Game Decomposition Game objects

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Presentation transcript:

Game Decomposition Game objects

Getting Started: What To Do, How To Do It Game Logic Tools Content Creation and Management Tools Game Logic Game Content and Assets Game Engine Programming and Support SDKs

Motivation Designing a game FOR Development requires consideration and understanding of all the aspects of creating and implementing it Lots of people have game Ideas Some can put their idea into a Design description Very few see their designs be Developed into real games Increase your odds Design so it is easy to Develop

Designing a game is designing a system Game design and development is iterative Games can be described as the successive layering of constraints Games have elements

The Creative Process – Define the Product Consider target audience Gather feedback from colleagues Think about core objectives List the challenges Will help determine genre Determine how player will interface Define unique features, essential to gameplay Has features been done before? If not, is there a reason why not? Consider theme (not graphical theme) Solidify in two- to three-page document

Another Set of Parts A game (design) can be decomposed to parts that are useful in planning and measuring development

How this Fits The following is more applicable to the stages after mockups and early prototype iterations This decomposition should be considered before major programming and artwork development begin after a solid game core has been established

Design: Top-Down Design This is TOP-DOWN starts at a high level and works down into the details This is TOP-DOWN

Development: Bottom-Up is often a Bottom-Up process Start Small Assemble into Big

Design FOR Development Design is Top-Down Development is Bottom-Up If the Design can reduce things into the low level asset requirements Then Development becomes the process of creating and assembling those assets into the game the success of which can be tracked and measured there is a clear picture of how and what needs to be developed and by who to achieve the game as designed organized chaos

From the Top Decompose the game into manageable pieces How? Assets, or game elements, that can be assigned to people to create How? Categorize the assets Similar to how people skills might be categorized

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset Categories

Asset List Creation – Top Down From Big to Small We have a description of a game Should include scenes/levels/menus/… Start with a “big” picture Break it into smaller pieces Then smaller pieces Until you arrive at a “size” that is manageable, and can be formed into different bigger things (yet similar in nature and style)

Asset List Creation – Top Down From Big to Small We have a description of a game Should include scenes/levels/menus/… Decide on a scene to create Start with a “big” picture Break it into smaller pieces Then smaller pieces Until you arrive at a “size” that is manageable, and can be formed into different bigger things (yet similar in nature and style)

Asset List Creation – Top Down From Big to Small We have a description of a game Should include scenes/levels/menus/… Decide on a scene to create Determine what type of objects are needed to create that scene Start with a “big” picture Break it into smaller pieces Then smaller pieces Until you arrive at a “size” that is manageable, and can be formed into different bigger things (yet similar in nature and style)

Asset List Creation – Top Down From Big to Small We have a description of a game Should include scenes/levels/menus/… Decide on a scene to create Determine what type of objects are needed to create that scene Determine what components we need to make each object in the selected scene Start with a “big” picture Break it into smaller pieces Then smaller pieces Until you arrive at a “size” that is manageable, and can be formed into different bigger things (yet similar in nature and style)

Asset List Creation – Top Down From Big to Small We have a description of a game Should include scenes/levels/menus/… Decide on a scene to create Determine what type of objects are needed to create that scene Determine what components we need to make each object in the selected scene Determine what assets are needed to make each of those components Start with a “big” picture Break it into smaller pieces Then smaller pieces Until you arrive at a “size” that is manageable, and can be formed into different bigger things (yet similar in nature and style)

Asset List Creation – Top Down From Big to Small We have a description of a game Should include scenes/levels/menus/… Decide on a scene to create Determine what type of objects are needed to create that scene Determine what components we need to make each object in the selected scene Determine what assets are needed to make each of those components Start with a “big” picture Break it into smaller pieces Then smaller pieces Until you arrive at a “size” that is manageable, and can be formed into different bigger things (yet similar in nature and style) And now we have a list of assets for ONE scene Repeat for the other scenes

Iterative Rapid Prototyping More Iterations = Better Game Iterate as many times as possible Don’t start implementing until the design/planning is well done Still possible to go back to design phase after implementation But minimizes the likelihood

Decomposition Process Decomposing a Game into Scenes is ‘easy’ Scenes are as in theater  “set the scene” A level is a scene (sometimes multiple scenes) A secret area is a scene A start menu can be a scene A pause screen can be a scene Objects are also ‘easy’ Things that are in the scene Each thing is made of re-usable components Car versus Truck… wheels, doors, headlights, engine

Components Versus Assets Assets are typed/categorized For example: A component is “composed of” a small number of assets of the same or different types

What are Game Objects? Anything that has a representation in the game world Characters, vehicles, missiles, cameras, trigger volumes, lights, etc. Need for a standard ontology Clarity Uniformity Feature, staff and tool mobility Code reuse Maintenance E.g. use of modularity/inheritance reduces duplication As a rule of thumb, if it has a position it can be a game object, although not all game objects have a position. Most games try to devise a universal representation for their objects.

