Applying Systems Engineering Thinking onto Game Development

1. Applying Systems Engineering Thinkingonto Game Development

2. Why are we here today?

3. Why are we here today? • Developing our careers • Learning the best ways to build things • Learn what to do in order to enter the contest (the PDF forms)

4. Introductory Material

5. Systems Engineering Best Practices An interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems (INCOSE handbook)

6. Introduction to Agile (Scrum) Role of SE in Agile Projects

7. Pre-Production Monthly: Update the plan (and the form) adjust the prioritized work to be done

8. Main Production

10. Game System Project Phases Game System Development Lifecycle Pre-Production Main Production Post-Production Pitch First Prototype Pre-Production Implementation “Game elements and programming” Alpha Test Beta Test Deployment Concept Design Game Development Game Testing Master Mapping to Systems Engineering Best Practices Model Successive Refinement System Design Unit Integration & Testing Project Development System Design System Development System Testing System Testing Project Deployment

11. Competition Requirements

12. Introduction to GameSIG Develop a playable level of a game that’s potentially marketable Fill out the Game Overview form Make a YouTube video pitch for your game. Be convincing – this is your sales pitch! Top 10 games do a live presentation at the event

13. This couldbe you…. Our first winner, Axle (Chapman University), went on to get their project funded on Kickstarter and publish on both Android and iOS.

14. Typical Timeline Workshop ‘16 Feb 2017 Mar 2017 Apr 2017 May 2017 June 2017 Training Concept and Initial Design Document Development Plan Prototype Game Begin Asset Production Basic Playable Game Design Review Updated Design Documents Updated Development Plan Iterative Refinement Asset Integration Updated Plan Prioritization Contingency Planning YouTube Demo Submission Playtesting Asset Integration Implement Contingency Plans Coffee Pizza Demonstrable Game in Final Form

15. Judging Criteria • Market potential of the game • Does the game have the potential to be turned into a viable, marketable game? • Does the demonstrated level clearly illustrate the game's potential? • Does the audiovisual content sufficiently demonstrate the game's appeal?

16. Judging Criteria • Original Work • Is the work presented by the team original work of theirs in the following categories? • Assets • Code • Concept • Did the team clearly disclose the use of assets created by or owned by others? • The team must be mostly students

17. Judging Criteria • Playable Demo/Pitch • Did one of the team members actually play the game during the presentation? • Was the team's presenter knowledgeable about the game's features? • Was the "pitch" compelling and convincing? • Did the demonstration include at least one playable level of the game?

18. Judging Criteria • Best Engineered Game To be eligible for the Best Engineered Game Award, teams must submit AT LEAST THREE versions of the Game Overview form – early in development, during development and upon final submission • More is better

19. Workshop

20. Team Establishment The first step is to establish a team consisting skills, passion, and team spirit to go for the challenge.

21. Team Establishment • Members of a team can come from more than one school, but note that you'll still need to select one "main" school – the one where your faculty advisor is based. • One person can be on more than one team.

22. Idea Establishment • Understand the competition theme/objectives and rules clearly Note: Core Components arethe primary functional areas of the target game system. Focus Points aredetailed functional breakdowns of a Core Component Predict what impact will success have -- How will it be measured? (What is success?) Define team’s goal (Objective) (e.g., What attractions does the team intend to offer?) Determine the game system’s differentiators; capture the Core Components of the system (Winning Strategy) Identify research required to design and build the system Identify sources of the references (e.g., the applicable books, articles, and/or on-line resources) Identify runtime environment (e.g., tools, lab, materials, etc.) Draft early art work and create the promotion video

23. Idea Establishment The summary of elements that you'd want to put on a Web site or on a physical box. Show at a glance what makes the game interesting, fun and unique. Note: An elevator pitch is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product or service and its value proposition

24. System Design (1) • Define the system scope and associated system boundary Identify the project risks, payoffs, constraints ,and assumptions What are the system requirements (Core Components and Focus Points) ? Do the requirements cover both functional and operational areas? Are the requirements reflecting the winning strategy defined previously? Estimate the cost and budget of the team (Program Management : how can the team stick to the budget?) Lay down a project schedule for building the needed team skills and developing, integrating, and testing the system. How will progress be measured? What are the major check points (milestones) to assess the progress? What tools, lab, materials, etc. are required for the entire competition (divided by phase)?

