[games_access] GDC 2009!

Sat Apr 4 03:50:09 EDT 2009

GDC 2009!So.... how was it?

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: d. michelle hinn 
  To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List 
  Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 2:16 AM
  Subject: [games_access] GDC 2009!

  Hi All!!

  Here's the rundown of this year's SIG and Game Accessibility related talks happening at GDC! I'll include the times and places first and at the end of the email you can read the full descriptions!

  Talk One: The Story of AudiOdyssey & My Journey through Usability

  Speaker: Eitan Glinert (President, Fire Hose Games)
  Date/Time: Monday (March 23, 2009)   1:30pm - 2:00pm
  Location (room): Room 3007, West Hall
  Track: Serious Games Summit

  Talk Two: Game Accessibility SIG Roundtable

  Speaker: Michelle Hinn (IGDA Game Accessibility SIG Chair)
  Date/Time: Thursday (March 26, 2009)   9:00am - 10:00am
  Location (room): Room 120, North Hall
  Track: Game Design

  Talk Three: Accessibility 101: Crash Course for Beginners

  Speakers: Michelle Hinn (IGDA Game Accessibility SIG Chair), Mark Barlet (Editor-in-Chief, AbleGamers.com)
  Date/Time: Friday (March 27, 2009)   9:00am - 10:00am
  Location (room): Room 2002, West Hall
  Track: Game Design

  Talk Four: Game Accessibility & Developers with Disabilities Social Gathering

  Speaker: Thomas Westin (Dep. Computer & Systems Science, SU/KTH, Stockholm University/KTH)
  Date/Time: Friday (March 27, 2009)   10:30am - 11:30am
  Location (room): IGDA Booth, West Hall
  Track: Game Design

  This year we will have full coverage on AbleGamers.com who have agreed to host our soon-to-be-unveiled SIG web presence! This will be unveiled this week but if you go to AbleGamers you'll already start to see some cool social networking features that will undoubtedly help us reach to consumers, which we have always been spread a little too thin to do, and help them reach out (even more than the awesome job they've already been doing!) to the industry.

  So anyway, look forward to seeing videos from the talks and interviews with major developers and daily coverage thanks to AbleGamers reporter Anet (who is my former game design student/game journalism graduate from Illinois!).

  This is our year -- I can feel it! Time to get Game Accessibility out and about through some big time activism!

  After GDC, I'm going to call a series of online meetings to get some of the things some of us were talking about getting going at the beginning of the year. Some of this is already underway but I can't yet tell you what it is (it's BIG though...) until I get the permission of the third party involved.

  Upcoming conference appearances by members of the SIG include:

  * GDC Canada
  * GDC Europe
  * GDC China
  * Microsoft One Day Game Accessibility Seminar (that's me!)
  * Develop Brighton (Barrie -- can you make it to this again???)

  More news to come! Follow me at Twitter (@vrgrrl), Mark Barlet and AbleGamers (@ablegamers), Barrie Ellis (@OneSwitch) , Richard van Tol  (@AudioGames), and more! :)

  Michelle
  Chairperson,
  IGDA Game Accessibility SIG

  -------------------------------------------------------------------

  Full Descriptions of Sessions:

  ---------

  Talk 1:

  The Story of AudiOdyssey & My Journey through Usability
  Speaker: Eitan Glinert (President, Fire Hose Games)
  Date/Time: Monday (March 23, 2009)   1:30pm - 2:00pm
  Location (room): Room 3007, West Hall
  Track: Serious Games Summit
  Format: 30-minute Lecture
  Experience Level: All

  Session Description
  Not all serious games need to be those with visually exciting graphics or even graphics at all. AudiOdyssey is a game that provides the serious games community with an interesting twist - developing a game that can be used to engage visually impaired gamers and gamers together in the same shared experience. The story of AudiOdyssey is itself a journey not only into game design for the visually impaired but overall issues with how to create games with easy UIs and engaging experiences. During this talk Eitan Glinert who built AudiOdyssey while at MIT will present the story of AudiOdyssey while also covering further issues in usability that are useful not only for improving access for people with disabilities but all levels of people learning, training and doing more with videogames. Together this talk provides some critical highlights of issues that are of paramount importance to games that don't get to be selective about their audiences and gives insight into a game that moved beyond presenting just a graphical experience.

  -----

  Talk 2:

  Game Accessibility SIG
  Speaker: Michelle Hinn (IGDA Game Accessibility SIG Chair)
  Date/Time: Thursday (March 26, 2009)   9:00am - 10:00am
  Location (room): Room 120, North Hall
  Track: Game Design
  Format: 60-minute Roundtable
  Experience Level: All

  Session Description
  The Game Accessibility SIG exists to help the game community strive towards creating mainstream games that are universally accessible to all, regardless of age, experience and disability. This SIG meeting will briefly highlight our accomplishments from the past year. We are eager to accept input for new initiatives to tackle and we are actively recruiting volunteers and contributors.

  -----

  Talk 3:

  Accessibility 101: Crash Course for Beginners
  Speaker: Michelle Hinn (IGDA Game Accessibility SIG Chair), Mark Barlet (Editor-in-Chief, AbleGamers.com)
  Date/Time: Friday (March 27, 2009)   9:00am - 10:00am
  Location (room): Room 2002, West Hall
  Track: Game Design
  Format: 60-minute Lecture
  Experience Level: All

  Session Description
  Want to increase the size and diversity of your game's audience by including gamers with disabilities? This talk provides a list of 10 easy changes any game developer can use to start increasing the accessibility of their designs for ALL gamers, especially gamers with disabilities, with minimal effort but maximum impact. Learn what disabled gamers and developers are doing, from modding your game to your controllers, in order to play your games so that you can begin implementing these fixes right from the start of your development cycle!

  Takeaway
  Session participants will learn at least ten concrete ways that game designers can use to get started in increasing the accessibility of their mainstream games titles, as well as some innovative ways of gaming that will interest all gamers, not just gamers with disabilities. Different disability types will be discussed - including visual (including low vision and color blindness), auditory, mobility, and cognitive disabilities - and how these different disabilities affect certain aspect of game play. Audience members will come away with many examples of how gamers with disabilities currently game and how their game companies can help assist these gamers through design variations to make their game play experience the best possible.

  Intended Audience and Prerequisites
  Designers, programmers, marketers, and publishers interested in a "crash course" to learn and ask questions about game accessibility - issues that gamers with disabilities face every day as they try and play your games. Information given will include an overview of the issues that those with specific disability types face, including color blind gamers, the top accessibility problems in mainstream games, and concrete solutions. No prerequisite knowledge is required - just come with an open mind and willingness to seriously consider making games accessible to MORE!

  -----

  Talk 4:

  Game Accessibility & Developers with Disabilities Social Gathering
  Speaker: Thomas Westin (Dep. Computer & Systems Science, SU/KTH, Stockholm University/KTH)
  Date/Time: Friday (March 27, 2009)   10:30am - 11:30am
  Location (room): IGDA Booth, West Hall
  Track: Game Design
  Format: 60-minute Social Gathering
  Experience Level: All

  Session Description
  Social Gatherings are a chance for like-minded developers to get together for networking and open discussion at the IGDA booth. Come to meet your peers and engage in deep dialogue over your area of specialty - or just partake in witty small talk.

  Takeaway
  Networking and discussion with your peers in a casual setting. A sense of community.

  Intended Audience and Prerequisites
  Developers interested in game accessibility and developers with disabilities.

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