Sommersemester 2015 Introduction Wahlpflichtveranstaltung 4. Fachsemester Ernst Kruijff
l Sources (slides) Prof. Dr. Masuch: Architecture and Design Rabin, Introduction to l To read l Rabin, Introduction to l Slides are ONLY for learning, not distribution! 2
Much learning does not teach insight. Heraclit (*540 BC, Ephesus, 480 BC) 3
General Lecture Behavior You don t need to transcribe the lecture all course materials are available on the website. Participate! Think! Discuss! 4
Organisation l Slides: http://cg.inf.h-bonn-rhein-sieg.de login: GaMeDeV l Deliverables: sent to ernst.kruijff@h-brs.de as PDF (PDF ONLY!) I will put the deliverables online (course internal) 5
Your task l Design and develop your own innovative game l...in 7 Weeks l...presenting the intermediate stages l...and have fun along the way! 6
Topics of this Course l Introduction, goals, ideas, team l Ludology l design l Funativity l Character and level design l Modeling and animation l Storytelling l Interface design l Production-management l Society, history and genres 7
weekly plan l 18.5 Intro, goals, ideas, initial team built l 18.5 Ludology, GDD intro l 27.5 design l 27.5 team brainstorm, game idea preparation l 27.5 team game idea preparation l 27.5 presentation game ideas/teams (GDD) l 30.5 Funativity l 30.5 practice l 1.6 Character and level design l 1.6 practice l 6.6 practice l 6.6 Presentation stage 1 8
l 8.6 Modelling and animation l 8.6 practice l 13.6 Storytelling l 13.6 practice l 15.6 Interface design l 15.6 practice l 20.6 presentation stage 2 l 20.6 practice l 22.6 Production and management l 22.6 practice l 27.6 Society, history, games l 27.6 practice l 29.6 Final presentation l 29.6 Open s slot 9
last block? l Monday May 23, 13:30 Open s Session in C016 SS 2015 Einführung 10
Architecture and Design 01 - Introduction to Design
Overview 1. What is Design? 2. Milestone s 3. The Classification of s 4. Genres 4.1 Genres 4.2 Mobile s 4.3 Online s 5. Multidimensional Categorizations 6. Conclusion 12
1 What is Design?
Motivation Who plays computer games? Who owns a console? Why should we deal with games at the university? 14
s and Society l s are conquering our everyday life no longer a secret hobby of some weird nerds rising acceptance (recruiting, mobile phones) non-gamers become extinct (demographic factor) means of mass marketing new platforms and media channels home entertainment (console as DVD player) mobile games online (MMORPG, virtual communities) 15
s and Innovation l Computer games drive innovation (graphics, user interfaces, ) are among the first to use new techniques from computer science research other fields of application profit from this rise highly interesting research questions in various fields 16
s have become Big Money in the eighties: a single programmer given motivation, programming skills and some time could develop a great game today: games are highly complex multimedia software projects they are a publisher investment of several million they are developed by some 30 specialists working for 2-3 years on a single title 17
So we end up with a pretty hard question: How do you make a good game? 18
Criteria for a good game l A good computer game requires: good gameplay intuitive UI an intriguing story a constant level of adequate difficulty long term challenge novel features 19
Great s A great game results from great game design It also requires a solid technical implementation Main goal of a game is to provide entertainment The interaction, the gameplay has to be fun Technology alone cannot provide fun in the long term 20
Design l design may be described as imagining a game defining the way it works describing the core elements (conceptual, artistic, functional etc.) transmitting that information to the player 21
What is game design? l Is game design... art? science? craft? 22
Key Components of s core mechanics story interac7on 23
Anatomy of a game designer Imagination Technical awareness Analytical competence Mathematical competence Aesthetic competence General knowledge Writing (and drawing) skills Ability to compromise Passion 24
Practical Tips for Designer Develop games you like Play lots of games, know your competitors Use the right tools Avoid boredom in your game at any cost Do not compromise in quality at the beginning Test your ideas, discuss them, test them, discuss, Enjoy what you are doing 25
Design vs. Programming design is a creative process of developing a game concept, its core elements and structure. This includes art work story playability, game balance The game realization can be restricted to paper. Computer game design does not require any programming per se. 26
Design vs. Programming The term Programming refers to the process of actually coding a game. It consists of making a project plan for the realization of a game idea actually programming the game elements This might include programming of a game engine implementing the game assets and interaction in an existing game engine. 27
Design vs. Programming The term covers Design, Programming and all other production related topics. 28
2 Milestone s (more to come at the end of this course)
Pong/Breakout Simple ball games Easy to program Good seller 31
Zork One of the smash hits of the textadventure era Great story 32
Space Invaders First of its kind Simple gameplay Exploits technology to the fullest Huge video game hit 33
Pac-Man Smash hit maze game Fine-tuning makes gameplay First game character that became a pop culture icon 34
