[games_access] E for All and GDC booths - Money issues

[d. michelle hinn]

That's interesting to know about GarageGames -- and a shame. Sounds 
like they are a company that isn't even committed to devs in general. 
I hope that there's a way to advertise and promote using the [cc] 
tool for the engine that we can do that gets this out to devs who 
want to use it despite Garage not including it into their engine - if 
that's possible. I know we had gone into this thinking that our 
solutions would be put into future versions of the Torque Engine. 
Seems like that is not going to happen!

Just as a reminder: I'd like to encourage anyone that has any history 
with or concerns with a company's commitment to please feel free to 
speak up. I don't always know the history of every company we try to 
work with. Eelke might have created his [cc] work for them regardless 
but I'm sure if there was more information about their history he 
might have put the energy into another project. The only experience I 
had with them was with the DonationCoder.com contest where they were 
very generous with donating their tools for a contest for accessible 
games and prior to GDC (and at GDC) seemed to be totally on board 
with the accessibility message. So I had no basis for concern going 
into a partnership with them. So even if it's in person or off-list 
that you feel more comfortable raising concern, please do. We have 
limited resources and I feel very bad that Eelke and Reid spent the 
time that they did on this. Of course perhaps what they learned will 
be able to be applied to another company's product -- things aren't 
always completely moot. But now we have to shop it around a bit. 
Certainly a red flag with them was when the promised licenses for the 
Engine never came through, followed by the complete silence on their 
end even when we had demos to show them. By then it was too late.

So lessons learned...we always have lessons to be learned, eh? :) I 
can tell you this for sure -- I have been SCHOOLED in how expos and 
conventions work. I thought we would just be worrying about what to 
bring and what to write in fliers (if ANYONE has ideas here, please 
speak up -- I'm writing something now for Richard and I can go as 
late as Monday to get this to the printer with a penalty for a rush 
job. Richard, however, might not have that time. I hope he does but 
obviously everyone has lives that they put on hold or delay for 
things like SIG emergencies. I collapsed asleep at 10pm last night -- 
my body just said ENOUGH! So Richard -- we all appreciate the time 
you can put into the flier design and if you don't have the time, 
please send me the files (not sure if you did the template in 
photoshop or not) so I can edit them.

I do have some Nintendo contacts and what Eitan and I are both hoping 
to do is meet with some reps (not just booth babes -- btw, I actually 
have an order form for booth babes in my E for All kit -- they are 
EXPENSIVE) at E for All. So E for All will be a show where we not 
only show off our stuff but try and make as many contacts as possible 
for future sponsors.

As for personal donations -- Barrie and Mark were both setting up 
donation opportunities for the SIG website and on their own websites. 
The SIG website is probably going to get more dev attention while 
OneSwitch and AbleGamers will probably get more consumer attention. I 
really, really want to thank both of them for doing this (and an 
aside -- Mark is new to our SIG but he's really helped us out. Please 
welcome him (if you haven't already) with open arms -- all of us are 
VITAL to the cause. I know most of us have gotten to know Barrie more 
because he's been with us for a long time but take some time and get 
to know Mark as well. Both of them have literally saved my butt 
during this whole E for All prep).

So ANY amount of donation is appreciated. Seriously. Anything would 
be great. Barrie and Mark will be giving me their info on how to 
paypal, etc donations. This hasn't put me into financial crisis but 
it did take two month's paychecks to cover it (thank goodness for 
credit cards and savings accounts and a boyfriend who makes a lot 
more money than I do who can cover the rent and utilities!). So it 
would be nice to even get a part of the money back somehow. I worked 
a lot of deals and did get half off of a lot of things (that number 
would have been a lot higher if I hadn't). I am amazed at the 
generosity of the vendors -- I admit...I was jaded going in. But we 
actually got some labor costs waived and got some of the stuff at 
cost versus mark up. I can provide this (once I'm done) to anyone who 
asks -- I'd rather not post it on the wiki because I think that has 
the potential to get E for All and their vendors in trouble if others 
see the discounts we've received). If we find ourselves with a lot 
more money in donations than we need to cover the debt, this will be 
applied to the GDC expo.

