Casual Games SIG/Conference Calls/June 2007
International Game Developers Association
Table of contents |
[edit] Role Call
[edit] Who's Here
Jason Akel, Robert Carrol, James Gwertzman, Charles Merrin, James C Smith, Wade Tinney, Margaret Wallace
[edit] Who's Not
Kane Minkus, Allen Partridge, Brian Robbins
[edit] Next Call
Tuesday, July 3, 2007, 2pm ET / 11am PT
[edit] White Paper Update
- Margaret, Allen
- Update from Allen P.
- Primer will be created to be referenced in the Spring quarterly print version.
- Deadline for full update will be September 1
- Two new sections: Glossary of terms, new section on Casual MMOG.
--Juan has done a nice job of updating his section.
--Margaret needs to follow up with Allen to guage his on-going interest in participating.
ACTION ITEMS:
--Margaret: Will communicate on the specific area that need attention.
[edit] Quarterly
- Spring issue
- Wade
- Release date? (Wade)
- Summer issue?
- Print for Casual Connect
- Discuss sponsorship plan developed by Jason and Wade and sent to group last week
--The web version is live for review by tomorrow per Wade. After returning from vacation in a couple of weeks, he will start working on the print version.
--Wade will get back to Margaret around the 23rd of June with details on the White Paper "ad."
--Sponsorship: Charles posed the idea of reducing the number to three. Everyone agreed. We should explicitely add an address for questions. Desire for diversity of sponsors is primary objective.
Action Items:
--Charles: Final draft will be send to Jason by the end of the day for sending.
--Jason: Once the bids come in, Jason will review them and rank them. We will choose the 4th highest bid and let the top 4 pay that amount.
--Jason: will handle invoicing, including creation of an insertion order, and accounting process with Jason D. worked out.
[edit] Initiatives Overview
[edit] Data Royalty Reporting Standards Initiative
- James G.
- NPD, PlayFirst, Reflexive, PopCap
--Playfirst found some issues with Adjustments, COGS, prepaid royalties. James will send out an updated schema to active partners.
ACTION ITEMS
--Charles: will follow up within Real to see if the blocking issues are gone, and when Real can begin sending the XML to partners.
[edit] New Business / Initiatives
- Still need minor help with graphic design; no volunteers to do 2 small graphics!
--Jason needs these developers to create the graphics necessary for HTML emails.
--as we don't have the sponsorship revenue yet, the first two emails will be text based.
- Webinar/Roundtable Broadcasts
- No update at this point - Kane can you update manually?
- Roundtables for Casuality?
- Audio - Kane
- International Opportunities for Casual Games - James G
- Technology Roundup - Brian
- Consumer Marketing Techniques and Sales - Jason
- Other developer-focused talks?
--SKIPPED BECAUSE OF KANE'S ABSENSE
- In order to highlight topics in a more timely fashion and in a more accessible/interesting medium, we will explore running webinars and audio broadcasted roundtables. We would record and archive on SIG wiki homepage.
--we would probably use a roundtable format, similar to what Wade did at GDC, with the goal of filling gaps in Jessica's agenda. We are not trying to compete with her agenda or pull people from her sessions.
--Question of whether we can record and make the session(s) available on our site. It could be the beginning of a more robust content archive for our SIG.
- Discussed Casuality as being first launch of this (Need to approach Jessica about this).
--Margaret and Kane have volunteered to talk with Jessica, with Margaret taking the lead.
--Need to get our proposal together as quickly as possible. The deadline has technically passed (was April 1).
- Sessions might include audio, doing deals with publishers, etc.
--Margaret will compile a list of potential topics for casual connect and get input from SIG committee before submitting.
- Making these a regular event beyond any specific show (e.g., casual connect)
--We need an owner for handling the tactical execution of each session - Manager of Webinars?
--Kane will take the first token to research the methods, and be the faciliator. He will ensure that whomever is running the specific webinar is on track, has the resources, manages the cost, etc. He may not be the permanent Manager of Webinars.
--Need to figure out how to pay for them. Unlike the HTML emails, there could be a significant cost associated with each webinar.
- Reach out to Audio SIG
--SKIPPED BECAUSE OF KANE'S ABSENSE
- Kane was reaching out to them, but no update as of right now
- Kane reaching out to Michael Sweet of non-IGDA Audio SIG and see where we might coordinate initiatives on audio education in casual games.
--Kane's initial research indicated that most audio SIG activity, such as the IAG SIG, was focused on web and mobile projects, not downloadable games.
--Kane feels (and most seem to agree) that it would be valuable to educate the audience about the advancements in audio, but isn't sure about the right way to do it? Thoughts?
--Suggestions on how to accomplis this task included: Writing articles for the quarterly and whitepaper, most aggressive pursuit of panels / lectures (N.B. Apparently Juan and Jessica are very interested in lectures for Casual Connect), polls / notes inside the new HTML-based emails.
--Please send other ideas to Kane and / or this list group.
- Steering Committee selection
--James is now VP of Asia for PopCap, and will be moving soon. He will likely need to give up his spot on the SC. Will try to find another PopCap representative if the SC wants it.
--People feel that PopCap should continue to be repesented, if possible. James suggested Rex (Last Name?) as a possible candidate.
--All other SC members are interested in continuing, so there is likely only one spot available.
--There doesn't seem to be a need to expand again this year as we have the initiatives covered.
--James suggested the concept of term limits to ensure we don't stagnate as a group. Three years was the term suggested.
--There was some discussion on whether / how the current members should continue in their roles. It was decided that we would vote on ourselves during the process.
--Nominations are due by 13 July.
ACTION ITEMS
--Jason: Send email to mailing list requesting nominations in next week. Email will be sent a couple of days after he sends the sponsorship email.
--Jason: Will suggest a time for us to meet at Casuality to vote on new SC.
- Casuality
--Margaret has arranged a 1/2 hour casuality for an overview of IGDA Casual Games SIG
--Need to determine who is going to present, and what that presentation looks like
--Use Amsterdam presentation with updates on key initiatives: Data initiative, white paper, etc.
ACTION ITEMS:
--Margaret: will update he outline and forward to Jessica so she knows what we are interested in.
--Each member will present on their initiative as appropriate.
