Christophe Reyes General Manager France Oskar Guilbert Developer Relations Manager France

1. Streamline the production pipeline Christophe Reyes General Manager France Oskar Guilbert Developer Relations Manager France

2. Agenda • Criterion overview • Production diagram • Tools per sector of activity • How to speed up the pipeline • RenderWare Solutions Moscow - March 2003

3. Criterion Software Established in 1993 Global offices in Austin (USA), Derby & Guildford (UK), Paris (France) and Tokyo (Japan) Managed by 3 founders: David Lau-Kee, Adam Billyard & Mike King Over 200 employees in technology and game development divisions Company comprises two divisions: RenderWare Delivers a suite of tailored, multi-platform middleware solutions for the games development market Criterion Games Develops and produces games for next generation consoles and is now a well-respected studio developing hit videogames for a worldwide audience Moscow - March 2003

4. Key Market Trends Increased consumer demand for higher quality, more creative, immersive games - more competitive landscape Uptake of next-gen platforms and their decreasing lifecycles - developers and publishers under even more time pressure Short term technology strategies and engines for single SKUs no longer feasible business models Technology issues dominate developer time and so creative and R&D input can be limited Not commercially viable to throw unlimited funds at every project to get the one ‘box-office hit’. Ratio of misses-to-hits increasing Publishers less willing to take risk on highly creative projects - sequel licenses dominate Industry as a whole lacks standardized procedures Moscow - March 2003

5. What Can Middleware Do? Solves the complex technical issues surrounding multi-platform development Provides a complete tool chain so developers do not have to reinvent the wheel creating their own technology from scratch Frees up time so developers can focus on the critical creative elements of the game Delivers standardized technologies and processes for more streamlined team activity Can deliver game demonstrators substantially earlier in the development process Ensures that deadlines are met and games are delivered to market on time Moscow - March 2003

6. Global Customers Moscow - March 2003

7. Grand Theft Auto III Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 Burnout 2 Run Like Hell RedCard 20-03 NFL Blitz 20-03 World Series Baseball MLB Slugfest 20-03 RenderWare is now being used in over 400 games and has helped generate $2 billion+ of retail revenue from released titles, including the following... Mortal Kombat 5: Deadly Alliance Genso Suikoden III Italian Job Pro Evolution Soccer 2 Driven Monsters Inc. Scooby Doo! – Night of 100 Frights Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon Everquest: The Shadows of Luclin MX Superfly Moscow - March 2003

8. Game Dev Production Pipeline possible issues • Team work • Different skills • Different work periods : waiting time • Domains of competence • Graphics, Audio, AI, Physics, Network,… • Different hardware • XBox, PS2, GC, PC, … • Huge amount of assets • Code and artist’s assets • Tuning & Debugging take a lot of time • Numerous specialized tools Moscow - March 2003

9. Production Diagram • Sectors of activity • Game Designers • Producers • Graphic, Audio Designers • Animators • Programmers • Integrators • Activity Day 1 Project end Game dev. Moscow - March 2003

10. Solutions • Adapted : Easy to use • 2d and 3d • Interactive • Integrated in the production chain Game Designers • Existing Tools • Pen and paper, Lego, … • Microsoft Excel… • 3d modelers • Dedicated prototyping tools, • In house tools • Issues • Duration • Validity : 3d, interactions, … • Unadapted tools • Communication with the others sectors • Integration in the production tools Moscow - March 2003

11. Solutions • Integrated in the production tool / shared • Allow visibility from day 1 and during all the project • Reporting linked to the project state Producers / Project Managers • Tools • Project management tools, • MS Excel, • In house tools, • Issues • Integration with the other sectors • How to communicate • Sectors synchronization • Project real state visibility Moscow - March 2003

12. Solutions • Visualisation on the targeted platform with “real time” updates • Access to the programmers coded behaviours for test as soon as available • Merge of assets and special effects • Integrated assets management tool Graphic, Audio Designers/Artists • Tools • 2d paint, composing, • 3d modelers, • Audio creation tools, • In house tools, • Issues • Visualization on the targeted platform (PS2/XBOX/GC/PC…) • Go/Return from modeler and the game engine • Synchronization with the programmers coded behaviors and special effects • Performance issues on the targeted platform • Maintain the coherency of the assets (versioning, multiple users, …) Moscow - March 2003

13. Solutions • Access to the artist’s current assets • Parsing not compiling : faster, easy parameters openness • Integrated debugging tools • Integrated code source management tool Programmers • Tools • Compilers • Debuggers • Performance analyzers • Graphic/audio libs (OpenGL, DirectX, …) • Middleware • Issues • Integration/optimization of the code with the current game assets (graphic, audio, …) • Go/Return from the compiler and the game engine • Parameters accessibility for the other sectors (artists, designers, integrators,…) • Performance analysis, tuning, on the targeted platform • Maintain the coherency of the code assets (versioning, multiple users, …) Moscow - March 2003

14. Integrators/Level designer • Solutions • Construct the game on the targeted platform • Access to the programmers coded behaviours for test as soon as available • Immediate access to the artists assets with special effects • Reporting linked to the project state • Integrated Assets management tool • Tools • Prototyping tools • In house tools, • Issues • Build the game on the targeted platform (PS2/XBOX/GC/PC…) • Go/Return from the game engine the artist tools, the programmers tool • Interaction with the game designer and the producer • Performance issues on the targeted platform : dues to the integration of all assets • Maintain the coherency of the game state files (versioning, multiple users, …) Moscow - March 2003

15. How to speed up the pipeline • Make teams/sectors work together • Share the assets : graphics, audio & code • Limit the waiting time : programmmer-artists-integrators-… • Adapted/modifiable user interface : fit the needs of each member of the team • Allow the visibility of the game state to all members of the team : • From day 1 and until the end of the project • Allow reporting, documentation • Limit switches between tools • Compiler – game engine, graphic tools – game engine, … • Work on the targeted platform • Immediate visibility of the assets and behaviors in game engine • No porting/exporting • Easily tune & debug in the game engine • Asset management : • Never lose your work or made it inconsistent Moscow - March 2003

16. The RenderWare Suite Of Tools & Technologies PC HOST TARGET Unrivalled support… 24/7/365 Moscow - March 2003

17. What Is RenderWare Studio? A unique collaborative game production system that allows the whole team to create, view and tune games simultaneously, in real-time on multiple platforms. Encompassing the whole development process from pre-production to QA, the collaborative nature of RenderWare Studio enables all team members, even those in remote locations, to share assets and work in parallel on gameplay, engineering and production in real-time, and remove the time-consuming bottlenecks that can occur. Moscow - March 2003

18. Benefits Of RenderWare Studio Rapid game development Reduced risk Truly multi-platform Earlier game demonstrators Open & extensible Reduces bottlenecks Simplifies development process Encourages innovation Encourages good development practices Improved developer / publisher relations Moscow - March 2003

19. What Is RenderWare Platform? RenderWare Platform is the industry’s de-facto suite of best-of-breed game production technologies, comprising Graphics, Audio, AI and Physics. The API offers an open framework that aligns all the essential components of game production into one single, powerful, toolkit. With RenderWare Graphics version 3.5, the industry standard is now even easier to use and more powerful than ever before, with unrivalled multi-platform performance - that’s more than twice the power of other graphics solutions. Moscow - March 2003

20. Thank you • Questions ? Moscow - March 2003