Shine Lecture

The last lecture was indeed a very informative lecture I must say. A student who worked as an intern over the summer came and did a presentation about his experience, the production of the game he was a part of, as well as some cool and interesting facts about the gaming industry as a whole. 

It all started when this student entered a Academia Game Lab competition. From this competition, 37 people where chosen for the internship. This is where he was hired to part take of the winning game of the competition to produce the game 'Shine'. Shine is a specialized program initiated by Ubisoft Montreal designed to simulate real production. 

Shine Production Team

Within the 37 people, there were a number of faculties. The first two were already part of Ubisoft. There were 7 members in the game design department, 12 in the programming department, 16 in the art department, and 2 in the audio department. Each of these faculties do extremely large variations of work. It's not like our GDW class where the work load sometimes tends to be weighted more on the programmer. In the internship, as the student explained, everyone takes part in their required job and is weighted almost the same. This is due to the fact that there are indeed 37 people in the team whereas in our class, we only have 5 or 6 individuals. Also, in order to become the Leader of a specific faculty you must give them a VERY good reason why you would want to a lead game designer or lead animator.

• Producer
• Assistant Producer
• Project Manager
• Creative Director
• Lead Game Designer
• Lead Artist
• Lead Animator
• Art Director
• Lead Audio Designer

Management

Good management is really important in a production like this. Having 37 people who never worked together before can be quite chaotic especially when the time period to make the game is only 2 months. 

Production

The productive is the iterative process of validation. Production can be broken down into design, validation, bugs & improvements, and debug & fine tune. We already learned in our project management class that production takes quality, time and cost. It takes serious planning and management to get a certain project done. Any little change can affect another plan related to the game.

Pipeline

In the production pipeline, you have a series of milestones. Alpha is the phase where you game should be playable but it does not have to be continuous. This means that the game has to run without any errors but it does not have to be played level after level after level. It just means the game must work and that it should be ready for testing. Beta is the phase where the game must be playable from the beginning to the end. It must be continuous. Open Beta  relates to online gaming and Age Rating is like deciding who plays your game. Master(GOLD) is having the game completely ready for marketing.

Shine Production

Since Shine had to be completed in only two months, the production period was very short. The training & pre-production took 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks brainstorming, concept art and prototypes took place. Production(3 weeks) is where the creation of the art assets, play testing, and so on occurred. Post production/testing & debugging consists of alpha and beta. This is where the finishing and polishing of the art assets took place. 

Development Strategies

• The Persona
• Think 8
• Perforce
• Agile Scrum

The Persona is an imaginary ideal individual based on your target group. Think 8, which I think is the most resourceful development strategy is where everyone in the team would write down something for each topic based on their own ideas. No one talks to each other. Afterward the team then draws out the best or the most resourceful idea and writes down one sentence for each topic for their core idea. Here are the 8 topics:

• Purpose
• Message
• Tone
• Characters
• Content
• Structure
• Style
• Impact

In my opinion, Think 8 is the best way to do brainstorming. It is a great way to get everyone inputs and ideas because sometimes you will have people who are too shy to even say what their idea is because they think it might be stupid. But I think that people would open up more when they write their ideas down. In the event that I do have to take part in a development phase of a project outside of school, I would definitely suggest Think 8.

Agile Scrum is an incremental and iterative software development technique. Shine had scrum leaders that would set up departments meetings where everyone would say what they did yesterday and what they plan on doing today.

Aside from the development strategies and pipelines, you still have everything thing else that is of course very familiar to me. The remaining departments like Game Design, Art, and Audio. These departments are responsible for the art modelling, sounds, level designs of the game. Basically all the stuff you will be hearing and seeing in the game are all done by lead artists, 3d artists, sound engineers, game designers and so on.


This presentation revealed much about the different job opportunities available in the gaming industry. Since there are many effective successful ways to develop a game in 2 months, can you imagine the results of using these same tactics in developing a game in a year? Of course we do, we play these games everyday don't we?

Digital Prototyping

Finally, I was able to join the online lecture this morning. Whooo!!!

What is a prototype???

A prototype is the first model, sample or representation of a new idea or product. The main goal of prototypes is to test for flaws and that it works efficiently. There are four areas of digital prototyping.

• Game Mechanics
• Kinesthetics
• Technology
• Aesthetics

In this lecture, the professor explained each of these four areas in detail while giving examples and references to existing games. 

Game Mechanics

Game mechanics represents the formal aspects of the game. This is like the overall core of the game. The professor did mention that having every single aspect of your game is not good. When making prototypes of your game mechanics, you have to keep it simple. Do not go overboard and try to represent everything you plan to include in your game. Focus on one particular question, preferably the core mechanic, and build from there.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is like the visual or oral dramatic elements of the game. It is basically how things are perceived and its representation. In this prototype, you do not want to have too much art. Although it is good to have some sort of visual representation to communicate with the audience but it does not have to be too extreme. Since it is just a prototype, you can have a little mock up of the game in action-dynamics. Again it does not have to be extraordinary. It can be done using Flash or even stick men drawn on paper. As long as your visual can be seen clearly and understood it should not be a problem for a prototype. 

