lecture 10
DESCRIPTION
Lecture 10. Announcements. Final 1 Feedback. Almost completely done with your 2D game engine! Congratulations! Feel free to use it/improve after the class is over (some of us have/still are) Time to start showing off your product ~2.5 weeks of gameplay coding! Content creation! - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
LECTURE 10Announcements
Final 1 Feedback• Almost completely done with
your 2D game engine!– Congratulations!– Feel free to use it/improve after
the class is over (some of us have/still are)
• Time to start showing off your product– ~2.5 weeks of gameplay coding!– Content creation!– Tons of playtesting!
• More on public playtesting later…
Hours change?• For specific problems you
should be talking to your mentor TA
• We’ll hold hours for issues with finishing up late projects– What times work best?
• Will announce times after grading meeting today
Special topics AI lecture!• It’s the week after
thanksgiving• It’ll be great
Next Week Doesn’t Exist• No lecture• No hours• No assignment due
• Final II due the next week
• Doesn’t count against retries• Final I retries due the
next week
Deadline Approaching• Course policy: you must turn in a working
version of all projects• Deadline for incomplete projects is
December 20• Same day as Final V• Make sure to email the TA staff when you
re-turn in!
QUESTIONS?Announcements
LECTURE 10Sound
SOUND APPLICATIONSSound
Sound in Games• In the real world,
computers have sound• Background music• Sound effects• Can be an important
part of gameplay– Listening for footsteps– Dramatic music
Sound File Formats• Many ways to encode
and store sound• Open standards
– Ogg Vorbis– FLAC
• Closed standards– mp3– m4a– wav
Sampled Audio• mp3, wav, and most other
familiar extensions• Usually recordings of live
sounds• Samples of sound wave at
regular intervals• Prevalent in modern games• Refers to data type, not
origin– Touchtone telephone is
generated but still sampled11001001101010110111010110010001
10101
Generated Audio• MIDI• File provides information on
instruments and notes– Similar to sheet music
• Sound cards translate from instruments/notes to sound
• Can instruct computer to play something even if you can’t play it
• Used to be popular to save space, not as common now
Compressed vs. UncompressedCompressed Sound Files• Lossy or Lossless?
– Lossy remove “least important” parts of sound wave
– Lossless just use smart compression on raw wave
• Smaller file size (esp. lossy)• Lossy is lower quality• Slower to decode and play• Often used for music
Uncompressed Sound Files
• Record as much as possible of sound wave
• Much larger file size• Usually high quality• Faster to decode and
play• Often used for sound
effects
Buffering• Decompressing and
decoding is slow• Read sound into buffer,
play back from buffer• Size of buffer depends
on speed of system• Playback delay while
buffer is filled
Buffer
Sound file
Sound device
Decoding
SOUND IMPLEMENTATIONSound
javax.sound.sampled• AudioSystem: Provides factory
methods for loading audio sources
• Clip: Any audio that can be loaded prior to playback
• Line: Any source of streaming audio
• DataLine: An implementation of Line with helpful media functionality (start, stop, drain, etc)
• Other classes for mixing, ports, and other utilities
File file = new File(“mysound.wav”);InputStream in =
new BufferedInputStream(new
FileInputStream(myFile));
AudioInputStream stream = AudioSystem .getAudioInputStream(in);
Clip clip = AudioSystem.getClip();clip.open(stream);clip.start();
javax.sound.midi• MidiSystem: The
AudioSystem for MIDI files• Sequencer: Plays MIDI
sounds• Other classes for
manipulation of instruments, notes, and soundbanks– So you can create MIDI sounds
in realtime– Much harder to manipulate
samples
Sequence song = MidiSystem.getSequence(new File(“mysong.midi”));Sequencer midiPlayer = MidiSystem.getSequencer();midiPlayer.open(); midiPlayer.setSequence(song);midiPlayer.setLoopCount(0);midiPlayer.start();
Alternatives?• Some drawbacks of the built-in
sound classes…– Imprecise control over exact
playback start/stop positions– Almost impossible to manipulate
or even examine samples in realtime
– While Java offers pan and reverb, other libraries offer more varied effects
• But it’s very effective for simple background music and sfx!
