Singapore Student Chapter
International Game Developers Association
The IGDA Singapore Student Chapter (IGDASSC) is a gathering of students who are interested in games development and aspects of the game industry. It is a voluntarily organisation not tied with any single school or educational institutions, unlike other IGDA Student Clubs.
The IGDASSC welcomes full-time students and part-time students into its community, though primarily it caters to those of the age 16 to 25.
[edit] Objectives
The IGDASSC aims to
- Establish a community where students from different schools and disciplines who are interested in games development can learn from each other.
- Provide workshops, talks and other beneficial activities to introduce students to games development
- Work with educational institutions in Singapore to organise games development related activities
[edit] Services
The IGDASSC desires to serve the Singapore games industry by conducting workshops and talks for tertiary educational institutions and other non-profit organisations upon request. It will work closely with various CCAs and clubs to promote games development in Singapore.
[edit] Membership
The IGDASSC is a semi-official organization and there is no formal membership. Coming down for a IGDASSC meeting, or becoming a member imposes no obligations on you unless you chose to take up a role or a project. We welcomes all students to come down to our open-door meetings, outings and events (though some are only for the regular people). Our aim is just to have a group of passionate, like-minded student game developers encouraging and supporting each other. As we are semi-official, our style is less rigid and structured, and we aimed to be lean but dedicated. If your passion is in games development (be it casual, hardcore, experimental, independent, open-source, card games, pen and paper role-playing, forum-ran, wargames), we welcome you to come down to join us. We only have two rules "Don't be a jerk" and "No MLM/Timeshare selling". We're sorry; we just want to have fun discussing making games, what make games fun and ultimately...making our own!
[edit] Currently Endorsed Projects and Initiatives
[edit] Projects
The IGDASSC Committee does not endorse any projects at the moment.
[edit] Initiative
- Workshops (Chor Kun Xin)
- Talks (Chor Kun Xin)
- Promotion of Company of Heroes as a cyber-gaming alternative (assisting Eng Teck Tan, from NP, advised by Chor Kun Xin)
- Maintenance of the IGDASSC Portal (Weiman, Justin, Sean)
- Technical and Design Aspects of IGDASSC Portal (Chor Kun Xin, Tan Jianyang)
[edit] Policies
The IGDASSC follows the precepts which IGDA has laid down for all its student clubs - orienting itself around projects and adopting an open door policy.
[edit] Open Door Policy
The IGDASSC welcomes students from all backgrounds into the chapter, regardless of technical proficiency. Its activities will be beneficial to those who are interested in both the technical and design aspects of games development. To cater to varying technical skills, the IGDASSC provides:
- Talks and forums which yield new insight into the games industry and games development
- Introductory workshops for students with little to no experience
- Game design discussions for students interested in aspects of game design
- Projects for technical savvy students who wish to try something more challenging
[edit] Self Learning
Though the IGDASSC will organise workshops for beginners, a large emphasis is placed on self-learning. To encourage this, the IGDASSC will create a portal with self-learning resources and form self-mentoring groups to ensure some form of accountability. The technical/design skills of each student, ultimately, are his/her responsibility alone. The IGDASSC, however, will make learning easier by providing learning resources, tutorials and guidance.
[edit] Projects
The IGDASSC encourages its members to form teams and to engage in projects. According to the IGDA's guidelines for projects, they can be
- Game prototypes (paper prototypes and proof-of-concepts)
- Creating game engines from scratch
- Mods (eg. Half Life II, Diablo II, Warcraft III)
- E-publications (eg. Game Reviews, online tutorials)
If a team wishes the guidance and support of the IGDASSC and to be recognized as a chapter project, it is to submit a PowerPoint (or OpenOffice Impress) presentation touching on the game's high concept and design to the committee. Otherwise, there are no restrictions for the formation of ad hoc teams; it just that they won't be listed as official chapter projects/teams.
