Position Paper on

Value of Technical Publications in the Gaming and Entertainment Industry

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Introduction
This paper systematically presents the need and the value of quality Technical Publications in the gaming and entertainment industry of today. The gaming industry, (popularly termed as interactive entertainment) has grown enormously over the past decade, and continues to do so at a rapid pace. Seamlessly merging with mainstream media by sheer demand and revenue generating capabilities, the gaming and entertainment industry is now a part of mainstream media culture. With customers demanding higher complexity and realistic graphics, gaming is the fastest growing industry amongst all sectors in the U.S. The U.S. Bureau of Labor has forecasted that growth of software publishing, (which encompasses video game design) will expand by about 67.9% between 2002 and 2012. With due credit to its revenue generating powers, the industry still remains young. As of now, no significant standardized documentation, or information organization processes exist. The absence of a standard process has underscored the importance of a uniform and standardized way to document and organize information appropriately. A void is often experienced between existing knowledge and the methods that are employed, with heavy reliance on documentation experts and Technical Communicators to bridge this gap. Technical Communicators help meet customer demands and increase customer satisfaction. They also provide marketing collaterals meant for promotional purposes as well as support selling. With tremendous growth, flourish of technology, and sufficient insulation from the Wall Street chaos, it is fair to predict that market conditions will be favorable for a considerable length of time. Gaming now extends beyond PCs, to mobile phones, handheld devices, and other media.

TWB - Leading Technical Documentation Outsourcing Company

TWB is a leading technical publisher with an excellent record of providing unmatched technical documentation to many major companies. Technical publications created in the gaming industry today may range from production of a games instruction booklet to information organization documents that are essential for creation of video games. These publications vary from Level Design documents and Concept documents, to Installation Guides and Game Manuals. TWB would be the ideal choice for leaders in the Gaming and Entertainment industry. TWB helps customers with all their technical documentation needs such as user guides, administration guides, installation manuals, process and workflow documentation, configuration documents and training materials. TWB works closely with client teams located globally, and assists them in meeting their worldwide product announcements and launch deadlines. We work round-the-clock with client teams and help them with quick responses that facilitate timely distribution of documents around the globe.

Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more relevant to sustained business than capital or labor. And yet knowledge remains the most neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you unlock and share your technical knowledge with the world.

TWB believes that technology cannot exist without being communicated effectively.

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Gaming and Interactive Entertainment - Technical Publications

Gaming and Interactive Entertainment is a new, yet flourishing industry that circumscribes various job descriptions and employs a sizeable number of personnel. When other industries suffered drying up of funds, and were victims of the Wall Street chaos, the gaming industry has thrived. Sales of new systems from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, as well as hardware and game accessories amassed almost $18 billion last year. This is a 43% increase, when compared to 2006, as per the industry analyst NPD Group.

stry Technical Publications

Challenges and Solutions

Some of the greatest documentation challenges that gaming industry faces today are:

Creating Level Design and Concept documents Catering to a varied audience Existing complexity of documents Maintaining accurate and quality gaming documents Cost-cutting in various aspects Managing large volumes of documentation for new game releases Shortening of development cycles

TWBs long-standing, impeccable record in handling various kinds of documentation, coupled with its multidomain industry expertise,, provides the following solutions:

Major media players are also investing in the gaming industry. Disney has set forth $100 million for the creation of games based on some of its movies. Nickelodeon Division of MTV was planning to invest $100 million and add 1,600 games to its Web sites. Growing industries should have firm support functions in place to facilitate the successful transition. These functions guide the industry seamlessly into mainstream entertainment as a leading player. We're in the boom part of the cycle, games companies have been growing rapidly and are rationalizing acquisitions as a way to continue strengthening themselves. - David Perry (gaming entrepreneur and former game designer)

Cost-effective knowledge documentation and knowledge management Integrated documentation process Simplified, multi-staged documentation and review processes Virtualization of work space enabling fast track reviews Goal-driven approach to ensure quality and accuracy

Benefits
Association with TWB can immensely benefit game companies in saving costs and creating professional documents and marketing collaterals. TWB can help in:

