GASIG Meeting 8-August-2007

[edit] Meeting Attendees

Michelle Hinn; Kevin Bierre; Eelke Folmer; Barrie Ellis; Robert Florio

GarageGames: Are we at a place where we can show Garage anything like Torque[cc]? Michelle is calling the academic liason tomorrow about my course but should she also send an email/place a call to Josh, our accessibility contact?
E for All: This still might be a go. It's in LA Oct 18-21 and Michelle is calling Pattie Renouard and Mary Dolaher who are part of the team running it later today
Gamers Documentary: Has anyone who was cc:ed on the general email about the gamer diversity project heard anything else from Melissa at Mekanism?
Microsoft Game Fest: Everyone should pay particular attention to the Games for Everyone section. We need to approach them about what they mean by "everyone." More reason to get the Gamasutra article out sooner than later so we ride the current wave.
Gamasutra Article: Reid -- take it away! Michelle is tracking down Steve Wetherill (EA), who wrote one-switch air-hockey, and Peter Molyneaux

E for All: More discussion about booth ideas. We are being given a free booth and will be the sole representatives for the IGDA at the event as well since it's the new consumer trade show of the former E3, which is now a very small invite only affair. Michelle, Reid, and Eelke are planning to attend as well as some of Michelle's students to help run the booth. Robert will provide a video trailer for us to loop in the booth.

Torque [cc]: Reid has emailed GarageGames to invite them to look at the closed caption project for developers to use that Eelke and Reid worked on. No word yet on their reaction to the prototype.

FuturePlay: Everyone should read and comment on Kevin's tentative schedule for the FuturePlay tutorial in November.

Field Testing: Eelke brought up an issue that he felt that we needed to begin looking at -- field/usability testing for accessibility, how to test for the best design solution.

New controllers: It may be possible the the new Buzz controller for the Xbox Scene It could work as a one switch controller. Also, there's the possibility of the GameCube's Donkey Konga being a two switch controller. Investigation needs to be done on this possibility. So far no word from either company.

SecondLife Accessibility: Eelke spoke with members of the SL dev team who seem supportive about accessibility but not versed in the issues or how to create accessibility features in a MMO. Eelke is looking at solutions for potential users who are blind (SL is not accessible at all for the blind).

Committee Meetings: On a rotating basis, committees will be given meeting time to discuss their issues at the weekly meetings. For example, the historical committee might talk about their issues one week and the next week we hear from the curriculum committee.

Secret Project (David Perry): Robert is talking to the advisory board about accessibility issues

PlayStation 2 UK Magazine: Will be publishing a five page article on game accessibility in their September issue featuring, Robert, Reid, and Barrie from the SIG.

Historical Committee: Barrie is working on the following: (1) Emulators pages - Barrie is digging up some of the great one-switch playable games from the past (ties up with the historical portfolio thing) - and show people how to make them even more accessible via slow downs / cheats / tricks and so on); (2) Forming a solid connection between the SIG and with AbilityNet - probably the largest charity in the UK dealing with technology; (3) Working with Ultimarc to get their iPac chip board working in a reliable way for switch gamers to enable people to build their own controllers in a fairly easy way.