Examples of prototype aesthetics are:

• Storyboards
• Concept art
• Annimatics
• Interface prototypes
• Audio sketches

Storyboards are very common in movie production but can be useful for game development as well. Interface prototypes is just deciding where you are going to place certain objects in your game. Most of these examples can be done on paper and of course they have to be brought to your team to be discussed. Audio sketches is basically the same as art sketches but they're music. They are drafts of the music you plan to have in your game. Again it does not have to be the full soundtrack but, as long as you have a specific music style in your prototype, it should be fine.

Kinesthetics

Kinesthetics represents the feel of the game. This a reflection of how the game affects the player. When you prototype kinesthetics, you are testing the game in terms of how the controls feel, the responses from the player when something happens in the game, and so on.

Technology

Technology is anything used to create the game. It is all the software needed to make the game work. In prototyping technology, it is not really a smart idea to use the same programming language you are using to create your game as your prototype. Many people in school did that and ended up using the same code from the prototype for the final game project. You have to remember that it is just a prototype. It is good to use a language that differentiates from your programming language from your game. So, if you are using C++ for your final game project, use Java or something simpler that still gets the main game play for your prototype.

If these prototypes are presented well and are tested without any mistakes, then you will not have a problem continuing onto the actual game design and implementation because your prototypes are done with visual clarity as well as can be understood by others.

Control Schemes

When discussing the control schemes think about the actions that occur in the game. You want your controllers to match the actions and bring forth game interaction easily. It is also good not to have too many buttons in your controllers it may confuse the players. Simple controllers work best just like the Wii. it encourages the players to concentrate on the game rather than on the controller. Another thing that was mentioned this morning was to always supply your players with instructions of how to use your controllers. 

Effective Interface Design

Providing players information about how they are progressing in the game is a much needed factor to have in your game. Having the game communicate with your player encourages more player interaction. If the player is losing points then he or she will try harder to stay in the game play as long as possible. You also want to incorporate design metaphors to describe an object based on the player's mental picture. It will give off a bad impression when something is not as it usually is or as we perceive it to be.

As a result, in this lecture we have learned how to properly format a digital prototype. Hopefully we will use the facts described above in our own game with my group this year.

System Dynamics

This is our 4th lecture for Game Design and Production 2 and so far it is swell.

Basic system elements

The following elements guide interaction quality in games. They help make the game more interactive friendly.

Objects

Objects are the basic building blocks in a game. They are the items you will see or a described setting in a game. Examples, of objects include: 

• game pieces
• in-game concepts
• players
• player representations
• areas/terrain

Each of these examples are what the user will see and use to go about playing the game. In a board game, players need pieces in order to move around on the board. In a digital game, players will sometimes need to find objects in order to move unto the next level. All of these are key features in any game to include some sort of interaction between the players and the game.

Properties

Properties describe the qualities or attributes of the objects. Professor Nacke used the board game chess as an example in the PowerPoint. For each chess piece there is an attribute that defines what kind of task it can do on the board. For example, the horse can only move in the form of an 'L' shape whereas the soldiers can only move forward. This is what properties can do. Your objects must contain attributes to differentiate from other objects. If all the objects in a game can do the same thing it would be boring. 

Behaviors

Behaviors are just potential actions in a given state. For example, in chess, if a soldier goes to the other end of the board, the player can choose to switch into any other object available in the game. In Candy Crush, if you pair up 4 or more of the same colour objects they will turn into a unique object with very different and better attributes than the regular coloured objects. All of these behaviours in the examples I just described are limited of course because they are more predictable by the players. The more behaviours you include in your game the less predictable it becomes. However, to me, it is always fun to include these small behaviour roles in your game objects because it simply makes it more fun. In addition, I hope to incorporate special behaviours with the objects in our GDW game project this year.

Relationships

Relationships are like the opportunities you can get within a game. They are determined by chance or by rule sets. I think its like rolling a set of dice to determine where to go next, or spinning a digital wheel to find out how much coins you will receive. Relationships are VERY IMPORTANT in a game. If you do not have relationships then you just have a group of objects that does nothing. I remember Professor Nacke speaking about this in class. He was asking if a stack of blank cards will still be referred to as a game. I remember a student was saying yes it was but, when the prof further explained that having a stack of blank cards means it has no relationship he quickly changed his mind and agreed. Having no relationship in a game is just a collection of white paper if you ask me.

Each of these elements are a great benefit to the game dynamics. They help players look forward to the game because of things like objects, behaviours, properties, and relationships. These features truly impact the decision of the players and it makes the game more intriguing as well.

Dramatic Elements

This was our second online lecture we have had so far in our class. Sadly, I missed it because of technological issues. However, I will briefly explained what I gained from it.

When I think of dramatic elements, I think about what are the key things that make up the best part in a video game. It just so happens that the following elements are essential when it comes to game development.

