aspects, and student evaluati on that are of interest to faculty and insti tuti ons involved in the educati on and training of future game developers. CGER will: publish original research, summarize the research of the past year in survey articles, provide analyses from noted experts, and include complete bibliographies drawn from the key journals and conference proceedings of the field. The goal is to create a tool that will facilitate computer game educati on research and provide a research compass to the community at large. SUBMISSIONS Submissions for the fi rst issue will close on December 1st, 2009. Authors will be noti fied of their submission status by January 1, 2010 with revisions (if any) due by February 1, 2010. While our initial plan for CGER is as an annual publicati on, we are considering a more frequent publication schedule depending on the level and quality of submissions. Submit your paper electronically at http://journaltool.akpeters.com Questions? cger@akpeters.com A K PETERS 5 Commonwealth Rd. Suite 2C Nati ck, MA 01760 www.akpeters.com Published by EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Stephen Jacobs EDITORIAL BOARD Bryan Alexander Jessica Bayliss Marinka Copier Drew Davidson Ann DeMarle Christopher Egert Stéphane Natkin Ian Parberry James Parker Ruben R. Puentedura Karen Schrier Magy Seif El-Nasr IGDA Members always save 20% at www.akpeters.com--use discount code IGDA20 ____________________________________________________________________________ ED Report Taking a peek behind the curtain. IGDA recently launched a new and upgraded version of our website, www.igda.org. As with most of the initiatives we have been rolling out over the last 4 months, the website is going to be an evolutionary process. We launched the new software, next we'll be looking at showing folks how to use the added functions and encouraging members to join the SIG and Chapters they are involved in. You'll be seeing some video tutorials from Joseph Sapp our community manager on accessing and setting up your account. Over time we'll be looking at bringing in more functions, streamlining the system, and naturally addressing some of the look and feel issues. In this article though I wanted to point out some of the reasons why we launched the new website that may not be immediately obvious, and some that most members would not be aware of at all. Content Management System: The new website has a content management system. I know that's not extraordinary, except, previously we didn't have a content management system. Joseph had been using DreamWeaver and html coding as well as a number of custom built tools that Jason created to manage the website. With an actual CMS and content editor, the staff can maintain the website much more easily. This system allows us to respond more rapidly to user changes and will also allow us to provide specific users the ability to edit their own sections of content independently. Group Security: One of the first items I found when I started working on IGDA was that we had no way in which to limit access to any of the specific content areas on the website. The membership survey indicated that the majority of IGDA members wanted member's only areas of the site to include member's only forums, programs and services. In order to provide these benefits we needed to password protect certain content areas of the website. This should be no surprise, since there was already motion underway to put in password protection in the website. Once we have resolved the connectivity performance challenge with the database, we will be able to allow for multiple layers of protection tied into a single user account. Naturally, the most basic access restrictions will be between member and non-member content. However, we will also be able to allow the SIG and Chapter members to have a specific content area for their purposes, and also Board level sections for content such as working documents and contracts and the like for internal review. Polling & Elections capabilities: The new site will allow administrators to create polls as well as support elections for SIG and Chapters within the site. Paired up with the group security, this allows for only the members of a group to engage in the elections and poll response processes. We look forward to getting this complete. More effective Site Search Tools: The previous site had a nice application that was an outside system applied to the website. The current site uses an internal site only search tool that should allow for more relevant search capabilities. Navigation editing and Expansion: Adding new areas to the website should prove much easier with the new CMS tools. With the new site we should be able to begin working on having a true information architecture and plan expansions, as opposed to some of the organic growth that had occurred over the last several years. CRM and AMS Tools: With the launch of the new website we also launched a new Customer Relationship Management database and Association Management System. Previously, we had been working with a custom-built application that was certainly functional and valuable, but was getting outdated and difficult for staff to modify or adapt. In addition, only one person was trained on the application, and it did not integrate directly into our accounting package. The new system is based on open source applications that are robust and allow us to manage IGDA’s massive amount of member and friend data. It already ties into the website, allowing for automated processing of account info and member info. This should lead to fewer issues with our sending out incorrect info or sending emails and newsletters to old email addresses. In addition, we are looking forward to tying this into the accounting package as well to allow for seamless reporting. These improved efficiencies will allow staff to focus on other IGDA priorities. There's more to do—especially at the detail level—but we are making progress in our attempt to provide IGDA members and volunteers a more efficient and useful website. Thanks for taking a little time to read about some of the advantages we are receiving from your new IGDA.org website. Sincerely, Joshua ______________________________________________________________________________ IGDA Switzerland Chapter Newsletter Is there a Swiss game industry at all? On September 23, Thomas Frey, Marco Falsitta, Robbert Van Rooden, Simon Rozner, Matthias Sala and Reto Senn started the IGDA Switzerland chapter and founded a dedicated legal Swiss association. Together we represent the major part of the Swiss industry of game producers: • Reto from bitforge, makers of Orbital and other successful mobile phone games, • Zap from nothing, creators of Flashgames, most prominently plobb! • Thomas from GIANTS, recreating the farming experience with Landwirtschafts-Simulator, • Marco, shareholder at Pixelux and independent developer, • Simon, independent designer and conceptualist, and • Matthias from Gbanga, starting up the new genre of location-aware trans-reality games Together, we have decided on an event program for 2010. Check out here the detailed program including dates. First event: November 6 in Zurich The