With Game Connect '09 rolling next weekend in Melbourne, what better time to have GDAA president, Tom Crago, for a few questions for tsumea on what this years games developer conference has in store for us.
1. What do you think will be the main focus of GCAP this year?
Tom Crago: When we put the program together each year, we try to make sure there's a good mix of content for people already working in the industry, and for those about to enter it. It's also a challenge, of course, to get the balance right between art, programming, and all the other component parts of game development. Each year we get something like three times the amount of abstracts that we can accommodate, so there's a committee that determines which get selected.
If there's a central focus this year, it's really one of 'getting back to basics.' The local industry has had a tough year, and we wanted to concentrate on the nuts and bolts of game development, hopefully to pave the way for a return to form in 2010. I'd really like to think we'll see some new companies start next year, and maybe GCAP will be a catalyst for that. The whole point of the event is to bring the community together, to learn from one another and to grow the industry as a result.
2. Have you changed anything about the price structure for the conference this time round?
Tom Crago: The prices are the same as last year, despite the fact that we're paying more for our venue. Inevitably, people say that GCAP is too expensive. I guess all I do by way of response to that is to say that the conference is run on a 'break even' basis, and that with the current pricing model we lose money on every Student registration; ie, the GDAA subsidises students to attend. The event is only possible at all through the support of sponsors. I wish it was cheaper, but it's an expensive thing to run. Each year I attend a conference in the US that runs for two days, with just one stream, and costs $2000. $288 for a Student for GCAP seems pretty reasonable, I think.
3. What are the standout programs scheduled for this year?
Tom Crago: It depends on what you're in to. The Key Notes this year are all shaping up well, led off by Tim Stellmach who is the Design Director at Vicarious Visions. Tim has been in the industry for 18 years and has worked on games like System Shock, Thief and most recently Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. David Jaffe joins us via video link on the Monday for a Q&A session hosted by Bajo and Hex from Good Game, and then on the Tuesday Justin Halliday rolls up his sleeves for a no holds barred post mortem on Heroes over Europe. We have international speakers from Sony and Microsoft, a publisher panel, a strong focus on audio, a double-session serious games panel, and Rob Murray from Firemint talking about their iPhone success.
I know a lot of people will also be interested in hearing Jay Wilbur from Epic talk about their recently announced free Unreal Development Kit. He'll be fielding questions on that, alongside guys from Havoc and Image-Metrics. It will be interesting, also, to hear Farbs talk, and I'm looking forward to hearing David Hewitt host a media panel with Yahtzee, Jason Hill, and Hex and Bajo from Good Game. The Epic Welcome Reception is another highlight... It will be large, as always.
4. Are there any changes regarding the GDAA awards? We've noticed that there's a new category this year.
Tom Crago: Yes, we have a new category this year for 'Best Downloadable' game. It received a large number of entries, and the inclusion of this category is really just a sign of us moving with the times, as the industry evolves. All the awards will be presented at the Awards Night, on Monday 7 December. It will be a top night, and I'd encourage anyone who is interested to attend, even if you're not going to GCAP. More than 100 tickets have been sold, and it's sure to sell out, so register soon.
5. How are the entries for the "Best unassigned game : indie category" shaping up?
Tom Crago: We had more than 30 entries in this category this year (entry was free, of course) and I can tell you that an expert panel has nominated 9 finalists. These games will all be on display at GCAP. We'll be awarding prizes in three categories, with the overall 'Best Game' winner receiving a commercial copy of Autodesk’s Entertainment Creation Suite 2010. The suite includes Maya, Mudbox and Motionbuilder, so it's a pretty cool package (thanks Autodesk and Storm FX :)
6. Will the current state of the industry be covered and discussed at GCAP?
Tom Crago: Yep, I'm hosting a panel on that exact subject, with a bunch of local CEO's. GCAP gives us a chance to reflect on what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong as a local industry. Ultimately, we all want to get better and part of that process is recognising where we've made mistakes. We remain a fairly tight knit community here in Australia which is a great thing. It saddens me when I see people sniping anonymously from the sidelines about our industry in forums and the like, but my faith is always restored at GCAP.
I'm looking forward to meeting the next wave of Australian success stories. Maybe they'll be start-ups who have emerged from studio closures, new student collectives, or other groups trying new business models in the digital distribution space. We've been making games in Australia for nearly 30 years now, and it will take more than one bad year to bring us down. Ultimately, I'm hoping GCAP will give everybody grounds for optimism for 2010 and beyond. At the very least, it will give us all a chance to get together to share stories, and to saddle up for the next set of challenges.
Thanks to Tom Crago for answering these pre-GCAP questions for tsumea!!
