[OLPC-Games] Introduction and howdy!

[s g]

Hi all.

I joined this list after finding the booth at GDC.  I've always maintained that games can make learning fun and actually make it stick!  I've been in the games industry for over 12 years and have been designing the last 7 or so.  From what I've been able to find the discussions have been mostly technical, are there any designs in progress I can review or contribute too?

A couple of other questions:

What scope do we want?  One huge game where every child has an "Second Life" experience, then ranging down to a simple flash based "click on the red dot in the picture to win" games?  What are we initially committing to?  How much game and is it spread out over a bunch of games or a select few, or just one?

What is our target audience?  Are we making games for children in Sweden?  Tazmania?  What level of education are we expecting?  Will they have these things at home or school only?  If through schools, will the schools want control over the content?  Do we have any educators on this list that can chime in?

What kind of schedule(s) do we have?

What kind of resources can we bring to bear?  Do we have commitments from people willing to perform the traditional disciplines: code, sound, art, design, production?  

What licenses do we have available or have we approached?  Can we tailor a game around a big license to acquire it?  Do we want to?  Big Bird and Pokeman could teach me but I'm guessing I'm not our our target audience.  Are there beloved mascots that are recognized globally by our core audience?  Can we make games that swap out beloved mascots based on regions?  I (naively?) assume that nearly any company would be drooling after the PR that comes from being on board with OLPC.

I guess the last question would be about platform but from what I've seen in the documentation that's already being worked on.  The only thing I'd be curious about is when something is going to be stable enough to try fleshing out some designs to.  Actually,one more thing along these lines; can we use features built into the laptop like the camera and networking capabilities and incorporate them into the games?  

Anyways, there's my first brain dump.  If these questions have been addressed already please excuse my inability to find them, but please do point me at the answers so I can join the conversation.  :)  And if it's just too early to think about this stuff let me know when it's time.

And BTW, I'm not a programmer (but can think like one with great effort) so tailor your responses accordingly.  :)

Best,
SteveG.










 
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