GDC 2002 a success for the IA-SIG!
by Alexander Brandon
The turnout was quite impressive as the IA-SIG held two meetings at this year's Game Developer's Conference in the San Jose Convention Center in California.
The "town meeting" had discussions ranging from new working groups to revisions to the website.
GANG:
One of the hottest topics of interest was the official launch of the Game Audio Network Guild (GANG)... Formed by Tommy Tallarico and a launch committee with other members of note across the industry, the group is set to work with the IA-SIG to further the cause of game audio across all professions, from audio production pros to programmers to producers. It hopes to educate and link as many people as possible to form a good knowledge base about game audio of all kinds and much more. The site is www.audiogang.org for more information.
The IA-SIG potentially can greatly benefit from GANG, as GANG will essentially be a meeting place / network / guild for game audio professionals, and the more technically inclined as well as ones interested in the SIG's more specific goals will be able to use the SIG as a link from the GANG website.
WEBSITE:
It was noted that the SIG site could maybe use a facelift to indicate it be more in tune with the times. This was agreed on by some, but a few noted that the SIG site isn't intended for necessarily showcasing great web content, but by being simple and easy to navigate with very little chaff, being a more industry-professional related website as opposed to a commercial one. These thoughts will all be considered, but the site is definitely due for a change. Having said that as the guy who redid it in the first place almost two years ago, I think this counts as a fairly strong vote.
WORKING GROUPS:
Separate from the town meeting, the Web Audio Working Group (WAWG) had its first presentation, which was attended by around 30-40 people... a far larger turnout than I expected. Presenters Marty Wilde, Jan Borgersen, Jeff Essex, David Yackley, myself, and the group's leader Steve Horowitz yielded a LOT of interesting information. A preliminary findings report was presented which many wanted a copy of but there weren't enough to go around. This report will be presented on the site soon for consideration, but the overall feeling was that there is agreat deal of interest in this group to help push it into its next phase.
Chris Grigg also exposed the XMF working group at the town meeting, explaining a few details behind it (check out 01/15/02 XMF (Extensible Music File) Spec released, Interactive XMF Workgroup (IX WG) Launches for more information)... the working group is underway and making great progress.
Overall,this year's GDC was as good a year as the IA-SIG has ever had, with a great deal of interest as well as a strong new partner in the game audio industry. We'll be looking forward to next year!
-Alex