GCAP 09 will take place from Sunday 6 December through Tuesday 8 December 2009 at the Crown Promenade Hotel, which is part of the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne, Australia. For more information and registration details, please head on over to the Game Connect website at: http://www.gameconnectap.com
"Each year I attend a
"Each year I attend a conference in the US that runs for two days, with just one stream, and costs $2000."
I also attend a conference in the US each year. It runs for three days (five if you're willing) and it costs $665 US. It's called GDC.
Why is GCAP SO expensive? You get a lot of money through sponsorship, and tickets are several hundred each. You don't pay the speakers, so what costs so much? If it's hiring the venue, then you're doing something wrong. If it's your event management organisation, then you're doing something wrong. Freeplay is around $20!
It's great to see something happening with game development in Australia, but the price point is definitely an issue. Saying that you run it on a "break even" basis is really curious, as looking through last year's sponsor prospectus counts a total of $427,000 worth of sponsorships. Add that to your expected attendance of 300 people, each paying and average ticket price of $350, brings the total to $532,000.
Furthermore, the awards night is $150 per ticket, and non-GDAA members pay a "nomination" fee of $550 (which is half the price from last year).
Since you're not paying your speakers (GCAP even asked for speakers to PAY last year, although that request was withdrawn) then where does that money go? Does the venue really cost that much? Does your event management organisation cost that much? Does your web hosting cost that much?
Answering with "Each year I attend a conference in the US that runs for two days, with just one stream, and costs $2000. $288 for a Student for GCAP seems pretty reasonable, I think" does nothing to explain the issue.
Why is GCAP so expensive?
Where did you get the
Where did you get the sponsorship numbers from? If that's all true, I agree, those numbers are whacked. Venue shouldn't be costing that much, especially given the size of the conference, and even if they fly over all of the international speakers for free, and also pay their accommodation, it still shouldn't cost that much. Does it work like how E3 does, in that the revenue from that show then funds legislation battles on behalf of the industry, advertising, lobbying, that kind of thing? Because I don't see a lot of evidence of that from the GDAA, either.
I'm sure that there must be a proper explanation, but I agree - I would like to hear a better justification than 'hey, some other conference is more expensive'. If everything's run on a break-even basis, there's no reason to hide those numbers. If we know why it's expensive, then maybe we're less likely to complain about it.
It's from the 2008 GCAP
It's from the 2008 GCAP sponsor prospectus. Just register your interest as a sponsor on the GCAP website and they will send you a PDF at the appropriate time of year.
Some perspective
There always seems to be some controversy about the pricing of GCAP and the suggestion that the event is run on a profit basis. While I am not privy to the accounts, I do have some perspective on such events given a similar sized conference run here in NZ and having formerly been on the AGDC advisory board which had similar attendence, programme and events, as well as pricing. Speaking from my experience with AGDC specifically, that particular event almost always ran at a loss when ironically it was always being accused of being a profit generating exercise.
The reality is not all sponsorship slots in a prospectus are taken, and some of those that are are "discounted" and/or have a number of complementary tickets given to them. Some sponsorship such as parties and awards prizes etc can be taken care of directly by the sponsor, so the event organisers never actually receive any money. Bulk deals might be cut for companies to get attendence up. And speakers and journalists get in for free. You therefore can't just add up all the sponsorship dollars in the prospectus and add the expected attendence multipled by a ticket average and suggest that is the revenue the conference will bring in because that will be massively overstating reality.
Costs are also often a lot more than people expect. Core items such as the venue, event management and services, registration and payment processing and management, conference MC, website and internet access, printed programmes and materials, conference and expo equipment and furniture hire, coffee and water, and especially catering all add up very quickly. International speakers can often require business class tickets, and are not going to accept (nor should they expect) a budget hotel.
I'm not surprised at comments around value for money because GCAP and AGDC have always drawn them from local industry. I can understand where they come from, and people will have to make their own judgements about whether they consider the event worth the price. But I very much doubt that GCAP, like AGDC before it, is running any kind of meaningful surplus.
I don't think the comment was
I don't think the comment was insinuating that they're reaping money from the conference. It's suggesting that the conference should be concentrating on content rather than a flashy venue.
I don't read the comment like
I don't read the comment like that at all. Besides which, the venue isn't all that flashy - hotel conference facilities never are.
That's true, there are a lot
That's true, there are a lot of hidden costs, particularly with equipment, catering, and furniture hire, and not all of the sponsorship goes to the general conference. I also don't think they're running a surplus. But I wonder if there might be some way to cut costs in there. Even something as simple as the time of year can make a big saving - there are a lot more events at the year's end, between awards ceremonies and christmas parties and end of school year, and both venues and services often offer discounts during off season. So I guess my point is that it CAN cost a lot, but maybe it can also cost less?
