ITP 101 Intro to Information Technology

Video Games

Overview •  History •  Genres •  Creating Games •  Jobs

2

Why talk about video games? •  Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

–  $500 MILLION IN REVENUE IN 24 HOURS! •  Highest grossing movies

–  Avatar: $2.782 Billion –  Titanic: $2.185 Billion –  The Avengers: $1.511 Billion –  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: $1.32

Billion •  Highest grossing video games

–  World of Warcraft: Over $10 Billion –  Call of Duty Black Ops: $1.5 Billion –  Mario Kart for Wii: $1.4 Billion

3

History •  1952 – A. S. Douglas wrote his PhD thesis on Human-Computer interaction at

the University of Cambridge –  Created the first graphical computer game – a version of Tic-Tac-Toe

•  1958 – William Higinbotham created the first video game –  "Tennis for Two" was created and played on an oscilloscope

•  1962 – Steve Russell invented Spacewar! –  First game intended for computer use

•  1967 – Ralph Baer wrote Chase –  First video game played on a television set

•  1971 – Stanford students set up Galaxy Game –  First coin-operated video game

•  1971 – Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created Computer Space

–  First mass-manufactured arcade game •  1972 – Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn created the arcade game Pong

–  Started Atari Computers •  1975 – Atari re-released Pong as a home video game

4

Progression •  Arcade •  Home game consoles •  PCs •  Web •  Mobile

–  iPhone/iPad (iOS), Android devices, Brew

5

Early Home Game Consoles •  Atari 2600 •  Intellivision •  ColecoVision •  Vectrex •  Magnavox/Phillips •  Commodore

6

Game Console Market •  Nintendo

– NES, SNES, N64, Game Cube, Wii, Wii U •  Sega

– SG-1000, Master System, MegaDrive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast

•  Microsoft – Xbox, Xbox360

•  Sony – PS, PS2, PS3

7

Game Genres •  Digital board games & puzzles (Tetris) •  Role playing games

–  Dungeons & Dragons, multi-user dungeon (MUD), World of Warcraft (WOW)

•  Shooters –  Space Invaders, Asteroids –  Now 1st person and 3rd person

•  Sports –  Pong, baseball, Olympic sports, football

•  Platformers –  Donkey Kong jumping on platforms, Mario,

Ratchet & Clank •  Real-time strategy

–  Risk, Civilization, LOTR, Starcraft •  Sims / SimCity •  Fighting / Brawling

8

Creating Games •  Sequence of images

– Eyes get tricked and see motion – For movies, 24 fps (frames per second)

•  Video games – Usually 30 fps or 60 fps – Due to NTSC monitor refresh

•  Loop underlies all games

9

Game Loop – Example for Pong while (NOT quitGame)

move ball based on velocity (speed & direction)

read user interface device(s) if (left stick pressed up) then

move left paddle up else if (left stick down) then

move left paddle down repeat for right paddle do collision detection respond to collisions draw the scene (render)

10

3D Games •  Model of a car

– Everything is broken down into triangles •  Model of a human

– Skeletal animation – Triangles with a skeletal structure underneath

•  "The Man Behind the Motion" –  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEy5v7kn-wI

11

Game Jobs •  Art/Visual

–  Texture Artists (2D) –  Concept Artists –  3D Modeler - work in digital realm

working with triangles –  3D Animators –  Lighting

•  Audio –  Foley/SPFX –  Musicians –  Composers –  Mix

•  Production –  Managing team and resources –  Producers –  Marketing –  Financial –  Human Resources

•  Programming/Technology –  Tools - build custom tools that

allow artists to do jobs –  Rendering - specialized in making

scenes look really good –  Physics –  Gameplay

•  Game Design –  Level Design –  AI and Player Mechanic –  Whole game "Arc"

•  Story/Writing –  Dialogue –  Whole game "Arc"

12

Careers •  Artists and Animators

–  Artist •  Entry level salary of $41.5K •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $53.3K •  Over 6 years experience, average salary of $66.7K

–  Animators •  Entry level salary of $46.7K •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $67K •  Over 6 years experience, average salary of $75K

–  Lead Artist or Animators •  Over 6 years experience, anywhere from $80K to $215K

•  Video Game Audio –  Sound Designers or Engineers

•  Entry level salary of $50K •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $66K •  Over 6 years experience, average salary of $74K

–  Musicians or Composers •  Entry level salary of $55K •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $62K •  Over 6 years experience, average salary of $90K

13

Careers •  Video Game Producers

–  Producers •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $62K •  Over 6 years experience, average salary of $80K

–  Executive Producers •  With 6 years experience, command a salary of $82K •  Over 6 years experience, make a six-figure salary

•  Video Game Programmers –  Programmers and Engineers

•  Starting salary of $50K •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $66K •  Over 6 years experience, make over $88K

–  Lead Programmers •  On average make over $90K

–  Video Game Technical Directors •  3 to 6 years experience, average salary of $73K •  Over 6 years experience, make around $110K

14

Careers •  Video Game Designers

–  Video Game Designer •  Entry level salary of $46K •  3 - 6 years experience, average salary of $55.6K •  > 6 years experience, average salary of $70K

–  Creative Director or Lead Designer •  Entry level salary of $45K •  3 - 6 years experience, average salary of $54K •  > 6 years experience, average salary of $81K

•  Video Game Quality Assurance –  Game Testers

•  < 3 years experience, average salary of $32K •  > 6 years experience, average salary of $50K

–  Lead QA •  < 3 years experience, average salary of $40K •  3 - 6 years experience, average salary of $50K •  > 6 years experience, average salary of $60K

15

Courses at USC •  Classes

–  ITP 230 – Video Game Quality Assurance –  ITP 280 – Video Game Production –  ITP 380 – Video Game Programming –  ITP 382 – Mobile Game Programming –  ITP 391 – Designing and Producing Video Games –  ITP 485 – Programming Game Engines –  ITP 491 – Level Design and Development

•  Minor in Video Game Design and Management – Tom Sloper, sloper@usc.edu

16