You have finally made it. You have finished your game and you want to publish
it. Now you can read the following pages for some advice on how you can do it.
Here is a breakdown of the major topics in this chapter:
n Is your game worth publishing?
n Whose door should you knock on?
n Understanding contracts
n Meeting milestones
n Interviews
Is Your Game Worth Publishing?
Before you seek a publisher, you must evaluate your game. Be honest with
yourself, and also ask friends, family, and even strangers to play your game and
give you some feedback. Put yourself in the position of the buyer—would you
buy your own game if you saw it in the stores? And if so, how much would you
pay for it? These are very important questions to ask yourself when you are
thinking about approaching a publisher. In this section, I’ll go over a few steps
you can follow to see whether your game is worth publishing. Please note that
these aren’t strict rules.
Probably the most important thing to evaluate in your game is whether it is
graphically attractive. Don’t get me wrong; I play my old Spectrum games (the
good old days) more often than the new 3D perspective mumbo jumbo out there.
But unfortunately, only a small group of people do so. Users want their $250
video cards to be stretched to the last polygon. They want to see an infinite
number of lights, models, and huge maps, and unfortunately, games of that size
require much time from many people.
Don’t despair! There is still room for 2D games out there, but they must be very
good to beat the new 3D ones. A nice user interface, friendly graphics, and some
tricks can do the job, but understand that this is difficult to do. So, your game is
fascinating? It has nice graphics and animations and even plays smoothly? Great,
move on to the next topic.
Not so important but still a consideration is the sound. Does the sound match the
actions? Is it immersive? One good way to test this would be to play the game and
have a friend sit with his back to the computer and try to describe what the
sounds depict to him. If he says that it sounds like a machine gun when you
have exploded a mine, it isn’t a good sign. You should also pay extra attention to
the music. Music should immerse the player into the game, not make him deaf.
Make sure the music is pleasing to the ears but still contains the mood of the game.
An example of a bad soundtrack would be if you were doing a horror game and
your soundtrack consisted of the Bee Gees and the Spice Girls. The music shouldn’t
force the user to turn it off; rather, it should make him feel he is in the game itself.
One thing to be critical about when evaluating your game is, does it have a
beginning, a middle, and an end? Does the player progress through various parts
of the game feeling as if he has achieved something? Nowadays, you can’t just
throw a game to the player and expect him to play if you don’t reward him for
accomplishing something, or if you don’t explain why he should do things. Don’t
overlook this part of the game, because it’s ten times more important than having
cool alpha blend effects. The era of games that consisted of putting a player in a
dungeon with a pistol and just letting him play are long gone, my friend.
You should also be concerned with whether the game pulls the player back to play.
Is it attractive? Will it make the player be late to his job because he had the desire to
kill the boss in level seven? If he does, then you have probably done your job well.
To see whether your game is worth publishing, you can finally determine whether
it fits into any hardcore genre. For example, if your game isn’t very pretty or
doesn’t have nice sound but it has a million and one options to run an army,
it will probably be interesting to a small hardcore group. The people in these
groups tend to buy the game that fits their genre (even if it isn’t very impressive
graphically) if it excels at simulating a subject in that genre or hobby. There are
many types of games that fall into the sub-genres and niche product categories,
like war games, strategy games, and puzzle games.
Whose Door to Knock On
Whose door you should knock on depends much on the type of game and its
quality. You can’t expect Codemasters to pick your Pac-Man clone. Nor should
you expect a company that is strictly into the strategy genres to pick your shooter.
Knowing what type of game genres publishers are more interested in could help
you immensely.
If you have no previous game published, it might be hard to find a publisher even
if you have a very good game. You should start at the bottom and build up. Do
some small games and sell them online or through budget publishers. Then start
more complex games and try to get some small publisher to take it. As you build a
name for yourself or for your company, make a lot of contacts along the way, and
it will be easier to get to publishers and work out some deals.
Another suggestion is to attend conferences, such as E3 (Electronic Entertainment
Expo) and GDC (Game Developers Conference), and try to get the latest
scoop about what publishers are looking for. You can even make some contacts
and exchange business cards with some of them.
Learn to Knock Correctly
One of the worst errors new developers make is to get too excited about their
games and bombard almost every publisher 20 times about their game. Learning
to go through the correct channels to submit a game can help you greatly.
First, check the publisher’s website and try to find information on how to submit
games to them. If you can’t find any information, such as a phone number or
e-mail address, then e-mail the webmaster and politely ask for whom you should
contact to talk about publishing opportunities. This usually works. If you know a
publisher’s phone number, you can call to get this information and take a chance
to do some scouting.