OpenAL• Cross-platform audio API
modeled after OpenGL• Pros:
– Built for positional sound (distance attenuation, Doppler shift, etc all built in)
– More fine-grain control available
• Cons:– Single listener model– Modeled on OpenGL
Others• Most other libraries are
platform-specific or wrappers for OpenAL
• …except for synthesis libraries!– Jsyn, Beads, etc– Useful for composer
programs and the like, not so much for sound playback
QUESTIONS?Sound
LECTURE 10Data Persistence
What to Save?• Settings
– User profile– Game settings
• Game state– Progress through the
game– Maybe the state of
the world or current level
Where to Save?• Data should be saved somewhere that
is always accessible by your program!– Oftentimes the user’s home directory can
be used for this purpose
• Saving data to the current directory will not work, as your program can be run from anywhere!
PERSISTENT CONFIGURATION
Data Persistence
User Settings• Player name• Custom controls• Other In-game
preferences• Considerations
– Need to save per user– Should be able to export
between game instances– Ideally put in cloud sync
Saving Game Settings• Preferred resolution• Graphics detail level• Input source (keyboard,
peripheral, etc)• Considerations
– Need to save per installation of game
– Should not go in cloud storage – machine-specific, can’t “sync”
Strategies• Serialize a Java object• Java properties file• XML/JSON file
– Easy for humans to read
– Harder to parse
• Custom text format– Can be more concise,
easy to parse
User Interface• User probably doesn’t
need to know file location– Still make it easy to find
so user can back it up
• Don’t save automatically, revert graphics changes if no response
SAVING GAME STATEData Persistence
When to Save Game• Only at checkpoints
– Easier to implement– Each checkpoint is a
level, reload level when player dies
– Potentially more frustrating for player
– Ensure they’re frequent enough
When to Save Game• Any time at save
stations– Like checkpoints, but user
can go back and resave– Better for nonlinear
games– Need to save level state/
progress, but not exact positions (save room usually empty)
When to Save Game• Whenever user wants
– Harder to implement, need a “snapshot” of current game state
– Good for difficult games with frequent failure
– Can still restrict when user can save (e.g. not during combat)
Automatic Saving• A good idea if the player is
responsible for saving– Just because saves are
available doesn’t mean user will use them
• Don’t set user too far back when they fail
• Depending on implementation, can simplify saved state (ie, only save when no enemies are around)
User Interface• Save slots
– Easy, simple, annoying
• Native file browser– Easy way to allow
arbitrary saves– Doesn’t mesh well
with game, unprofessional
User Interface• Custom save-file browser
– Harder to implement, but most flexible/featureful
• Features– Screenshot of saved game– Show only current player’s
saves– Sort by time & type of save
Strategies• Save serialized copy of game world
– On restore, use serialized data as the world
• Save information about which level the player is on and where entities are located– On restore, load the level fresh and then apply changes
• Save some concise file with relevant state information– On restore, act accordingly… like warp to nearest
checkpoint, or load the level and place player at save point
Gotchas• Serializing the world…
– Whoops! We just serialized input states, the screen stack, player preferences…
– Solution: correctly label with Serializable
• Saving generated levels…– Can’t just store level file name!– Solution: Either save the seed
and a list of changes, or convert generated map into some savable format
• The same error-handling warnings from Tac apply
QUESTIONS?Data Persistence
LECTURE 10Procedural Content II
CLASSIFICATIONProcedural Content
What is procedural content?• Procedural content:
game content generated in an algorithmic way rather than by a designer
• Procedural content generation: the generation of this content via a semi-random process
Generated Content• “Procedural generation”
in common usage usually refers to any randomized aspect of game content
• All procedural content need not be generated, or generated randomly– Content deterministically
inferred from other content
Why use procedural content?• Historically: memory
restrictions required it• Generating by hand is
tedious and/or expensive• In the case of procedurally
generated content, provide a new experience with every game
• Provide a personalized experience
Online vs. Offline• Online
– Game content is generated on the fly
– Limitless potential!
