IGDA EdSIGWhat it can do for you?

Who am I? Susan Gold

• Activist - community builder since 1987

• Educator - in 1999 (in games since 2001)

• Chair of the IGDA EdSIG since 2006

• Founder of the Global Game Jam developed in 2009

Who are we really...

• International Game Developer’s Association is a professional organization

• IGDA EdSIG - focuses on making game education better and provide resources for educators.

Brief History

• IGDA Curriculum Framework 2003

• Education Summits

• SIG (re)forms in 2006

• IGDA Curriculum Framework 2008 released

• Global Game Jam 2009

Education Summits

• GDC San Francisco 2003/04/06/07/08/09

• 2 day summit held annually before GDC

• GDC China 2007

• multi-university tour of Beijing

• Game Education Summit 2008/2009

• IGDA Track

• DiGRA 2007/2009

• Game Design Workshop

• SIGGRAPH 2006/2007/2008/2009

• Various Sessions

• FuturePlay 2006/07/08/09

• Festival of Games 2009

2008 Curriculum Framework

• Originally published in 2003

• Redrafted & delivered @ GDC 2008

• Critical Game Studies

• Games and Society

• Game Design

• Game Programming

• Visual Design

• Audio Design

• Interactive Storytelling

• Game Production

• Business of Gaming

• Provide a conceptual guide to game-related educational programs

• Not a recipe book, but lots of ingredients!

• Describe knowledge areas & practical skills required

• Define a set of “Core Topics”

• List of areas for mixing and matching as that fits your institution

• Shared Identity

• Develop a shared understanding of the field and communicate it to the society at large

• Fields of Study

• Outline areas, paint a useful pictures that transcends discipline boundaries

• Collaboration and Shared Vocabulary

• Establish industry-academia collaborations and shared vocabulary among developers/educators/students

Theory and Practice

Critical approach to game design & development. Theory feeding into practice, established best practice informing education

Living Document

Starting point for future work, not a final draft but a document that evolves with the field

Define a standard for game education programs

• Advisory Board (local professionals if available)

• Focus on portfolio development (graduation requirement, professional/academic judges)

• Internship network with studios, companies and community organizations including non-profits.

• Ideally, a relationship with local IGDA chapter

• Faculty with industry experience (especially for development-focused programs)

• Labs and libraries (access to hardware/software/games students don’t have)

Speaker program (bring current professionals on campus)

Mixed classes (courses involving programmers and artists on same project, team-based)

Extracurricular projects (student-led mods, projects outside the classroom)

Curriculum Knowledge Base

Listserv

• http://igda.org/education/listserv

Databases

• Internships

• Education

Outreach

• The Global Game Jam

• 1650 people in 54 locations making 370 games

• Innovation, Experimentation, Creativity, Open Source

• 3 x bigger in 2010 with a CFP for research - expecting over 900 games

Access to ResearchDetailed Game Facts

EEDAR’s proprietary database of more than 5,000,000+ game features to deliver information on games at an unparalleled level of detail.

Features detailed currently include:

Game Overview

Distribution and Revenue

Gameplay

Online & Multiplayer

Personification

Setting

Use of Branding and License

Hardware and Software Requirements

Platform Insight

EEDAR has information on everypublisher and developer to release a game on supported platforms in the Unites States since 2000.

Supported platforms include:

Microsoft Xbox, Xbox 360Sony PlayStation2, PlayStation 3, PSPNintendo GameCube, Wii, DSPC

Company Insights

Detailed insight into more than 500 companies including:

–Performance History Review Scores, Attach Rates, Market Share, Marketing Support

–Portfolio Analysis Genres, ESRB, Reviews, Platforms

–Release Cycles

–Review Scores

–Corporate Hierarchies

Charts and Data

A wealth of charts and data for platforms and companies. View data by more than 250 variants:

ESRB

Genre

Platforms

Unit Sales

Review Score

Marketing Spends

Consumer Interest

Year-on-Year

View data by lifetime or specific years.

Membership

• We need you!

Thank You

• http://igda.org/education

• Susan Gold - goldfile@gmail.com or education_sig@igda.org