[games_access] GDC 2009!

[d. michelle hinn]

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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