8/15/ Spring Meta-Information: Presentations  Giving a talk  Writing a game proposal  Game History  Game Genres

Spring Giving a Talk  What to say and How to say it  Getting through to the audience  Visual and Aural aids  Question Time

Spring What to say & How to say it  Communicate Key ideas  Don’t get bogged down in details  Structure your talk  Use a Top-Down Approach

Spring The Introduction  Define the problem / issue / thingy  Motivate the audience  Introduce terminology  Discuss earlier work  Emphasize your new work contributions  Provide a road-map  For very short presentations, economize on this section

Spring The Body  General –Abstract the major results / thoughts / plans –Explain the significance of the results  Technicalities –Talk about the vital details that make the general points true  Conclusion –Hindsight is clearer than foresight

Spring Know your audience  Who are they-- –The Public? –Scientists? –Computer Scientists? –Computer Scientists in your area? –Classmates?  The more expert or familiar the audience, the more you can focus on details

Spring Getting Through  Use repetition  Remind the audience  Don’t Over-Run!  Maintain eye contact  Control your voice  Be well-groomed!  Avoid anxiety by Practice!

Spring Visual & Audio Aids  PowerPoint slides –Don’t overload them –Don’t write sentences –Allow 1-2 minutes per slide –Don’t cover slides –No special fonts!!! Don’t animate text! It’s irritating!! You waste time waiting for the text to show up

Spring Visual & Audio Aids  Use pictures!  Show a picture as soon as possible!  Use overlays for stop-frame animation of algorithms

Spring Visual & Audio Aids  Use pictures!  Show a picture as soon as possible!  Use overlays for stop-frame animation of algorithms  Use animation if appropriate

Spring Visual & Audio Aids  Beware the microphone –Don’t beat your chest! –Try turning it off while you are putting it on or taking it off  Test your video –Cue it up –Be ready to switch from source to source –Be ready to adjust sound

Spring Question Time  Request for Information  Implied request for adulation –Come up with a complimentary answer  Malicious question –Be prepared –Be ready to take them off-line –“I don’t know”

Spring

Spring How to write a Game Proposal  Today’s games have a production team –Artists –Designers –Musicians –Programmers – experienced people

Spring How to write a Game Proposal  Think Small

Spring Think Small  Really, I mean it

Spring Do One Thing Well  Make the game stand out in one way  Don’t do a mediocre job in all things  Do NOT to lots of levels in the game –One level will do nicely

Spring Do One Thing Well  Possible areas –Great graphics –Witty sounds –Clever puzzles –Compact concept

Spring Understand your Tools  The various tools have strengths & weaknesses  Don’t fight the tool  Understand what the tool is good for and tailor your project for that tool  Also.. Don’t fight your team’s skills –It’s understood that your team may be CS heavy

Spring Plan in Layers  Detailed development schedule: –Functional Minimum –Your Low target –Your Desirable target –Your High target –Your Extras Maybe do these after the term is done

Spring The Proposal  The game description –5 pages of text –1-3 pages of sketches/ mocked-up screens  Layered Development Schedule –As on previous slide –Also state who is responsible for what  Assessment –What One Thing will be cool about your game

Spring The Presentation  7 minutes In class –Describe your game –Argue for the One Cool Thing –State what your primary development environment will be and why –Show your development schedule Indicate why you think it’s do-able  Practice your talk!

Spring

8/15/2015 Spring Game History, Genres Space Invaders… Pong… Grand Theft Auto… Action, Adventure, Puzzle, etc

Spring History  Spacewar 1962 –PDP-1 –2 Ships controlled by 4 buttons each: –Rotate left, right, thrust, fire – ts/spacewar/  Adventure 1967 –Text-based adventure –“You are in a maze of twisty little passages”

Spring History  Pong 1972 –First arcade hit  Home version of Pong 1974  Fairchild Channel F 1976 –Cartridges!  Hardware “Crash” 1977 –Millions of Pong clones saturate the market

Computer Game Design & Development 27 Some examples

Computer Game Design & Development28 History  Space Invaders 1978  Activision 1979 –First software house makes Atari 2600 Cartridges  Asteroids 1979 –Record score: 100,000,000 –Two guys played it for a week in 1982

29 Asteroids (Clone) Computer Game Design & Development

30 Arcade Games 1980  Defender  Missile Command  Battezone  Tempest  Popular with Men AND Women: –Pac-Man –Frogger –Centipede Computer Game Design & Development

31 Defender / Stargate Computer Game Design & Development

32 Missile Command Computer Game Design & Development

33 Centipede Computer Game Design & Development

34 Arcade Games  Donkey Kong  Q*Bert  Tron  Zaxxon  Joust  Pole Position  Punch-Out Computer Game Design & Development

35 Joust Computer Game Design & Development

36 Pole Position Computer Game Design & Development

37 Home Games Late 70s Early 80s  Atari 2600 –1.18MHz 6507, 128 bytes RAM, 4KB ROM  Atari 5200 (incompatible cartridge with 2600) –1.8MHz 6502, 16KB RAM  Colecovision  Mattel Intellivision  Bally Astrocade Computer Game Design & Development

