User:Zratchet

International Game Developers Association

IGDA Indie SIG Chair
Austin contributor

Ran for IGDA board in 2008 - see candidacy statement below:

I am currently the Lead Coordinator of the Indie SIG and have held that position since 2004. I also contribute to the Austin chapter, the IGDA Speakers Bureau, and helped found Austin's Independent Game Conference. I currently work in QA at Aspyr Media on various projects and platforms, and on indie projects.

My interests in the IGDA include furthering the cause of independent game development, supporting new developers and getting them up to speed, and making it easier to legally acquire and use abandonware games. I would also like to assist in improving links between different game studios and other industry businesses.

To help these causes, some of the efforts I plan to champion are:

Reorganized chapter leadership structure - a board structure containing a caucus of Pros, Students, and Indies from the local area. Encourage participation from indie and student members. More focus and support for Education and the Speakers Bureau. IGDA Foundation support for GameCamps and incubators (including volunteer QA labs) worldwide, and helping organizations such as the ESA, WIGI, XO/Laptop.org, Acclaim's Top Secret, etc. A committee to organize legal, accounting, and business support for indies (SCORE for gamers). Old-style "example game" magazines; other indie/education-centric materials. Abandonware guidelines - opening older games for academic and/or OSS use. New Support Systems: A truly independent and worldwide indie-game awards system; a fully implemented IGDA Web 2.0 site with webcasts and social networking (with bonuses for IGDA involvement), supporting increased dialog between studios. Also, support the homebrew and OSS gamedev communities, and easier ways to submit articles, job opportunities, and resources. Revise SIG guidelines regarding interviews and recruitment policies (make sure volunteering at events is allowed, and allow for an jobs board (if not on the SIG site, at least link to major job boards.)) Open a Newbie SIG within the IGDA to provide information and support to new IGDA members, non-commercial hobbyists, and those who are Indies who are just getting into the industry or are coming in from another industry. Work to create a commercially able sponsor (like the Mozilla Corporation is to the Mozilla Foundation) to help incubate small games (indie, homebrew, student, etc) and help to provide services like Steam or iTunes to the little developers. Also, provide initiatives to engine and middleware developers that provide Indie versions or licenses, and/or mass licenses to indie incubators.

Michael's volunteer contributions:

Chair, IGDA Indies SIG Contributor, IGDA Speakers Bureau