When you have your contact, it’s time to let him know you have a game. Send an
e-mail to the person and say you have a game of a certain genre, give a two- to
three-line description of the game, and explain that you would be interested in
working some deal with them. If you have a website for the game, send the person
a URL for the game’s demo and/or screenshots. If the publisher is interested in
your game, he will probably send an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and give
you the guidelines to submit the game.
Now it’s up to you to convince the publisher that your game is worth publishing
and that they should be the ones publishing it. Don’t ever disrespect or attack the
publisher even if they refuse your game. They might not want this game, but they
might be interested in another one, and if you do anything to make them angry,
you can forget about trying to go to that publisher again.
No Publisher, So Now What?
You couldn’t get any publisher to take your game? Don’t despair, because it isn’t
over yet. You can still sell the game yourself. Start a website, find a host that can
handle credit card purchases (or pay for a payment service), and do a lot of
advertising. You might still have a chance to profit from your game.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Artificial Intelligence Usage in Video Games
I’m playing my strategy game and I have to spend 10 minutes finding their units
while they automatically know where mine are, which type they are, their
energies, and so on. It’s not the fact that they cheat to make the game harder, it’s
the fact that they cheat because the artificial intelligence is very weak. The
computer adversary should know just about the same information as the player.
If you look at a unit, you don’t see their health, their weapons, and their bullets.
You just see a unit and, depending on your units, you respond to it. That’s what
the computer should do; that’s what artificial intelligence is all about.
In this chapter I will first give you a quick overview of several types of artificial
intelligence, and then you will see how you can apply one or two to games. In this
chapter, I’m going to go against the norm for this book and explain the concepts
with little snippets of code instead of complete programs. The reason I’m doing
this is because the implementation of each field of artificial intelligence is very
specific, and where is the fun in watching a graph give you the percentage of the
decisions if you can’t actually see the bad guy hiding and cornering you?
Complete examples would basically require a complete game! For this reason, I
will go over several concrete artificial intelligence examples, giving only the
theory and some basic code for the implementation, and it will be up to you to
choose the best implementation for what you want to do.
Here is a breakdown of the major topics in this chapter:
Understanding the various fields of artificial intelligence
Using deterministic algorithms
Recognizing finite state machines
Identifying fuzzy logic
Understanding a simple method for memory
Using artificial intelligence in games
The Fields of Artificial Intelligence
There are many fields of artificial intelligence; some are more game-oriented and
others are more academic. Although it is possible to use almost any of them in
games, there are a few that stand out, and they will be introduced and explained
in this section.
Expert Systems
Expert systems solve problems that are usually solved by specialized humans. For
example, if you go to a doctor, he will analyze you (either by asking you a set of
questions or doing some analysis himself), and according to his knowledge, he
will give you a diagnosis.
An expert system could be the doctor if it had a broad enough knowledge base. It
would ask you a set of questions, and depending on your answers, it would
consult its knowledge base and give you a diagnosis. The system checks each of
your answers with the possible answers in its knowledge base, and depending on
your answer, it asks you other questions until it can easily give you a diagnosis.
For a sample knowledge tree, take a look at Figure 20.1. As you can see, a few
questions would be asked, and according to the answers, the system would follow
the appropriate tree branch until it reached a leaf.
Genetic Algorithms
Using genetic algorithms is a method of computing solutions that relies on the
concepts of real genetic concepts (such as evolution and hereditary logic). You
might have had a biology class in high school that explained heredity, but in case
you didn’t, the field of biology studies the evolution of subjects when they
reproduce. (Okay, maybe there is a little more to it than that, but we are only
interested in this much.)
As you know, everyone has a blood type, with the possible types being A, B, AB,
and O, and each of these types can be either positive or negative. When two
people have a child, their types of blood will influence the type of blood the child
has. All that you are is written in your DNA. Although the DNA is nothing more
than a collection of bridges between four elements, it holds all the information
about you, such as blood type, eye color, skin type, and so on. The little ‘‘creatures’’
that hold this information are called genes.
What you might not know is that although you have only one type of blood, you
have two genes specifying which blood type you have. How can that be? If you
have two genes describing two types of blood, how can you have only one type of
blood?
Neural Networks
Neural networks attempt to solve problems by imitating the workings of a
brain. Researchers started trying to mimic animal learning by using a collection
of idealized neurons and applying stimuli to them to change their behavior.