38 Software Crash of  Market of 1982: $3 billion  Market of 1985: $100 million  Millions of clones and lousy cartridges –No rating system –No licensing system –Consumer confusion! Computer Game Design & Development

39 Mid 80s  8-bit Home Games: –Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) 1.8MHz x240 pixels Released 1986 Most popular toy of 1988 Mario Bros. –Sega Master System Released 1986 Computer Game Design & Development

40 Late 80s  16-bit Home Games –Sega Genesis 7.8MHz MHz Z80, 1MB Rom, 64KB Ram Released 1989 –NEC TurboGrafx-16 16MHz  Game Boy  Tetris Computer Game Design & Development

41 Early 90s  Super NES (16 bit), 1990 –3.58Mhz 65C816, 128KB Ram  Game Gear  Software –Street Fighter 2 First decent fighting game –Super Mario Bros. 3 –Sonic the Hedgehog –Mortal Kombat 1992 Computer Game Design & Development

42 Mid 90s  Sega CD (1992)  PC CDROM (1994)  Software –NBA Jam (1993) Earned $1 billion in arcades First franchise –Virtua Fighter (1995) Computer Game Design & Development

43 Mid 90s  Playstation (1995) –33 MHz R bit CPU –24 bit framebuffer  Sega Saturn (1995) –Two 28.8MHz 32bit Hitachi SH2s –24 bit framebuffer –Hardware textures  Nintendo 64 (1996) –93MHz R bit CPU Computer Game Design & Development

44 Mid 90s  Networked Games  Ultima Online, Everquest, etc Computer Game Design & Development

45 Late 90s  Sega Dreamcast (1999) –200MHz 128bit NEC PowerVR  Playstation2 (2000) –294MHz R12000 CPU, –3.2GB/sec memory b/w, 6.2GFlops peak  XBox (2001) –733MHz Celeron –nVidia GeForce4 –6.4GB/sec memory b/w, maybe 1TFlops peak  GameCube (2001) –485MHz PowerPC –Flipper (ATI) Graphics (on-chip DRAM) Computer Game Design & Development

46 Late 90s  Software –Very strong 3D! –Decent sports games –Soul Caliber, Shenmue …  PC Software –Graphics no longer 100% of the challenge –Consumer demand for 3D causes cheap 3D graphics! Computer Game Design & Development

’s  Cell phone games –DoCoMo phones 2001 –Java J2ME, BREW 2002 Computer Game Design & Development

48 Game Genres  Name some! Computer Game Design & Development

49 Genres  Action  1 st Person Shooter  Adventure  Fighting  Puzzle  Racing  Role-Playing  Simulations  Sports  Strategy  Music  Dance  Artificial Life  Quiz Show Computer Game Design & Development

50 2D Action Games  Shoot the horde of aliens –Shoot the horde of aliens Shoot the horde of aliens –Shoot the horde of aliens Shoot the horde of aliens  Space Invaders, Galaga, Defender/Stargate,  Mario Bros Computer Game Design & Development

51 1 st Person Shooter  3D Shoot the horde of aliens –3D Shoot the horde of aliens 3D Shoot the horde of aliens –3D Shoot the horde of aliens 3D Shoot the horde of aliens  Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Max Payne Computer Game Design & Development

52 Adventure  Follow the trail  Solve puzzles  Nice scenery  Inventory  Learning  Examples: Zelda, Metroid, Myst, Shenmue Computer Game Design & Development

53 Fighting  Pluses: –KILL!!! –Short games –Stress reliever, flow experience  Minuses –Arcane knowledge –Limited virtual space –Clone factor Computer Game Design & Development

54 Puzzle  Solving the puzzle is the primary goal  Gives feelings of mastery Computer Game Design & Development

55 Racing  First past the post  Fairly strong simulation element  Fine motor control Computer Game Design & Development

56 Role-Playing  3rd person adventure  Strong story component (potentially)  Learn the virtual world/environment  Players are free to act within the world’s constraints  Diablo, MMORPGs (EverQuest, UltimaOnline…) Computer Game Design & Development

57 Simulations  Flight Sim  SimAnt, SimCity, Railroad Tycoon, Roller Coaster Tycoon,...  Focus on details  Training could be the goal Computer Game Design & Development

58 Sports  Armchair coach  Abstract war  Abstract team fighting games Computer Game Design & Development

59 Strategy  Same components as Sim games  Historical simulation  Puzzles may play a part  A light story element  No twitch in turn-based strategy Computer Game Design & Development

60 Music  “Name that Tune”  Repeat a piece of music that the game plays for you  Play along musically Computer Game Design & Development

61 Dance  Dance Dance Revolution  Dance kiosk type games (popular in Korea!) Computer Game Design & Development

62 Artificial Life  Tamagotchi, Creatures, Black & White Computer Game Design & Development