IMGD 3000 - Technical Game Development I: Gold's Nuggets by - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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IMGD 3000 - Technical Game Development I: Gold's Nuggets by - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

IMGD 3000 - Technical Game Development I: Gold's Nuggets by Robert W. Lindeman gogo@wpi.edu Ideas to Build By Start small. Get bigger through small, incremental steps. Iterative design allows you to solve progressively larger


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IMGD 3000 - Technical Game Development I: Gold's Nuggets

by Robert W. Lindeman gogo@wpi.edu

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 2

Ideas to Build By

 Start small. Get bigger through small, incremental

steps.

 Iterative design allows you to solve progressively larger

problems to complete the project.

 Avoid presenting single solutions to critical tasks.

 There are many ways to solve problems.

 If something works, keep doing it.

 Don't change for the sake of changing.

 If something doesn't work, stop doing it, and

replace it with something that does.

 Acknowledge your mistakes. Learn from them, and ask

yourself: How can I prevent this in the future?

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 3

Ideas to Build By (cont.)

 Avoid repeating things you do wrong, and

avoid having to redo things you've already done right.

 Reuse what you can.  Better yet, make your design (and write your

code) knowing you will use it again on a different problem.

 No rule, no matter how good, is applicable

in every situation.

 You should use whatever

languages/tools/environments/people make the most sense for the given situation.

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 4

Phases of Learning

Unconscious Incompetence

 "I didn’t even know I couldn't do it."

Conscious Incompetence

 "I'm aware it's not how I'd like it to be."

Conscious Competence

 "If I make the effort, I can get the desired

result."

Unconscious Competence

 "I don't even have to try and it works out."

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 5

Development Priorities

What are some priorities for measuring

the quality of games?

Where should you spend most of your

time/effort?

How would you order these?

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 6

Reality of Game Dev: Open-Ended Development

DESIRED REQUIRED CORE

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 7

Reality of Game Dev: Heuristic Content

Constantly making "playjustments"

 Incremental tweaking of game-play elements

to make a game more playable, balanced, etc.

Subjective, so test with players! Eye candy versus substance

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 8

Reality of Game Dev: Hardware

 Hardware support

 Lowest-common-denominator PC?  Console? Which ones?  Handheld? Which ones?

 Control methods

 Specialty controller

 Guitar

 WASD + Mouse?  Camera input?

 EyeToy

 Motion-sensitive controller?

 Wii/PS3/Natal

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 9

Game Software Engineering

Games are getting more sophisticated Development times are not getting

longer

Team sizes are growing only modestly

 Various companies/groups involved

Need to be more efficient in development

 Reduce time scales  Use team members better

Problems

 Egos, inertia, structure, ...

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R.W. Lindeman - WPI Dept. of Computer Science Interactive Media & Game Development 10

What Makes a Good Game Developer?

Good programmer?

 Language specific?

Designer and planner

 Bottom-up and top-down analyses  Estimator and scheduler

Team player

 Liaise with artists  Follow a lead developer  Support other developers  Technical reviews