25. System Design (2) • If the system is going to be built on an existing system/products, what are the system/products currently designed to do? What are the limits of existing practice? What new capability can the team add? How does the new capability help the team to win? • What solution options may be appropriate? What option is better/best? (analysis of alternatives, decision analysis & rationale) • Can the defined requirements be traced back to the completion rules and policy (traceability)? Any redundant or unnecessary requirements? Can the requirements be broken into groups of functions? What is the plan for how these groups of functions can be tested?

26. Project Definition Example Core Components Focus Points Task List

27. 1. Core Components • Define the most important components of your software • No more than ten • High-level • Be sure to cover all aspects • Client • Server • Gameplay • Engine

28. 2. Focus Points • For each Core Component, define a set of specific functions that it must perform • No more than ten • Give each a short name • Then describe exactly how it fits in to the big picture • Try to cover all possible functions • You’ll know you’ve succeeded when you’re writing a task list and everything has a Focus Point

29. 3. Task List • List every task that you think is required • Break down into small pieces, ideally at most a few days in length • Tie back each task to a Focus Point • If there isn’t one that fits, then add it • If there’s a missing Core Component, add that, too • Repeat the process until you have a complete list • Plot out each Focus Point on a calendar • No need to get too specific; this will change

30. System Design (sample) • Project Metric helps the team manage their system features, responsibility, and projected schedule. • Feature breakdowns provide a system-wide status Show approximate dates below

31. System Development (1) • How to pick the best/most workable ideas? • Define User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) flows. Define information that impacts these flows? What information (Data) are stored by this system? What are the outputs of this system? What are the inputs? Any outputs are fed back into the system? What programming language and logic are used? How will progress be measured? How to verify and validate design? What trade studies are needed to establish the design?

32. User Interface Flow Main Menu “Back” Button Monster Whack Button Monster Whack Game Game Over

33. Test Plan (high-level approach) • Ask yourself: • What are the most important parts of the user experience? • Then document how you’ll make sure they work • What are the most likely failure modes? • Then document how you’ll trigger and debug them • How can we test the game all the way through? • Write a “how to play a level” outline • Add shortcuts or cheats to the code, if needed • Will anything be confusing to new users?

34. Form Details Game Description Target Platform Target Game User (Audience) One-paragraph summary of gameplay and Objectives Key Features Game Art Software Libraries and Packages Third party and ready made assets

35. Conclusion • By integrating the INCOSE System Engineering Guidance with the IEEE Game Special Interest Group’s application, we reveal the potential of creating real values for the participating teams in the following areas: • Team: Better team organization and coordination • Idea: Effective requirement identification and selection • Design: Efficient Core Features determination and design • Development: Organized, clear, and traceable implementation • Testing: Focused and sensible evaluations • Deliver a well-thought-out game • Continue improvements to the team’s skills and capabilities

36. Exercise

37. Exercise We will fill out a plan for the Monster Whack Game - each table is a team

38. 10 Min – Define Team Roles Define the team member roles at your table Who is the Scrum Master (facilitator of the team, could be the Team Captain) Who is the Product Owner (sets priorities, technical lead or Project Manager) Who are the Team Members (include User Experience and other roles you think are important) Definition of Done – Everyone at the table has a defined role on the team and it is written on the form.

39. Team Establishment • Members of a team can come from more than one school, but note that you'll still need to select one "main" school – the one where your faculty advisor is based. • One person can be on more than one team.

40. Report Out One or two tables report their team roles. Any questions?

41. 10 Min – Game Description Define a game description for Monster Whack Use sticky notes for individual ideas and then talk them over as a team Definition of Done – A written description on your form that is on the table

42. Report Out One or two tables report their game descriptions. Any questions?

43. 10 min – Define Target Platform Team members brainstorm what platform should be used to create the Whack Mole Game Write the target platforms considered onto sticky notes If trade studies will be done to select the target platform include that on the stickies Definition of Done – Target platforms and trade studies on sticky notes in priority order

44. Report Out One or two tables report their target platform. Any questions?

45. 10 min – Define Target Game User Write the Target Game User onto sticky notes and order them by most common to least common Definition of Done – at least one sticky note with a Game User Name is complete that the team agrees is their target user.

46. Report Out One or two tables report their target game user. Any questions?

47. 10 min – Define Game Objectives Team members write a list of the game objectives Definition of Done – Objectives written on the form

48. Report Out One or two tables report their game objectives. Any questions?

49. 10 min – Define Key Features Make a list of the Game’s Key Features on sticky notes Discuss and select the most important 5 features Definition of Done – The top 5 List of Features is added to the form, others can be included after those.

50. Report Out One or two tables report their key features. Any questions?