Neural networks have evolved much in the past few years, mostly due to the
discovery of various new learning algorithms, which made it possible to
implement the idea of neural networks with success. Unfortunately, there still
aren’t major discoveries in this field that make it possible to simulate the human
brain efficiently.
The human brain is made of around 50 billion neurons (give or take a few
billion). Each neuron can compute or process information and send this
information to other neurons. Trying to simulate 50 billion neurons in a computer
would be disastrous. Each neuron takes various calculations to be simulated,
which would lead to around 200 billion calculations. You can forget about
modeling the brain fully, but you can use a limited set of neurons (the human
brain only uses around 10 percent of its capacity for conscious thought) to mimic
basic actions of humans.
In 1962, Rosenblatt created something called a perceptron, one of the earliest
neural network models. A perceptron is an attempt to simulate a neuron by using
a series of inputs, weighted by some factor, which will output a value of 1 if
the sum of all the weighted inputs is greater than a threshold, or 0 if it isn’t.
Figure 20.6 shows the idea of a perceptron and its resemblance to a neuron.
While a perceptron is just a simple way to model a neuron, many other ideas
evolved from this, such as using the same values for various inputs, adding a bias
or memory term, and mixing various perceptrons using the output of one as
input for others. All of this together formed the current neural networks used in
research today.
There are several ways to apply neural networks to games, but probably the most
predominant is by using neural networks to simulate memory and learning. This
field of artificial intelligence is probably one of its most interesting parts, but
unfortunately, the topic is too vast to give a proper explanation of it here.
Fortunately, neural networks are becoming more and more popular these days,
and numerous publications are available about the subject.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Xbox 360 live , fun beyond the limit
Features
- Xbox 360 S console: The new console is sleeker and quieter than current Xbox 360 consoles, with a stylish design that will be the centerpiece of your home entertainment system.
- Xbox 360 250GB Hard Drive: The internal 250GB hard drive allows you to save your games and store television shows, movies, music, pictures, trailers, levels, demos, and other content available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
- Built in Wi-Fi: The new Xbox 360 is the only console with 802.11n Wi-Fi built in for a faster and easier connection to Xbox LIVE. Download or stream HD movies, TV episodes, and games from Xbox LIVE Marketplace in 1080p and 5.1 surround sound from anywhere in the house. Compatible with b/g/n networks.
- Kinect ready: Coming this holiday, Kinect will make YOU the controller. With a dedicated, specialized port, the Xbox 360 250GB is built to connect seamlessly with the Kinect sensor— and have you up off the couch and into the world of Kinect in no time.
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller: This award-winning, high-performance wireless controller features the Xbox Guide Button for quick, in-game access to friends and music. It has a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of 30 hours on two AA batteries.
- Xbox 360 Headset: Strategize or trade taunts while playing games, and chat with your friends on Xbox LIVE.
- Xbox 360 Composite A/V cable: Use your Xbox 360 on standard-definition televisions using this connection over traditional composite connectors. Play high-quality audio with the included stereo connector.
- Xbox LIVE: Xbox LIVE brings a whole world of entertainment possibility right to your Xbox 360. Play with friends online, and watch streaming movies and TV from Zune and Netflix, all in crystal-clear HD. You'll find loads of your favorite music from Last.fm and the ability to connect with friends on Facebook and Twitter right on the best screen in the house.
- Warranty: One year limited warranty on console.
Handling up to 1080p resolution in a single wire, the Xbox 360 HDMI cable brings you HD entertainment in all its eye-popping glory. High-def movies and TV from Xbox LIVE and Netflix, plus all your favorite HD games, come through in picture perfect clarity. The full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound will make sure the house is a-rockin'.
Kinect for Xbox 360
Kinect for Xbox 360 brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways with no controller required. Simply step in front of the sensor and Kinect recognizes you and responds to your gestures. Connecting in a whole new way is as easy as a wave of your hand.
Kinect removes the last barrier between you and the experiences you love. Best of all, when Kinect arrives this November, it will work with every Xbox 360 console.*
Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking
With no cords to tie you down, the Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter is your connection to the fun of Xbox LIVE. Quickly download or stream HD movies, TV episodes, game demos, game add-ons, and more. The dual band adapter offers fast speed and great range* and contains an extension cable for off-board placement.