I'm working up a budget breakdown now for anyone that's interested in 
the hidden costs of a consumer show or an expo (I know a few of you 
have asked so that you can bring this to your companies, etc). I will 
try to advertise anything that comes through before the show but if 
that doesn't happen then we can always add a "supporters of the SIG 
include..." at the GDC Expo Booth and/or talks.

Ok...I'll stop rambling now. :D

Michelle

>Yes about GarageGames I had my doubts from the start, given my 
>previous support experiences with them (I spent summer 2004 to test 
>Torque, but since documentation sucked I asked for improvements or 
>help but the reply I got was just marvaleous: they were working on 
>their own games and didn't have time to do that. I mentioned this 
>for Reid too, just as a warning. Seems GG don't take their Torque 
>engine clients very seriously. And this CC thing just confirms that.
>
>Yes, Nintendo and AudiOddessey, for sure. Nintendo is already doing 
>what we are talking about, with innovative interfaces so that's a 
>strong partner. I don't have contacts with them though, perhaps 
>Eitan has?
>
>For E for all; in case we don't get donations or help from anywhere 
>else, you can count me in on sharing the cost as Eelke proposed, I 
>just hope as many as possible in the SIG are able to that as well. 
>The share must not necessarily be equal counted in dollars; each and 
>everyone can contribute with what they feel is doable for them. What 
>do you think?
>
>Kind regards
>Thomas
>
>
>
>11 okt 2007 kl. 19.03 skrev d. michelle hinn:
>
>>Yes I agree -- or at least find out how willing to be dedicated and 
>>learn more about accessibility through supporting our work.
>>
>>Looking at the list...we can throw Garage right out the window. 
>>They have failed to respond to any emails or calls about Eelke's 
>>work (with Reid helping test) on Torque[cc]. I don't know what 
>>happened and I'm 99% sure it's not something we did wrong. It's a 
>>strong lesson for us on dedication from the industry, although they 
>>sure made it seem like they were on board because they contacted us 
>>first. It's a shame...nothing more or less to say about that.
>>
>>I think we also could ask Nintendo, as Eitan has been leading the 
>>effort on AudiOdyssey and this could get some more support from 
>>Nintendo and Nintendo 3rd party studios after E for All. We can 
>>also go the "brain age" route and tell them why things like this 
>>are so important for cognitive abilities.
>>
>>We could also ask Microsoft and Sony -- I doubt that they would 
>>help sponsor given their track record to date but, hey, it doesn't 
>>hurt to ask. I/we just need to figure out who the best people to 
>>ask are and my contacts plus former colleagues have not been able 
>>to help. Organizations for, say, the blind might also be able to 
>>provide some monetary support (not as much as a game company but 
>>every bit counts, every bit adds up). And we need to start writing 
>>the SIG into grants when it makes sense.
>>
>>And, yeah, E for All...that's going to be whatever money we can beg 
>>for after the fact. I wish I was a billionaire (don't we all?) and 
>>that this would be pocket change for me...but it's not. And we're 
>>too close to do something like cancel because (1) I signed a 
>>binding agreement that will charge me for the booth if we don't 
>>show or decide not to show at this late date that is MORE than what 
>>I have already had to cover and (2) too many people will get hotel 
>>penalties (the travel group for this conference charges you a day 
>>if you cancel now) and airline penalties. So anything we can get 
>>now would be great but it's mostly a done deal.
>>
>>So...we have to start learning about how to raise funds. I think we 
>>can do it if we all do what we can to help. The days of as many GDC 
>>passes as we want are over. The days of not needing to raise money 
>>are over. And I need to set us up (and find out the IGDA rules for 
>>this) as a charitable non-profit in the US (which is where the IGDA 
>>is set up, although they aren't a charitable non-profit -- boy have 
>>I been learning a lot) so that we can get our Tax ID and a bank 
>>account that will help cover things like this and maybe even travel 
>>for those of us who do important work for the SIG and for game 
>>accessibility in general but cannot afford to attend conferences.
