DESC 9188 Modelling and Animation for Games Dr. Xiangyu Wang Tutor: Roy Christian Demonstrator: Irene Chen Course website: will upload soon and inform Acknowledgement: partial materials from Rob Saunders, Robert W. Lindeman, Kent Quirk, Mark Claypool, and Mark Overmars

Xiangyu Wang web: office: Room 274A, Wilkinson Building

Schedule Every Tuesday night (lecture/tutorial) –6:00-6:45 lecture –6:45-7:00 break –7:00-8:00 lecture continued –8:00-9:00 tutorial Every Wednesday night (studio) –6:00-9:00

What is a Game? Movie? Toy? Puzzle? “A computer game is a software program in which one or more players make decisions through the control of game objects and resources, in pursuit of a goal.” Based on notes from Mark Overmars

What is a Computer Game? A Computer Game is a Software Program –You lose: physical pieces social interaction –You gain: more complexity more immersion Based on notes from Mark Overmars

What is a Computer Game? Playing a Game is About Making Decisions –For instance: what weapon to use, what resource to build –can be frustrating if decision does not take effects. Playing a Game is About Control –Player wants to impact outcome –Uncontrolled sequences can still happen, but should be sparing and make logical Based on notes from Mark Overmars

What is a Computer Game? A bunch of cool features –Necessary, but not sufficient –May even be distractive by concentrating on features not game itself A lot of fancy graphics –Games need graphics just as hit movie needs special effect … but neither will save weak idea –Game must work without fancy graphics –Sometimes be fun with simple objects “When a designer is asked how his game is going to make a difference, I hope he … talks about gameplay, fun and creativity – as opposed to an answer that simply focuses on how good it looks” – Sid Meier (Civilizations, Railroad Tycoon, Pirates) Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Types of Games Action Games –Arcade (Shoot’em Ups) –First-Person Shooters –Third-Person Shooters –Stealth (Sneak’em Ups) –Fighting (Beat’em Ups) –Dancing Game –Action-Adventure –Platform Games Role-Playing Games –Turn-Based Role-Playing Games –Massively-Multiplayer Role- Playing Games (MMRPGs) Strategy & War Games –Turn-Based War Games –Real-Time Strategy –Management Games Simulations –Sports Simulations –Vehicle Simulations Adventure Games –Text-Based Adventures –Graphical Adventures

Arcade Games Reaction speed is the most important aspect of the game –Examples: scrolling shooters, maze games like Pacman, paddle games like Breakout, Pong Relatively easy to make Typically 2D Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Puzzle Games Clever thinking is the most important aspect: –Many maze games are actually more based on puzzle solving rather than on reaction speed. –Typically 2D –Relatively easy to create Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Role Playing Games Steer a character through a difficult world –Examples are Diablo and Baldur's Gate Development of character to learn new skills, becoming more powerful, and finding additional and better weapons Can create 2D or 3D Generally harder to make because must create the mechanism of character development Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Strategy Games Real-time (RTS) or turn-based. Player only indirectly controls the character. Tactics less important than Strategy –Examples include Age of Empires, Warcraft III… Generally take a lot of time to create Require many different game objects, each with animated images and specific behavior. Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Adventure Games Game is about adventure and exploration –Story line is often crucial Can be 2D or 3D Actions easy (just move) Difficulty is in making exploration/adventure interesting Interesting, funny, and surprising story line Based on notes from Mark Overmars

First-Person Shooters 3D version of many arcade-style games (move and shoot) Emphasis is on fast-paced action and reaction speed, not on cleverness and puzzle solving Examples are Doom, Quake, … Need to be 3D Relatively difficult to create because of models Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Third-Person Action Player directly controls a game character (avatar) through a hostile world –Ex: Tomb Raider Fast action and discovering the game world Some have story line, other adventure game aspects Can be 2D or 3D Can sometimes be created easily Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Racing Games Really, special type of sport game Drive a vehicle, as fast as possible or sometimes for exploration or combat Either realistic (ex: Formula 1) or focused on fun aspects (Midtown Madness) 2D or 3D Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Simulators Try for realistic representation –Ex: flight simulators, Trainz Other simulations include world simulation –Ex: simCity or simEarth Relatively difficult to create since getting details right a challenge Based on notes from Mark Overmars

Party Games Variety of types –Ex: Mario Party, DDR, Karaoke Social aspects important with participants in the same space Allow for rapid change of turns Allow for disparate abilities (beginners and experts, both have fun) Based on notes from Mark Overmars

The Game Industry Computer/video game industry on par with box office sales of the movie industry $6.35B/year for U.S. Sales in 2001 Development Costs $3M to $10M to develop average game Takes months Laird and Jamin, EECS 494, Umich, Fall 2003 and Chapter 7.2, Introduction to Game Development

What Games are Played? Computer gamer players: –Strategy (30%), children's entertainment (15%), shooters (15%), family entertainment titles (10%), RPG (10%), sports (5%), racing (5%), adventure (5%), and simulation (5%) The Entertainment Software Association (ESA)

What is Game Design?

The Process of Game Design Imagining a possible game –What’s the “big idea” or “high-concept”? Describing the game elements –What are the elements that define how the game looks? Defining the way it works –What are the rules that define how the game works? Documenting the design –Providing a blueprint for the game development process.