The Xbox 360® Wireless N Networking Adapter is ideal for:
- Streaming movies, videos and music from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace
- Simultaneous downloads, voice and music
- Avoiding interference
- Multiplayer gaming
- Larger homes and multiple rooms
- Congested wireless environments
- Dense housing, multiple wireless networks
- Multiple HD videos and lag-free network gaming
Friday, August 20, 2010
StarCraft II Wings of Liberty Latest news
In StarCraft II, it's still the Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss clashing against each other, and you're still mining minerals with SCVs, Drones, and Probes and pulling Vespene Gas from the ground to fuel production. It's a classic style of real-time strategy play, one old-school RTS gamers should be very familiar with. Compared to the changes Blizzard made between the traditional gameplay of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and the hero-based leveling elements of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, StarCraft II feels like a relatively safe play; a game designed to slide in and discreetly supplant its predecessor instead of ruffle the feathers of longtime StarCraft devotees and risk rejection. While it's not a revolutionary game, it is one of the most fully featured, expertly designed, and impressively refined real-time strategy experiences on the market.
Even though at its most basic level a lot of the game is familiar, much has been adjusted. In no area is this more apparent than in the single-player campaign. Blizzard's decision to split the overall story of StarCraft II into three parts sparked some controversy when it was first announced; basically that means you only get to play as the Terran faction (with a few exceptions) for the solo portion, and must wait until later for the Zerg and Protoss campaigns to be released to see the entirety of the story. While that affects some of the impact of the tale, it in no way means you'll be starved for content if all you're looking to do in StarCraft II is play alone. There's a huge campaign here that could easily take many hours to play through (depending on your style and level of difficulty). It's all exceedingly well presented, with a totally reworked narrative delivery system, a few instances of choice driving the story, and options for inter-mission upgrades that make it feel like more of an role-playing experience than a series of mission that exist solely to get you ready for the multiplayer.
Unlike the original game, this time around you won't be staring at the sparsely animated heads of major characters as they bicker and plot on video monitors between missions. Instead, Blizzard gives you a detailed world to play around in to give its fictional universe a greater sense of place and atmosphere. The action follows along with Jim Raynor, who begins the game as a gruff alcoholic in the process of rebelling against Arcturus Mengsk, the corrupt emperor of the Terran Dominion. If you've forgotten the StarCraft storyline or never got around to learning it, then it should be fairly easy to dig into this one, though you're going to miss a lot of references.
Regardless of your level of exposure to the fiction, it's difficult to ignore the eye-rolling cliches and talk of prophecies being fulfilled, and the overabundance of 1980s action movie-style macho posturing and cheesiness. It's all snugly wrapped around the missions though, which makes it easier to look beyond the standard sci-fi trappings and appreciate the detail that's gone into the creation of the character models, the smoothness of the animations, and the amount of character interaction packed into the experience. Since missions are bookended by cut-scenes, great voice acting, and rewards, it makes each feel important in its own way, and adds to your motivation to meet every challenge. It's something a lot of developers besides Blizzard have difficulty doing in this genre, with their missions often feeling like a string of meaningless, boring tasks.
Additional narrative is also provided through interactive environments between missions. You're able to explore various settings, from a dusty building at the campaign's outset to Raynor's starship, the Hyperion, and beyond as the action continues. Eventually the entirety of the game's options and locations are unlocked, letting you flip around to different areas of the ship to talk to major characters or purchase upgrades. On top of that, new units are unlocked depending on which mission you choose to take on next, which can be further modified in the upgrade center, adding significant bonuses to each like more effective healing for medics or boosted protection for Marines. Because the campaign isn't tied down by the strict rules of multiplayer balance, this also means you'll see a number of favorites return from the original. Firebats, Vultures, Goliaths and more can be unlocked and upgraded in the story mode, which is both a great nod to fans and adds more variety for new players. It's a system that's constantly giving you new things to play around with and ways to modify what's already available, making progressions more exciting.
Even though at its most basic level a lot of the game is familiar, much has been adjusted. In no area is this more apparent than in the single-player campaign. Blizzard's decision to split the overall story of StarCraft II into three parts sparked some controversy when it was first announced; basically that means you only get to play as the Terran faction (with a few exceptions) for the solo portion, and must wait until later for the Zerg and Protoss campaigns to be released to see the entirety of the story. While that affects some of the impact of the tale, it in no way means you'll be starved for content if all you're looking to do in StarCraft II is play alone. There's a huge campaign here that could easily take many hours to play through (depending on your style and level of difficulty). It's all exceedingly well presented, with a totally reworked narrative delivery system, a few instances of choice driving the story, and options for inter-mission upgrades that make it feel like more of an role-playing experience than a series of mission that exist solely to get you ready for the multiplayer.
