1. LESSON #5: Workplace Games and Intro to 3D Assets in Maya
Game Design
LESSON #5: Workplace Games
and Intro to 3D Assets in Maya

2. TODAY: Design Method #5: Workplace Games Examples and methodology
2. Introduction to Maya interface and basic asset creation, and importing 3D assets into Unity.
3. Unity Prefabs

3. Unity Prefabs
WHY USE PREFABS: Unity does not merge scene files easily. The best way for multiple people to work on a Unity project is for only one to “own” the scene and everyone else to pack their files as Prefabs to send to the current scene-owner, who can then import/ unpack the prefab into the Unity project. TO MAKE A PREFAB: Rightclick on objects in the Project window and choose Create Prefab. If you want to make a Prefab of specific object settings in the Scene/Hierarchy: [a] Parent those objects under an Empty Game Object (G.O.) in the Hierarchy [b] drag that Empty G.O. to the Project to make an instance [c] rightclick to Prefab. Be sure to include all parts in the prefab, like textures!

4. Maya: 3D Art Production: Interface

5. Maya 3D Asset Creation and Unity Import
Unity prefers custom meshes to FBX and textures PNG. Download the scales.png file from the course site. We will use Autodesk MAYA to create a basic asset: Create 2D Shape: Hit Spacebar to go to the Front Viewport (lower left). In the Modeling module (menus, top left) find Mesh Tools menu and choose Create Polygon. Trace the rough shape of a dinosaur with as few clicks as you can, hit [Enter] to finish. Spacebar back to the Persp Viewport. Extrude 3D: In the Modeling Toolkit (Right panel) choose the Face component Mode (top), select the dino shape face. Click the Extrude tool button and pull out the 3D form (now looks like a wood block of the dino). Choose Object Mode (Modeling Toolkit top). Hit [W] for the Move tool, move the dino to the world center, standing on the Persp grid. Hit [D] to put pivot at base.

6. Maya 3D Asset Creation and Unity Import
Apply Texture: Open the Hypershade (blue olive), create a Blinn material from the left-side library. In the Properties Editor (right side) find Color and click on the checkered square to add a “File” node. Click on the File node and click on the manila envelope icon to add the provided scales.png file. Middle-mouse drag the Blinn material onto your 3D Dino mesh and hit [6] to view the texture in the viewport. To change the tiling, click on the Place2D node and adjust the tiling settings for U (horizontal) and V (vertical). Try 5 x 5.

7. Maya 3D Asset Creation and Unity Import
MAYA Export FBX File: Select the mesh object, File > Export Selection, choose FBX Export, choose name and location, hit [Export Selection]. UNITY Import: Drag FBX and PNG together into the Unity Project window to auto-apply the texture, or RightClick and choose Import New Asset (otherwise, must drag the texture onto the FBX). Drag the FBX into the Hierarchy to add to the Scene. Note in Inspector the options for Transform and Mesh Renderer. Add a Physics > Box Collider as needed, or multiple colliders to fit the form.

8. Design: Why Make a Game about a Job?

9. Design: Why Make a Game about a Job?
Built-in systems to exploit.
Immediately recognizable to players.
Transform Society: inform or change views about a way of life or a population of workers, creating opportunities for empathy.

10. Workplace Simulators: Are they games?
Simulations are powerful tools for technical, medical, and military training. How well do they function as games?
Do they offer commentary on the experience they simulate?
Do they offer meaningful, player-driven choice, or only rote, educationally limited options?

11. Workplace Games Need to Simplify:
OVERCOOKED does not teach cooking. No blade skills are practiced: Tap an onion once with the knife and you get a full set of onion slices. The game instead focuses on kitchen management and chef teamwork, and the wild, frantic, friendship ruining possibilities trying to serve a hungry clientele. In space.

12. Workplace Games Can be Satires:
In TWO POINT HOSPITAL (a hospital management game, referencing the weirdness of the Twin Peaks TV show) the illnesses (and solutions) are straight out of Fantasy and Horror Sci Fi, speaking to the absurdity of modern medical practice in large hospitals. The mechanics of the game deal with patient diagnosis and treatment (like “Turtlehead” and “Lightheadedness”), facilities investment and construction, staff hiring and training, and sterilizing the facilities of body-snatching alien worms (which cause “Monobrow”).

13. Workplace Games: Diner Dash
In workplace games the stakes are typically the satisfaction, health, or safety of the clients.
DINER DASH makes customer feedback a central mechanic in the game, driving player choices.

14. Workplace Games: Diner Dash
You are a waitress managing meals for a small diner crowd.
Casual/Resource Gathering Game: Seat customers, take food orders, deliver orders to chef, deliver coffee and food, take money, clear tables.
Customers get cranky if made to wait.
Make decisions on who gets fed first: Try not to get overwhelmed by multiple tasks/complaints.

15. Workplace Games: Papers, Please
PAPERS, PLEASE requires serving multiple masters: do you decide lots of cases quickly to get money to feed your family and appease the waiting masses, or work more carefully to spot terrorists?

16. Workplace Games: Papers, Please
Manage a border checkpoint.
Puzzle Game: Compare documents, look for discrepancies/criminals. Ask for more information. Arrest people.
Applicants can attempt to plead or bribe, and waiting masses can act against your state.
Make decisions on who passes through. Try not to be weighed down by those decisions.

17. Workplace Games: Job Simulator
JOB SIMULATOR works as satire, poking fun at the tendency of cubicle life to be rife with playful distraction.

18. Workplace Games: Job Simulator
Work an office cubicle job (in VR).
Exploration game: Fulfill tasks/missions assigned by robot boss. Explore distractions in cubicle.
Feedback from Robot Boss and signs.
Make decisions on how to spend time.
Additional Games: Auto Mechanic, Convenience Store Clerk, etc.

19. Workplace Games: Create
Workplace Games: Create! Choose a new team to design a tabletop or digital Workplace game, and produce a paper prototype for next week
THEME: Brainstorm multiple jobs with clear routines.
MECHANICS/FLOW: List the routines and consider which lend themselves to interesting choices and playable mechanics.
FEEDBACK: Consider potential actions by the customers of the workplace, and how they can provide meaningful stakes and feedback to the player.
GOAL: Determine the components of a successful day/job completion.
FIERO: Consider the critical choices the player can make to achieve the goal, and the emotional impact of those choices, to adjust mechanics and feedback for greater impact.

20. Due Next Week:
HOMEWORK #5: With your new team, meet outside of class to revise/discuss the Workplace Game design from class. Create and test the tabletop game, and then begin planning a Unity implementation. EACH TEAM WILL TYPE AND SUBMIT 1 WORKPLACE GAME PAPER PROTOTYPE: Description of workplace routines, gameplay rules, board image, photos of initial setup and key moments.
ALSO Read Schell pp (Prototyping chapter)!

21. Have an Excellent Week!
And don’t forget to with questions: Instructor: JASON WISER Available daily.