game development

Game Development

Dr. Mathias Lux

ITEC - Universität [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Austria License. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/at/

http://www.uni-klu.ac.at

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Agenda

● Why teaching “computer games”?● What is a “good” game?● Game projects in teaching● Game development


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Why teaching computer games?

● Commercial relevanceo Games are a big business

● Research and technologyo Games lead to innovation

● Application of knowledge in game dev.o Maths, physics, algorithms, data structureso Project management & planningo Self reflection and team work

Image (cc) by http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliebee


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Why teaching computer games?

● Many people …o play games themselves!o assume they are experts!o think they can do better!

Image (cc) by http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilschelly


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Industry Facts: ESA (US)

● Gaming industry economics & sales:o 2003-2006 the annual rate (gain) exceeded

17% (cp. <4% for the US economy)o Game console software sales: $6.6 billion /

153.9 million units in 2007o Computer games sales: $910.7 million / 36.4

million units in 2007o Portable software sales: $2.0 billion / 77.5

million units in 2007

Source: esa, entertainment software association - http://www.theesa.com/


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Industry Facts: ESA, 2006

● Gamers facts:o The average American gamer is 35 years old

and has been playing for 13 years. o 38% of American households have a video

game console, 65% play video / PC gameso 56% percent of online game players are male

and 44% are femaleo Adult women represent a greater portion of

gamers (33 %) than boys age <=17 (18 %)

Source: esa, entertainment software association - http://www.theesa.com/


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German Game Industry

200720062005200420032002


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German Game Industry


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German Game Industry:Details on the consumers


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German Game Industry:Market share


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German Game Industry: How old are gamers?


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German Game Industry: Restrictions - USK


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Germany: Releases of the last 12 months

Source: games.markt


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Germany: Releases % in Genre


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MMOG Economics

● WoW has >11 Mio. subscribers (Oct. 2008)o Monthly feeso Add-ons & DLCo World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King

was Xmas best seller at amazon.de

Source: http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html


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Example: Super Mario

● Jump & Run, Nintendo● Video game for NES

o World -> SNES & GameBoyo Mario64 -> Nintendo64o Super Paper Mario -> Wiio …

● Most successful video game evero 295 Mio. units sold


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Example: LBP

● Little Big Planeto A collaborative platformero 2.5 D Jump & Run

● Awardso Academy Of Interactive Arts & Sciences 2009

• 8 Awards including “best overall game”

o E3 Awards• Best console game, • best casual and social game

o etc.


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Example: LBP

● Videos:o Danger – Showing the gameplayo Sackzilla – Showing the editor


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Example: Guitar Hero & Rockband

● Guitar Hero (Activision) & Rockband (EA)o Revenue of 2.3 billion dollars o Within three years

● Guitar Hero III – Legends of Rocko First game exceeding 1 billion $ revenue


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Example: Popcap Games

Popcap Games creates „casual games“● Most popular game: Bejeweld

o 150 million downloads, o 25 million sold units

● Distributes on o XBox Marketplaceo PSNo PC (Steam, own shop, boxed)


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Computer & Innovation

● Consumer Hardware o 3D graphic cards, Open GL for consumerso Video decoding (HD video)

• Cp. Nvidia & ATI/AMD graphic cards

o Input and output methods• High performance mouse• Sensors (cp. Wiimote)• 3D screens, shutter

o PC Setup• PSUs, cooling, etc.


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Computer & Innovation

● Consumer Entertainment Hardwareo PS3: 1 (control) +1 (PPC) +7 (SPE) =9 Coreso XBox: 3 Cores w. Hyperthreading ~= 6 Coreso Compare to Wii, DVD recorder, routers, …

● Consumer Softwareo 3D interfaces

• Google Earth• Brockhaus Multimedial• Aero, Beryl, KDE4, etc.


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Computer Games & Computer Science

● Computationso Using shaders for parallel processingo High performance clusters, CUDA

● Serious Gameso Human Computing (v. Ahn)o Article “Games with a purpose”

● Educational Gameso Military training o E-Learning, pedagogical (e.g. common sense)


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Example:Hazmat Hotzone

● 3D training for fire fighters● Handling hazardeous materials

o E.g. terrorism, …

● Employs Unreal engine● Developed at CMU

Quelle: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051102/carless_01b.shtml


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US Army leadership development (CSU)

● Stories of soldiers are converted to „knowledge“

● Knowledge is applied in training scenarios for soldierso Decisions in combat and

surveillance scenarioso Interaction with locals

(customs, etc.)