Sim City New gameplay Addictive No clear goal More a toy than a game 35
King s Quest Sierra Interface Easy right-clickaccess to functions A huge story Pretty pictures 36
Monkey Island Scumm interface became very popular Up to today one of the funniest stories Innovative sword fighting system (with words) 37
Myst For a decade the best selling game Incredible dense atmosphere Puzzles and a great story 38
Doom/Quake Ego-Shooter Hit Violence reached a new level in games Excellent graphics 39
Warcraft/Starcraft Classic real-time strategy Fantasy story Added role playing elements later Closed multiplayer (battle.net) WoW 40
Tomb Raider Established a pop culture icon A woman as a main character Genre formative 41
Half-Life Graphics and story Added riddles to regular egoshooters A new gameplay dimension Immersion 42
The Sims Life-Simulation Great appeal to female gamers 43
3 The Classification of s
s Children s play Board games Sports games Gambling Computer games 45
What defines a computer game? Intuitive answer: a game that is played on a computer What is a game? What about video games? We deal with these later.. First, we need to classify games 46
Classification Principles governing the organization of objects into groups according to their similarities and differences or their relation to a set of criteria. In biology, the establishment of a hierarchical system of categories on the basis of presumed natural relationships among organisms. Encyclopedia Britannica 47
Classification l Classification should be descriptive unambiguous complete non overlapping in their choice of criteria 48
Classification Schemes for Computer s l Numerous possibilities: dimension perspective platform year of release 49
Dimension 1D Text based games: Zork 1: The Great Underground Empire ; inspired by the grandfather of all adventures 50
Dimension 2D Arcade classics in 2D: Pacman, Donkey Kong 51
Dimension 2½D l Cartoon techniques: Broken Sword Cartoon techniques: Broken Sword 52
Dimension 3D Revolu7onary 3D graphics: Quake 53
Dimension 4D 4th dimension Most popular: time Wait Did the previous games not incorporate time? 54
Dimension 4D l Classification criteria dimension descriptive ü unambiguous ~ complete ~ non overlapping -- 55
Perspective Central projec7on Three point projec7on 56
Perspective Parallel projec7on (isometric projec7on) 57
Perspective l Classification criteria perspective descriptive unambiguous ü ü complete ü non overlapping -- 58
Platforms PC Consoles Handhelds Other 59
Platform l Classification criteria platform descriptive unambiguous ü ü complete ü non overlapping -- 60
Release Date l Classify games according to their date of release l 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Release Date l Classification criteria release date descriptive ~ unambiguous ~ complete non overlapping ü ü 62
Genres Most popular categorization: Classification by genre 63
4 Genres (we ll come back about this again)
Classification #1 (Fritz ~1985) Abstract puzzle, thinking and dexterity games Pong- and wall breaker games, pile-up games Control games Disposal games, position games, card games Action games Shooter Combat games Funny-s Maze-like games Comic-adventures Simulation Sports games + vehicle games Combat simulations, battle simulations Economical, political simulations Board games Story games History, SF, fantasy story games Adventure games Role-playing games, action adventures, strategy adventures 65
4.2 Mobile s
Mobile s s with limited resources computing interaction display Casual gamer Small games easy entry, easy exit Immersion not primarily perceptual Prof. Dr. Masuch: Architecture and Design - Introduction 67
Mobile s development like in the old days (project size, budget, developing time etc.) Strong growing market Adaptation of classic games for mobile phones Undiscovered so far: speech interaction Prof. Dr. Masuch: Architecture and Design - Introduction 68
4.3 Online s
Online s
71
Online s l World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment Most successful MMORPG 11,5 million active subscribers 1 month - $ 14,99 72
Online s MMORPG are role-playing games with a strong social component Other player add liveliness to the online world no AI can provide MMORPG require an intense time engagement Player live an alternate reality MMPORPG struggle attention economics 73
5 Multidimensional Categorizations
Multidimensional Categorizations Aarseth, Smedstad, Sunnanà suggest a multidimensional Categorization Classification attributes Space Time Player structure Control Rules 75
Multidimensional Categorizations l Space Perspective Omni-present (god-like-view) Vagrant (player view) Topography Geometrical (unlimited degree of freedom) Topological (limited degree of freedom) Environment Dynamic (changeable environment) Static (unchangeable environment) 76
Spatial Classification Example 77
6 Conclusion
Conclusion design, game programming and game development are not equivalent Milestone games There is no ideal categorization Sorting games by genre is most popular Multi-dimensional categorization is promising, but academic Mobile and online games have certain peculiarities 79
Elements l Important for successful design: Know the rules of a genre Learn to identify the core elements of a game Mobile and online games are a bit different Satisfy and contradict genre patterns, play with the expectations of the gamer 80