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Design Teams

Team StructureInterdisciplinary Teams

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Game Design

1. The game design vision drives everything

2. Every team member contributes something vital

Respect their expertise

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Team Structure

Director/Producer– The person who’s driving– Has the creative vision for entire project– Possibly an expert in some area

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The Game Vision

A game derives from a vision The Visual, Audio, Graphics, AI,

Networks derives from this vision It’s a collaboration! It’s probably not a dictatorship

– No one person can do all the work

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Team Components/Members

Game Play/Storyboard

Level Design Graphics Graphic Design Animators MoCap Actors Networks Multi-player Design

AI Audio Audio Design Dialog Voice Talent Playtesting Marketing Technical Writers

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Software Engineering

The Waterfall Model:– Design -> Spec -> Coding -> Testing

Better:– Programmers discover what the

customer wants– Programmers implement prototype– Users test prototype– Tests feed back to design

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Game Software Engineering

Many team members are non-programmers

Eg. Graphic artists are sometimes semi-literate– Their mastery is pictures!

Audio people have some CS experience

Marketing people have limited CS experience

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Specifications

Game specifications will cover many bases

It’s not all about software per se

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The Bottom Line

The team members are there for a reason:

Each team member is an expert

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Eg. Audio Design

Like any design job, there must be a logic to the audio design

The logic drives – Instrumentation– Musical style– Selection of phrases

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Logic Source

The audio design logic arises from game logic

The driving vision comes from the game– It’s not about creating a hit record, for

example

Team members…

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Game Play

Expertise: Games, Storytelling Provide a compelling experience Set up goals for player(s)

– Script– Storyboard

Programmers– Control game logic– Formal Language Scripts, etc for game play– Formal Language Script interpreter

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Level Design

Expertise: Games, Storytelling, Creative writing

Provide compelling experience this level– Adjust difficulty appropriate to level– Subsidiary to game design

Design– Spatial layout– Composition of forces– Pacing

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Level Design

Expertise: Games, Storytelling Programmers

– Creating behavior of enemy agents in geographic space

– Special-purpose features this level– Design tools

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Graphics

Expertise: CS -- Computer Graphics Programmers

– Create the graphics game engine– Customize engine components for

particular game– Visual effects– Performance tuning– Until recently, used most CPU

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Graphic Design

Expertise: Visual Arts/Graphic Design Providing the visual content

– Design the look– Implement the look

Graphic design will generate a visual system– Main task is to make the system visually

consistent, coherent

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Animators

Expertise: Visual Arts/Animation

Create the animated characters– Keyframes– MoCap – Capture,

Blending, Adjustment– Programming

simulation controllers to create good animations

Programmers– Animation control &

playback system– Scripting setup– Simulation system

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MoCap Actors

Expertise: Dance, Acting Act out motion scripts

– Create consistent character for each captured motion

– Seamlessly join together motion segments

Programmers– Motion capture – Data management

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Networks

Expertise: CS Networks, Multiplayer Programmers

– Implement network components– Client-server system– Server creation– Create multi-player control for game

• Prediction, Etc

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Multi-player Design

Expertise: Multiplayer, CS Networks Design multi-player scheme

– Resolve conflicts– Deal with lag

Programmers– Game-specific strategies

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AI

Expertise: AI Algorithms, AI Game Practice Programmers

– Create the AI engine• Could be just a general object suite

– Customize to game components– Responsible for good AI enemy play

• Details!

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Audio

Expertise: CS -- Digital Sound Filters/Effects

Programmers– Create System-level audio software– Environmental effects filters– Resource management

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Audio Design

Expertise: Music Designers

– Create audio space – Interact with other system elements

• Player health, location• Time of day, environment

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Dialog

Expertise: Creative Writing, Play Writing Create believable speaking

characters– Create lines of dialog that will sound

good– Get the point across (or obscure it!)

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Voice Talent

Expertise: Acting, Radio Create a compelling animated voice

character– Voice fits the body– Delivers the lines appropriately

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Playtesting

Expertise: Games, Dealing with people Test the game with real users

– Get feedback– Adjust game difficulty– Adjust explanations, back story, etc– Get organized!

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Marketing

Expertise: Game market, distribution Get the game on the market

– Figure out who your customers are– Generate demand

• Get it reviewed favorably• Place ads• Hype

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Technical Writers

Expertise: Technical communications Create documentation

– Game manuals– API manuals

• In house• External