Training will be provided upon request for official chapter projects; however, it is imperative for its team members to display initiative and interest. The IGDASSC is not responsible for the success or failure of any endorsed projects. That alone lies with the project's team members. The IGDASSC is responsible for providing advice, training aids and mentoring sessions, upon the team's request.
All IGDASSC endorsed projects are documented within this wiki and the official website. Regardless of whether a project is endorsed, all students are urged to exercise their own discretion when joining any project.
[edit] Differences between Ad Hoc and Chapter Projects
The IGDASSC will require Chapter Projects to be accountable for its progress and would hold monitoring meetings to check on the status of the project. The IGDASSC Projects Manager will be proactive in checking on the projects and giving advice. For chapter projects, the IGDASSC will be active in monitoring it and guiding it.
This is not to say the IGDASSC disregard ad hoc projects/teams. Ad Hoc teams can still request help from the committee when required, but chapter projects will have priority. Traditional form of help, such as posting in the IGDASSC forums and etc. are available to all. The biggest difference between chapter projects and ad hoc projects is that of accountability.
[edit] Criteria for Project Endorsement
All projects are to have the following:
- A committed team leader
- A high concept in the form of a presentation
The Committee will publicise all projects on the wiki, in the forum and on the official website, along with comments. Hence, all students wishing to join a project are urged to study the concept and the comments before committing. The Committee will agree to projects that have a clear direction; it will comment on innovation, technical feasibility and technology, but will not reject projects based on these criteria.
All projects will be terminated after three months of inactivity, by the Coordinator and/or the Projects Manager.
[edit] Projects and Competitions
All project teams are expected to maintain a professional and sportsmanship attitude if they are to take part in competitions. The IGDASSC will denounce teams which does not stick to proper moral conducts and the rules of fairplay. The IGDASSC is not responsible for the acts of its projects team besides production and technical issues. The IGDASSC urges all teams going for competitions to stay transparent and adheres to the rules.
[edit] No CCA Points
In order to ensure the focus is entirely on games development and due to constraints, the IGDASSC will not and cannot issue any CCA points for activities which it organises.
[edit] Leadership Policy
The IGDASSC's committee is open to all those who wish to commit time and effort to the betterment of the chapter. However, committee members are to show responsibility for their ideas and proposal. Members who have lobbied hard for an initiative (for example, to build a game engine or to submit a game to IGF) are expected to lead and realise it. He/She is expected to provide a direction and be on the ground for those initiatives. Initiatives which show inactivity for three months will be terminated at the discretion of the Coordinator and/or the Projects Manager.
All initiatives which are in progress will be documented on this wiki and the official website.
The requirements to be a IGDASSC committee member are:
- Willingness to assume responsibility for initiatives he/she has suggested
- Dedication to the betterment of the IGDASSC and the Singapore games industry
- Frequent attendance for the past three months
- Willingness to improve one's skills, if he or she is new to the scene
Only the Coordinator and the Projects Manager has the right to appoint and expel committee members.
[edit] Advisers
Advisers are those working in the industry and/or not studying full-time or part-time and wish to be a part of the committee. All advisers will agree to
- Follow the direction of the IGDASSC as stated above
- Not abuse his/her committee member status to recruit students for his own projects at an unreasonable rate
- Follow all the rules for Solicitations of Students for freelance work.
- Provide suggestions and does not use his/her seniority to force initiatives or directions.
[edit] Use of the [IGDASSC] tag in the IGDA forum
Please use the [IGDASSC] tag in the IGDA Singapore Chapter forum responsibly. Use it for discussion pertaining to the chapter or the student-based games development scene. Please do not use the tag for other purposes, such as soliciting student freelancers or advertising product/services targeted at students.
[edit] Competitions and Monetary Gains
The IGDASSC will not require teams which have won competitions or achieve commercial success with their projects for any monetary gain. If the team has gained any help from the IGDASSC, it need only acknowledge the help in their credits page.
Note: Committee Members who are involved in successful projects are still entitled to any winnings and credit as an individual. The IGDASSC will not ask credit or reward to be shared among other committee members who have played no part in those projects.