(cc) by Army.mil, http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/2941583135/


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Games as part of our culture …

● Common sense & knowledgeo Lara Croft & Pac-mano Mario Bros. & Sonic

● Merchandisingo E.g. Game & Film

● Many people have/had contact with gameso PC, Nintendo, Playstation, etc.


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● Human TETRIS Performanceo GAME OVER Projecto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0LtUX_6IXY

● Real Life Donkey Kongo Bam Margerao http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KyIpMtvJvE

● Real Marioo Gordon Collegeo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0fCnf8uWxw


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Acceptance and controversial issues

“The disturbing material in Grand Theft Auto and other games like it is stealing the innocence of our children and it's making the difficult job of being a parent even harder ... I believe that the ability of our children to access pornographic and outrageously violent material on video games rated for adults is spiraling out of control.” - (Hillary Clinton, 2005)


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Acceptance(Rock’n’Roll)

"The effect of rock and roll on young people, is to turn them into devil worshippers; to stimulate self-expression through sex; to provoke lawlessness; impair nervous stability and destroy the sanctity of marriage. It is an evil influence on the youth of our country." - Minister Albert Carter, 1956


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Acceptance

Similar statements to● Comics (1954)● Phone(1926)● Film (1909)● Waltz (1816)● Novels (1790)

Source: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/war.html


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Agenda


o XNAo Tutorials


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A good game …

● World of Goo


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Aspects of a Game

Review game in several aspects:

● Challenge● Choice● Clear and Compelling Goals● Representation● Conflict● Feedback

Source: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/graphics/Courses/679-s2007/Main/GameDesign


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Challenging Goals

● Premise of the gameo Storyo Charactero Motivation

● Why do I play the game?● Why do I build towns, jump & run, …?


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Clear Goals

● Different aspectso What is the goal?o When is the goal achieved?

● Strongly connected with feedbacko I need to know when I’m making progress

● Short term vs. long term goalso “Get over fire pit” vs. “Rescue princess”


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Clear Rules

● Figuring out ruleso In play: learning curve?o Common sense (gravity, rebound, etc.)

● Unclear rules are frustratingo I couldn’t .. because I didn’t know …

● Do not allow workaroundso Circumventing != cheating

• Happens within allowed rule set


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Choices

● Player should have meaningful choices● Consider example choice qualities:

o Hollow -> No consequenceo Obvious -> Choice without alternativeo Informed -> based on provided information cp. guessingo Dramatic -> Connects to emotionso Weighted -> Both neg. and pos. outcomeso Immediate -> Need fast decisiono Orthogonal -> Choices are independent


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Challenge

● Tuning / Balanceo Make things hard, but not too hard

● Dynamic gameso Change with game progress &

gamers skills

● Challenge from design vs. technical issueso Can’t figure out puzzle vs.

can’t find button combo

(cc) by law keven, www.flickr.com/photos/66164549@N00/2506022298/


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Feedback

● Action & Reactiono Choose a new car and feel the effect …o Buy new clothes & see them on avatar …

● Gamers need rewardso Cp. concept of highscore

● Experienceo Buy weapon or skill upgradeso Reach new levels & challenges


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Assumed audience ?!?

● Who will play your game?● Who will pay for your game?● What are appropriate distribution

channels?o App Store, Steam, Download, Boxed, …


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Agenda


o XNAo Tutorials


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Possible Topics

● Arcade gameso Typically 2D, lots of historical examples

● Puzzle gameso Simple graphics, focus on logic

● Mobile gameso Realistic scope & deployment scenario

● Educational games for kidso Topic based, more weight on story


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Possible Aspects

● Programming skillso Learning by doing

● Hands-on with toolso GFX, SFX

● Soft skillso Teamwork, discussion, coordination

● Specific topics different areaso Physics, geometry, linear algebra, AI, …


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Project Milestones

1. Planning & Design2. Implementation 3. Testing & Evaluation4. Deployment5. Post mortem


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Design Documents(not technical)

● High Level Documento Abstract of the game in 2-4 pages

● Game Treatment Documento Present game in a broader outlineo It’s also more sales than dev document

● Game Bibleo Character designo World designo Flowboard: flow of gameplay modeso Story & level progression: storylineo Game script: rules and mechanics of the game

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Game Script

● Should enable one to play the game● Create a paper prototype

o Use it for testing

(cc) by kekremsi, www.flickr.com/photos/emraya/2929959881


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Sample Design Document: Abstract

Catch the Clown

Catch the Clown is a little action game. In this game a clown moves around in a playing field. The goal of the player is to catch the clown by clicking with the mouse on him. If the player progresses through the game the clown starts moving faster and it becomes more difficult to catch him. For each catch the score is raised and the goal is to get the highest possible score. Expected playing time is just a few minutes.

