Large-Scale Design Process Chapter 9 Large-Scale Design Process

Objectives Create a development plan for a video game design. Describe the development process for a video game. Explain the importance of budget and scheduling on video game design. Explain how iterations are used in the design process for video games. Create design plans. Create character sketches.

Objectives (Continued) Create storyboards Discuss various game-development tools currently used by the video game industry. Describe common video game engines. Explain the uses for various tools used for video game development.

Formal Design Structure Before you start to program a game’s functions, you need to understand the design process Most new games are designed by teams with specialists in several areas to keep the project moving forward At the outset of the game’s design, the team is given a budget and a time schedule

Formal Design Structure (Continued) A delay in production occurs when the project is not following the projected time schedule If the team spends more in development cost than allotted, it is over budget As a result, the project may be terminated or scaled back To assure timeliness and quality, game design follows a three-stage production process

Formal Design Structure (Continued) The three stages of the production cycle are concept, construction, and tuning The concept stage begins with an idea about a game and ends with a refined idea about how the game will play The construction stage is where the rough idea of the game from the concept stage is refined into something workable

Initial Idea to Final Character Clipart.com, Goodheart-Willcox Publisher

Formal Design Structure (Continued) Eight areas of design construction include Gameplay modes Protagonist and character development Game world Core mechanics Mode elaboration Story elaboration Level design Testing and debugging

Formal Design Structure (Continued) The first playable level is the prototype version of the game that allows someone to play and test all the game interactions Professional game testers will play the latest iteration of the game and note every glitch and imperfection The tuning stage is where the game is tested for functionality and playability

Formal Design Structure (Continued) The most important aspects of the game must be in place before the tuning can begin When testing functionality, the focus is on whether the game functions or plays as intended Playability testing seeks to find out if The story is completely told The game holds true to the concept The objectives are obtainable

Design Documents As a game designer, you will need to create several different types of documents The governing game design document (GGDD) is a collection of the documents used to display information needed for the team The pitch documents are for presenting the idea to the decision makers High-concept document Game-treatment document

Design Documents (Continued) The market-analysis document details the concept of the game and target market The world-design document lists the items that are needed to create the game world A character-design document details the look of a character and the abilities of that character Concept art is a sketch that gives basic shapes and style, but not overwhelming detail

Design Documents (Continued) Flowcharts and storyboards are combined to create a map for the programmers to follow The designers write a flowchart with a few basic instructions The storyboard shows a brief sketch of what everything is supposed to look like The game-script document is where the rules and core mechanics are structured

Design Documents (Continued) Once the game script is written, a game mock-up can be created The purpose of this is to test the rules and the core mechanics to see if the elements work The technical design document details the computer codes, event codes, and technical interactions for the game Most game designers use a game engine and other game development tools

Flowchart for a Linear Game Goodheart-Willcox Publisher

Game-Development Tools As a game designer, it is unlikely you will ever use computer-code level of programming Companies use game-development tools to streamline and simplify the design process A compiler program takes the instructions from a user and restates these commands as computer codes Video game production companies often create custom software

Game-Development Tools (Continued) Custom software includes applications or tools created for a specific purpose that are not available in existing software In the technological superiority area, the custom software will improve a technical aspect of the game In the speed of development area, the custom software reduces the time required to create the game

Game-Development Tools (Continued) Most smaller companies do not have the time or resources to spend on custom software They use consumer off-the-shelf (COTS) software Many COTS software tools are used in the game industry to develop assets Common to most COTS software programs is a graphical user interface (GUI)

Game-Development Tools (Continued) Visual programming languages, such as Visual Basic, take clicks of the mouse and turn them into computer codes through compiling Some programs can compile using only one computer language Other game development tools, such as Java, help to create the game in a playable format DirectX is an all-inclusive game engine from Microsoft

COTS Software Goodheart-Willcox Publisher

3D Software Goodheart-Willcox Publisher

Which stage of the three-stage game production process do you think is most important? Why? Describe the primary gameplay mode for a video game that you like to play. Describe the secondary gameplay mode for the same game.