Lecture 4 (19 September 07)
Online
Game Development Planning 1
Abstract: This is the first of two lectures
focusing on ways and means to plan for online game development.
Emphasis is directed at how best to plan for
- conceiving,
- prototyping,
- play testing,
- marketing, deploying,
- community managing, and
- maintaining future online games,
in the presence of future game
technology that may enable more people to play familiar games (and game genres) with new game play experiences
- multi-core processors
- concurrent processing, multi-processing, and multi-tasking to enable new game features and functional capabilities
- higher level of visual realism
- higher level of physical fidelity (better game physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, etc.)
- multi-sensory immersion
- etc.
- heterogeneous user interfaces/devices
- integration of new game input/output devices that enable new game features or functional capabilities
- video cameras as user input device
- heads-up displays (HUD) for immersive augmented reality game play experience
- touch-free user interfaces to control game play
- gaze-directed user interfaces to control game play
Game conception
- Most game design depends on overarching story or narrative
- Game concept themes
- Cultural experience or transmission
- Multi-cultural "mash-up"
- Language learning
- Domain knowledge acquisition (know-how) or skill acquisition (know-what)
- Game concepts vary by game genre
- Casual games
- Action/FPS (or MMOFPS!)
- Role-playing (RPG or MMORPG)
- Real-time strategy (RTS)
- Simulation (SIM)
- Music, dance, art
- Sports
- etc.
- Design of game narrative requires:
- Identification and story linkage of multiple scenarios where different game play experiences are encountered
- Scenarios indicate the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the game
- Who--game characters, actors, or agents (non-player characters)
- Appearance
- Behaviors or skills
- Individual actions
- Multi-actor interactions
- Collective action (common in RTS games)
- What--game activity or tasks where game mechanics are employed
- Where--game settings, in-game environments, or levels
- When--game time-place and duration of activity
- Why--beliefs or purpose of in-game characters or game players
- How--course of action
that human players follow in driving their game charcters to
perform/experience different game activities in some sequence of game
settings, at particular times in order to accomplish the purpose of
game play
- Core scenarios to develop
- Game introduction
- Game space configuration
- Game play tutorial
- Game levels
- Single level for repetitive game play (common in traditional games)
- Multiple levels, which are partially ordered for sequenced game play ("leveling up")
- Multi-core processors and heterogeneous user interfaces/devices enable new types and new kinds of game concepts
Prototyping
- Visualizing and simulating game play scenarios
- To establish the "look and feel" of the game concept
- Common technical mistake to skip prototyping activity
- Game prototyping facilitated by existing game development tools and game engines
- Prototype via game mods, using an existing game and game engine
- Id Tech 3 (from Id Software) game engine and game software
development kit (SDK) licensed by Valve Software to create Half-Life
game
- Counter-Strike game mod for Half-Life, using only SDK (no source code modification)
- Counter-Strike mod (commercial game "prototype") developed by two people
- Id Tech 3 game engine now available as open source software (while Id Tech 4 and Id Tech 5 are not--yet)
- Game prototyping using other software development tools
- Pre-visualization tools from the feature film industry (computer animation tools)
- Storyboards off-line and on-line
- Sample off-line storyboard
- Hand-drawn artwork integrated with scenarios or script (Example storyboard and script)
- Historical example: The Scrovegni Chapel (14th. Century multi-level storyboard, created by Giotto di Bondone and team)
- Online storyboards
- Presentation tools (Powerpoint)--very difficult to use in most cases
- Web pages with interactive navigation
- Flash
- Sample online animated storyboard in Flash for GVW where multi-core processing and heterogeneous user interfaces
are employed.
- R&D opportunity: computer game industry does not have game pre-visualization or scenario development tools
Play testing
- Can people other than the game designers and game developers play the game, and enjoy playing?
- Game testing is often the first activity to be cut or downsized when schedule or budgets are exceeded!
- Game prototypes can give prospective game players early user experience before game development begins
- Strategy: use "continuously available" versions of the game to enable continuous testing of game and game play
- May be uncommon approach to employ
- Can game be developed through progressive expansion and refinement of evolving game prototypes?
- Technique used in other software application development efforts, outside of games
- Common technique employed when developing free/open source software
Marketing and deployment
- National versus international game marketing
- National markets
- U.S. (or English) game marketing
- Large game development studios are moving away from developing games for U.S./English-only markets
- Some game studios opening offices or establishing partnerships with game developers in Asian (Korea, China) markets
- Small game development studios will often be limited to developing games for single languare or single culture markets
- However, casual/mobile games may be easy to internationalize
- Need to focus on community development as game development moves towards completion and commercial release
- Informal case study: Grenado Espada (Sword of the New World)
- New MMORPG developed in Korea, marketed in the U.S.
- Early CCUs question eventual success of this MMORPG
- Comparatively little attention to early online community development or play testing?
- International markets
- Growing interest in developing and marketing games for English and Asian markets simultaneously
- Starcraft II
- World of Warcraft
- May be possible for large budget, MMOGs
- Strategic Risk: lack of cross-cultural knowledge may lead to regional or global market failure
Community management and maintenance
- Online community development--early requirement for successful game deployment
- Helps stimulate early game user awareness and interest in new game, prior to release
- Enables game developers to get play testing feedback from "beta testers"
- Enables discovery and early dissemination of game-related merchandise
- Indicator of market interest in game and game concept
- Benefits from use of "domain-independent" community environments
- Easily reused for new game marketing and customer feedback
- Incorporates support for online discussion, individual/group blogs, game art Web pages, etc.
- Reference: A.J. Kim, Community Building on the Web: Secreat Strategies for Successful Online Communities, Peach Pit Press, 2001.
- Unclear what role is for international online community development
- Are online game communities popular in Korea, China, and other non-English speaking markets?
- How to overcome cross-cultural and language barriers?
- How to sustain community over the commercial life cycle of the game?
- MMORPGs like Ultima Online and Everquest are reported to still
have upwards of 100,000 players, more than 5-10 years since their
initial depoloyment
- Starcraft is still a very large market in Korea, but not in the U.S.--Why?
- Lineage and Ragnarok were also great successes in Korea, but not in the U.S.--Why?
