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The Sixth Annual Interactive
Music Conference
PROJECT BAR-B-Q 2001
by The Fat Man, George A. Sanger
HIGHLIGHTS
Talks by Tommy Tallarico, Roger Linn, Chris Grigg, and Jeff Patterson blew us away and were of invaluable assistance in slingshotting us into the brainstorming process.
We were able to unveil Game Developer Magazine's commitment to providing a monthly audio column, thus taking the first step to solve a chicken-and-egg situation of awareness among game developers. We saw, with the announcement of my intention to write a book/software package, a business plan for the making of a set of tools (an "integrator") for creating, auditioning, and playing back interactive audio, and we took the biggest step to date in allowing industry-standard tools to evolve on their own. As a result of the energy from Tommy Tallarico, we initiated a guild for game audio professionals, and established a charter membership base-a move that might not have ever happened if not for this group of people gathering in this politically neutral and safe place. (I even got to be the first member!) Also facilitated by the safety of the environment, some important bottlenecks to the development of audio applications and devices were weakened and eliminated through cooperation between competing companies. We called for the formation of a new standards group for low-level audio appliance connectivity, and hope to see a boost in that market as a result.
It was remarkable that many of the attendees chose to spend some of their valuable BBQ time in helping the BBQ staff to brainstorm ideas for enhancing the effective promotion of BBQ for the sake of the industry. I'm very grateful and proud about that. Further, a lot of stories were told about good things that had come to companies as a result of their attendance of BBQ of which I was not aware. I wish I were more at liberty to discuss the crucial ways in which entire product lines and even companies have been helped by their employees' interactions at BBQ.
New bonds were formed not only between individuals and companies, but between BBQ and the newly regrouped IA-SIG.
WORKING GROUPS
The Lone Rangers set themselves to the task of creating the infrastructure for a guild that might lead to business support for benefit of game audio professionals. The working title is the Game Audio Network Guild. Their mission: Empower the game audio community by providing resources, education, and recognition for its members.
The Compellorheads, in their quest for a killer audio app, designed E-Jam, a product they would like to see--a music-making system for the living-room console, incorporating elements that result in a compelling experience-easy to get into, difficult to master.
The "Dos Equis" group addressed low level issues affecting interoperability of networked consumer audio appliances.
ROGUE GROUPS
Aaron Higgins' group, the Mojo Risers, spun off from the DOS Equis group, identified a mass of problems in PC Audio. They then specifically addressed issues involved with perfect playback of DVD-A and riser standards issues. The approach they took was to discuss and enumerate what was required to provide a bus that would solve the industry's problems.
The Neighbors of the Beast took a crucial step and eliminated a bottleneck for interactive audio. They did it by creating, as an extension of XMF, a minimum spec for an exchange format that would enable the mapping of liner audio into an interactive context.
The BBQ awareness group took a close look at how we might more effectively disseminate the findings and benefits of BBQ to the industry, so that our hard work can have even more positive influence on the community.
CONCLUSION
Again, words fail me. I'm pleased to see that the BBQ group is growing in strength and value to the community. I'm especially glad to see us leveraging the work of past BBQ's and other organizations to allow us to "stand on the shoulders of giants" and add levels of efficiency to our labors. But this does not cover it.
When I think of the attendees. When I think of the facilitators. The speakers. My cohorts, Linda and Spanki. The members of Team Fat who help bring it about. I would have been deeply honored to have met, let alone worked with any one of these people-but to have worked with all of them on such earnest, well-intentioned tasks is nearly overwhelming. And that these tasks have brought so much to the industry and promise to bring so much more…well, I just can't say anything to cover it.
Thank you so much, BBQ. Thank you so, so much.
Sincerely,
George Alistair Sanger
The Fat Man
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