[games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News

[d. michelle hinn]

Who will be a part of "We"?

Michelle

>Hi John.  With what you said below I think you hit the nail on the head.
>
>Then we definitely need a web site and a forum.
>Robert
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org]
>On Behalf Of John Bannick
>Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 11:05 AM
>To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News
>
>Reid is right.
>
>There are developers right now who want their work to be accessible.
>
>This SIG could right now facilitate that by:
>
>1. Providing, distributing, and publicizing a concise, specific set of
>functional criteria that define what means accessible.
>2. Compiling, publishing, and publicizing an annual list of which companies
>and games meet those criteria.
>3. Maintaining a forum (The currently rather drifting Game Accessibility
>Project comes to mind) where developers can go for immediate help.
>
>I'm a developer of games that are accessible.
>Have shipped 22 different revenue-generating products in a wide variety of
>vertical markets in the last 30 years.
>Am neither stupid nor lazy.
>And don't see any of the 3 above items.
>
>None of the 3 items should take long to build as a first cut.
>
>And if not from this SIG, then from where?
>
>John Bannick
>CTO
>7-128 Software
>
>
>At 02:26 AM 12/1/2007, you wrote:
>>Please, can we stop with the negative talk about GDC and the game
>>industry? I work in the game industry for LucasArts. Just last week I
>>talked to a highly respected programmer and he's 100% behind us and
>>wants to talk about what we can do to improve accessibility in our
>>games after our current milestone is finished. There are dozens of
>>people at LucasArts that support game accessibility. Nintendo totally
>>gets it, EA Games totally gets it with their Family Play modes in
>>their sports games. Peter Molyneux gets it, Will Wright... the list
>>goes on and on.
>>
>>It's offensive to me when people of this SIG accuse developers of not
>>caring because WE DO CARE. The last thing you want to do is insult the
>>people you have to work with. It's the quickest way to turn them away
>>from our cause.
>>
>>So, instead of complaining, lets do something about it! First,
>>everyone here needs to understand what it's like for developers and
>>why it's so hard for them to adopt accessibility features.
>>
>>1. Limited financial resources - Games are very expensive to make and
>>any new features adds to the cost. Before you can add accessibility
>>features you must have a game and that's where most of the money is
>>spent first.
>>
>>2. Limited time - Game development is incredibly complex and hard to
>>tame. No matter how much extra time gets budgeted into the production
>>schedule, it always runs out well before all tasks are complete. When
>>this happens, features get cut in order to save the core of the game
>>and again, without a game, there can't be any accessibility features.
>>Because this usually happens so late, there isn't enough time to work
>>on accessibility features before the game has to ship.
>>
>>3. Limited information - Even if a developer was pro-active and
>>scheduled the development of accessibility features into the games'
>>development schedule, there's still a major lack of knowledge and
>>tools that enable them to do their job. The SIG has been thinking
>>about accessibility features for years and we have all the solutions,
>>but developers don't yet. We need to make ourselves known and readily
>>available to help them.
>>
>>What can we do to solve these issues? We need to develop our
>>relationships with developers and offer our assistance. Our attempts
>>to work with GarageGames is a good start. When a new game is announced
>>we should contact them and offer our expertise.
>>
>>We have GOT to get a website up so that we can communicate our
>>abilities and expertise to our target audiences (game developers).
>>
>>But there are technical issues and many of us are volunteers and so
>  >things move very slowly.
>>
>>Several of us are writing guidelines for implementing certain features
>>but again, this is a slow process. Others are doing research. Going to
>>conferences is awesome. Writing articles to Gamasutra is great as
>>well.
>>
>>Eitan is right, we have to "sell" our expertise. It's not that
>>developers don't care, they don't know that they SHOULD care.
>>
>>-Reid
>>_______________________________________________
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>>games_access at igda.org
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>>
>>
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>
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