I guess it really does come down to value for money, though. If you happen to be lucky and have a track packed full of guests from big name companies and experienced speakers, that price would not seem unreasonable. If you're a specialist, you might only have one talk you want to go to, and maybe a couple of others that look vaguely interesting to fill up the hours - and then the price looks ludicrous.
Timing
AGDC and GCAP have traditionally been in November or early December to avoid clashing with other conferences and expos such as DICE, GDC, Nordic Game Conference, E3, GDC Austin, GDC Europe/Gamescom, GCAC, Tokyo Gameshow, GDC China, and Game Connection. The annual schedule is pretty packed. Unfortunately, this year it is clashing with Game Connection Lyon anyway.
There probably isn't much that could be done to bring costs down significantly (even if you shifted to an earlier timeslot), but hopefully the GDAA has more success in the future getting government funding, increasing sponsorships, increasing attendence, and adding more value/content where possible. Having the Australian industry recover from the blows it has taken this year would go a long way towards accomplishing those goals I think.
Yep, people want to think
Yep, people want to think they know what's going on and make assumptions. I did have some involvement with the AGDC and John/Micro weren't making money off of it. John is no saint and has certainly pissed off a lot of people, which is why they assume he was making $'s out of the AGDC.
so umm how much were the
so umm how much were the DeMargheriti paying himself for his role in the AGDC? How much did he actually do? The complaints weren't about the mates rates tickets he had, but the full price ones. I seem to remember the price of hiring stands was pretty extortionate too.
"Not for profit" can often mean money farm.
AGDC and John were always
AGDC and John were always accused of profiteering from the event, but based on what I was exposed to that didn't seem to be the case. Indeed, as mentioned previously, the event ran at a loss and was subsidised by Microforte. John didn't charge any sort of fee, outside of costs to cover event management resource.
Whether or not people received value for money is up for debate, but claims of it being run for profit are incorrect. Given it was an event started and owned by a private company, they had every right to profit if they wanted. But they choose not to.
well another AGDC board
well another AGDC board member mentioned a figure: apparently it was $100k pa he was paying himself for the AGDC. From knowing the bastard personally I believe this other board member over this "honest john" PR from another games industry CEO I'm afraid, particularly in a thread like this.
No offense, but perhaps Tom might like to tell people if he's being paid for this and and if so how much before going trying to hit a bunch of students with extortionate ticket costs just to find out how their game went?
Knowing people who knew him
Knowing people who knew him at Ratbag and having had dealings with him at Tantalus, Tom doesn't miss out on getting his cut. Can't speak from the AGDC side of it, but Tom is definitely driven by the $. Nothing wrong with that per se, unless of course, you let your own $ eyes kill a deal.
Tom was a lawyer I believe,
Tom was a lawyer I believe, only to be expected. And there is nothing wrong with making a sensible wage from services rendered, but honestly how many CEOs make a "sensible" wage?
IMHO if a conference is non-profit (as opposed to "non-profit" as I understand the AGDC) and "for the good of the industry" (ha) and you're a none-too-poor industry CEO you should damn well be donating your time or maybe charging a token fee.
If by "himself"
If by "himself" you mean "AIE", yes there were payments that went to AIE because they were the ones doing the bulk of the organisation. Even if that figure was $100k (I don't recall it being that high), given the conference constantly ran around a $50k loss which was covered by the AIE, it is not like a lot of money ever ended up in AIE's (or John's) bank account as compared to the resource they supplied.
I make no claims as to the integrity of John as a person or CEO. But again, on a pure numbers basis, AGDC was never the profiteering exercise it was made out to be.
Must admit I'm curious as why
Must admit I'm curious as why exactly why it was he was thrown out of the GDAA board and fired as treasurer.
I heard there were rather a lot of lurks and perks he had to do with the AGDC? Something about whitsundays cruises with keynotes you required quite some persuading to come and talk at his crappy conference??
I don't have any insight into
I don't have any insight into any incident with respect to his involvement with the GDAA.
I believe one year (when Bruno Bonnell was down?) after AGDC the GDAA(?) organised a Great Barrier Reef cruise for publishers and high profile speakers. Is that what you are referring to? Not sure where the funding came from for that (AGDC, GDAA, government?), and it only happened once as far as I know.
C'est la vie. Honest John
C'est la vie. Honest John certainly had his arse kicked until it was black and blue at least :)
It's pretty simple really, a lot of developers have been burnt by John, a lot of rumors started flying concerning the AGDC from very reputable sources, and a bunch of people became very angry indeed. At least Tom isn't in quite such a position with what running a studio rather than a few studios and what appeared (appears?) to be a "non-profit" labour farm and conference, and afaik he's not actually able to siphon student fees into propping up the GDAA via "sponsorship".
