Introduction to

Slide 1:Introduction to Computer Games

Ali Arya Carleton School of Information Technology

Slide 2:Introduction & Topics

History of Video Games Games Concepts Elements Production Team Production Process Tools for Game Design and Development

Slide 3:Some Milestone Games

Pong and space invaders: 1st videogame hits Pac-man: fine tuning existing ideas Star raiders: 1st 3D space combat Wing Commander: cut scenes 7th Guest, FF, MGS: video cut scenes (cinematics) Half-life: integrated cut scenes SimCity/Sims Wolfenstein3D/Doom/Quake: 3D engine, FPS Civilization Tomb Raider

Slide 4:Pong by Atari (1972)

The story begins. The first commercially successful video game Table tennis

Slide 5:Games to Remember

Slide 6:Cut Scenes?

Slide-show Video Live-action or animated High-quality Integrated Using game engine Not different from gameplay scenes

Slide 7:Doom by id Software (1993)

Pioneer in 3D graphics Next generation of Wolfenstein 3D Re-usable �engine� Violence, �satanic� imagery, and other controversies

Slide 8:The Sims by Maxis (2000)

Simulated characters, simulated life SimCity (1989) God-game!

Slide 9:Audience

Female players and designers Game developers have realized that games are not just for boys! Need to understand the audience

Slide 10:What�s a Game?

Creative expression Art Beauty? Entertainment Non-interactive Interactive playing environments Toys do not have rules or goals Puzzles have goals Games have rules and goals Conflict and competition not necessary Fun?

Slide 11:Playing Games

Activity Play Main purpose Fun (It can have different meaning.) Also Goals (Is it necessarily winning?) Has Rules (vs. Fiction)

Slide 12:Example:

Thou shall not bite, or bite hard, thy brother�s ear!

Slide 13:Essential Elements

Play Participatory Non-linear Fun Pretending Artificial importance (magic circle) Goals Will result in: Facing challenges Performing actions Rules Define goals, challenges, & actions. Understandable!

Slide 14:Example: Board Games

Slide 15:Gameplay

Gameplay therefore consists of: The challenges that a player must face to arrive at the object of the game, and The actions that the player is permitted to take to address those challenges

Slide 16:Storytelling

Most games incorporate some kind of story Video games can mix story-like and game-like entertainment almost seamlessly They can make player feel he is inside a story and affecting flow of events This is one reason why video games are considered a new medium

Slide 17:Story vs. Gameplay

Slide 18:Example: Half-Life

Relatively well-developed characters and storyline Can give players reason for performing actions Can cause emotional attachment So the experience will be more enjoyable. For whom?

Slide 19:Game Production

Originally considered a software development project Artistic tasks and content development were added later, requiring new skills, team members, and project structure Game engines also transformed game development to more �scripting� than �programming�.

Slide 20:Development Team

Design Game Designer Level Designer Writer Art Art Lead Concept, Character, Background, Animation, Texture, Sound, etc Test Test Lead Testers Programming Tech Lead AI and Logic, Physics, Effects, Sound, Tools, DB, Networking & MU, etc Producer(s) External Internal Assistants

Slide 21:Game Producers

External From publisher Internal From development company aka project manager or director Assistant Assets, daily tasks (builds, backup, etc), screenshots, PR, checking milestones, paperwork, etc

Slide 22:Design Team

Game designer Play a lot of games! Use demos and reviews, look around, chat, etc Level designer Very new field of work Writer Not a linear medium! Not dialog-based

Slide 23:Programming Team

Tech lead Programmers AI and Logic Physics Tools, DB, network and multi-player Graphics effects, sound effects, weapons Scripting languages

Slide 24:Art Team

Art director Artists Concept Character modeling Background modeling Animation Texture Sound, etc

Slide 25:Externals

Music Voice Sound effects Video Motion capture Language localization Legal, manual, etc

Slide 26:Production Lifecycle

Concept development and design Pre-production (proof of concept) Production Test (alpha and beta) Release Maintenance Upgrade

Slide 27:Concept Development

Summary (aka high concept) Pitch (aka proposal or concept doc) High concept Genre Gameplay (objectives, challenges, actions) Features (interaction, perspective, characters, weapons, etc) Setting Story Target audience Platform Competition Estimated budget and schedule Team Risk Analysis Example

Slide 28:Example: Machine Imprint

Slide 29:Example: Machine Imprint

Slide 30:Pre-Production

Project plan Design documents Game design Character, world, flow, story, level, etc Technical design Art bible (style guide) Art production plan Prototype

Slide 31:Examples of Concept Art

Slide 33:Examples of Concept Art

Slide 34:Example: Level Design

Slide 35:Example: Puzzle Design

Slide 36:Example: Interactivity

Slide 37:Production

Includes technical and artistic parts Creating art assets, animations, rendering, etc Developing software modules, implementing gameplay and user interface Integration Local testing

Slide 38:Model Development

IMD 4901 February 8th, 2007 38 MARCO � Keep is short, but make sure you show everything. MARCO � Keep is short, but make sure you show everything.

Slide 39:Model Development

IMD 4901 February 8th, 2007 39 MARCO � Keep is short, but make sure you show everything. MARCO � Keep is short, but make sure you show everything.

Slide 40:Objects

Computer terminal 1 Drink machine 1 Security camera 1 IMD 4901 February 8th, 2007 40 Reception desk 4 Bookshelf 1 JNET � Gloss over.JNET � Gloss over.

Slide 41:Environments

Slide 42:Motion Capture

Slide 43:Testing

Gameplay functionality Unit/character functionality Story progression User interface Sound and music Compatibility Gold master/final checklist

Slide 44:Test-related Versions

Alpha Features and assets Expected bugs Closed Beta No severe defects (crash-bug) Open Beta Public access for test Release

Slide 45:Publishing

Public relations (PR) Marketing Sales Stores Distributors Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Promotion

Slide 46:Tools and Technologies

Art Tools Programming Languages Game Engines Game and 3D World Design Tools Consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, etc) have their own specific tools which are usually very expensive!

Slide 47:Art Tools

3D modeling and animation Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, MilkShape3D 2D graphics and animation Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter Audio editing Sony Sound Forge, Audacity, Sweep Can have their own programming language ActionScript for Flash and MelScript for maya

Slide 48:Programming Languages

C/C++ Most powerful and common for games Most difficult to learn and use! Java Provides security and is cross-platform Not as efficient (slow performance) Widely used for mobile and causal games C# For Microsoft .NET framework Only Windows and Xbox XNA framework provides free tools for console game development (Xbox)

Slide 49:Game Engines

Commercial Blade3D, Havok, Source, Torque Free and open-source OGRE, Crystal Space, Irrlicht, jME, Panda3D, Reality Factory, The Nebula Device 2 TorqueX is special edition of Torque for XNA Not really free and almost open-source! Can have their own art and programming tools Example: Torque Builder and TorqueScript

Slide 50:Other Tools

Game Maker: Free tool for making simple games Alice: Free 3D programming tool Adventure Game Studio: Free tool for creating adventure games Multiverse: Free tool for creating online virtual worlds Inform: Free design tool for interactive fiction