ITB/ITN751 Games Production Lecture 2 Game Conception and Design

Queensland University of Technology

CRICOS No. 000213J

ITB/ITN751 Games Production Lecture 2

Game Conception and Design

Ross Brown

CRICOS No. 000213Ja university for the worldrealR

Lecture Contents

• Game Conception and Design• Guest Lecture – Morgan Jaffit


Readings

• Textbook Chapters: – 6 Game Design and What Producers Need to Know

about Designing

• Websites:– http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1524/the_che

mistry_of_game_design.php– http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991019/ryan_0

1.htm– http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article273.

asp


Conception

• “Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own” - Robert Collier


What is Game Design?

• A Game Design is a blueprint for a game [1]• A game designer creates this blueprint• The blueprint is for the creation of a series of

interesting decisions• This is known as a game…


What is a game? [1]

• A game is a play activity comprised of a series of actions and decisions, constrained by rules and the game world, moving toward an end condition

• The rules and the game world are delivered by electronic media and are controlled by a digital program

• The rules and game world exist to provide a framework and content for a players actions


What is a game?

• The rules also exist to create interesting situations to challenge and oppose the player

• The player’s actions, his decisions, choices, and chances, really, his journey, all comprise the “soul of play.”

• It is the richness of context, the challenge, excitement, and fun of a players journey, and not simply the attainment of the end condition, that determines the success of the game – explains Rupert Murdoch I guess…


Designing Games

• At this point, a reality check• If you wish to learn how to design games, you

should do the design major, coordinated by Penny Drennan

• We will look at the technology and processes that go into the creation of a game design


Life Cycle Stages

• The design, by and large, is obviously at conception and design stage

• However, designers are still required during the entire life cycle of a game, but they will be focussed on a new game

• They also engage in the design of new levels for persistent online world games


Conception Design Phase

• Biggest outcome is the blueprint, known as the Design Document

• Brainstorm and develop concepts• Including those handed down by publishers


Conception Design Phase

• Often core idea is from external source, as in movie tie-in

• Works with programmers on scripting tools and other provisions for the production stage

• Develops many design documents: from broad brush strokes to fine details on levels


Pre-production Phase

• Works with developers on scripting tools• In order to facilitate the insertion of new features


Production Phase

• Designers script gameplay• Work with art and programming to make sure

the game is consistent with design documents• Part of evaluation and testing


Production Phase

• May refine design documents from evaluation results – used for later QA

• Arms race of features can occur, due to competitors new feature announcement


Maintenance Phase

• Additional content design• Balancing of gameplay with patches• Analysis of game reception for new versions or

whole new games


Designer Hierarchies

• Designers come in hierarchies as well as other jobs and organisations

• Usually a lead designer, deals with managing the overall vision of the project

• With underlings such as– Level Designers - design game levels– Scenarios Designers – story designer– Multiplayer Designers – online gameplay concepts


Processes - Writing

• Writing – lots of it• Because you must generate a precise

description of what a game is, you must communicate this in great detail

• Just like a lecturer – with less hand waving


Writing

• Design document is often over one hundred pages in length

• With many revisions• HINT HINT – u nd 2 wurk on ur nglsh grmr &

stile to make it in this game• You need to be able to communicate your vision

effectively


Listener

• You need to understand the nature of the technology used to implement your game design

• You will most likely not be an expert in technology

• Also need to be aware of other peoples ideas


Cheerleading

• You will champion good ideas• You will be a major source and protector of

creativity• As with a lot of creative disciplines, you must

defend your vision, and cheer on other contributions


The Game Design Document…

• Uses words, tables and diagrams to describe the workings of a game

• From the basic story of the games characters and narrative

• To the user interface buttons…


The Game Design Document

• The design document is used mainly by the development staff

• Though others may look at it for various pieces of information – eg. sound voice over actors requiring insight into the nature of a character


Stewardship of Ideas

• Needs to create a sense of ideas being welcome• Like any leader in a group• Constant fielding and mining of ideas from the

group• Create a culture of innovation


Creating New Ideas

• Designer tends to be the idea smith for the studio

• Is derived from you and other peoples experiences of gameplay

• Ideas are the insertion point, the rest of the design is the hard work involved to implement the game design vision


Visualisation

• An important part of the game designers tasks• A visual form of the game experience needs to

be developed• The idea is to present a picture of the feel of the

game


Visualisation

• NOT the specific details, • So that other development personnel can

evaluate and critique the game concept• Done in small bite size components – similar to

storyboarding for film


Prototyping

• An early version of a game, used to evaluate gameplay

• Useful for assessing technical requirements• Can the system actually cope with the design

– number of models– rendering effects


Prototyping – Some Options

• Use a spreadsheet for a numbers game• Create a board game version to test gameplay• Use cards to model gameplay• Use a scripting language to prototype a game on

a computer

• Because not every game is an FPS shooter…


Scripting

• After the game concept has been established, and documents written

• Scripting is the process of controlling specific events in your game

• Typically executed in the form of a language – Lua - http://www.lua.org/– Game Monkey – http://www.somedude.net/gamemonkey

• Brissy bred code by Matt Riek!

– Python - http://www.python.org/


Scripting

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) that governs the behaviour of characters is done by programmers

• Content – the “stuff” in a game – is created by the other development personnel such as artists/modellers/animators

• Scripting is therefore the process of final game integration and tweaking

• Taking the content and making it fit the design document, and the lead designer’s vision


Technology - Scripting

• Differs from core game code in that it does not require compilation – process of converting source code into machine instructions – so is easy to tweak

• Languages are often designed to be easy to use by non-programmers

• Often use game engine systems, such as Unreal tournament, which has an editor – UnRealD

• Or the programming department may provide their own toolset…we get to this in the software tools lecture


Design Document Structure

• The design document is living and requires revision, thus a collaborative tool like a Wiki is useful for such work


Document Sections

• I. Core Overview– Summary– Key Aspects– Golden Nuggets

• II. Game Context– Game Story– Back Story– Primary Players


Document Sections

• III. Core Game Objects– Characters– Weapons– Objects

• IV. Conflict and Resolution• V. Artificial Intelligence• VI. Game Flow• VII. Controls


Game Design Case Study

• The following is a design document for an example game called EyeOpener

• From the Game Design A Practical Approach [1]• We show the game prototype, and the design

document that went into it


Example of Eye Opener


Guest Lecturer

• Morgan Jaffit – Game Designer• Pandemic Studios


References

1. Paul Shcuytema, Game Design: a practical approach, Charles River Media, Boston

Documents

ITB/ITN751 Games Production Lecture 2 Game Conception and Design