OBJECT Asset Sheets Design stopping at the object level leads to the use of OBJECT Asset Sheets Typically these are created by the development team One for each object the designer has specified to be in a scene

Object Decomposition Example Example: PAC-MAN Object Script Component Asset: Script for user interface motion control Asset: Script for collision with walls with food and points update with ghosts and death (if not powered up) … Image Component Asset: Static Image for marketing Asset: Static Image for menus Animation Component Asset: Image Sequence for Moving Asset: Image Sequence for Dying Sound Component Asset: Sound for moving Asset: Sound for eating Asset: Sound for dying

Object Asset Lists To assist the team in planning tasks The Team Lead creates Object Asset Lists Example: Object Asset Name

(object) Asset Lists To assist the team in planning tasks The Team Lead creates Object Asset Lists Example: Object Asset Name Objects Are Composed of Assets of Various Types

Object Asset Lists – Just ONE way You can then use Object Asset Lists to generate Team Task lists is Just One Way It is not perfect It illustrates how to Link the Architecture and Design of the Game to the (late stage) Development of the Game never forget about the people aspects make the development of the design easy to plan and implement

Games as Systems Interaction of formal and dramatic elements forms a game’s underlying system Goal is to entertain participant Achieve goal by creating structured conflict and providing entertaining process for players to resolve conflict Formal elements, when set in motion, creates a dynamic experience in which players engage

System Dynamics Elements of system do not work in isolation Test: removal of element must alter system System is greater than the sum of its parts Put in motion Why is Tic Tac Toe so lame? How would changes to properties and relationships affect Warcraft II?

Story answer the following questions. How is the exposition handled? Who is the protagonist? What is the main conflict and how and when is it introduced? What does the protagonist do to resolve the conflict? What causes the tension in the story to raise? What deciding factor brings the story to a climax? What happens in the resolution?

Gameplay Gameplay Includes Collective strategies to reach end points of game theory Specific to game activities “What the player does” Includes Utility - A measure of desire associated with an outcome Payoffs - The utility value for a given outcome Preference - The bias of players towards utility

Gameplay Are the controls and mechanics clearly explained? How is the goal stated and integrated with the main conflict of the story? How does gameplay cause the dramatic tension to raise? What deciding factor in gameplay brings the game to a climax? What happens in the resolution? Do the dramatic elements and gameplay elements help or hinder each other? How can they be integrated to make the game work from an emotional standpoint?

Goals We are a goal-drive species and find psychological reward in completing objectives. If it takes too long to achieve a goal, player may get bored, so, create many simultaneous goals. Player should always have at least one clear objective.

Dialog One picture worth a thousand words Don’t have needless dialog when visual will do Good dialog serves more than one purpose Ex: telling about bomb. “How long?” Plenty of time … smoke cigarette, call mom … don’t read War and Peace. Reminds of mortality. Don’t tell what know, but also reveal “Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die” Surprise

Game Interface ■ How do game interfaces relate to player-centered design? ■ What are the components of game interfaces? ■ What is the difference between a manual and visual interface? ■ What is the difference between a passive and an active interface? ■ Why is usability important in game interface design?

Player-Centered Design What’s wrong with this picture?

Interface Types Manual (Physical) Bass Fishing Samba di Amigo Dance Dance Revolution

Interface Types Visual Active Puzzle Pirates (radial/pie menu) I Was an Atomic Mutant (main menu)

Interface Types Visual Passive True Crime: Streets of LA (HUD = heads-up display)

Interface Types Visual Styles Split-Screen (Adventures of Fatman) Whole Screen (Myst III: Exile) Invisible (Black & White: Creature Isle)

Visual Interface Components Score Cyclone Super Collapse

Visual Interface Components Lives & Power Super Mario Sunshine (Lives) Tour de France (Power)

Visual Interface Components Map Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings Age of Mythology: The Titans

Visual Interface Components Character Character creation & management and character inventory interfaces from The Temple of Elemental Evil

Visual Interface Components Start Screen Crazy Bunker

Define A Color Scheme Color is a very important part of an interface. What color is your game? This is a good question to answer early. Anyone who looks at your interface should be able to see at a glance the color scheme of the entire game.