The primary purpose [of research] is to get technical communicators thinking about design, perhaps in a new way, and to lay the groundwork for future research in this area. We believe that by analyzing the design of game applications, designers of business applications can gain insight into how to help their users learn while they complete their tasks." - Rob Houser and Scott Deloach, (Game Researchers 1998)

Knowledge transfer from experts to end user Breaking down complex information into an easy and understandable form

Development documents can be a key way of holding the reins tightly on a project, to make sure it does not spin out of control because of the impractical ambitions of team members." - Richard Rouse (a computer game designer, writer, and programmer)

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Value of Technical Publications

Technical Communication for Transferring Product Knowledge ra

The purpose of technical communication is to transfer product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible manner. The strategies of communication and levels of information vary depending on the type of product and audience. Providing end users with information about a products operation and maintenance is critical to the market performance of the product. Hence, the need for quality documentation is imperative. Often technical publications are developed as an afterthought. This usually results in inaccurate and incomprehensible documentation, which, in turn, renders the users incapable of using the products. Accurate, readily understandable, and quality documents determine how a product sells in the market and result in increased customer satisfaction.

Publications for Different Levels of Technical and Product Knowledge

In technical publications, audience is the focal point. Hence, the style, language, and content must vary depending on the type of audience being addressed. Every user has a specific role in the implementation and usage of the technology. Therefore, it is important that documents be created keeping in mind the role of the person who will use them. For example, when you document for professional gamers, who have played pervious versions of the game, it is sufficient to provide the quick reference information to guide them into various levels. For users who start without technical or product knowledge, or those who are trying the games for the first time, it is important to provide detailed information along with instructions on how to go about playing the game.

Faulty Assumptions that Result in Problems in Documentation

The faulty assumptions listed incomprehensible documents:

Attractive Publications as Useful Marketing Tools

in Besides transferring knowledge, technical publications are also used for marketing a product. Before a product is released in the market, information about the product needs to be effectively communicated to the customers. Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive marketing collaterals increase the market prospects of a product and reduce support costs.

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Developers know their products better than anyone else due to time constraints and limited resources, many companies assign their documentation tasks to the programmers. This more often results in the creation of technology-centered information, while end users require task-oriented information.

Documentation of complex applications implies a longer learning curve for the writer - learning the product will not be a major obstacle for writers with the right technical background.

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Conclusion

Immense Growth in the Gaming and Entertainment Industry: The gaming industry, also known as interactive entertainment, has demonstrated enormous growth over the last decade, and is continuously growing at a rapid pace. Any growing industry heavily relies on quality, precise, and a well-timed documentation process. Gaming and Entertainment now portrays a global presence, and needs technical publications that help it capture various markets and establish a global footprint. The industry also requires the support of both technical documents such as level-design documents as well as marketing collaterals, which promote support selling. Technical Publication brings value to Gaming Industry: Technical Publications quintessentially transfer product knowledge to end users. Providing a proper understanding about products and games, equips end-users to efficiently use the product. Documenting and organizing information are crucial aspects of game design. With the absence of uniform and standardized processes, the need to organize information and substantially support development process is the need of the hour. It is important to have quality documentation processes in place which replace faulty assumptions and create accurate and comprehensible material. Effective publications provide reach to various markets, increase revenue, and establish a global presence. Documentation Outsourcing is the key: The complexity involved in game and product design, necessitates the gaming and entertainment industry to consider outsourcing documentation to well-established Technical Publications Solution providers. By outsourcing their documentation needs, gaming companies can significantly cut costs, and deliver games/ other products with quality documents supporting them.

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TWB Services

TWB is Indias leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that allow our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWBs customers range from Global 500 including Cisco, Accenture, McAfee, LG, Samsung, Citrix, SAP, Siemens, AOL, Intel; Indian technology majors including Infosys, Wipro; Global defense majors - Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, DRDO, HAL; and exciting technology startups. TWB's expertise in technical communication ranges from IT Products and Outsourcing, ITES, Banking, Financial, Aerospace, Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing. TWBs services include:

Technical Marketing Solutions

Datasheets Cheat sheets Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures Presentations Products/Corporate Profile Brochures and marketing collateral Web content Audio and video scripts Press releases Direct mail Newsletter design copy Sales catalogues Sales sheets