Core Elements of a Game Design

Rules Rules define how game worlds work –Rules define the “core mechanics” of the game Does the player have health points or multiple lives? What are the legal moves that a player can make? Rules encode a designer’s vision –Rules allow designers to express their ideas in ways that programmers can implement in software Rules define the game not the software –The same rules can be implemented in different ways: as long as the rules are the same the game is the same

Story All games involve some sort of story –Even Tetris has a story, the story of the player playing Some games have a simple back story –“Aliens are invading Earth and only you can stop them.” Some games are complex stories –e.g. adventure games like Grim Fandango Most games are somewhere in-between –e.g. first-person shooters like Half-Life

Interaction The experience of playing the game –Interaction design covers graphics, sounds, user interface The sights and sounds of the game world The look and feel of the control system Bad user interfaces can kill a good game –e.g., overly elaborate menu driven systems Good user interfaces make games stand out –Nintendo has a long tradition of fine-tuning and innovating with the user interfaces of their games

Play Testing Gameplay should balance deterministic and non-deterministic elements. –If the player doesn’t feel that they are capable of learning how to succeed in a game then they are unlikely to enjoy playing the game or spend much time on it. The only method of balancing gameplay used in the games industry is play testing. –Play testing is slow, expensive and error-prone but no other method has been found.

Game Develop Team Producers Designers Programmers Artists, modellers, animators Musicians, sound engineers, actors Game testers

Developers Design and implement games –Including: programming, art, sound effects, and music –Historically, small groups –May be “full-service” developers or may outsource some Motion Capture (to replicate realistic movement) Art and Animation (can be done by art house/studio) Book: Introduction to Game Development

Game Development Development time: months –It can take much longer, e.g. Peter Molyneux’s Fable. Development team: people –Team sizes are increasing as they get more complex.

Game Development Process

What skills are needed for game design?

Game Design Skills Imagination –Game designs, like many other forms of designing, often begin an imagined world and game designers must have the ability to develop these worlds into a fully fledged design that can be developed Visual – characters, environments, objects Auditory – environments, voices, music Dramatic – emotions Conceptual – ideas, interactions, challenges

Game Design Skills Technical Awareness –A understanding of the technology is needed to work with programmers, engineers, etc. Analytical Skills –Game design is an iterative process and game designers need good analytical skills including statistics Aesthetic Abilities –Game designers together with the lead artist will set the visual tone of a game

Game Design Skills General Knowledge –The best game designers are often specialists that have a broad range of interests and knowledge, including: Mathematics Logic History Literature Art Science Current affairs

Game Design Skills Writing Skills –Writing plays an important part in game design and is used in different during the process: Technical writing for documenting the design Fiction writing for developing story and narrative Script writing for developing character dialogue Drawing Skills –Game designers don’t need to be great artists but being able to sketch out ideas can sometimes be the best way to communicate them to other team members

Contents of Design Documents Basic Information –The premise of the game –The game’s intended audience –The target game platforms –The genre of the game –The game’s unique selling points Gameplay Elements –Depending on the type of document it will contain more or less information on the story, rules, and interactions

Documenting Game Designs Game designers produce a series of design documents to tell others about their ideas –Game development teams all need to understand the game design Game design documents need to translate ideas into rules, stories and interactions –Idea: A team will defend their flag –Design: As long as a team has its flag, at least 2 members of the team will remain within visual range of their base. If an enemy approaches within 20m of the base, the defenders will move between the enemy and the base and try to stop the attacker from advancing.

Documenting Game Designs Types of Game Design Docs –Concept Document –Proposal Document –Technical Specification –Game Design Document

Documenting Game Designs Types of Game Design Docs –Concept Document –Proposal Document –Technical Specification –Game Design Document

Documenting Game Designs Concept Document –Used to explore game idea in more detail –Often used as a proposal within an organization –Developed by designer or visionary –A short sales pitch pages –May have no art, or amateur art –Many ideas never get farther than this Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Concept Doc Must include: –Intro –Description –Key features –Genre, spin, flavor –Platform(s) / market data May also include: –Background / License info –Concept art Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Exercise: High Concept –Pick one of these 4 games: Burnout Grand Theft Auto Shadow of the Colossus Dance Dance Revolution –Write a high concept for it Form groups based on game choice (7-8 students in one group) Agree on one and briefly present in class Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Types of Game Design Docs –Concept Document –Proposal Document –Technical Specification –Game Design Document

Documenting Game Designs Technical Specification –The ‘How’ of game design –Contains the architectural vision; technology to be used –Engineering detail –Production detail –Owned by tech director or chief engineer –Can be exhaustive (and exhausting): pages Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Technical Specification Must include: –Tooling –Art / Music / Sound / Production pipeline –Technology detail: Platform & portability issues Networking or special tech Server details Software engineering info Key areas of technical risk Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Types of Game Design Docs –Concept Document –Proposal Document –Technical Specification –Game Design Document

Documenting Game Designs Game Design Doc –Functional spec: The ‘What’ of the design –Describes the player’s experience and interactions in detail –Could be quite long -- several hundred pages –but “enough” is the goal. –Artistic feel –Owned by the game designer Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Game Design Doc Must Haves –Game mechanics –User Interface –Visuals –Audio –Story (if any) –Level Specs Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

Documenting Game Designs Very Useful links Chris Taylor’s sample design doc, in HTML and.DOC format: – – p Tim Ryan’s excellent two-part description of game design docs: – 1.htm – 1.htm Lindeman & Quirk (& Claypool) - WPI Dept. of Computer Science

For the rest of today Tutor’s demonstration of students sample work last year. Work on your assignment 1