[games_access] GDC 2009!
d. michelle hinn
hinn at uiuc.edu
Sat Mar 21 22:29:04 EDT 2009
We're working on getting the gang back together for 2010! I pushed a
lot this year and there are now some additional diversity sessions
too when before there were none. We still ended up with the same
number of passes (low) but maybe next year! Then Eitan's session is
all his doing! :)
I may not have won a GDC award for this year but my point for that
whole campaign thing was working toward winning the battle for games
for all! :)
Michelle
>This is a pleasant surprise. We went from only one session to having
>four. I like how you are including all gamers and not just the
>disabled.
>
>Good luck to everyone attending GDC. I won't be there, but I will be
>keeping up to date on AbleGamers.com.
>
>-Reid
>
>On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 5:16 PM, d. michelle hinn <hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>> 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
More information about the games_access
mailing list