Ingredients of Great Games

Transcription

1 Graphics and Games #WWDC14 Ingredients of Great Games Session 602 Geoff Stahl Director, Games and Graphics Software 2014 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Redistribution or public display not permitted without written permission from Apple.

2 75 Billion Downloads

3 130 Million Monthly active players

4 SpriteKit Metal SceneKit Game Center OpenGL ES 3.0 Game Controllers

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8 Ingredients of Great Games Allan Schaffer Graphics and Game Technologies Evangelist

9 Great Games

10 Go the extra mile Play tested Immersive Fun core loop Rewarding Compelling story Engaging Designed for touch Entertaining Connected Sticky Innovative Great Games Localized Challenging Optimized Balanced Rich content Awesome graphics Attention to detail Social Delighting Polished Competitive Intuitive Beautiful

11 1 Remove Friction

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14 Remove Friction Reduce load time Get interactive quickly Only load what s needed now Move work off main thread Use Time Profiler to analyze

15 Remove Friction Reduce load time Get interactive quickly Only load what s needed now Move work off main thread Use Time Profiler to analyze

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19 Remove Friction Registration Provide a bypass Automate by using Vendor ID Clearly explain benefits Defer until needed

20 Remove Friction Registration Provide a bypass Automate by using Vendor ID Clearly explain benefits Defer until needed

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23 Remove Friction Make a great first impression Reduce load time Move blocking updates Streamline registration Provide escape from intros Don t force decisions Wait to ask for feedback

24 1 Remove Friction

25 2 Be a Good Teacher

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32 Be a Good Teacher Maximize enjoyment Teach by playing Show the primary mechanic Introduce concepts one-at-a-time Provide tips in context Give help along the way

33 Be a Good Teacher Maximize enjoyment Teach by playing Show the primary mechanic Introduce concepts one-at-a-time Provide tips in context Give help along the way

34 1 2 Remove Friction Be a Good Teacher

35 Related Sessions Making a Great First Impression with Strong Onboarding Design Mission Thursday 2:00PM Services Location Sunday 0:00PM Tools Location Sunday 0:00PM Media Location Sunday 0:00PM Graphics and Games Location Sunday 0:00PM Core OS Location Sunday 0:00PM Special Events Location Sunday 0:00PM

36 3 Tune Your Core Loop

37 Core Loop Action Reward Expansion

38 Core Loop Fantasy/RPG Fight enemies Get treasure Gain experience Buy things Level up

39 Core Loop Platformer Run and jump Complete level Unlock next stage

40 Core Loop Multiple loops Fight Gain Collect Solve monsters experience clues puzzle Level up Unlock door

41 Tune Your Core Loop Key takeaways Center on target audience Action Reward Expansion

42 Tune Your Core Loop Key takeaways Center on target audience Make it easy to understand Action Reward Expansion

43 Tune Your Core Loop Key takeaways Center on target audience Make it easy to understand Steer each phase into the next Action Reward Expansion

44 Tune Your Core Loop Key takeaways Center on target audience Make it easy to understand Steer each phase into the next Make iteration meaningful Action Reward Expansion

45 Tune Your Core Loop Key takeaways Center on target audience Make it easy to understand Steer each phase into the next Make iteration meaningful Question your assumptions Action Reward Expansion

46 Tune Your Core Loop Key takeaways Center on target audience Make it easy to understand Steer each phase into the next Make iteration meaningful Question your assumptions Don t get boxed in Action Reward Expansion

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51 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher 3 Tune Your Core Loop

52 Action Reward Expansion

53 Interaction mechanic Action Reward Expansion mechanic Progression mechanic Expansion

54 4 Design for Touch

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57 Interaction mechanic Action Reward Expansion mechanic Progression mechanic Expansion

58 Monument Valley

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61 Infinity Blade

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64 Direct Interaction! Instantaneous Feedback

65 Design for Touch Direct interaction - Touches, taps - Gestures, swipes - Panning, paths

66 Design for Touch Direct interaction - Touches, taps - Gestures, swipes - Panning, paths Feel See Instantaneous feedback Touch - Visual cues - Audio cues Hear

67 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher 3 Tune Your Core Loop 4 Design for Touch

68 5 Foster Engagement

69 Engagement

70 User Acquisition Replayability Customization Feedback Reward Compulsion Loop Competition Balance Leveling Virality Progression Grinding Sticky Engagement Challenge Addictive! Prestige Balance Word of Mouth Metagame Retention Achievement Core Loop Gamification Intrinsic Motivators Play testing Funnel Validation

71 Engagement Interaction mechanic Action Reward Expansion mechanic Expansion Progression mechanic

72 Engagement Holding the player s interest Provide layers Interaction mechanic - Parallel goals and challenges - Multiple paths for risk vs. reward Action Reward Expansion mechanic Expansion Progression mechanic

