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Lecture 6 CS171: Game Design Studio 1I

Lecture 6 CS171: Game Design Studio 1I. UC Santa Cruz School of Engineering www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps171/Winter2010 michaelm@cs.ucsc.edu 23 Feb 2010. Postmortems . Game postmortems are a regular feature in both Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra

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Lecture 6 CS171: Game Design Studio 1I

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  1. Lecture 6CS171: Game Design Studio 1I UC Santa Cruz School of Engineering www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps171/Winter2010 michaelm@cs.ucsc.edu 23 Feb 2010

  2. Postmortems • Game postmortems are a regular feature in both Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra • Focus on 5 things that went right, 5 things that went wrong • Reading postmortems helps you to recognize good and bad development patterns happening on your own game • Doing your own project postmortems solidifies lessons for future projects

  3. What went wrong: testing • Not leaving enough time for testing – end up focusing on stability rather than gameplay details of levels and enemies • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4 • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 • Beta too late to have any real impact • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensembles_Age_of_Empires.php • Insufficient communication between QA and development • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensembles_Age_of_Empires.php • Didn’t take early advantage of automated testing • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24767/The_Game_Developer_Archives_Postmortem_Ensembles_Age_of_Empires.php • Testing with the wrong audience • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3939/postmortem_singaporemit_gambits_.php?page=4

  4. What went wrong: design • Mistakes in level design • Not progressing game mechanics and obstacles along with the story • Not adequately melding design styles from multiple designers • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=4 • Design decisions (like temporal variety) that multiply content needs • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=3 • Balancing AI quantity (handling many units or characters) and quality (AI looking good when focus is on a single unit) • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 • Lack of specified design lead to divergent efforts during balancing and tweaks • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=4 • Lack of focus on controls • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.php • Lack of high-level vision • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs_Infamous.php • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3 • Overloading player with new concepts and systems • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4010/postmortem_square_enixs_the_.php?print=1

  5. What went right: design • Prototyping • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=2 • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25517/Postmortem_Behind_The_Making_Of_Sucker_Punchs_Infamous.php • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25002/InDepth_Inside_The_Making_Of_KingsIsles_Wizard101.php • For level-based game, focusing from the beginning on level design • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25950/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Scribblenauts.php • Early establishment of physical metrics for player character/world interactions • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2 • Nailing the gameplay mechanic before content development • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4216/postmortem_freeverses_top_gun_.php?page=2 • Playtesting provides feedback on difficulty arc and gameplay and builds a fan community • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php • Sticking with 2D • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3903/postmortem_riverman_medias_.php?page=2 • Physics-based gameplay • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=2

  6. What went wrong: project management • Grossly underestimating the amount of work • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=2 • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=4 • School projects versus full development • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3 • Adding stuff at the last minute • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4230/postmortem_ronimo_games_swords__.php?page=3 • Didn’t investigate outsourcing companies sufficiently leading to bad experience • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=4 • Positive feedback leads to feature creep • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=4 • Crunch • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4041/postmortem_gaijin_games_bittrip_.php?page=3 • Inadequate analysis and planning for technical risk • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_in_arms_.php?page=4

  7. What went right: project management • SCRUM • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25799/Postmortem_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Brutal_Legend.php • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3804/postmortem_brothers_in_arms_.php?page=2 • Internal art person had great art community connections, leading to good outsourcing experience • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php • Empowering creativity across the team • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/22710/InDepth_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Far_Cry_2.php

  8. What went wrong: tools and tech • Networking code started too late • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php?page=3 • The lure of shared technology • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=2 • Loosing iterative design time due to refactoring • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4122/postmortem_crystal_dynamics_tomb_.php?page=3 • Inefficient art pipeline • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4101/postmortem_ngmocodemiurge_.php?page=3 • Custom tech (driven by unique gameplay features) leading to inefficiencies (“transformation tech too expensive”) • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees_grimm.php?page=5 • Physics problems • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3339/postmortem_dreamworks_.php?page=3

  9. What went right: tools and tech • Successfully building on tools from last project • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4205/postmortem_twisted_pixels_.php • Custom engine supported experimentation and fast turnaround • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4201/postmortem_8monkeys_darkest_of_.php?page=2 • Using an existing, well-established engine allowed focus on design • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4188/postmortem_wadjet_eyes_the_.php • Good use of middleware • http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3910/postmortem_american_mcgees_grimm.php?page=3

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