very first IGDA event took place this past November 6 it was amazing. Hendrik Lesser from Remote Control Productions in Munich and founder of IGDA Munich chapter, spoke about the game situation in Germany and the early days at IGDA Munich. Opportunity for speakers We also do have the open stage philosophy; so attendees are welcome to contribute on the spot, if time allows it. For the upcoming events in 2010, we still have slots free. Please contact the event organizers, directly, or anyone from the committee. You're abroad? We want to address the fact that most Swiss game professionals have left the country on the quest for great game jobs. It is why we invite you, Swiss expats, to participate and contribute in some sort, too. At the moment, we investigate possibilities to stream our meetings through Skype. So you can join us, easily. We will open Skype conferences with the following account: igda.switzerland. So kick off your Skype and ping that account. We’re also going to tweet about the meetings on http://twitter.com/igdach. Please also send us your suggestions and questions before the event, so that we might raise topics during the meetings. We also plan to post Meeting Reports on the www.igda.ch website. Robbert, Reto, Simon, Marco, Thomas and Matthias, Committee IGDA Switzerland chapter _________________________________________________________________________________ Game Connection Ad The Business Meeting Machine for Game MakersGame Connection is a unique speed dating event for business-focused game makers. It is a one-stop shop to meet face to face dozens of targeted potential partners involved in all stages of the production pipeline, from the concept to the outsourcing, publishing, distribution and financing, in back-to-back 30-minute meetings. Visit us at www.game-connection.com ! What is game connection ?Are you game connected ? _________________________________________________________________________________ Retraction: A photo that ran in October’s newsletter article about the DiGRA Conference was mistakenly identified as Andrew Armstrong when, in fact, the person pictured was Ian Bogost, one of the keynote speakers. We regret the error. _________________________________________________________________________________ The 7th Annual Mobile Games Forum 19th – 20th January 2010, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, UK www.mobilegamesforum.co.uk Now in its 7th year, the Mobile Games Forum is firmly established as the leading Mobile Games event in Europe. With the whole ecosystem present – operators, publishers, developers, handset manufacturers and software providers – all industry viewpoints will be represented at MGF 2010. The unbeatable speaker line-up includes over 40 cutting-edge viewpoints from industry leaders. Independent developers are eligible for a special rate and IGDA members receive a 15% discount when registering using code C0004IGDA. For full details contact andrew_mowbray@osneymedia.com. _________________________________________________________________________________ GDC Ad Game Developers Conference® March 9–13, 2010 | Moscone Center, San Francisco www.GDConf.com IGDA members receive $75 off GDC Conference Passes. $75 coupon cannot be combined with other discount. _________________________________________________________________________________ A brand new social networking start up that is definitely not playing games …yet. But they soon will be and they could be your games. The application and site are called Deathtomediocrity.com. A first-of-its-kind social networking experience, whose goal is to be bigger, better, more exciting and more successful than any of the currently existing social networking sites out there. The site is set to launch in the spring of 2010. They are currently offering a huge opportunity for IGDA game developers who are interested in getting in early at the beginning of something enormous. By offering free ad space, as well as free marketing opportunities for one full year on their website! In exchange for one free year of advertising, Deathtomediocrity.com would be granted permission to feature a selection of your games on their site for their registered users. In addition, the site is looking for gaming applications that work within the context of a social media site, but offer more than a "click to level" experience. This is a tremendous, one-time-only opportunity to get involved early on, with what could be the next big movement and new pace-setter of the social networking world. The opportunity for marketing and getting the word out about your new games or game company, for free! to the projected hundreds of millions of the start up’s 18-35 yr. old users for one full year, is difficult to ignore. Unlike other sites, they are looking to be a means of allowing game developers and their consumer base to also share an opportunity for social networking. Thus the group has approached the IGDA in an effort to directly connect with you, the best game developers in the world, through your professional organization. According to Deathtomediocrity CEO Michael Tsapos, they are “primarily interested in extending this opportunity to makers of dynamic world-class, action and graphics-packed games.” They are however; also open to hearing from game developers of all kinds in general as well as new games and new game companies. For more information about Deathomediocrity and their free offer, interested parties are invited to contact Caleb Seeger, VP Marketing, and Deathtomediocrity.com at Caleb@deathtomediocrity.com _________________________________________________________________________________ November, 2009 CGAMES 09 Spain Alicate, Spain November 02, 2009 to November 04, 2009 Game Investment Conference 2009 San Jose, California, United States November 02, 2009 to November 03, 2009 Independent Game Conference West 09 Marina Del Rey, CA, United States November 05, 2009 to November 06, 2009 Project Horseshoe Burnet, TX, United States November 05, 2009 to November 08, 2009 IGDA Leadership Forum Burlingame, CA, United States November 12, 2009 to November 13, 2009 Southwest Gaming Expo Dallas, TX, United States November 20, 2009 to November 22, 2009 Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2009) Paris, France November 23, 2009 to November 25, 2009 December, 2009 ICIDS 2009 – Interactive Storytelling Guimaraes, Portugal December 09, 2009 to December 11, 2009 ICIDS 2009 – Interactive Storytelling Guimaraes, Portugal December 09, 2009 to December 11, 2009 __________________________________________________________________________________ THANK YOU TO OUR LEADERSHIP FORUM SPONSORS GOLD (Autodesk Logo Here) SILVER (Hansoft Logo Here) (Infernal Engine Logo Here) _______________________ SPONSORS (Casual Games Association Logo Here) (Dolby Logo Here) (Omni Audio Logo Here) (Producers Guild of America Logo Here) PART SPONSOR (EA Logo Here) INTERNET CAFE (Jones & Bartlett Logo Here) Learn more about how to become an IGDA Leadership Forum Sponsor: Click Here (Link To: http://www.igda.org/leadership/sponsors/) CURRENT MEMBERS: • Refer a colleague/friend • Renew annually • Volunteer your talents • Update your profile • Join a SIG • Become active locally