>>
>>Ah...growing pains. :)
>>
>>Michelle
>>
>>>OK, for GDC it's time to find out how dedicated the industry is
>>>
>>>As we have some great examples to show from the big league, I 
>>>think it should be possible to get sponsoring from example:
>>>
>>>- Valve:  HL2 [CC] features + Eelke's one button mod
>>>- Id software with Doom 3 [CC] and AudioQuake
>>>- GarageGames with [CC]
>>>- Adobe with games/tools made with Director: Terraformers and 
>>>Audio Game Maker
>>>- others, please continue...
>>>
>>>If we put them on display in the GDC booth it will be really good 
>>>for them and they should see the value of it
>>>
>>>(for E for all time is against us to hope for sponsors, so I don't 
>>>think it's worth to ask for that)
>>>
>>>/Thomas
>>>
>>>
>>>10 okt 2007 kl. 18.26 skrev d. michelle hinn:
>>>
>>>>Hi all,
>>>>
>>>>Ok some really bad news...
>>>>
>>>>I admit I have NEVER but together a booth for an expo as large as 
>>>>E for All. Because I'm not a marketing person (although I tend to 
>>>>play one with the SIG) I have just learned that I have to pay up 
>>>>to a thousand dollars for carpet, tables, electricity (that whole 
>>>>exact number of things that need to be plugged in, union money, 
>>>>etc). Wow.
>>>>
>>>>Yeah. Crap. Nice thing to learn with a week to go. There are two 
>>>>unions that a required to (1) put the carpet, tables etc in our 
>>>>booth and (2) actually set up and plug in our stuff IF it takes 
>>>>more than one person 30 minutes to set up the whole booth. 
>>>>Yeah...and I heard from a friend who used to exhibit at E3 that 
>>>>the unions will watch people like hawks.. I realize that we have 
>>>>a number of people showing up at staggered times (ie, not 
>>>>everyone will be there on the Wednesday we set up and some set up 
>>>>will occur later). I'm hoping that late set up of some things can 
>>>>be done quickly and less intrusively so we don't occur more cost.
>>>>
>>>>If anyone going to the show can help out with the cost (and I'm 
>>>>about to learn the total damage), please, please do so. I'll 
>>>>obviously just need to eat the cost (thank you nearly maxed out 
>>>>credit card) at this point but any/all donations and/or ideas for 
>>>>post-show sponsorship is GREATLY appreciated. If you have ideas 
>>>>for last minute fund raising...please let me know with exact 
>>>>details and contact info (please don't just tell me to ask 
>>>>disability organizations -- exact contact info is what I need at 
>>>>this point).
>>>>
>>>>More bad news...the GDC booth...
>>>>
>>>>There was some major miscommunication -- IGDA is NOT covering the 
>>>>cost of the booth (they will cover the cost of fliers for both 
>>>>shows) and I'm waiting to find out the total for a 100 square 
>>>>foot booth (same size as E for All) -- CMP is going to give us a 
>>>>significant discount but I just don't know what this entails. 
>>>>Because we are finding this out now, we have time to beg for a 
>>>>few hundred here and there (for any tech we show that is earning 
>>>>revenue, as much as possible is appreciated). I realize that none 
>>>>of us are making big money if we are making any money. So the 
>>>>bulk of the fund raising is going to have to come elsewhere. And 
>>>>I'm ok with that. But the same weird rules for E for All (carpet, 
>>>>drapes for the tables, the cost of the tables, etc is also going 
>>>>to be tacked on.
>>>>
>>>>Yes...I found this out AFTER the GDC proposal deadline and we 
>>>>didn't have a main GDC arcade (we're trying for an indie games 
>>>>one now but that won't get the people that don't show up until 
>>>>Wednesday. I really want this booth to work out. And we have time 
>>>>to raise some cash because we have a few months to do so. So if 
>>>>we can come close to cost, that will be better than nothing.
>>>>
>>>>Welcome to the big leagues. Sure, the booth is a significant 
>>>>boost and we can get more press attention and dev and gamer 
>>>>attention (all are important in spreading the word). For E for 
>>>>All I have (believe it or not) sent over 700 press release style 
>>>>emails to raise press awareness) -- can you believe my contact 
>>>>list is that big now??? I didn't realize how hard I have worked 
>>>>to get these until I put it into excel.
>>>>
>>>>So thoughts? Ideas?
>>>>
>>>>Michelle
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