Happy New Year!

Until a week ago, I was Chairman of the Board of the Association of Shareware Professionals. Before my term expired (terminated, so to speak), the final act of the 2004 Board of Directors was to pass my motion to create the ASP Indie Games SIG (Special Interest Group). This SIG was created for the purpose of “advancing the cause of computer games that are developed and published independently”.

Last Tuesday afternoon, the private newsgroup for the SIG went live and there were more than 100 posts in the first four days. This is an enormous step toward building a strong community, which was one of the early goals for the SIG. Over the next couple of months, we will be working toward developing a charter and enhancing participation.

This is an excellent opportunity for anybody reading this blog to get involved at the beginning of the ASP Indie Games SIG and help us shape and direct it. If you are already a member of the ASP, all you need to do is subscribe to the asp.sig.games newsgroup and join the conversation. There have been a number of prominent game developers participating to this point, and I expect that that will be many more as the word spreads.

If you have not yet joined the ASP, this is a wonderful time to do so. Membership is only $100 for the year, and this provides access to the private ASP newsgroups, including the SIG newsgroup, many member-only discounts, the monthly (printed) ASPects newsletter, and the ASPects CD, containing all previous issues in PDF format, dating back more than 15 years. To join the ASP now, go to http://www.asp-shareware.org/join/join.asp.

I anticipate and fully expect that the ASP Indie Games SIG will become a strong voice in the game development community, and coupled with the invaluable business, marketing, and technical information to be gleaned from the rest of the ASP, it will be the place for game development entrepreneurs.