I originally gave this lecture at the IGDA Leadership Forum in November, 2008.

Everyone wishes the developer/publisher relationship was better - one look at the boilerplate dev/pub agreement tells a sad story of everything that has ever gone wrong during game development. This lecture is not a rant, and it won't be from a single point of view. Rather, I'm using my contacts in development, publishing, legal, and agency to collect opinions, sometimes anonymous ones, about what can be done to bring our professional relationships back to a happier middle ground. These people all want the same thing - a smoother way to propose, fund, develop, and publish new game ideas - but the bumps and bruises of the past are getting in the way. This lecture is more than just presenting the results of my research - it will present a new standard that can guide us during good times and bad, and propose radical changes in our relationships.