1. Queensland University of Technology CRICOS No. 000213J ITB/ITN751 Games Production Lecture 2 Game Conception and Design Ross Brown

2. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Lecture Contents Game Conception and Design Guest Lecture – Morgan Jaffit

3. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Readings Textbook Chapters: –6 Game Design and What Producers Need to Know about Designing Websites: –http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1524/the_che mistry_of_game_design.phphttp://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1524/the_che mistry_of_game_design.php –http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_0 1.htmhttp://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_0 1.htm –http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article273. asphttp://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article273. asp

4. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Conception “Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own” - Robert Collier

5. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R What is Game Design? A Game Design is a blueprint for a game [1] A game designer creates this blueprint The blueprint is for the creation of a series of interesting decisions This is known as a game…

6. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R What is a game? [1] A game is a play activity comprised of a series of actions and decisions, constrained by rules and the game world, moving toward an end condition The rules and the game world are delivered by electronic media and are controlled by a digital program The rules and game world exist to provide a framework and content for a players actions

7. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R What is a game? The rules also exist to create interesting situations to challenge and oppose the player The player’s actions, his decisions, choices, and chances, really, his journey, all comprise the “soul of play.” It is the richness of context, the challenge, excitement, and fun of a players journey, and not simply the attainment of the end condition, that determines the success of the game – explains Rupert Murdoch I guess…

8. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Designing Games At this point, a reality check If you wish to learn how to design games, you should do the design major, coordinated by Penny Drennan We will look at the technology and processes that go into the creation of a game design

9. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Life Cycle Stages The design, by and large, is obviously at conception and design stage However, designers are still required during the entire life cycle of a game, but they will be focussed on a new game They also engage in the design of new levels for persistent online world games

10. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Conception Design Phase Biggest outcome is the blueprint, known as the Design Document Brainstorm and develop concepts Including those handed down by publishers

11. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Conception Design Phase Often core idea is from external source, as in movie tie-in Works with programmers on scripting tools and other provisions for the production stage Develops many design documents: from broad brush strokes to fine details on levels

12. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Pre-production Phase Works with developers on scripting tools In order to facilitate the insertion of new features

13. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Production Phase Designers script gameplay Work with art and programming to make sure the game is consistent with design documents Part of evaluation and testing

14. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Production Phase May refine design documents from evaluation results – used for later QA Arms race of features can occur, due to competitors new feature announcement

15. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Maintenance Phase Additional content design Balancing of gameplay with patches Analysis of game reception for new versions or whole new games

16. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Designer Hierarchies Designers come in hierarchies as well as other jobs and organisations Usually a lead designer, deals with managing the overall vision of the project With underlings such as –Level Designers - design game levels –Scenarios Designers – story designer –Multiplayer Designers – online gameplay concepts

17. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Processes - Writing Writing – lots of it Because you must generate a precise description of what a game is, you must communicate this in great detail Just like a lecturer – with less hand waving

18. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Writing Design document is often over one hundred pages in length With many revisions HINT HINT – u nd 2 wurk on ur nglsh grmr & stile to make it in this game You need to be able to communicate your vision effectively

19. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Listener You need to understand the nature of the technology used to implement your game design You will most likely not be an expert in technology Also need to be aware of other peoples ideas

20. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Cheerleading You will champion good ideas You will be a major source and protector of creativity As with a lot of creative disciplines, you must defend your vision, and cheer on other contributions

21. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R The Game Design Document… Uses words, tables and diagrams to describe the workings of a game From the basic story of the games characters and narrative To the user interface buttons…

22. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R The Game Design Document The design document is used mainly by the development staff Though others may look at it for various pieces of information – eg. sound voice over actors requiring insight into the nature of a character

23. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Stewardship of Ideas Needs to create a sense of ideas being welcome Like any leader in a group Constant fielding and mining of ideas from the group Create a culture of innovation

24. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Creating New Ideas Designer tends to be the idea smith for the studio Is derived from you and other peoples experiences of gameplay Ideas are the insertion point, the rest of the design is the hard work involved to implement the game design vision

25. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Visualisation An important part of the game designers tasks A visual form of the game experience needs to be developed The idea is to present a picture of the feel of the game

26. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Visualisation NOT the specific details, So that other development personnel can evaluate and critique the game concept Done in small bite size components – similar to storyboarding for film

27. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Prototyping An early version of a game, used to evaluate gameplay Useful for assessing technical requirements Can the system actually cope with the design –number of models –rendering effects

28. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Prototyping – Some Options Use a spreadsheet for a numbers game Create a board game version to test gameplay Use cards to model gameplay Use a scripting language to prototype a game on a computer Because not every game is an FPS shooter…

29. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Scripting After the game concept has been established, and documents written Scripting is the process of controlling specific events in your game Typically executed in the form of a language –Lua - http://www.lua.org/ –Game Monkey – http://www.somedude.net/gamemonkeyhttp://www.somedude.net/gamemonkey Brissy bred code by Matt Riek! –Python - http://www.python.org/

30. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Scripting Artificial Intelligence (AI) that governs the behaviour of characters is done by programmers Content – the “stuff” in a game – is created by the other development personnel such as artists/modellers/animators Scripting is therefore the process of final game integration and tweaking Taking the content and making it fit the design document, and the lead designer’s vision

31. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Technology - Scripting Differs from core game code in that it does not require compilation – process of converting source code into machine instructions – so is easy to tweak Languages are often designed to be easy to use by non- programmers Often use game engine systems, such as Unreal tournament, which has an editor – UnRealD Or the programming department may provide their own toolset…we get to this in the software tools lecture

32. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Design Document Structure The design document is living and requires revision, thus a collaborative tool like a Wiki is useful for such work

33. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Document Sections I. Core Overview –Summary –Key Aspects –Golden Nuggets II. Game Context –Game Story –Back Story –Primary Players

34. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Document Sections III. Core Game Objects –Characters –Weapons –Objects IV. Conflict and Resolution V. Artificial Intelligence VI. Game Flow VII. Controls

35. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Game Design Case Study The following is a design document for an example game called EyeOpener From the Game Design A Practical Approach [1] We show the game prototype, and the design document that went into it

36. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Example of Eye Opener

37. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R Guest Lecturer Morgan Jaffit – Game Designer Pandemic Studios

38. CRICOS No. 000213J a university for the world real R References 1.Paul Shcuytema, Game Design: a practical approach, Charles River Media, Boston