Unlike the original game, this time around you won't be staring at the sparsely animated heads of major characters as they bicker and plot on video monitors between missions. Instead, Blizzard gives you a detailed world to play around in to give its fictional universe a greater sense of place and atmosphere. The action follows along with Jim Raynor, who begins the game as a gruff alcoholic in the process of rebelling against Arcturus Mengsk, the corrupt emperor of the Terran Dominion. If you've forgotten the StarCraft storyline or never got around to learning it, then it should be fairly easy to dig into this one, though you're going to miss a lot of references.
Regardless of your level of exposure to the fiction, it's difficult to ignore the eye-rolling cliches and talk of prophecies being fulfilled, and the overabundance of 1980s action movie-style macho posturing and cheesiness. It's all snugly wrapped around the missions though, which makes it easier to look beyond the standard sci-fi trappings and appreciate the detail that's gone into the creation of the character models, the smoothness of the animations, and the amount of character interaction packed into the experience. Since missions are bookended by cut-scenes, great voice acting, and rewards, it makes each feel important in its own way, and adds to your motivation to meet every challenge. It's something a lot of developers besides Blizzard have difficulty doing in this genre, with their missions often feeling like a string of meaningless, boring tasks.
Additional narrative is also provided through interactive environments between missions. You're able to explore various settings, from a dusty building at the campaign's outset to Raynor's starship, the Hyperion, and beyond as the action continues. Eventually the entirety of the game's options and locations are unlocked, letting you flip around to different areas of the ship to talk to major characters or purchase upgrades. On top of that, new units are unlocked depending on which mission you choose to take on next, which can be further modified in the upgrade center, adding significant bonuses to each like more effective healing for medics or boosted protection for Marines. Because the campaign isn't tied down by the strict rules of multiplayer balance, this also means you'll see a number of favorites return from the original. Firebats, Vultures, Goliaths and more can be unlocked and upgraded in the story mode, which is both a great nod to fans and adds more variety for new players. It's a system that's constantly giving you new things to play around with and ways to modify what's already available, making progressions more exciting.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Importance of Video Game Design
Many years have passed since the days when games were designed in a couple of
hours at the family barbeque. Today, games are required to be fun and addictive,
but at the same time meaningful and intuitive. The latest games released by the big
companies take months to design—and that is with the help of various designers.
Contrary to popular belief, a game designer’s sole purpose isn’t to think of an idea,
and then give it to the programmers so they can make a game. A designer must
think of the game idea, elaborate it, illustrate it, define it, and describe just about
everything from the time the CD is inserted into the CD-ROM drive to the time
when the player quits the game. This chapter will help you understand a little more
about game design, as well as give you some tips about it, and in the end show you
a small game design document for a very popular game.
This chapter goes over the software development process for game development,
describing the main steps involved in taking a game from inspiration to completion.
This is not about creating a hundred-page document with all the screens,
menus, characters, settings, and storyline of the game. Rather, this chapter is
geared toward the programmer, with tips for following a design process that
keeps a game in development until it is completed. Without a simple plan, most
game programmers will become bored with a game that only weeks before had
them up all night with earnest fervor.
Here is a breakdown of the major topics in this chapter:
n Understanding game design basics
n Understanding game development phases
n Recognizing post-production woes
n Future-proofing your design
n Understanding the dreaded design document
n Looking at a sample game design
Game Design Basics
Creating a computer game without at least a minimal design document or collection
of notes is like building a plastic model of a car or airplane from a kit
without the instructions. More than likely, a game that is created without the
instructions will end up with missing pieces and loose ends. The tendency is
always to jump right in and get some code working, and there is room for that
step in the development of a new game! However, the initial coding session
should be used to build enthusiasm for yourself and any others in the project, and
should be nothing more than a proof of concept or an incomplete prototype.
Like most creative individuals, game programmers must have the discipline to
stick to something before moving on, or they will fall into the trap of halfcompleting
a dozen or so games without much to show for the effort. The real
difference between a hobbyist and a professional is simply that a professional
game programmer will see the game through to completion no matter how long it
takes.
Inspiration
Take a look at classic console games for inspiration, and you will have no trouble
coming up with an idea for a cool new game. Any time I am bug-eyed and braindead
from a long coding session, I take a walk outside and then return for a
gaming session (preferably with a friend). Consoles are great because they are
usually fast paced and they are often based on arcade machines.
