CSE4MOD Games Modding 2009

About me: Paul Taylor Lecturer in Games Design and Development Currently Studying my PhD in Artificial Intelligence for Games I have been modding and programming UnrealScript since 2003 My Honours Thesis was done using UnrealScript to demonstrate a new approach to Multi Agent AI Contact Details: Ph: Course Stuff: Modding/

Course Structure Lectures 2hrs/Week Labtorials 2hrs/Week –10% of your overall mark Assignment –40% of your overall mark –Due on 23 rd October Exam –50% of your overall mark –3 Hours –Don’t freak out Consultation Times – me to arrange

Primary Course Goals –Learn how to code within a fixed framework –Develop a game as a team –Extend your capabilities as a programmer –Learn about the game design and level design / development

Programming Goals Quickly Learn to Program UnrealScript –Development will be using the Unreal2 Engine and the Unreal 2k4 packages –Development using Unreal 3 and the Unreal 3 Engine is possible Your code will largely port across to the Unreal 3 Engine You need to be able to code sooner rather than later –the earlier you can identify problems the longer you have to fix them –The faster you learn simple programming, the quicker you can learn networking and advanced programming

Game Design, Level Design and Development Goals What is required to make a game? Learn some aspects of games –what makes them fun? –what makes a game boring? –Style and Feeling –Wow factors –Game Flow –Player Expectations

The history of Modding Duke Nukem (2D) –People were editing levels, and even writing their own level editors Wolf3D –Developers noticed that players were modding the game Doom –First game released with a level Editor Quake –First game that allowed users to edit the code of the game

Half Life –Was it actually a mod of the Quake Engine? Engine Licensing –Professional Modding? Half Life 2 Episodes Doom 3 –A Game or a Tech Demo Steam “Steam will really help with the distribution part of creating a successful mod” -There are currently 28 (9) results in the Steam store for the word ‘Mod’ -Only 24 (4) of these are Mods -Red = 2008

Unreal Tournament –This was the second iteration of an insanely powerful and flexible scripting platform (Unreal was first) Unreal 3 –The latest build of the UnrealScript Language & Unreal Engine Cross-Platform (for licensed use) Cry-Engine –With version 3 will support PC and Console XNA –Free / Cheap Xbox 360 Development La Trobe has access to Dreamspark.com which allows a 1 year free licence! (all MSDN softwares)

Why Unreal 2k4? Forward Support Computer Capability Ease of Use for Programmers Industry Acceptance Development is Free! –And Legal to Distribute for free!! Knowledge of the Unreal engine will assist you in working with almost all other game engines

Books There are 2 books for this semester –You WILL learn to LOVE them Seriously you will never throw these books out.

Book #1 The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design – F. Dille & J.Z. Platten –It’s not the ULTIMATE book For the few dollars it costs it is a life saver –Summed up the things in this book that will interest us are: Documenting, and the Development Process This book covers everything we will need for the development side of the subject. –Buy It!!!

Book #2 The Art of Game Design – Jesse Schell –This is also called the Game Design Bible –It is not the holy grail, it is pretty darn close –The things that interest us: This book covers Games Design and thus inherently covers level design. The Lenses in this book are a great tool when used properly. (we will learn!)

Why buy both books? This semester we will design and develop projects in small teams. The design will be covered by ‘The art of game design’ and the development will be covered by ‘The Ultimate Guide....’ Without the books, you will have to work a lot harder! *Note: I tried to keep the total for the books to a minimum, but we do require both books

How to Pass easily!! Show up to ALL the Lectures Show up to all the Labtorials (10% Free!) –Seriously, if you sit in every lecture, and Labtorial you will NOT need to review for the exam, you will already be able to pass it.

The Assignment Develop a game as a group Develpment is based on an assembly of Mutator type mods (with a core mod package) Most games are developed in at minimum, an 18 month Cycle You have 3 Months! –Thus the goal is to deliver a Beta version of your game. –Marking will be based around the design of your concept and the development of your ideas.

Assignment Storage – Mesh.com 5Gb of storage shared and synched between all your machines! –No CVS ability!!! You can have 5Gb each and share folders to group members –The Client will be installed on all the XNA Lab machines Web access is available in all the other labs. There will be an account for each Project Team –You will each have a Safe Folder, and access to a Build Folder.

References Game Level Design, Ed Byrne, 2005, Charles River Media /04/16/modding/index.htmlhttp://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002 /04/16/modding/index.html The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design – F. Dille & J.Z. Platten The Art of Game Design – Jesse Schell