comp150 game design lesson #4: team formation day!
TRANSCRIPT
COMP150 Game Design
LESSON #4: Team Formation Day!
TODAY:
1. Discussion of ARGs, Art, and Options.
2. MIT Gambit Game Lab and Team Formation
3. Paper Prototypes, Design Documents, Scheduling
ARGS Roundup
• QUESTION: What problems did you seek to address in your games this past week?
ARGS Roundup
• QUESTION: What problems did you seek to address in your games this past week?
• QUESTION: What else do you want to address in the world, big or small?
ARGS Roundup
• QUESTION: What problems did you seek to address in your games this past week?
• QUESTION: What else do you want to address in the world, big or small?
• BULLYING• DISCRIMINATION
• PHOBIAS
Marketing: Why should people care about your game?
• Make a Game You Want to Play: if you won’t enjoy it, chances are your audience won’t, ether.
• Address a Real-world Problem: Solutions make news, and fascinate audiences.
• Original Gameplay Mechanics (Disruption): New ways to move, to solve problems, to feel and think.
• Original Visuals and Audio: Create new visual experiences with radically playful and wacky art.
Marketing: Why should people care about your game?
• Original Visuals and Audio: Create new visual experiences with radically playful and wacky art.
Remember Schell’s “Infinite Inspiration”: Don’t look to other video games to inspire your art or music—look to everything else! Pop-art posters from the 20s or 60s, textiles, architecture, finger paints, tattooed skin, cave paintings, bottle-caps, circuitry, human organs, animal skeletons, etchings, watercolors, scrimshaw, mosaics, glassblowing, woodwork, art nouveau, cubism, and folk art from cultures around the world, current and ancient.
Minimalism:Vib-Ribbon, Nidhogg, and Low-Polygon Art
Real-World Materials:Tearaway, Little Big Planet, Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Real-World Materials: Stop-Motion“Nest” by Hand Dyed Co, Neverhood
Real-World Materials: Folded PaperTengami, Kami
Modern Pixel Art (NOT retro):Sword & Sworcery, Fez
Shader Focus:Mirror’s Edge, Journey, Unfinished Swan
World Culture:Persian Rug Space Invaders, Okami, Grim Fandango
Historical (1960’s/70’s Groovy):Hohokum, Katamary Damacy
Radical/Playful Proportions:Design with simple shapes (rectangles/ovals) & contrasting proportions:
Psychonauts, Rayman Legends
Painterly and Silhouettes:Braid, Limbo
Gambit Game Lab: http://gambit.mit.edu/
Collaboration between MIT and Singapore: 5-
year funding to research and explore the social
impact of game development.
Amazing minds: Philip Tan
Clara Fernandez-Vara Matt Weiss
Sara VerrilliJesper Juul
Rik EberhardtTodd Harper
…and many others.
Gambit Game LabDozens of “Summer Research Games”
The Snowfield: Modular narrative gameElude: Teach families about bipolar
experiences
DESIGN METHOD #5: Accelerated Brainstorming for Team Formation, Part A
MIT Gambit Game Lab System, Part A:
1. Turn Off Computers: Conversation+ Paper!2. 5 silent minutes to write: Consider some game ideas on
your own.3. 3 ten-minute brainstorming sessions: talk about games
you would like to make, listen for cool enhancements or other ideas that might excite you. LISTEN > TALK!
4. 1-minutes silent reflection between sessions.5. 15 minute break: Continue to think and/or talk, but leave
the space for water/bathroom.
DESIGN METHOD #5: Accelerated Brainstorming for Team Formation, Part B
MIT Gambit Game Lab System, Part B:
6. Reconvene to Write on Postcards: Have an idea you are truly excited about? Take a card: Game Title on blank side, “Pitch” 1-sentence description on other.
7. Everyone Reads Their Pitches: Say your name, the Game Title, and 40-seconds to describe the game, end with game title and stick to wall, title-up.
8. Everyone Votes: Attach your colored name-PostIt around the game you are most excited to make.
9. Proctor Manages Results: Removes games with 0-1 votes, uses colors to re-balance as needed. If necessary, revote with remaining games.
DESIGN METHOD #5: Accelerated Brainstorming for Team Formation, Part C
MIT Gambit Game Lab System, Part C:
You Have your Teams! You have your Game Pitch! But you don’t know yet if it is a game worth making.
10. Now Teams Meet: Share email and phone contact information, plan to meet at least twice this week to work on homework.
11. Your Homework Goal: Turn the Idea into Playable Prototypes: Almost all game ideas sound great initially, but are not actually viable play experiences until prototyped and tested and revised. CREATE PAPER PROTOTYPES TO PLAYTEST THIS WEEK!
