Casual Games SIG/Conference Calls/January 2007
International Game Developers Association
Table of contents |
[edit] Role Call
[edit] Who's Here
Jason Akel, Robert Carrol, Charles Merrin, Kane Minkus, Brian Robbins, James C Smith, Wade Tinney, Margaret Wallace
GUESTS: Dr. Allen Partridge is Director of the Applied Media and Simulation Games Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Partridge is the founder and co-owner of Insight Interactive games and has developed a myriad of interactive 2D and 3D games. He is the author of "Creating Casual Games for Profit and Fun" published by Charles River Media, expected in bookstores in March.
Partridge’s casual games have been featured on Reflexive Arcade, Pogo Games, Oberon Games, and dozens of other distribution portals worldwide. He has written several articles and a book on Shockwave 3D games and was the technical editor for Paul Catanese’s Director’s Third Dimension. Partridge is the host of the popular dirGames-l and dir3d-l mailing lists.
[edit] Who's Not
James Gwertzman
[edit] Next Call
NOTE SPECIAL DAY / DATE: Thursday, 1 February 2007, 2pm ET / 11am PT
--Charles will confirm the conference call line is available for this call.
[edit] Quarterly
- Winter issue - articles, review copy, release date?
Discussion:
--We should convert the "XNA Development FAQ" to a "Vista / ESRB / Parental Controls FAQ" based on the popularity of this issue in recent conversations. Rob will take the lead to ask someone from MSFT to be directly involved.
--We should use the recent emails to drive the topics, but should not use exact quotes to avoid copyright issues.
--We are still waiting for a number of interviews and / or individual articles from contributors.
--Wade will review our distribution options and deliver a budget by the end of the week. Questions include where we should have the hard copy distributed, and what is the necessary budget to get them printed.
--Current distribution includes the Casual Games Summit and possibly the IGDA booth. The Minna Mingle probably isn't a good play (per Charles' concern about them making it home), although we should consider alternatives (business card drop, cards with the URL, etc.). Casuality-Amsterdam may be a good spot pending research.
--Overall, Wade seems to have it under control
[edit] Initiatives Overview
[edit] Data Royalty Reporting Standards Initiative
- James G.
- Real and PlayFirst adopted yet?
- Upcoming action item: James to send industry release within month or two once actual deployment occurs.
- This is version 1
- Biggest issue is that different portals store names differently from each other
- Means you have to map game names from distributors to internal names
- Can we get an industry-wide ISBN or SKU type number?
- Similar to/borrow from PAD file?
- Would it allow for versioning?
- Look into PAD file extensibility or write our own?
Discussion:
--No update due to James' absense.
[edit] White Paper Update
- Margaret, Brian, Kane
- Results of kickoff call? # of attendees?
- Deployment date still to coincide with CGA Conference in Seattle in July 2007?
- General survey has ~35 responses so far
- Contributor survey has ~6 responses
- Only question is how often will it should/will get revved?
Discussion:
--Margaret and team had a kick off meeting, including survey responses and other feedback. The call went well.
--She and team have reviewed the initial survey responses, although there weren't many surprises.
--Still working on assigning all of the tasks, especially section editors and overall editor. Alex St. John has stepped forward to volunteer. Suggestions included in-game advertising and business models.
--Anyone interested in helping should let Margaret know.
[edit] Advertising Standards
- James G, Charles (continue, but probably post other things)
- How can we create standards, and how can we encourage portals to adhere these standards
- Not much progress?
Discussion:
--Charles [briefly] discussed an industry document being floated around. He will check with the originator to see if it is OK to distribute it to a wider audience. It appears no one on the call had seen it yet. This document could serve as the foundation for the SIGs conversations on the topic.
--Charles expects to provide a schedule update by the next call.
[edit] Awards
- Kane, Wade, Brian (Kane is lead)
- On hold until further notice?
Discussion:
--this topic should be tabled for now pending the release of the Zeebies.
--The SIG recommends not getting directly involved in this new set of awards until version 2 next year ;) There was some concern that the first year might be too disorganized / confused.
--Jason will send out information on the GDC Gamers Choice awards.
[edit] Developer Outreach
- Margaret
- Blinking shot glass with drink.
- Costs? Preliminary budget submitted to Jason A. -> Jason D.? Approved?
- Can we include a card or URL, or something with it?
- Want to make sure that we are enhancing the event, not just piggy backing off of it
Discussion:
--Margaret is grateful for the opportunity it spend time planning this promotional event ;)
--She recommended two possible ways of handling the opportunity: 1. find an independent company (possibly working with the CGA) to pay for glasses and drinks. This company would essentially sponsor the Casual Games SIG presence at Mingle Mingle. This is probably the easiest way to get it done. 2. Run a budget through the CGA, and have them reimburse us through the budget process. This is more complex, risky, and likely to fail.
--The IGDA logo would be on glasses, while the company logo would be on napkins (or whatever). Jason expressed concern that the SIG logo should be separate from the company logo to avoid confusion or an implied endorsement. Others seemed to agree.
--Margaret is working on the final count and glass type. Probably only need 250 glasses, not 400. May want to change from shot glasses to regular glasses, as most people don't drink shots at these parties. The group suggested mixed drinks are better than shots.
[edit] GDC Summit
- via John Welch
- John agreed to following:
- Jason requested, "Printed version of the most recent quarterly with any updates we have at the time – would be based on the Winter issue which releases early February. If we have part 1 of our DRM whitepaper initiative, we’ll include this as well…not certain it will be ready but will give you status as we get closer. If desired, we can also include printings of other resources we’ve developed up to that point, e.g. the distributor network reach lists, reporting initiative and update, snapshot of the top ten charts."
- Probably have the Winter issue
- Also the DRM White paper that Jason will be working on
- Jason will have John Welch provide SIG 1 page handout, mailing list signup, and business card drop at the GDC Summit
Discussion:
--No discussion.
[edit] Creating a Budget
- Jason
- Group members will send Jason Akel funding needs for their initiatives for next year (project and required dollars).
- Only Margaret has sent preliminary budget. Wade, quarterly for GDC?
Discussion:
--N.B. I didn't get any notes on this topic. Did I miss something? There were a few budget conversations so I might have missed them.
[edit] Casual SIG website
- Jason updated website page, wiki.
- Blog?
[edit] Contract Legal Paperwork
- Rob
- Let's throw this up as-is and allow people to make comments (on the wiki?)
Discussion:
--Rob will upload the contract.
[edit] IGDA Initiative Support Request
- Jason D. request for initiatives needing management and funding support. None sent to Jason A. to pass along.
[edit] New Business
- ESRB, USK, PEGI ratings
- Discussion with organizations to be more casual games friendly (timing, costs, fines).
- Creation of CGRB or similar (Casual Games Review Board)
- Impact on Vista? - certification requirements
-- Notes re: Vista and Ratings systems -- Partridge
Why now?
The upcoming release of Microsoft Vista will create unprecedented visibility for all games, but especially for those which conform to the new standards and install into the Games menu. A new graphical interface to games includes new ways to witness the ESRB ratings (or localized equivalent) and allow users / administrators to restrict installed games using built in tools.
The visibility is desirable. The ESRB ratings system is less appealing to small / indie companies. What exactly is the ESRB?
The ESRB is a regulator-gatekeeper hybrid (in order to avoid federal intervention, industries often create a self-supervising agency or group that has sufficient power to rate or create advisory warnings for consumers, but is implemented in a manner that is sensitive to industry needs.) If an industry cannot police itself effectively, congress could step in and generate regulatory governance (via the FCC would be the most likely route and may be inevitable anyway.)
Pros