• Offline– Game content is generated
by algorithm and then packaged with the game
– Can be perfected by a human designer
Necessary vs. Optional• Necessary
– Required by the player to progress in the game
– Must always be correct or useable
• Optional– Player can choose to
avoid or bypass– Some weirdness is fine
Random vs. Parameterized• All procedural content
performs some sort of expansion from compressed data to real content– What is the compressed form?
• Random– Compressed form is RNG seed
• Parameterized– Compressed form is a
parameter vector– Most often used for
personalized content
Constructive vs. Verified• Constructive
– Generate the content and be done with it
– Need to make sure it’s correct at every step
• Verified– Both a content generator
and a content verifier– Generate the content
until it’s suitably fit
QUESTIONS?Procedural Content
Classification quiz!
Classification quiz!
APPLICATIONSProcedural Content
Procedural Animation• Animating every pose
of a character can be difficult
• Generate poses by joints and constraints
• Can even animate each portion separately
• Could also refer to particle effects
Dynamic Lightmaps• Lightmaps are used to
store lighting information– Separate from textures– Provides significant
graphical speedup
• Rather than defining them for each object, generate them algorithmically
Natural Textures and Terrain• Perlin noise: generated
visual effect that simulates natural texture
• Even used in CGI for flames, smoke, clouds etc
• Computed by calculating distance to grid vertices then interpolating
Level Generation• Create random level
layouts at runtime• Can be used to make
dungeons, interiors, cities, maps, etc
• Algorithms are numerous and vary by purpose– Popular dungeon algorithm:
subdivide dungeon in a binary tree, add a room to each
Design of Level Content• Generate many enemies
or weapons with different attributes, then pick those that most satisfy the scenario
• Alternatively, generate many levels then evaluate them via a fitness function
• Underpins most sandbox games
Dynamic World Generation• Entire game world is
generated on the fly• No part of the world is
written to disk– Unneeded parts are
immediately disposed
• Hinges on deterministic generation and a single RNG seed
• Used in EVE Online as well as a variety of older games
Instancing In-Game Entities
• Each entity has some value randomized– All entities are similar,
but have some distinguishing feature
• Usually used to create names, faces, item or weapon properties
Dynamic Systems• Model complex behaviors
with simple sets of rules• Used for weather,
crowds, spreading fire, and other bottom-up effects
• Strong ties to certain areas of AI, like swarm intelligence
Plot and Puzzle Generation• Think of a game’s storyline as
a dependency graph• Graph dependencies can be
changed– For example, move a key to a
random accessible location
• Graph structure can be changed– Alters order of events
• Can also use natural language processing to create characters and stories
QUESTIONS?Procedural Content
LECTURE 10Tips for Final 2
EFFECTIVE PLAYTESTINGTips for Final 2
Finding Playtesters
• CS students are easy targets, try the sun lab or MS lab– Ask nicely– Don’t ask busy people
• Keep your audience in mind, however– It probably isn’t all CS
students
Don’t Interrupt!• Be a fly on the wall
– Say as little as possible
– Don’t offer hints or instructions
• Your game should speak for itself– You won’t be there to
offer instructions when your game is released
When to Interrupt• Player is frustrated or
taking too long in a single area
• You’re no longer getting good feedback
• If the player moves on, you will resume getting good feedback
Keep a Log• What is the player getting
stuck on?– Make it smoother
• What is the player enjoying?– Emphasize it
• What is the player ignoring?– Take it out if it’s unnecessary
• Consider having the game keep an automated log– Analytics is wonderful!
QUESTIONS?Tips for Final 2
JAVA TIP OF THE WEEKTips for Final 2
Default Visibility
• You already know public, private, protected
• What happens when there’s no visibility modifier?
• Then the field/method is visible to anything in the same package
A Helpful Table
Own Class Same Package
Subclass All Others
public Visible Visible Visible Visible
protected Visible Visible Visible No
(default) Visible Visible No No
private Visible No No No
Some General Visibility Tips
• Use private wherever possible– “Encapsulation”
• If you have a large amount of protected methods you want truly protected, consider separating them into an interface
QUESTIONS?Tips for Final 2
NO PLAYTESTING?
Playtest with random people this week!