Computer Game Development

1. Computer Game Development By Jijun Tang

2. Google Group • http://groups.google.com/group/csce552 • Please check and ask for membership • Will serve as the main way of communication

3. First Presentation • In two weeks • To present • Group info: name, logo, etc • Game ideas • Game design issues

4. Tennis for two (1958)

5. Spacewar (1961)

6. Light Gun and Odyssey

7. Pong and Arcade Computer Space

8. Atari 2600, 1977 Able to support many games Cartridge-based Console (1977)

9. NES (90% market) NES Mario Gameboy contra

10. Wii

11. Playstation I Final Fantasy Grand Theft Auto

12. MS Games

13. Types • Adventure (text-based/graphical) • Action (shooting, combat sim) • First-person shooting • Combat sim • Action adventure • Platformer (Mario) • Fighting • Real-time strategy (RTS) • Survival Horror

14. Types • Role Playing Game (RPG) • Stealth • Simulation • SimCity • Flight Simulator • Train Simulator • Racing • Sports

15. Types • Rhythm • Dance Dance Revolution • Puzzle • Tetris • Education • Typing • NSF funds many such games

16. Languages • Assembly • C/C++ • VB • Java • Flash • Script

17. ESA • Entertainment Software Association • www.theesa.com

18. Sales From ESA

19. Entertainment Software Rating Board Self-regulated rating board ESRB From ESA

20. Game and Violence • Study from National Institute on Media and the Family • Concerns • Children are more likely to imitate the actions of a character with whom they identify. In violent video games the player is often required to take the point of view of the shooter or perpetrator. • Video games by their very nature require active participation rather than passive observation. • Repetition increases learning. Video games involve a great deal of repetition. If the games are violent, then the effect is a behavioral rehearsal for violent activity. • Rewards increase learning, and video games are based on a reward system.

21. Concerns Warranted? • Exposure to violent games increases physiological arousal   • Exposure to violent games increases aggressive thoughts • Exposure to violent games increases aggressive emotions • Exposure to violent games increases aggressive actions • Exposure to violent games decreases positive prosocial (i.e., helping) actions

22. Evidence against Linking Games and Violence • Violent crime, particularly among the young, has decreased dramatically since the early 1990s, whilevideo games have steadily increased in popularity and use. • Many games with violent content sold in the U.S. -- and some with far more violence -- are also sold in foreign markets.  However, the level of violent crime in these foreign markets is considerably lower than that in the U.S • Numerous authoritieshave examined the scientific record and found that it does not establish any causal link between violent programming and violent behavior. • The above are claims from theesa.com

23. Results on 9th Grader By David Walsh

24. Parents Controling Kids

25. Culture Issues • Culture acceptance is hard to predict • Stereotypes • may backfire • but also may pay-off, should we avoid? • Foreign policies • Try to understand other cultures • Have some sensitivities • Culture acceptance is hard to predict

26. Requirements of Our Projects • We will mimic ESRB and rate your games (E, 10+ or T) • Vote from the class • Please do some research about your games: culture issue, violence? IP? • Avoid controversies

27. MMORPG • Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game • World of Warcraft (8M worldwide, 2M North America, 1.5M Europe, 3.5M China) • NavyField • MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) • Counter Strike: online first person shooter game (>200K simultaneously) • EverQuest • Second Life (virtual world)

28. Examples

29. Society Issues with Online Games • Improve society and provide fun • Some people make a living through adding stuff to online games • Bad things can happen • Play too much, mess real life or cannot separate real from virtual • Security problems, cheating, hacking • Deindividuation • In-game regulatory tools

30. Areas and Challeges (Adams, Rollings) • Three different areas • Core mechanics • Interactivity • Storytelling • Narrative • Categorizing different types of challenges: • Pure challanges (logic and inference, lateral-thinking, memory, intelligence-based, knowledge-based, pattern-recognition, etc.) • Applied challenges (races, puzzles, exploration, conflict, economies and conceptual challenges)

31. Basic Elements (Game Design Workshop) • Identify eight basic formal elements: • Players • Objective • Procedures • Rules • Resources • Conflicts • Boundaries • Outcomes • The design method is to use the formal elements to describe the current design and make sure that all aspects of a game design are taken into consideration

32. CSCE 552 Spring 2011 Understanding Fun

33. What is Fun? • Game is all about fun • Dictionary: Enjoyment, a source of amusement • It is important to consider underlying reasons • Funativity – thinking about fun in terms of measurable cause and effect

34. Why fun? • It’s deep in our evolution root, and we must look to our ancestors (200 yrs of tech advancement haven’t changed our instinct) • Cats, dogs, etc play to learn basic survival skills (physical and social) • Games are organized play • Human entertainment is also at its heart about learning how to survive • Social rules are also critical to us

35. Surviving • Life is all either work, rest, or fun • To survive, we must work • Our ancestors were those who survive • The survive skills are passed down • Who is more likely to survive?

36. People working too hard?

37. People resting too much?

38. We must play to gain skills

39. Learning is fun • Fun is about practicing or learning new survival skills in a relatively safe setting • People who didn’t enjoy that practice were less likely to survive to become our ancestors

40. Hunting and Gathering • Basic skills are hunting and gathering • Current popular games reflect this • It’s a good start point to design games • Shooters, wargames = hunting • Powerups, resources = gathering • Sims, MMO = social, tribal interaction

41. Gathering and hunting

42. Natural Funativity Theory • All funs are derived from practicing survival and social skills • Key skills relate to early human context • Often in modern guise: play chess, football, dance, etc • Three overlapping categories • Physical • Social • Mental

43. Physical Fun • Sports • Enhance our strength, stamina, coordination skills • Winning is also a mental fun • Exploration • Knowledge of surrounding areas • Explore unknown • Hand/eye coordination and tool use are often parts of fun activities – crafts • Physical aspect to gathering “stuff”

44. Wii Sports

45. Social Fun • Storytelling is a social activity • First virtual reality • Learn important lessons from others • Gossip, sharing info • Flirting • Showing off

46. Social funs

47. Mental Fun • Humans have large brains • Abstract reasoning practice • Pattern matching and generation • Music • Art • Puzzles • Gathering also has mental aspect, categorizing and identifying patterns • Gambling

48. Casino/Online Gambling

49. Multipurpose Fun • Many fun activities have physical, social and mental aspects in combination • Games that mix these aspects tend to be very popular • Incorporate ways to practice these skills to increase the popularity of games

50. Game Definitions • Some time lack standard (concrete) definitions • Game: Object of rule-bound play • Play: Interactions to elicit emotions • Aesthetics: Emotional responses during play • Frame:The border of a game’s context • Inside the frame is in the game • Outside the frame is real life