Senior Capstone, Group Game Development Art 489c/ CMSC 493

First Lecture

Schedule

•  This is 488 •  Hello •  Syllabus •  Mentors •  Assignment A

488: Group Game Development

•  The class will make 2 or 3 games.

•  Schedule: – Pitch next week – Prototype thru February – Present demos to mentors – 2 or 3 project selected – Working games by Midterm – Refine and promote until May

How the Grades are Given

•  Pitch: <2min, clear, good game, adopted •  Demo: <6min, works, good game,

adopted, you played your part well •  Midterm: works well enough to publicize,

you played your part well •  Afterwards: you took input, you improved

it, you played your part, the docs look legitimate.

How to Win

•  If you: – Enter a national or international festival and

win. – Put your game on the App Store, Play, Steam,

Live, or other such commercial venue •  And sell 1000 copies OR •  Attract favorable notice in the national game press.

•  You get an A, no matter what else happens. Also, probably, jobs.

Introductions •  Write your name/contact on paper

– Add a brag resume: what you can do & why everybody wants you on a project

•  coding: graphics, AI, physics, engines, networking, paths

•  art: illustration, Maya, animation, video editing, music, sound, character design,

•  marketing: video editing, posters, elevator pitches – Add a late-in-the-day time at which you can

meet at the end of the semester •  Final review by mentors is usually a free dinner.

My Role

•  Project Manager –  I have set the schedule –  I pick the projects –  I set the teams –  I enforce the deadlines

•  The pseudoboss –  I can’t fire you; I will focus on troubleshooting –  I do evaluate you

•  the value of your team •  your value to your team

Group Dynamics

•  Are difficult! •  It is everyone’s job to contribute to a

constructive, open, friendly, collaborative atmosphere.

•  Some of you will be leaders: great! Use your powers for good.

•  Some of you are quiet: great! You still have to participate in the group.

Notes on Technology

•  I will almost certainly not choose 3D games. – 3D => Linear Algebra; most of you can’t – Multiplies dev time by 3 or 4: your game must

work by Spring Break! – Work that achieves functionality instead of

greatness •  2D still requires:

– path planning, animation, level design, menu design, maybe network play, particle systems, inter-entity communication, fluids

Not your way? •  If you feel that •  you will never be

satisfied •  unless you are

working on a 3D FPS w/ rigid body physics, just like Last of Us!

•  You should drop this class now.

Also •  Dislikes:

–  Zombies, Puzzle Platformers, Tower Defense, Fighting “Darkness” & other race-baiting, Lingerie Armor & other sexist BS, lazy Tolkien borrowing

•  But, enough finger wagging

Notes on Engines

•  Read the license! Many licenses mess with you when you start selling for money.

•  Have a target platform. Test the emulator! •  Test whether your engine allows you to do

screen capture! –  I do require that you make videos with

gameplay– it makes marketing soo much better.

–  In 5 years, your game won’t run, but the video will.

The Song in Your Heart

•  Imagine the game you want •  Make it better every day

•  Especially in the last half of the semester! – The best promotion is quality.

My target experience

•  Make a little game •  Put it out there •  Get some feedback •  Make it better •  Put it out there •  Sell some copies •  Upgrade / win contests / upgrade / Wii •  Retire to Bermuda/Prague

Marketing?

•  Yes, I know, you’re an engineer/artiste •  Much of marketing is just documentation

– screen shots, video capture, instructions •  Even more marketing is just respectful “did you see my game?” emails.

•  Another thing: Facebook friends, reviews – You’ll be reviewing each other & making

Facebook pages for your games.

How to pitch

•  Look at rubric for assignment A •  Assignment A is due– NEXT TIME •  I want projects going by next week

– Game Jam!

What to bring in next time

•  4 printed slides; tape them on the board before class – 8.5”x11”

•  2 minute presentations – over 2 minutes -> -15% – There are Many of you. We need to get

moving! – One minute for questions, during which the

next person sets up.

What to bring next time •  Slide 1: elevator pitch

– 2 sentences, 11 seconds •  Slide 2: demographics

– who is your target player, why will they like it – similar games that succeeded

•  Slide 3: mechanic – what your players do & why that’s fun

•  Slide 4: technical defense – how it will be done before mid-terms

•  Slide 5: screen mockups

Sample Pitches

•  The first one is for “Rez”, a very good game for PlayStation2 that bombed commercially.

•  This is how I imagine they pitched it.

•  time me: go!

Rez Slide 1: Elevator

•  This is a rails shooter that puts sound at the core of its experience.

•  All visuals are generated by interacting, pulsing entities

•  Layers and layers of motion and visual music!

