Queensland University of Technology CRICOS No J ITB/ITN751 Games Production Lecture 11 - Revision Ross Brown

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture Contents Unit Revision and Exam Guest Lecture – David Waller, Senior Trade Officer, Export Capability, Trade and International Operations, Department of Premier and Cabinet

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Revision “It’s never too late – in fiction or in life – to revise” - Nancy Thayer

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Feel Free to Ask Questions during Lecture

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 1 Game Development Life Cycle Game Development as a “Wicked Problem” LifeCycle: –Concept –Prototype –Pitch –Green Light –Pre-production –Production –Quality Assurance –Gold Master –Maintenance

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 1 Game Producers Games Producers = Project managers Overseeing creative and technical development Ensuring timely delivery of deliverables Producer is the “boss” of the game, to bring about the overall vision for its development Thus is an executive role – as a*hole…

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 2 Game Conception and Design A Game Design is a blueprint for a game A game designer creates this blueprint Also known as the Design Document Document contents: –I. Core Overview –II. Game Context –III. Core Game Objects –IV. Conflict and Resolution –V. Artificial Intelligence –VI. Game Flow –VII. Controls

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 2 – Game Conception and Design Prototyping - Not necessarily on a computer – cards are common Scripting - process of final game integration and tweaking using special language To take the content and making it fit the design document, and the lead designer’s vision

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 3 Modelling and Animation Creation of digital assets Assets being media that has been converted into a binary form Must be legally usable by the owner Or from studio’s perspective, it contains your own IP and metadata to help you manipulate it This content is loaded into the Game Engine software and forms the look and feel of the game

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 3 Modelling and Animation Geometric model is a mathematical construct stored in memory which allows the game to animate and render it for game play purposes Polygons are used to form meshes that are used to represent the surface of an object in a game Stripped down for use in the games engine – low polygon Surface basis for animation is rigged with a skeleton for animation by animators- using scripts or mocap Geometry then has textures applied to form final appearance

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 4 Game Audio Music is the emotional component of the sound Sound effects are a part of the simulated reality of the environment Remember, sound like any creative component of this work requires reference to the designers of the game

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 4 Game Audio Ambient Battle, combat or action score Musical stingers Scored cinematics or interstitial movies Licensed songs with lyrics Audio forms part of the digital assets of the game

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 5 Game Engine Programming Underlying software technology that supports the execution of the game Contains a number of software modules (amongst others) integrated together to provide the gaming experience: –Graphics –Physics –Sound –Scripting –Animation –Artificial Intelligence –Networking –User Interface

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 5 Game Engine Programming While user input not exit –Update Scene-Graph with network cache –Update Scene-Graph via AI –Update Scene-Graph via Physics and Animation –Render Scene-Graph to Screen via Graphics System Endwhile All of this has to be updated at ~30 frames per second for a game

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 6 Quality Assurance The step of the game development life cycle that ensures a game is: –Bug free –Functional –Usable –Fun Improves acceptance of game Makes sure that game concept is going to sell

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 6 Quality Assurance Alpha Testing Focus Group Testing Beta Testing Ongoing Bug Reports Competitive Analysis Publisher Testing

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 7 Game Development Tools Game Engine Asset Tools Formatted Assets Geometric Packages Audio Packages Raw Content Texture Packages Raw Content

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 7 Game Development Tools Game development tools can be described as the glue that holds the whole process together Preproduction is where the tool assembly line is formed Thus the tools developer writes the utilities to convert and manage this data to forms that suit the game engine This asset pipeline is controlled by a master tool, known as the Build Tool It takes the output from all the content software, and synchronises the asset tools to develop a complete set of content for the game engine

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 8 Human Resource Management Is the process of managing employees to help them achieve satisfaction in their job challenges, career progression, relationships with co- workers HRM is also seen as a far more effective way of managing employees full-stop Instead of controlling the employees, the intent is to win the employees commitment

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 8 Human Resource Management There are two basic models of HRM –Soft - this approach is soft due to reliance on people outcomes –Hard - employees are treated as a means to the organisation achieving its ends – Strategic HRM

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 9 Business and Financial Issues entrepreneur - someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it chief executive officer - the corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm; reports to a board of directors; may appoint other managers (including a president)

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 9 Business and Financial Issues Steps to building a business: –Business Concept –Business Plan –Marketing Strategy –Getting Finance –Legals –Premises

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 10 Research and Education Research is a thorough investigation Often to solve a problem – Applied Or to extend knowledge – Pure But the lines often blur between the two forms Steps Involved: 1.Identify a problem 2.Formulate a hypothesis 3.Test the hypothesis 4.Collect and analyse the data 5.Make conclusions

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 10 Research and Education Primary, Secondary Vocational Education Software Training Positions University Teaching

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 11 Game Culture Journalism: “the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one of the media” Examples: –Magazines –TV/Radio Shows –Blogosphere –POD Casts –Portals

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Lecture 11 Game Culture Conferences Organisations Stores/Distribution/Publishing Government Support

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R ITB751/ITN751 Exam Exam is on 8 th Nov 2007 at 08:30 am for 2hrs CAVEAT: Please check timetable for details There is one question on the guest lectures You should have a set of reflection forms from the guest lectures during the semester…do you? If not, you have 12 hours of lectures to study over the next fortnight

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R ITB751/ITN751 Exam The rest of the exam is on my Lecture material HINT: study the tutorials!!! It is not a memory test (much), but you will have to think about the components of the game production process as well as the whole

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R ITB751/ITN751 Exam You will need to understand the people, processes and technology behind games production Read the chapters in the textbook readings as one question refers to such information Good Luck - it has been a pleasure to teach you

CRICOS No J a university for the world real R Guest Lecture David Waller - Senior Trade Officer, Export Capability, Trade and International Operations, Department of Premier and Cabinet