But the world has changed since then, and if Tom and the GDAA try pulling tricks like these on really bloody poor students who want to make games again it is GOING to wind up being discussed in /b on 4chan.
Tumbleweeeds. I think the
Tumbleweeeds. I think the local industry is in crisis and the Association does nothing. Funny :) Where is the government. Soon there will be no local industry to whinge about.
...totally agree, the GDAA
...totally agree, the GDAA is a joke.
Freeplay should take over and run it instead
They couldn't do worse, and based on the evidence, they'll probably do it better.
Thanks for the comments here.
Thanks for the comments here. We're glad that people got something out of Freeplay because it was incredibly rewarding for us - especially with it being our first time pulling it together - to see the local community come together, and we're absolutely committed to whatever we can do to help things get back on track after the events of the past few months.
We think that there's room for Freeplay, GCAP, and other gaming events to exist together and we're hopeful that we can work together to make sure there's a calendar of interesting stuff for people to do throughout the year.
We also know how much work goes into putting these things on and we'd rather focus on making Freeplay as good as it can be without spreading ourselves too thin :)
And in that vein, look out for some announcements early in the new year about Freeplay 2010. The conversations we've been having since August have been really exciting and we're looking forward to being able to share those with everyone else.
Cheers,
Paul & Eve
Freeplay Directors.
Sour Taste
We have submitted a game for the independant game awards that GC:AP are holding, and let me just say that the way it is organised misses the bigger picture entirely.
We were advised recently, that despite the website stating that "Entry to the Expo hall will be free of charge to finalists", only 2 tickets are being given out to our entire team. But don't worry! We were "invited" to each purchase a $240 ticket to the EXPO HALL. That is a fairly obscene amount for viewing exhibitions.
Now you could probably argue the definition of "finalists", and how many that includes, (I'm fairly sure GCAP have the rights to change whatever they deem fit, whenever they deem fit), but I'm fairly sure we weren't the only team shocked to find out only a couple members from our team are able to show up to the exhibition. The idea of forcing those who are a part of the event's attraction, have to pay to be a part of it, just feels like they're squeezing as much money out of everyone as possible, and is abhorrently wrong.
But thats not all. To attend the award ceremony, we must be VIP members, which is an extra $150. If I want to know how our game did, I have to pay an extra $150 just to find out.
This whole process has just left an incredibly sour taste in our mouths, and I and many others just simply feel like GCAP is a joke, and we're being ripped out of as much money as possible.
Needless to say, I and many others won't be attending due to the manner in which the event is being run, and it's sad that we have no way to find out how our game will do in the competition.
No thank you GCAP.
Understandable feeling.
When I got that e-mail today my thoughts on how the student projects would work this out definitely crossed my mind.
I mean if you have a team of any more then 2 then how do you decide who represents the project? I'd assume a teacher would take one place. [or purchase an exhibition ticket and claim it on their tax return.] And some of these games have sizes of up to 10 people working on them.
Paying so much for extra indie game rep tickets for the exhibition I think is a bit of a bad move. Since your paying $120 a day to walk around an expo.
The dinner event I can understand though. For that dinner your paying for yuppie hotel food, renting a big room etc etc. Be quite difficult to give freebie seats at a formal dinner.
I dunno man. I understand your decision not to go. But I'll definitely come over to all you dudes tables and give your games a play and some feedback. :D
While I can understand paying
While I can understand paying an extra $150 for a formal dinner, forcing entrants to attend said dinner in order to see how they fared is not right.
My post probably seems like im deliberately boycotting the entire event, which I am not. I would enjoy seeing everyone else's games and getting feedback on our projects, but for $240.. no thank you.
Have you let the organisers know?
If you have an indie game in the awards and you're not planning to attend, you should let the organisers know asap so that they can substitute your game for another one. There were a lot of games nominated for awards, and some decent games had to get left out due to limited places.
Honestly, though, what were you expecting? GCAP is a professional conference, and this is an opportunity to get your game in front of a lot of game industry professionals. Frankly, $240 is pretty good value for that opportunity. If you don't care whether your game is ever a commercial success, or you have no interest in trading off it to get a job, etc. then just upload a youtube video or put it into Freeplay.
LOL - he said
LOL - he said "professional".
It's professional, cause they want you to pay for "opportunities".
Getting a sense of deja vu here..
http://www.tsumea.com/node/9513
What would be great...
... would be if more generous sponsors, which I know are hard to find in an understandably tough time, came forward to sponsor the additional members of the finalist teams :)
I live in a happy place...
Had a quick read through
Had a quick read through that, really interesting how little seems to have changed 5 years on (other than the industry possibly being in a much worse position now than then). The GCAP conference is cheaper, but possibly even less value-for-money than the old AGDC.
I think I miss CynicalFan.