source: http://www.yoyogames.com/make/tutorials


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Sample Design Document: Game Objects

Game objects

There will be just two game objects: the clown and the wall. The wall object has a square like image. The wall surrounding the playing area is made out of these objects. The wall object does nothing. It just sits there to stop the clown from moving out of the area. The clown object has the image of a clown face. It moves with a fixed speed. Whenever it hits a wall object it bounces. When the player clicks on the clown with the mouse the score is raised with 10 points. The clown jumps to a random place and the speed is increased with a small amount.

source: http://www.yoyogames.com/make/tutorials


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Sample Design Document: The RestSoundsWe will use two sounds in this game. A bounce sound that is used when the clown hits a wall, and a click sound that is used when the player manages to click with the mouse on the clown.ControlsThe only control the player has is the mouse. Clicking with the left mouse button on the clown will catch it.Game flowAt the start of the game the score is set to 0. The room with the moving clown is shown. The game immediately begins. When the player presses the <Esc> key the game ends.LevelsThere is just one level. The difficulty of the game increases because the speed of the clown increases after each successful catch.


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Game Postmortems

● Written after finishing the projecto Done by senior developer or manager

● Summarizes dev process too Avoid pitfalls in later projectso Apply practices that worked

well in later projects

Check for instance gamasutra.com

(cc) by devicer, www.flickr.com/photos/devicer/42503985/


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Game postmortems: Structure

● Project Overviewo Describe the game (idea, setting, story,

features)o Describe team and circumstances

● What went righto Describe „best practices“o Describe and argue „good“ decisionso Motivation for this part: Think of benefits for

future projects


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Game postmortems: Structure

● What went wrongo Describe pitfalls and difficultieso Describe mistakes experienced, technical as

well as from management perspective

● Conclusion & Closingo Final note from the authors, personal

experienceo Project brief: Dev tools, resources, …


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Agenda

● Why teaching “computer games”?● What is a “good” game?● Game projects in teaching● Implementation


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Typical Basic Elements (I)

● Game Loopo Painting current state to screen

● Spriteso Moving objects, animated

● Levelo The playground

● Scoreo The achievement & reward system


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Typical Basic Elements (II)

● Collision Detectiono Check if objects interfere

● Soundo Background & SFX

● Game AIo Some “intelligence”, dynamics or adaptation


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Game Frameworks

Framework manages … ● Input & Output

o poll & queue input controllerso render game in time (hardware acceleration) o network & storage

● Physics o object-world and object-object interaction

● Resourceso loading, animation


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Microsoft XNA Game Studio

● Set of game development tools● Based on .NET Compact Framework● Available in version 3.0

o Version 3.1 already announced

● Programming in C#o Help in MSDN / Knowledgebase


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Out-of-the-Box Game


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Basic game structure


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Experience with XNA

● Students find their way fasto Workshop (1 day) for first tutorial based game

● Students are occupied for hours o Hours of adaptations

• Graphics and sounds• Gameplay and levels• Testing and tuning

● XNA is very powerfulo With necessary limitations


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Experience with XNA

● Team members have different roleso Sound & 2D Designo Implementation & Testingo Planning & Coordination

● Learning programming along the wayo How can we rotate/scale/translate a sprite?o How can we add a loop for …?


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Summer Camp 2008-2009

● Arcade game development in teams of 2o Students of age 16-18o Basic knowledge of programming (Java)

● Duration: 5 Days with ~ 3 hours each● Results

o Steep learning curveo 2 (out of 5) very innovative projects

• Design & Gameplay

o Students programmed in their spare time


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VK Games @ Uni Klu

● Goal: Arcade (Casual) Gameo In 6 weeks of development timeo With planning and self reflectiono In teams of 3 with max. 40 h of work each

● Resultso All but one projects finishedo Everyone put a lot more effort in than 40 h


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Proposed Format

1. One day workshop as introductiono Basics on gameso Basics on game developmento Self directed learning through tutorials

2. Multiple units of self directed (but tutored) game development.o Based on the outcome of the tutorial

3. Final presentation of the outcome


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Resources

● XNA Creators Clubo Lots of tutorials and game sampleso http://creators.xna.com/en-US/education/catalog/

● Visual C# Express Editiono Free 2 use version of visual studioo http://www.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/

● Alternative: Gamemakero Strange tool, but immediate resultso http://www.yoyogames.com/make


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Final words

● Nearly every single student was very much involved with the gaming projects.o Some even failed other courses

● Typically people spent a lot more time on the project than they should have.o Despite prior warning

● Overall feedback was very encouragingo Although many reconsidered their career plans


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Questions?

Mathias [email protected]://www.itec.uni-klu.ac.at/~mlux