CRe-AM Creative Industries Games Sector Roadmap Validation On-Line Survey

CRe-AM Creative IndustriesGames Sector RoadmapMethodology and ConclusionsDavid Wortley

This presentation is an overview of the Creative Industries Games Sector road map methodology and provisional conclusions to be presented in a panel session at the CRe-AM final conference in Brussels on February 23rd 2016

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The Brussels Conference Panel

A broad selection of expertise relevant to the games sector exploring the technologies and processes which will shape the future of the games industry in particularAnd creative industries in general

The Brussels conference has 3 experienced panellists who have been hand-picked to deliver a broad spectrum of perspectives relevant to games sector technologies. The panel session is meant to be an overview of the methodologies used in creating the games sector roadmap, the outputs of the roadmap and the conclusions drawn from the roadmap analysis.

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Games Sector Roadmap MethodologyWorkshops on visions and scenariosSector interviews face to face or skypeKeyword analysis of interview contentSpreadsheet collation of technologies / processes for current, envisaged and desired futuresVisualisation of results in tables and heat-mapsInterpretation of results and implications

The creation of the CRe-AM roadmaps has been a 2 year process which began with various workshops looking at visions and future scenarios for games sector technologies and has been concluded with a series of face to face or skype interviews with 40 people involved in the games sector or in technologies used in the games industry. These interviews have been analysed to extract key words or phrases linked to either technology or a creative process (or both). The usage and frequency of these key words has been aggregated and analysed on a spreadsheet for the current situation, envisaged future developments and desired or wished-for developments. The results have been visualised in tables and heat-maps which are briefly covered in this presentation I hope you will take the opportunity to participate in the validation survey shown at the end of the presentation. You will also be welcome to attend the Brussels conference and contact details have been included.

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The Interviewees

A broad cross-section of games sector stakeholdershttp://www.gaetss.com/cre-am_videos.html

The interviews that form the basis of the road map have all been archived on the web site www.gaetss.com/cre-am_videos.html shown here.

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The Interview Archives

A common interview format across sectors

There are links in each interviewee picture to an audio recording of their interview, together with the key words extracted. The example shown here is taken from the panel member Claudio Todeschini.

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The Keyword Analysis

The games sector keywords / phrases were identified and weighted/scored according to specific technologies and processes. The aggregated results are shown in these tables

In order to make sense of all the data collected, each key word was scored according to its relevance to a specific technology and/or creative process. This was repeated for current, envisaged and desired futures from which these tables have been created. Each of these tables can illustrates a focus of attention and the tables themselves give some important clues on what is considered important in the collective view of the interviewees.

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The Heat-Map Matrices

CurrentEnvisagedDesired

Apps forDesignersSensory Output for ConsumersSensory Output for Consumers

The matrix process developed by Ravensbourne College and adapted for the games sector gives a very visual interpretation of the data. The dark green grids show the strongest focus which, in the current scenario, revolves around applications for games design/creation. This situation changes significantly in the envisaged and desired scenarios where technologies linked to the consumer experience are predominant. In parallel with this games-sector specific adaptation on the Ravensbourne process, there will be a rigorous contextual analysis carried out by Ravensbourne using their algorithmic model.

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The ConclusionsCurrently an emphasis on technologies and tools for games design/creation dominated by Unity, Autodesk and Adobe applicationsEnvisaged technologies seen as important have a focus on customer sensory experience with VR and AR frequently mentionedDesired technologies also focus on customer sensory experience but with a trend towards tracking/control sensor technologies for unencumbered gameplay

My interpretation of these provisional findings shows a games industry currently dominated by creative software applications from Unity, Autodesk and Adobe. The envisaged future has a strong emphasis on virtual reality, augmented reality and technologies which deliver a rich customer experience. This theme is repeated for the desired future which is best expressed by the concept of ubiquitous, immersive video games unencumbered by technology.

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A Question Do Games drive Technology Innovation or vice versa?Games ConsumersTechnology ConsumersGames DevelopersTechnology Developers

Games SpecificNon-Games SpecificFocus on Creative DeveloperFocus on Consumer

Job CreationRevenue CreationInnovation

Since the first video games were developed, games and technology innovation have been closely entwined with improvements in computer graphics, sound, processing speed and animation driving and being driven by games applications. The question I have asked the panellists to address (in addition to giving their opinion of road map findings) is whether it is the games industry which is driving technology innovation or technologies developed for other sectors which drive innovation in games.

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Thank You

Please complete our validation survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CRe-AM_gamesFor details of the Brussels conference email marta.arniani@sigma-orionis.com

Thank you for listening to this presentation. The link for participating in the games sector validation survey can be accessed using the web link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CRe-AM_games . I hope you will participate in the survey and join the conference in Brussels on Feb 23rd. For details of the conference contact Marta Aniani at marta.arniani@sigma-orionis.com

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