Develop Workshops

The Develop Conference workshops are one day or half day hands on workshops dealing with important issues in the games industry:

- Serious Games Summit
- IGDA Accessibility Workshop
- GamesEdu Day

You can also view a complete list of sessions by track, click here all sessions.

Serious Games Workshop

Ben Sawyer, Digitalmill
Half Day Workshop · Tuesday, 11 July
14:00-18:00

Increasingly game developers and the technologies they are creating are finding use in derivative industrial sectors. From defence to healthcare to education and corporate training more and more the potential pool of clients for game development skills and output is expanding. Diversifying into other markets is always tricky but the results could be substantial. Small and large projects in the so- called "serious games" field are growing and savvy developers are using such new opportunities to smooth their cashflow, increase their R&D capabilities, and find new customers for existing IP that might otherwise have laid dormant.

In this half-day tutorial Ben Sawyer of Digitalmill, co-founder of the Serious Games Initiative, and the Games for Health Project will present a workshop designed to help developers, and customers of serious games better understand the entire nascent field so that they are both prepared to launch and finish successful projects in the space. While on opposite sides of business deals customers and developers in the serious games field often share many of the same informational needs in the early going. Since no publisher is often present in serious game projects customers and developers must work as a tight unit to co-produce the work in question. Often developers must also help manage the client through the entirety of the game development and launch process aiding them in their role as ultimate producer and publisher of the work. Customers are also integral to development as they supply or orchestrate the subject matter expertise in a game, often help with content production and the embedded pedagogy, and more.

IGDA Accessibility Workshop
Michelle Hinn, Jonathan Chetwynd, Barrie Ellis, Eelke Folmer, Giannis Georgalis, Dimitris Grammenos, Goran Lange, Richard Van Tol, Thomas Westin
Full Day Workshop · Friday, 14th of July · 10:00-18:00

Computer and video games have become a mainstream form of media for not only entertainment purposes but also for education, training, and other areas. Games undoubtedly play an important part in our culture and can help add to our quality of life. As a quality of life issue, mainstream game accessibility has become an important selling point. Since increasing game accessibility expands the target group of your game, it should be considered a financially important factor. It also enhances the user experience since it is focused on making the game interface easier to use and can provide all gamers with new game experiences, such as relying more on sound cues as a navigation strategy. Finally, there is a social responsibility that should be taken seriously by the game industry as a whole to include all kinds of users in gaming and game development just as other entertainment sectors have, such as the movie industry.

Topics include why game accessibility matters, demonstrations and discussions about why different disabled gamer groups can't play the majority of the mainstream games on the market, and what kinds of software, middleware, and hardware solutions have been created to date. Additionally a number of tips and tricks will be discussed for developers to implement and get started on making sure that their titles are as accessible as possible. Participants will also get a chance to play games designed for the deaf, for the blind, and for the cognitively and mobility impaired.