Translating Research into Kickass Games The Story of Dark Dot

2 Hoo Jia Ling (Associate Producer) Wong Yi (Lead Programmer) Roland Kie (Game/Level Designer) The Storytellers

3 Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab Singapore + MIT Research Initiative Addresses important challenges faced by global digital game community and industry Multi-disciplinary approach for solving Research problems

4 Flocking Based Shoot em Up Can draw and manipulate shapes. Dark Dot

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6 Play Trailer

7 So how did we start? What’s the research about?

8 Our Timeline 1 mth4 mths3 mths1 mth BrainstormConcept + Pre ProProductionLaunch

9 Flocking Animation and Modelling Environment by Dr. Ong Yew Soon, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Realistic real-time shape constrained flocking The Research

10 What must the game have to show the research?

11 They are our first level ‘customers’ Players of our game are our second level customers. Find out what they want to show through their research. Find out what we need from them to do it. Figure out what we need from each other

12 Key Features of FAME Shape Constrained Flocking Shape Morphing Obstacle Avoidance Natural Movement

13 What kind of game would have these features?

14 Real time action puzzler RTS-like, eg: Total War Uses melee conversion as main mechanic Prototyping designs Brainstorm

15 Feedback Loop Programmer Designer Researcher

16 Wanted a draw-centric game to show the Shape morphing capability of FAME. iPad chosen as the platform because of intuitiveness of touch screen for shape manipulation. Tech Prototype : Melee Game Concept + Pre Pro

17 Tech Prototype : Prototyping Main Prototype branch Last stable

18 What did we discover?

19 Was initially “Draw only”. Found out players like to both draw and manipulate. Melee : The Fun Stuff

20 Was not deterministic enough due to 'Natural Flocking Behavior'. Tried many ways to mitigate any frustration. –Different Battle Mechanics –Different Unit Characteristics. Could not eliminate potential frustration. Melee : The not so fun stuff

21 So we went back to the drawing board…

22 Keep the good stuff – Drawing and Manipulation of the shape Re-thinking the mechanics

23 Throw away the bad stuff – Replaced frustrating melee mechanic with shooter mechanic where lack of precision is forgiven Re-thinking the mechanics

24 Shooter! - Overcame lack of precision via Bullets - Aiming is One Dimensional! And Dark Dot was born! Production

25 When do we decide that enough of the research is in the game?

26 We had the fun, we had the game, we had most of the research. Had different ways to show it, none optimal. We pushed ourselves further, to make the drawing even more evident. Making shape morphing more evident

27 Making shape more evident

28 Making shape more evident

29 Making shape more evident

30 Making shape more evident

31 Where do you draw the line?

32 In the end… Took the simplest way and made it a supplement to main gameplay.

33 Was it kickass?

34 What we learned along the way… 1.Communication! 2.Rapid Prototyping! 3.Focus! 4.Don’t be greedy!

We need a volunteer… Time to play!

36 Q & A