2: Demographics

•  Shooters are preferred by young males •  Who also like: music, drug culture

– Delivers a unique visual spectacle •  Rez delivers core shooter ultraviolence •  Rez integrates music to core of gameplay •  Similar titles/demographics/strategies

– Parappa the Rapper – trippy, beat-driven – Star Fox – pattern for core mechanic – Many drug-influenced top-down shooters

Rez 3: Core Mechanic

•  Very similar to “Top Gun”– old arcade – Actual team probably presented a demo level

•  Top Gun is a good game; this will be fun. – Timed target gallery games are known fun.

•  User glides through a sci-fi virtual space •  Enemies appear •  User tags them with the cursor and

releases missiles.

Rez 4: Technical Defense

•  Entity models and animations are central, made in the usual way –  Instead of levels, decoration entities in a timed

sequence. •  Levels are XML or MIDI sequences of

enemy (or decoration) appearances. – many graphical editors for this type of data –  fast level prototyping once done

•  Done. Questions?

•  Then, on to the next one. •  This project would be appropriate for this

class.

Hipster Limbic System

•  In this game, you play as the part of a young man’s brain that operates his guts.

•  He eats a lot of awful stuff; you use a touch interface to squeeze his glands and push his poop.

•  Failure results in physical events with social consequences, shown in video cutscenes. •  Abuse glands to give him a hangover or food

aversions.

2: Demographics •  “Farts are intrinsically funny.” Louis C.K. •  Causal game for touch interfaces: iOS,

Android •  Target Audiences:

– People who like crude humor– very crude. •  Ren&Stimpy, Dumb&Dumber, Bridesmaids, Girls

– Live-acted cutscenes shot on-location add to story depth– it’s a sitcom!

– Social satire: hipsters, foodies, binge drinking – Experimental Game audiences, casual games

Core Mechanic

•  Hipster’s Intestinal Tract is sprite-based animations. (pen and ink, hand-drawn)

•  Pinch to churn food and move it (unseen) through the system; touch glands to squirt needed juices.

•  Large collection of fart noises, in stereo. •  Timing issues like in Diner Dash.

– Leaving the bacon in the small intestine too long makes terrible, terrible gas.

Technical Defense

•  Game can be released with only a few levels and cutscenes, and augmented with updates or IGP. ($3 for a Pancreas!)

•  Levels are sets of sprites drawn to fit together interchangeably; level data = XML list of sprites arranged in a path.

•  Squeeze and Touch gestures are supported by all mobile platforms and Windows 8.

•  Done. Questions?

•  On to next one.

•  This project would probably be too big: it’s 3D, and tuning the system would be complex

The Waiting Forest

•  You play this game as a soaring robot that creates and manages a forest on a dead alien world. – Drop seed bombs to form ecological systems. – Drop poison or fire to manage growth.

•  Part flight simulator, part god-game. •  Serene overflight visual feast •  Ecology modeling for complex replay. •  FtP compatible: buy new seed types!

Demographics

•  City-building games skew older •  Flight simulators skew older. •  Casual games skew older.

•  Counters FtP trend that leads to combat emphasis, which is often endured.

•  Not reflex-based •  Persistent world as Farmville •  Long absences give more surprises!

Tech defense

•  Flight simulation is the core interaction •  Seeding and pruning are as fighter

weapons: select seed type, aim and drop •  Growth via particle systems.

– Terrain as Minecraft: Perlin noise – Growth models: L-systems, mold, yeast – Lots of system tweaking and tests

•  by faster 2D systems

•  Standard Forest element models

•  Sorry, no screenshot yet.

•  If you do not practice, you will run over, and make a B.

Pitch-to-Demo : 2 Weeks

•  I will select half of the projects, and put you into teams of 4. –  I’ll have a form for you to use to let me know

which projects you’d prefer, and I’ll do my best to honor that, but no promises.

•  You’ll have two weeks to make a working demo.

•  You will also deliver a project plan for how a team of 8 will finish the game by March 12.

Demo to First Milestone: 3wks

•  Of the 7 Demos, 2 or 3 projects will be adopted.

•  Teams will merge; again, I’ll take input. •  Spring Break is your deadline •  The game should work, be playable, and

have two levels. •  Industy people will crit.

Post-Demo Re-Plan

•  Change your plans in response to feedback

•  Last chance to feature creep!

Web Site

•  Online •  Credits, blurb, screen caps, and video of

game play •  Facebook page •  Contact info

•  Needed for store apps & festival apps.

Alpha

•  Roughly every two weeks: Scrum •  Everything in, in at least rough form •  All art assets represented •  All sounds •  All code functions working, mostly

–  (90% bug-free!)

Beta

•  Running smoothly •  Art assets as they should look •  Systems working as intended

•  From now on, you can tweak how high he jumps, but you can’t add grenades.

Applications

•  You have to complete a submission to the App Store – Or Steam, or XBLA, or Play, or something–

check with me first. •  I don’t care whether you actually get in,

but if you do, I’ll be super nice. •  I do require that you are not rejected

because you did it wrong. •  It takes forever, so it’s part of the project

plan.

Final Demo

•  Eat crab cakes, schmooze, show off, get jobs.