GDC 2009 Reveals Localization Summit Specifics

The organizers of the inaugural Localization Summit at the 2009 Game Developers Conference have announced initial speakers and sessions for the innovative two-day localization summit, including a keynote from Electronic Arts VP Jaime Gine and notables from BioWare, Sega, Babel, and more.

The GDC Localization Summit will take place on March 23rd and 24th, 2009 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as part of Game Developers Conference 2009. Englobe’s Tom Edwards and Roehampton University’s Miguel A. Bernal-Merino are the Summit’s principal advisors.

The recently confirmed keynote for the Summit will be ‘Localization: The Pathway to Truly Global Game Development’ from Jaime Gine, VP of International Development Services at Electronic Arts.

Gine runs EA’s worldwide localization efforts, including the company’s Multilingual European Development Centre and the Singapore Integration Studio, translating the publisher’s titles into more than 23 languages.

He will talk on “the key decisions and processes that contribute to a successfully localized game title and in turn, a strong return on investment and a more globally-inclusive game development process.”

Another key panel is ‘Localization Tools’, with speakers including BioWare localization producer Jenny McKearney, Babel Media VP Ben Wibberley, XLOC president Stephanie O’Malley and Binari Sonori localization manager Andrea Ballista.

Having been posed the statement that “localization has been a neglected part of development, resulting in a lack of standardized formats, strategies, and tools at every level”, the panel will discuss the ideal localization tools for the job.

Also now confirmed is a ‘Risks and Rewards of New Territories’ panel, with CD Project co-founder Marcin Iwinski and Sega localization producer Rio Hasegawa discussing “the advantages of opening new territories and the challenges associated with localizing game content for [emerging] markets.”

Outlining the importance of these lectures and the others that make up the inaugural GDC Localization Summit, Roehampton’s Bernal-Merino explains: “Localization can preserve or strip the soul of a game. It is easy to mistake similar words, objects, and habits with direct equivalents in other cultures. Think for example of coffee; if you order ‘a cup of coffee’ in the U.S. it is different from what you get in Italy, Spain, or Japan — not only the beverage itself, but the rituals around it, and its impact on language and culture.”

“In order to truly appeal to and capture a particular audience, you cannot simply code a few translated phrases from a glossary. A more robust approach is needed to create the right experience for players in each locale.”

Englobe’s Tom Edwards adds: “As awareness improves, localization efforts are ever-increasing across game companies. This essential step, along with a growing realization of the need for the ‘culturalization’ of content, is the key to pushing global growth strategies and maximizing the revenue stream of your game.”

More information on the full line-up for the Summit is available at the official GDC Localization Summit webpage, with many new details on the entire March 23rd-27th GDC event also now available.

GDC’s 2009 Experimental Gameplay Sessions Calls For Submissions

The organizers of the Experimental Gameplay Sessions lecture at the 2009 Game Developers Conference are calling for submissions for their yearly showcase of innovative games.

This regular extended GDC lecture, which has taken place since 2002, is organized by Braid designer Jonathan Blow and friends.

It’s notable for being an early showcase for a multitude of alternative games and game concepts, including a pre-launch Katamari Damacy and Portal.

As the official Experimental Gameplay Sessions website explains while issuing its call for submissions:

“The Experimental Gameplay Sessions are an annual gathering of innovation-minded game developers, hosted at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The EGW features many different kinds of games, including prototype demos (such as the Indie Game Jam games), [subsequenty] shipped products (such as Katamari Damacy and MojibRibbon), and student demos. There’s always a bit of lecturing and discussion as well.

If you’re pushing the boundaries of traditional gameplay, we encourage you to submit your work using the entry form. The submission deadline is Monday February 16, 2009.”

Other notable projects showcased in early stages at various iterations of the Experimental Gameplay Workshop include Jon Mak’s Everyday Shooter, Thatgamecompany’s fl0w, Media Molecule co-founder Mark Healey’s Rag Doll Kung Fu, Zoe Mode’s Crush, and Dylan Fitterer’s Audiosurf.

- Inside GDC 2009: ‘Content Is King’

[Ever wondered how talks get selected for GDC? Starting a series of articles from the event blog, Game Developers Conference event director Meggan Scavio reveals this year's GDC advisory board and submission process.]

Every summer, the GDC advisory board gathers to discuss the direction of the next event. The board is made up of 17 of the most dedicated, brilliant people in the industry. And I’m not just saying that because they might read this.

You may have heard of some of them, for example Blizzard’s Rob Pardo, Electronic Arts’ Lou Castle, veteran creator Mark Cerny, Bungie’s Chris Butcher, MGS’s Laura Fryer, and Maxis’ Chris Hecker. See, it’s true. Smarties.

Anyhow, during this meeting they talk about everything from networking opportunities (“wouldn’t it be cool to have a roundtable follow a thought-provoking lecture so the attendees can discuss what they just heard?”) to session formats (“what if we gave speakers 3 minutes each to present their cool idea or technology”).

The meat of what they talk about, however, is the session content and how to make it better. It’s all-quality all-the-time with these folks.

Our attempt at improving (and some might say maintaining) session quality for GDC 2009 was evidenced in our Call for Submissions. The board is always looking for interesting, well crafted submissions but the reality is they are really looking at takeaway.

When reviewing submissions, they want to know if the attendee is going to walk out of the room knowing something they didn’t know when they walked in.

We updated the submissions process this year by dividing it into two phases with takeaway being the focal point of phase one.

GDC Submissions: Phase One

We asked three things in phase one of GDC submissions this year: what do you want to call your talk?; briefly explain the focus of your talk; and explain to us how the attendee is going to benefit from attending this talk. We received over 800 of these.

The board then reads, reviews and grades every single one to determine who moves on.

This process involves locking the board into a hotel meeting room for 2 whole days while they productively discuss (sometimes I call it bickering like little girls but they don’t like that very much) the merits of the submissions.

It breaks down like this: by track, we sort the submissions by the reviewers average grade and discuss every single submission that received a grade of 3.8 or higher (1=not so much, 5=much awesomeness).

The board determines which of these will move on to phase two. After that, we go around the room and each board member has an opportunity to fight for a submission that didn’t score so well but they want to save.

We continue to go around the room until no one has anything left to save. Wash and repeat. All weekend. And you wonder why I drink.

GDC Submissions: Phase Two

Right now we are in phase two. Submitters are in the process of, well, submitting the bulk of what their Game Developers Conference presentation is going to be for a second round of review.

This is where the board can see if the content matches the intent. And this will, fingers crossed, help us in making sure that what seems like a super awesome submission turns into a super awesome GDC session.

We shall see!

[Meggan and her colleagues will be posting regular updates from behind the scenes through the lead-up to next March's Game Developers Conference 2009, including content reveals and other helpful information. You can subscribe individually to the GDC News blog via its RSS feed.]