1. Of Stick Figures and Boxes OR Off the Shelf tools For Communicating your Game Design Montreal International Game Summit, 2006 James Everett james.everett@a2m.com

2. James Everett

3. Game Designer

5. Artificial Mind and Movement

6. Communication

8. Design = Programming = Art =

11. Designer’s Vision

13. Programmer’s Implementation Desired Game

14. Oh Joy! Oh Rapture!

15. Designer’s Vision Programmer’s Implementation Desired Game

16. Designer Programmer Desired Game

17. Not a Doctor

18. What is the Unified Modeling Language?

21. History of UML in 30 Seconds or Less

23. ???

24. OMG! (Object Modeling Group)

26. 1997 2004 1.0 2.0

28. How does UML work?

29. English Français Español Deutsch Nihongo Bosanski Dansk Esperanto

30. but not cleverComputers: fast,

31. if (Game) != then

32. PPPPPP Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

34. Stand Jump Fall Stand Avatar waits in idle stand state -Player can jump from stand Jump Avatar jumps into the air -After completing Jump the avatar enters the fall state. Fall Avatar is airborne and cannot jump again -When the avatar reaches the ground return to stand UML Text

41. Player Avatar

42. Behavior Diagrams? Use Case DiagramState Machine DiagramActivity Diagram Use Case Actor Stand Jump Fall Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State

43. Use Case Diagrams Use Case Actor

45. Customer ATM Withdraw Deposit Balance Check Bank Database

46. Avatar GAME Movement Combat Health Enemy

47. ActorPlayer/avatarNPC/Enemy = and

48. Punch Avatar ACTOR GAME ASSOCIATION

49. Use Case Actor Use Case 1)Use Case specifications 2)Provide a detailed explanation of use cases 3)Through text

50. Use Cases are Player Centric

51. Punch Avatar Punch: 1) The avatar punches an enemy and causes damage. 2)... Kick: 1)... Shoot: 1)... Use Case: Combat Kick Shoot

52. 1) The avatar punches an enemy and causes damage. What is an enemy? How can I tell if I hit the enemy? What if I don’t hit the enemy? How much damage do I cause?

53. 1) The avatar punches an enemy and causes damage. Enemy = Actor Damage = State

54. Notes on Enemy Enemy is a non-player character Enemy will attack the player The Player must defeat the enemy The player defeats the enemy by reducing its hitpoints to 0 To reduce the enemy’s hitpoints the player must successfully attack the enemy

55. Player Combat State Machine Diagram (rev 0.01) Punch Idle [Player presses Punch] [Punch Complete]

56. Player Combat State Machine Diagram (rev 0.01) Punch Idle [Player presses Punch] [Punch Complete] State Transition Guard Condition

57. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Player Combat Activity Diagram (rev 0.01)

58. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node

59. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node Flow

60. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node Flow Activity

61. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node Flow Fork Activity

62. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node Flow Fork Activity Parallel Activities

63. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node Flow Fork Activity Join Parallel Activities

64. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Initial Node Flow Fork Activity Parallel Activities Join Activity final node Player Combat Activity Diagram (rev 0.01)

65. Punch Player Punch: 1) The player punches an enemy and causes damage. 2) Punching an enemy causes it to enter a Hurt state 3)... Kick: 1)... Shoot: 1)... Use Case: Combat Kick Shoot Hurt state

66. Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State Punch Idle [Player presses Punch] [Punch Complete] Punch Avatar Kick Shoot

67. Kim Possible: Player Combat Actions Use Case Diagram

68. Kim Possible Jump State Machine Diagram

69. Is Enemy HP 0? Punch Enemy Reduce Enemy HP Enemy Enters Hurt State No Kill Enemy Yes

70. More UML Notation Decision Note > Timer Exception Use Case Activity Generating Signal Receiving Signal

71. Where does it fit?

72. Concept

73. Designer Programmer Game

74. Designer Programmer WARNING

75. Use Case

76. All forms of documents must be maintained Impractical to create state machines and activity diagrams for everything WARNING

77. Don’t be afraid to throw it away WARNING

78. Complex AI may not play well with UML WARNING

79. Removes confusion! Clarifies Designs! Scrubs high level to low level!

80. Still not a Doctor

81. Resources Books –UML Demystified –Elements of UML 2.0 Style –UML Distilled Programs –StarUML (free, open source) –Visual Paradigm Watch out for ATM examples www.agilemodeling.com Contact: james.everett@a2m.com