Challenge

In games, players have to experience some type of accomplishment. Players always feel good about themselves when they know they have completed something. Whether it'll be winning a race, gaining the most points, or finding a secret treasure, players will see it as a great accomplishment in a board game or a video game. The challenge has to be enjoyable as well. Challenges arise but only if it interests the targeted players will it truly be enjoyable. Challenge can also be determined based on the skill set of the players. If everyone gets the same amount of money at the end of a monopoly game, there will not be much room for enjoyment as well as accomplishment. The flow of the game will be predicted and boring. Players always enjoy a game the most when the ability of each character differs from everyone else.

Flow

Flow is the continuation of the game from the beginning to its end. It defines how clearly the player interacts with the game and vice verse. It's about the game giving out information such as goals, feedback, story, and rules, with clarity and understanding. Also, flow, is affected by challenge. If the challenge is low the flow of the game will run faster and more efficient. However, if the challenge is high the flow will be much more difficult.

Premise

Premise represents the things that make the game playable for the user. Things like the place, time, the protagonist, the antagonists, and a list of objectives are all examples of what the players will need to see in order to start playing the game.

Character

When you think of a character, you think about what the character looks like. You think about what they wear or how they look, speak, and most importantly, their strengths and their weaknesses. Character as a dramatic element, is the physical actions in the player. This is where drama is told through the actions of the players.

Story

Story describes what is going on at a particular time of the game. It lets the character know how or what to react to in a peculiar setting or situation. Story can also be the back story of the main character or even the antagonist. It just gives the player a sense of his or her whereabouts. You can also give players the chance to choose to develop their own story through game play.

Dramatic elements are just a way to enhance your game by including certain variables to make your game better to play as well as increase game play.

Structure of Games

Lecture 2

Last week, we learned about what makes a game a game. Professor Nacke thoroughly explained more in depth the concepts about games in general.

Structure of Games

A game structure includes: Players, Objectives, Procedures, Rules, Resources, Conflict, Challenge, Character, Story, Dramatic element, etc... I am not going to talk about all of these elements but I will talk about the ones that stood out to me the most during the lecture.

Players

Firstly, a game must have players. No matter what kind of game it is whether it is a board game or a video game. Players are an essential part of a game. Without players, the game cannot be played. Its like a car with no wheels. Players are the ones who get involved in the game activity. They are the ones who actually get the game started. the game can't play itself. Sometimes, depending on the game, different roles (e.g. teams, individual, defined actions, play styles) are available for players to choose from. Games where you have a variety of roles with different kinds of actions to face your opponent with or simply just to win the game.

Objectives, Conflicts, Challenge

Secondly, objectives, conflict, and challenge are also in important in games. The reason why I put those two together is because I think they are connected in a way. Objectives always have to be in a game. Examples of some objectives are race, exploration, capture, rescue, escape, etc... The players must always have an objective otherwise they will be doing nothing exciting in the game. If you have a game where the player has the freedom to do what they want, it just a bogus game in my opinion. It might be fun if it were a cool video game like Sims or Need for Speed where the players can just look around and enjoy the 3D graphics yet, there is still no goal to achieve. Young children will definitely get bored of the game and move onto playing something else. The reason why people have so much interest in certain games is because of the objectives; the goals given to the players that they must achieve in order to move on to the next level. And what better to incorporate objectives in a game without including conflict? Sure games can have objectives. Anyone can easily get as many points as possible without having any problems if there is no conflict. conflict is like the events that distract, disrupt, or block the players from getting what they want so easily. A simple but very good example would be the board game Snakes and Ladders.
Each player wants to get to the finish line first but, there will always be a time when they will slide down the snake preventing them from achieving their goal of winning. To me conflict adds more fun to the game and it allows players to try again and again until they finish the game (unless they are sore losers). Adding objectives and conflict together brings forth a challenge for the players. Challenge allows players to think about how the game is structured and causes them not to repeat the same mistakes they made before. 

Rules

Thirdly, rules are a definite necessity  in a game. Rules are like the things the players can or cannot do during the game. In my opinion, they are the restricting actions that form fairness among players in the game. It would be unfair if a player decides to roll a dice three times in a board game and pick the highest number to play.

Conclusion

All in all, the structure of games is like the essential core that depicts how it should or should not be. It has to properly engage its players, have interesting objectives and challenges, and have a well explained document of rules. When you have a good structured game you will have no problem engaging players and allowing them to have fun.

First Blog

Game Production 2!!! BRING IT ON!!!

Well its that time of the year again. Game Design & Production 2 has begun.

For this year, we have a chance to get 3,800 XP. That's a lot of XP, but you know what, I'm ready for the challenge.

In second year, we only had to write blogs in order to gain XP. Apparently, this is not the case this year. Professor Nacke updated the XP qualifications. Not only do we have to write blogs for XP, we have to tweet about the class and our accomplishments in our game, we have to participate in class through in-class discussion, and there will be in-class quizzes. What better way to encourage 3rd year game development students to fully engage themselves in this class other than through social media. Using Twitter will become a habit for most us this year for sure and it is also a great practice to develop since we will need to use social media in the real world.

This class is like an actual game itself. We the students, are the characters living in a virtual world (like Sims) and are pursuing an excellent mark in Game Design 2 by completing various tasks and assignments. Very interesting.

 I am definitely going to aim for the full 3800 XP. So bring it on Game Design & Prod 2!!!