Technical Product Documentation

Business Communication
Short Reports Proposals Case Studies Lab Reports Memos Progress/Interim Reports Writing for Electronic Media

Illustrations
Graphic Designing Info graphics 2D & 3D animation Line drawings and illustrations

Datasheets Administrators Guide API Document Configuration Guide Functional Specifications Document Installation Manual Interface Document Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) Maintenance Manual Online Help Operation Manual Product Demo Product Specifications Document Product Overview Document Quick Reference Guide Release Notes Requirement Analysis Document SDK Document Troubleshooting Manual User Manual Open Source Documentation Programmers Guides Functional Specifications Document Use Cases Online Help /Context Sensitive Help Troubleshooting Guides

Documentation Quality Management

Copy Editing and Proof Reading Managing Writing Editing Services Layout and Design Creating SLAs

Business Documentation
Business Proposals Legal Disclaimers Policy Manuals Style Guide Design Template Design

Content Management
Single Sourcing File Version Control Document Naming Conventions Consistent Document Formatting Data Transformation

Web site Development

Web 2.0 development Web content Web applications

Qualitative Analytics for Decision Support

Economic Business Research Industry Analysis Market Opportunity Analysis Competitive Business Analysis Company & Prospect Profiling Reporting Solutions Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Status and Potential of Technologies Benchmarking of Strategies Vs Competition Forecasting Sales Force Effectiveness Market Assessments Competitive Intelligence Opinion Leadership Emerging Markets - evaluation and research

Translation and Localization Services

Software Translation Services Document Translation Services Localization (L10N) Testing Internationalization (I18N) Testing

Process Documentation
Workflows Standard Operating Procedures ISO Documentation CMM Documentation

Records Management
Document Management Solutions Record Management Storage and Retrieval

Deployment and Support

Installation and Configuration Guides Operations Manual

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TWB Software Tools Expertise

Our technical proficiency in software and authoring tools includes:

Unstructured Content Development

Microsoft Word Adobe FrameMaker Adobe InDesign QuarkXPress Adobe PageMaker

XML Structured Editors

Epic FrameMaker+SGML X-Metal

Multimedia /Authoring
Adobe Flash Adobe Dreamweaver Microsoft FrontPage Adobe Captivate

Macromedia Captivate Graphics/Animations

Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop Adobe Fireworks

Illustrations
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Adobe Illustrator CS3 CorelDRAW Microsoft-Expression Graphic Designer Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux) CuteDraw Publisher3D(for animation) Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector graphics) Techsmith Camtasia Arbortext IsoDraw (technical illustrations for 2D and 3D)

Multimedia /Authoring / Supporting tools

Adobe Flash Adobe Flex Adobe AIR Adobe Dreamweaver Adobe Acrobat Microsoft Silverlight Adobe Authorware Adobe Director Adobe Captivate Trivantis Lectora ASP.NET JSP JAVA

Online Help
JavaHelp Adobe RoboHelp 7.0 HelpScribble WebWorks Publisher PowerCHM Doc-To-Help WinCHM HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows) Fast-Help MadCap Flare Help-Server NVU Help

Graphics/Animation
Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe Fireworks Microsoft Silverlight

Standards
SCORM 1.2 / 2004 AICC W3C Section 508 QTI XML

XML
XMetal Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007

Databases
Microsoft Access Microsoft SQL Server

CMS/LMS
Sharepoint Moodle Joomla, WordPress Media Wiki CMS Builder Author-it (formerly AuthorIT) Alfresco

Development and Publishing tools

XSLT/XSL EDD

Flowcharting
Microsoft Visio iGrafx EDraw RFFlow Flowbreeze Smart Draw

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Industries Served

TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge-driven industries, helping them meet their markets better:
Banking, Insurance and Financial Services Consulting and Business Services Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing Education and Learning IT, ITES ITES/ KPO/ BPO Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation Telecom and Digital Communications

TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:

The TWB Building

No: 4062, 19th Main Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560008 India. Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers Telephone: +91.80.40741400 / +91.80.41256367 Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in

US Office: TWB
11701 Norwegian Wood Drive Austin, TX 78758

Telephone: +1.512.586.8357

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