Casual Games SIG/Conference Calls/January 2008

International Game Developers Association

Table of contents 1 Role Call 1.1 Who's Here 1.2 Who's Not 2 Next Call 3 Initiatives Overview 3.1 Quarterly 3.2 White Paper 3.3 Data Royalty Reporting Standards Initiative 3.4 SIG communication 3.5 Solving the Problem of Portal Hopping (was DRM Standardization) 3.6 Surveys 3.7 Developer / Publisher Acknowledgement 3.8 Business Model Education 3.9 Webinar/Roundtable Broadcasts 3.10 Developer Showcase 3.11 Advertising Standards 3.12 Upcoming Events 3.12.1 Casual Connect Amsterdam 3.12.2 GDC 4 Other Business

[edit] Role Call

[edit] Who's Here

Charles Merrin, Dave Rohrl, Brian Robbins, James C Smith, Wade Tinney, Rex Sikora, Margaret Wallace

[edit] Who's Not

Jared Nieuwenhuis, Cherie Lutz, Jason Akel

[edit] Next Call

• Tuesday, 12 February 2008 at 2pm ET / 11am PT
• Will use Cherie's conference line

[edit] Initiatives Overview

[edit] Quarterly

• Wade
  • Create new graphic which his web guy will get it live ASAP
  • Creating one quarterly for Casual Connect and GDC

• the CGA folks put me in touch with their printer and I'm waiting to hear back with a quote and a turn-around time.
• so far I've got four definite pieces for this issue, and a handful of tentatives. Since I need all copy in hand by Jan. 22nd in order to meet (what I estimate to be) the Amsterdam print deadline, it's going to be very tight. I'm still trying to make it happen, but I'd put it at 50/50 chance at this point.
• getting it done for GDC will be pretty straightforward, but I need help calling in a few more articles. I've corresponded with James about this. Jared, if you want a new initiative to call home, I'd love to get your help with the Quarterly.

• To make Amsterdam, we would need to pull in a few articles, and do quick printing.
  • Alternative is to do a "mini" version

ACTION ITEMS

• Next quarterly
  • Deadline is 22 January 2008 for new content / text
• Jared: Write an article on Developer Acknowledgement
• Articles for Quartlerly 1-pager (for Amsterdam)
  • Wade: pull articles for classic quarterly
  • Dave R: White Paper teaser
  • Charles: Supply link for survey
• Margaret: Will help Wade get things set up and done

[edit] White Paper

• Dave R lead

• Held first Kick Off meeting (N.B. Nice work, Dave)
• Published a schedule (which was sent to all steering committee members)
• Rough schedule
  • First draft: 25 March
  • Subsections finalized: 6 May
  • Sections finalized: 10 June
  • Final edit: 1 July
  • Excerpt written: July 9
  • Paper released: July 23

• Overall, the white paper looks to be in good shape for release at Casual Connect Seattle July 23.
• Console Download section is understaffed and may need to be pulled if we can't get more writers on board for it. I have sent out a request to a few friend in my network, but could really use help from the steering committee to fill the void.

ACTION ITEM:

• Everyone: Per Dave, this is a really, really big effort and I could clearly use a second in command if anyone want to swap in from their current initiative.

[edit] Data Royalty Reporting Standards Initiative

• Rex Sikora, Cherie second

• No update as Rex wasn't aware of his role yet

• Notes from James S
  • Was successfully launched by James G (hurray!)
  • Progress has stalled on this one for almost a year
  • Needs to be more widely adopted.
    • This could take some sales/marketing/arm twisting.
    • Additional technology may also help push adoption forward. We should publish excel templates or other examples of how to generate these reports “by hand”
• Keep it alive but maybe wait until some bigger initiatives are over the hump

[edit] SIG communication

• Cherie lead, Brian second

We need to improve our communications with our members and the IGDA in general. This will take many forms, including mail list, PR, at show elements (t-shirts, ribbons), etc. Messaging will need to be refined for consistency and format. Brian to create schedule/topics for mailing list outreach.

• Awaiting update from Cherie

[edit] Solving the Problem of Portal Hopping (was DRM Standardization)

• Rex lead, James C. Smith second

• No real progress every made on this one.
• Per James, this is a very hard problem to solve that may be beyond the scope of this SIG.
• James feels that it is possible to make some progress on this initiative if limit the scope and if we can dedicate more resources to it.
• James' recommendation: postpone for future

• Rex will write up background on initiative to date, and suggest the right direction (or two) to pursue
• Rex will set up a separate meeting to discuss this initiative in date

[edit] Surveys

• Charles leads

Survey SIG members to see what they want from the SIG and from the SC. Survey actual end users to gather information to help everyone in the SIG. Unlike Real, MSFT, and other larger companies, the smaller developers don't have the means or the reach to do this for themselves.

• Charles sent out (very) rough first draft for comments, and received two back. They have been incorporated into the survey.
• Charles will move survey into Survey Monkey (or related service) over the next week or so. A new link will be sent out for comment.
• Target Release Date: End of January

[edit] Developer / Publisher Acknowledgement

• Jared lead

• Was unable to secure speakers for a Casual Connect Amsterdam session due to limited / no portal participation
• Considering postponing this initiative in favor of another.
• Could make an excellent one-time article for Quarterly.

• On hold pending article and more Jared input

[edit] Business Model Education

• No current owner

It is important for the entire industry to understand what models are being used, and what they mean to the developers. For example, what are the implications of clients, subscription models, advertising, etc. IT was agreed that this probably wasn't a separate initiative, but will be woven into many of the other initiatives, such as the webinars, quarterly, and white paper.

• No update

[edit] Webinar/Roundtable Broadcasts

• Jason lead, but handing it over to TBD
  

• On hold pending results of Survey

[edit] Developer Showcase

• No current owner

This would be an independent destination (probably a website) where all developers can have a profile and information about their games. It will likely be most valuable for smaller, independent developers. The initial goal is to determine what format the showcase will take, then to determine how to implement it.

• No update

[edit] Advertising Standards

• Charles

In-game and HTML advertising is becoming more important to casual games. There are currently a number of standards / initiatives underway, including CAST, Google, and real. It is important to try to guide them all towards as much standardization as possible. And in the short run, to facilitate communication to the group about what is happening.

• On hold pending outcome of survey

[edit] Upcoming Events

[edit] Casual Connect Amsterdam

• Who is attending: Margaret, Jared, Brian
• Who is not: Everyone else

• Jared to try to schedule a working session for white paper
  • Coordinate with Dave R.
• Jared to work with Jessica to reserve time for our efforts
• Can we have a forum to collect information from members at the show?

[edit] GDC

Dave R is running casual games summit (with Kenny and others). We are getting good reception from organizers on csual content as the show is thinner than past years.

Casual Games Developer Gathering

• Charles will be hosting session (pending final time & date)
  • Others are welcome (and encouraged) to attend
• Session with be at IGDA booth
• Awaiting confirmation of final date & time

[edit] Other Business

• Need to examine each initiative on a case-by-case basis
  • Perhaps we should reduce the number of initiatives and increase the number of people on each
  • Too many initiatives have little to no progress