3D Solutions & Challenges 3D interfaces can be very compelling and the idea of creating a 3D interface seems really cool. 3D interfaces can also be very expensive and time-consuming. Making big changes to a 3D interface can be more difficult than making changes to a 2D interface.

Creating GUI Elements Generally, we provide the player with a Graphical User Interface for the player to interact with the program. The menu we employ at the start-up of a game, change the setup, or quit – these screens are all examples of GUIs.

Know Your User Can we make any generalization about gamers? Technical level? Gender? Other?

Know Your User's Tasks Tasks will vary per game For example, what are the tasks: in a puzzle game? in a RTS? in an MMO? Multi-player games are interesting, as they combine aspects of instant messaging with other gameplay aspects Communication is often a necessary task

Game Audio Prototyping

Kicking Off Tasks - Audio Sound list Music specification Story text Voice-over script Creation of sounds Creation or licensing of music Recording of voice-overs

Game Audio Overview Like film audio, game audio is comprised of speech, sound effects and music However, unlike film audio, the audio is interactive and must respond to changes in gameplay

Old-Gen Game Audio Workflow Conventional methods before the current generation of game consoles (pre-2007) have required recompilation and game coder involvement to hear results which is typically slow: Create 30 mins Compile 5-30 mins Run Game 3 mins Locate 2-5 mins Test 5 mins

Next-Gen Audio Prototyping Allow sound designers to create their procedural sound designs in real-time while the game is running Middleware solutions such as Wwise allow real- time tweaking of parameters, however only for existing patches and basic synthesis unless plugins are used Use of Kismet within Unreal allows for some scripting

Process What do you need to do to get your audio into the game? Over-prepare for the worst What tools and resources are you going to use and what software will support your creative design? Work well with your coder & producer A good process can be found by making all the right mistakes once and taking risks - exciting! Audio is always last, so be prepared for feature drop, no money, no time & no love :)

Definitions Sound: compression waves transmitted through a medium Wave: cycle of compression and rarefaction Amplitude: measure of sound wave pressure Coming soon: cool stuff

Common Frequency Ranges Human Hearing: 20Hz – 20kHz Human Voice: 90 – 300 Hz Middle C: 261 Hz

Digital Sound A “unit” of digital sound is called a sample The sampling rate is the number of samples taken per second Bit depth: size of sound sample data

When you’re Project Lead: Create an audio asset list “How many sounds can this make?” “How often will we hear this?” “How much music can/should we use?” Excel spreadsheets are commonly used

Sound Design Critical is interactive audio component Sound when event occurs (gunshot when trigger pulled, dialog when character spoken to, …) Well done, sounds great. Poorly done, ruin all. Need to avoid repetition One footstep for 20+ hours of play annoying Need 6-20 (depending upon budget) Dynamics can help (pitch, volume, stereo…) Mix pre-existing sounds with own sounds Provides “custom” identity for game

Open Sound Control (OSC) OSC is open-source software that allows communication between the game and PD OSC is included in PD extended and just requires the addition of several C++ modules into the game engine Access to the game events while the game is running

Audio Team Briefly, allow to see some roles Book has details Production both science (tech) and art Three teams: Music Team Sound Design Team Dialog Team

Music Team Composer Write custom music (writing, recording, mixing) Contracted per-project basis With larger budgets, 1 person will have assistants

Music Team Recording Engineer Enables production of sound through mechanical means Gets best sounds out of each component Often work out of home May often be a sound designer (coming next)

Sound Design Team Audio Director/Manager Sound Designer Manage sound design teams Keep track of resources and schedules Execute vision of game producer on sound and dialog Sound Designer Bring life-like (and beyond life) sound to game Critical member, as audio has more capability and more importance

Sound Design Team Implementer Work with production tools to attach sounds to events, characters, etc. “Level designers” of the audio department Not too common (may often be “just” a programmer with no audio training), but increasingly more common

Dialog Team Voice Actors Dialog Editor Provide voice for characters, animations, cut-scenes Unionized (better but expensive) or non-unionized (cheaper, but less expensive) Dialog Editor Organize files created by voice actors Master files, check for errors and submit assets to audio director Often tedious, but critical

Spatialized Audio Making audio provide physical location clues Mono – one channel, no chance for spatialization Stereo – two channels, left and right, like the ear works Different volumes create illusion of sounds in space Gradual changes give illusion of “moving” Surround sound - 5.1 – 5 main, 1 subwoofer Usually, dialog center, music left and right and specialized sound effects behind Environment can often affect Bounce off walls, objects – door open and in next room? Material matters (wood, metal, plastic) Climate matters (temp, humidity) Getting better (Creative Labs with Environmental eXtensions, EAX)