[edit] Solicitations
In order to prevent the IGDASSC from becoming "just a recruitment ground for freelancers" and in order to protect the interest of the students, the following policies are enforced.
Companies or individuals who wish to solicit students for freelance jobs or employment in the IGDASSC are urged to be responsible. The IGDASSC frowns upon jobs which
- have students to work for free or for unreasonable amounts and promises "royalty" or "large returns" in the future
- promise any "exclusive contracts" or "exclusive sponsorships" with project teams
- involve any agreement that will hamper the student's involvement in other games development projects, such as NDAs.
Though the IGDASSC will not restrict how companies and industrial players interact with the students, the Committee urges all members who have been unduly pressurized to report to the Committee and the parent Singapore Chapter. Each student member assumes responsibility for his/her own decision in regards to the jobs/employment which he/she takes up.
The IGDASSC will appreciate it if companies and industry players declare their intent to solicit freelancers or contract workers from students beforehand, especially if they are attending informal outings and talks.
Student members accept all freelance/contract jobs at their own risk. As they lack industry experience (and life experience in general), it is urged that they discuss any deals which sound too good to be true with the Committee or in the IGDA forums.
The IGDASSC will provide an official channel for networking.
[edit] Committee 2008
This section describes the Committee Members and Advisers for the year 2008
[edit] Core Committee
The Core Committee consists of people holding onto specialised roles within the IGDASSC. Those are voluntarily, and roles-based. Listed below are the committee members and the specialised roles which they have taken upon.
- Coordinator: Chor Kun Xin (Nanyang Technological University)
- Projects Manager: Bruce Chia (National University of Singapore)
- Publicity and Media Relations: Sean Chan (Singapore Institute of Management)
- Business Manager: Wong Yoke Keong (Nanyang Technological University)
- IT: Lyon Tay (National University of Singapore)
- Digital Design: Tan Jianyang, Justin (Nanyang Technological University, ADM)
- Digital Game Assets: Wong Zijian, Danny (Nanyang Technological University, ADM)
- Content and Editorial: David Teo (graduate) and Weiman (National University of Singapore)
[edit] Members
Members are not considered as "second-class citizen" - rather, they are regulars of the IGDASSC meetings/outings who helps out in whatever way they can. They help to share the load of the main committee.
- Cai Weiliang (Ngee Ann Polytechnic)
- Terrick Ong (Republic Polytechnic)
[edit] Advisers
- Publicity and Media: David Teo (Curtin University of Technology, Australia)
[edit] Request for Slots at Talks
If any companies or individuals in the industry wish to have a slot during an IGDASSC meeting, please e-mail a brief of your talk and how it would benefit students to extrakun@member.igda.org
Talks which we are looking for are:
- Job opportunities which meet the rules of soliciting students for work as stated above
- Demonstration of a new technology beneficial to games development (a new game engine, for example)
- Demonstration of a developed game and an explanation of the work-flow, team management, division of work
- Real life job experience in the games industry
- Pitching a game idea and to get people's buy-in and to form a team
Talks which we will preferably avoid are:
- Talks which just provide a bio of a person or a company (promotion without benefits)
- Motivational Talks, as many such topics are controversial and the IGDASSC cannot vouch for the safety of those practices (example: Brain Programming, Rich Dad/Poor Dad-style of talks)
- Presentation of a developed game, but with no discussion on workflow, techniques or design tips (promotion without benefits)
We encourage all speakers to be even-handed and take a balance approach to all topics, be it open-source gaming or other various hot buttons issue in the games industry. Those can be touched upon but we would wish to dissuade speakers see the SSC as a channel to 'win converts'.
[edit] History of the Student Chapter
The effort in forming the Student Chapter was initiated by Allan Simonsen in October 2005 and its first meeting called by Travis Ho and was held in July 2006, at the National University of Singapore. No formal committee was formed till October 2007.
[edit] Contact
Please feel free to ask any questions of the IGDASSC at the Singapore Chapter Forum The original thread which debated the formation of the IGDA Singapore Student chapter can be found here.