First Team Meeting: 5 minutes: Exchange Contact Info, Discuss Schedules
Due Next Week:HOMEWORK #4: Final Game, Preproduction • Each team meet AT LEAST 2x to:
1. Create Paper Prototypes to test/revise game. 2. Draft your Design Document.3. Draft a Production Schedule.4. Set up online team resources: Source Control
(like GitHub), Production Tracking (like Trello) , and a Wiki for your Designs, Backlog, and Visual References (aesthetic ideas).
• ALSO Read Schell pp 75-95 (Prototyping chapter).• Try at least one Unity Tutorial: Ball Roll or Shmup
How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype?
How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before
investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”
• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect?
How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before
investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”
• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect? No: Create paper prototypes for core game interaction.
• QUESTION: How do we start a paper-prototype?
How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before
investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”
• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect? No: Create paper prototypes for core game interaction.
• QUESTION: How do we start a paper-prototype? Identify core interactions you want to test. Create a minimalist board game. If your game has Ai, then have one tester play the Ai and give them rules. Playtest, revise and playtest again. Keep it simple—the point is to iterate rapidly.
How to Paper Prototype:Stone Librande (Designer for EA/Maxis, Riot games)
paper prototypes for Spore:
How to Paper Prototype:Clockwork Demon: “Testing if blending exploration-based storytelling
with emergent, sandbox mechanics was as compelling as we thought.”
How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before
investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”
• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect? No: Create paper prototypes for core game interaction.
• QUESTION: How do we start a paper-prototype? Identify core interactions you want to test. Create a minimalist board game. If your game has Ai, then have one tester play the Ai and give them rules. Playtest, revise and playtest again. Keep it simple—the point is to iterate rapidly.
• PAPER PROTOTYPE HAND-IN: Submit your final paper prototype like all board games this term, both digitally and paper. Also submit testing page: briefly describe each test session and how you adjusted the prototype. Photos welcome!
What is a Design Document?: A roadmap for the scope of your project…
DESIGN DOCUMENT PAGES (obviously, not all details apply to all games)• Summary (1 page): overview of entire game: name, 1-3-sentence pitch,
concept, genre, audience, Game Flow summary, and basic Look and Feel.• Gameplay: challenge/puzzle structure, objectives, play flow• Mechanics: implicit/explicit game rules, physics/ actions/ economy/ etc.• Story/Setting: narrative, setting, backstory, gameworld, characters.• Levels: describe intended level progression• Interface: visual system, needed key elements• Artificial Intelligence: opponent/enemy, friendlies, and support AI• Technical: target platform, game engine/network hurdles to research.• Game Art/Audio: Description of style, asset list, tools for development.• Milestones and Production Timeline: Rough outline of testable
prototype stages and completed product.
What is a Design Document?: …but not engraved in stone.
You won’t have to have everything figured out this week! This is about drafting your ideas and testing them on paper.• Benefits of Design Document: Agreement, Clarity, Grounded-ness,
Scheduling• Limitations of traditional design documents: Make too many
assumptions, Always out of Date, Only useful if read, Too rigid, Don’t allow for failure.
• INSTEAD: Keep it light, agile, and collaborative. Research / record experiences as you go. Use a non-rigid tool to document your ideas like Prezi, wiki, Google Docs (avoid Word).
• Don’t Pad: Be concise, clear, straightforward, and as graphically organized as you can to create something you will go back to again and again, and add to as you develop your project.
Production Scheduling: Course Milestones
• Due Week 5: Paper Prototypes: “Fun”• Due Week 6: Digital Prototypes: “Quantity.”• Due Week 7: Full Playable Prototypes: “User Clarity.”• Due Week 9: Revised prototypes: “Fun.” • Due Week 12: Beta Complete: Art and Audio locked.• Due Week 14: Alpha Complete: Levels done, bugs
fixed.• Final Presentations: Playable Game and completed.
Marketing materials: Trailer, Website, Press Release, Icon, and Marketing Plan.
Due Next Week:HOMEWORK #4: Final Game, Preproduction • Each team meet AT LEAST 2x to:
1. Create Paper Prototypes to test/revise game. 2. Draft your Design Document.3. Draft a Production Schedule.4. Set up online team resources: Source Control
(like GitHub), Production Tracking (like Trello) , and a Wiki for your Designs, Backlog, and Visual References (aesthetic ideas).
• ALSO Read Schell pp 75-95 (Prototyping chapter).• Try at least one Unity Tutorial: Ball Roll or Shmup
Have an Inspiring Week!
And don’t forget to email us with questions:
Instructor: JASON [email protected]
Available an hour after class and daily email.
TA: MIKE [email protected]
Lab hours: Wednesdays 4:30-5:45