73 Engagement Holding the player s interest Provide value for everyone Interaction mechanic - Paying and non-paying players Action Reward Expansion mechanic Expansion Progression mechanic

74 Engagement Holding the player s interest Incentivize repeat play Interaction mechanic - Motivate One more try - Motivate See what s next - Motivate See how it ends Action Reward Expansion mechanic Expansion Progression mechanic

75 Re-Engagement Updates Provide fresh content 1 - Continuing storyline - New game levels - New challenges - Seasonal content Plan your updates before launch

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77 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher 3 Tune Your Core Loop 4 Design for Touch 5 Foster Engagement

78 6 Use Background Transfers

79 In the Bundle Paddle Mania 3000 Thousands of image assets - Retina and non-retina - ipad and iphone Sounds - AAC, MP3, LPCM Localizations - EFIGS+8 Binary - armv7, armv7s, arm64

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82 One size fits all!

83 One size fits all!

84 Don t Sacrifice Quality

85 Use Background Transfers

86 Background Transfers Strategy Segment your assets - Bundled content - Content to download after first launch For example - First set of levels at full quality - More levels as player progresses

87 Background Transfers With NSURLSession Service to upload and download data Transfer done out of process App relaunched when transfer completes

88 Background Transfers With NSURLSession Service to upload and download data Transfer done out of process App relaunched when transfer completes Adds complexity

89 Background Transfers With NSURLSession Service to upload and download data Transfer done out of process App relaunched when transfer completes Adds complexity Follow the ios Data Storage Guidelines

90 Remove Friction Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers

91 7 Optimize Graphics Performance

92 Optimize Graphics Performance OpenGL ES Most common issue - Too many draw calls - Too few triangles per draw call

93 Optimize Graphics Performance OpenGL ES Most common issue - Too many draw calls - Too few triangles per draw call Worst-case scenario - Bind a texture - Draw one quad - Repeat

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95 Eliminate redundant state changes Combine textures into atlases Maximize triangles per batch Provide longer vertex arrays Modify state lazily Prewarm shaders Optimize Join short strips Use instancing Cull offscreen objects Hoist work upstream Flatten transformations Minimize small batches Sort rendering by state Discard buffers

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100 SpriteKit SceneKit

101 SpriteKit SceneKit Metal

102 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers Optimize Graphics Performance

103 8 Make a Great Preview Video

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107 App Previews Gameplay video Up to 30 seconds Deliver in H.264 MPEG4 Capture directly from ios 8 Edit with imovie on OS X 10.10

108 App Previews Enhance App Store presence Icon Name Screenshots App Previews Localizations Description Keywords

109 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers Optimize Graphics Performance Make a Great Preview Video

110 9 Localize

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112 155 countries

113 More than 40 languages

114 Think Globally

115 Act Locally Localize App Store metadata Name Description Keywords Screen snapshots

116 Act Locally Localize app content Structure for internationalization Translate assets, user interface Culturalize as appropriate

117 Recommended Languages English, French, Italian, German, Spanish Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Arabic

118 developer.apple.com/internationalization developer.apple.com/internationalization

119 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers Optimize Graphics Performance Make a Great Preview Video Localize

120 10 Target the State of the Art

121 State of the Art Take advantage of the latest ios devices

122 State of the Art Take advantage of the latest ios devices Target the latest ios release

123 State of the Art Take advantage of the latest ios devices Target the latest ios release Provide fallbacks for ios 7

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125 Base SDK

126 Base SDK 8 7 Deployment Target

127 State of the Art Take advantage of the latest ios devices Target the latest ios release Provide fallbacks for ios 7 Integrate with built-in game technologies

128 SpriteKit Metal SceneKit Game Center OpenGL ES 3.0 Game Controllers

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131 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers Optimize Graphics Performance Make a Great Preview Video Localize 10 Target the State of the Art

132 11 Go to Eleven

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134 1 Remove Friction 2 Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers Optimize Graphics Performance Make a Great Preview Video Localize 10 Target the State of the Art 11 Go to Eleven

135 Remove Friction Be a Good Teacher Tune Your Core Loop Design for Touch Foster Engagement Use Background Transfers Optimize Graphics Performance Make a Great Preview Video Localize Target the State of the Art Go to Eleven

136 Wrap-Up Geoff Stahl Director, Games and Graphics Software

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138 Get Together Game Developer Get Together Broadway Thursday 4:30PM

139 More Information Allan Schaffer Graphics and Game Technologies Evangelist Filip Iliescu Graphics and Game Technologies Evangelist Apple Developer Forums

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