INTRODUCTION

The Serious Games Summit at GDC (SGS GDC) spotlights the rapidly growing serious games industry that features the use of interactive games technology within non-entertainment sectors.

SGS GDC 2007 prefers speakers who have deep expertise, fresh perspective, and can connect with an international audience. If you have an idea, issue, or problem you'd like to share with your colleagues, we would like to hear from you by Tuesday, September 5, 2006.

SPEAKER EXPECTATIONS

Please read the submission guidelines and criteria before preparing a proposal.

Conference attendees expect excellence from our speakers. They will evaluate your class based on delivery, knowledge on the topic addressed, and the visuals presented.

Preparation is one of the most important factors in delivering a successful talk at Serious Games Summit GDC. Please keep the following in mind when you propose to speak:

TRACKS

Here is a current list of the tracks and topics that the SGS GDC Advisory Board feels they would like to focus on in 2007. However, we want to encourage you to submit your own topic. After all, many of the most interesting and valuable presentations at the SGS GDC are unique ideas not to be found elsewhere.

Click on the desired track to read the about the suggested topics.

TRACK & TOPIC DESCRIPTIONS

Assessment & Results
All games must perform through commercial sales or critical reviews. Serious games, however, are challenged with performance that must be measured by more than user popularity. Whether it is meeting the learning objectives, satisfying the project mission goals, or enabling a less quantitative objective, we must define, measure, and provide results. This track combines case reports with overall sessions about providing assessment within games, and showcasing emerging results from successful projects.

Behind the Game
Understanding the subtle tradeoffs that developers deal with daily, how projects are budgeted and scheduled, and which technologies are most relevant are critical needs that can't be taken for granted. At the same time the game industry is one of the most dynamic industries around and even those who have mastered the basics must constantly keep up. This track includes presentations that demystify and debate the game development process, industry, talent, and technologies for non-entertainment oriented customers and projects.

Business & Deals
Most serious games don't sit on the shelf at the local game store. Instead, this market requires the user to buy in prior to the development. The result is a unique business environment for game developers that requires customers to go from 0 to 60 in short order to be able to properly define a project, recruit the right talent, and set up the correct relationship that will enable a project's success. This track informs customers and developers about the critical business models and methods that have enabled the current market to emerge, while also setting the stage for actual deals to take place.

Game Design
Designing serious games requires that developers think about new issues related to learning, instruction, assessment, usability, and much more. This track focuses on the unique design issues related to serious games, and on tried and true game design methods that fuel interest in games as learning environments.

Learning & Instructional Theory
At the heart of any serious game is a combination of exciting new ideas about learning and well-defined existing instructional methodologies. This track illustrates how the worlds of cognitive science, instructional design, and game development can work in unison to build better learning environments, applications, and methods. It also analyzes the inherent learning in games and the many meta-game aspects to learning that inhabit the field.

Products Within Projects
Serious games are rarely standalone products. They are a combination of projects and products, with the game being only one part of a major effort. The success of any serious game itself may reside in part or even whole in how the entire project operates. This track provides an exploration of the delta and relationship that exist between the core serious game product and its parent project.