[games_access] GDC 2009!

[d. michelle hinn]

You will soon -- it's not our secret to out. :) And if you think 
about it...you know what it is. It's just BIGGER  and MORE SECRET 
news than it was before.

How's that for cryptic? ;)

Back to sleep...this mono-hep-strep combo is killing me. I'm 
convinced that GDC is a biohazard testing site...

Michelle


>I'm still looking forward to hearing about the "secret" news that is

>alluded to in so many posts on AbleGamers.

>

>On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 7:06 AM, Thomas Westin 

><thomas at pininteractive.com> wrote:

>>  GDC this year was pretty good, especially the Game accessibility 101 was

>>  well attended (perhaps 30-40 people?), but also our social gathering at the

>>  booth was more than the usual suspects, and the SIG roundtable too - we had

>>  about 5-6 new people at each.

>>  Just sad we couldn't have an arcade this year. The DVDs was also well

>>  recieved.

>>  /Thomas

>>

>>  On 4 apr 2009, at 11.25, AudioGames.net wrote:

>>

>>  Thanks!

>>

>>

>>  ----- Original Message -----

>>  From: Barrie Ellis

>>  To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List

>>  Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:47 AM

>>  Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2009!

>>  I recommend taking having a mooch

>>  around http://www.ablegamers.com/gdc-09-9.html - I think Michelle, Mark and

>>  Annette are somewhat exhausted from the show at the minute. Any news from

>>  Thomas and Eitan?

>>

>>  Barrie

>>

>>

>>  ----- Original Message -----

>>  From: AudioGames.net

>>  To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List

>>  Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:50 AM

>>  Subject: Re: [games_access] 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.

>>  ________________________________

>>  _______________________________________________

>>  games_access mailing list

>>  games_access at igda.org

>>  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

>>

>>  ________________________________

>>  _______________________________________________

>>  games_access mailing list

>>  games_access at igda.org

>>  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

>>

>>  ________________________________

>>  _______________________________________________

>>  games_access mailing list

>>  games_access at igda.org

>>  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

>>

>>  _______________________________________________

>>  games_access mailing list

>>  games_access at igda.org

>>  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

>>

>>

>>  _______________________________________________

>>  games_access mailing list

>>  games_access at igda.org

>>  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

>>

>>

>_______________________________________________

>games_access mailing list

>games_access at igda.org

>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access