PC games, on the other hand, can be quite slow and even boring in comparison
because they have so much more depth. If you are in a hurry and just want to
have a little fun, go with a console. Video games are full of creativity and
interesting technology that PC gamers usually fail to notice.
Game Feasibility
The feasibility of a game is difficult to judge because so much is possible once you
get started, and it is easy to underestimate your own capabilities (especially if you
have a few people helping you). One thing that you must be careful about when
designing a new game is scope. How big will the game be? You also don’t want to
bite off more than you can chew, to use the familiar expression.
Feasibility is the process of deciding how far you will go with the game and at
what point you will stop adding new features. But at the very least, feasibility is a
study of whether the game can be created in the first place. Once you are certain
that you have the capability to create a certain type of game and you have
narrowed the scope of the game to a manageable level, work can begin.
Feature Glut
As a general rule, you should get the game up and running before you work on
new features (the bells and whistles). Never spend more than a day working on
code without testing it! This is critical. Any time you change a major part of the
game, you must completely recompile the game and run it to make sure you
haven’t broken any part of it in the process.
I can’t tell you how many times I have thought up a new way to do something and
gone through all the source code for a game, making changes here and there, with
the result being that the game won’t compile or won’t run. Every change you
make during the development of the game should be small and easy to undo if it
doesn’t work.
My personal preference is to keep the game running throughout the day. Every
time I make even a minor change, I test the game to make sure it works before I
move on to a new section of code. This is really where object-oriented coding
pays off. By moving tried-and-tested code into a class, it is relatively safe to
assume the code works as expected because you are not modifying it as often.
It really helps to eliminate bugs when you have put the startup and shutdown
code inside a class (or within the Allegro library, where the library handles these
routines automatically). There is also another tremendous benefit to wrapping
code inside a library—information overload.There is a point at which we humans simply can’t handle any more information,
and ourmemory starts to fail. If you try to keep track of too many loose ends in a
game, you are bound to make a mistake! By putting common code in classes (or
in a separate library file altogether), you reduce the amount of information that
you must remember. It is such a relief when you need to do something quickly
and you realize that all the code is ready to do your bidding at a moment’s
notice. The alternative (and old-school) method of copying sections of code and
pasting them into your project is error-prone and will introduce bugs into your
game.
hours at the family barbeque. Today, games are required to be fun and addictive,
but at the same time meaningful and intuitive. The latest games released by the big
companies take months to design—and that is with the help of various designers.
Contrary to popular belief, a game designer’s sole purpose isn’t to think of an idea,
and then give it to the programmers so they can make a game. A designer must
think of the game idea, elaborate it, illustrate it, define it, and describe just about
everything from the time the CD is inserted into the CD-ROM drive to the time
when the player quits the game. This chapter will help you understand a little more
about game design, as well as give you some tips about it, and in the end show you
a small game design document for a very popular game.
This chapter goes over the software development process for game development,
describing the main steps involved in taking a game from inspiration to completion.
This is not about creating a hundred-page document with all the screens,
menus, characters, settings, and storyline of the game. Rather, this chapter is
geared toward the programmer, with tips for following a design process that
keeps a game in development until it is completed. Without a simple plan, most
game programmers will become bored with a game that only weeks before had
them up all night with earnest fervor.
Here is a breakdown of the major topics in this chapter:
n Understanding game design basics
n Understanding game development phases
n Recognizing post-production woes
n Future-proofing your design
n Understanding the dreaded design document
n Looking at a sample game design
Game Design Basics
Creating a computer game without at least a minimal design document or collection
of notes is like building a plastic model of a car or airplane from a kit
without the instructions. More than likely, a game that is created without the
instructions will end up with missing pieces and loose ends. The tendency is
always to jump right in and get some code working, and there is room for that
step in the development of a new game! However, the initial coding session
should be used to build enthusiasm for yourself and any others in the project, and
should be nothing more than a proof of concept or an incomplete prototype.
Like most creative individuals, game programmers must have the discipline to
stick to something before moving on, or they will fall into the trap of halfcompleting
a dozen or so games without much to show for the effort. The real
difference between a hobbyist and a professional is simply that a professional
game programmer will see the game through to completion no matter how long it
takes.
Inspiration
Take a look at classic console games for inspiration, and you will have no trouble
coming up with an idea for a cool new game. Any time I am bug-eyed and braindead
from a long coding session, I take a walk outside and then return for a
gaming session (preferably with a friend). Consoles are great because they are
usually fast paced and they are often based on arcade machines.
PC games, on the other hand, can be quite slow and even boring in comparison
because they have so much more depth. If you are in a hurry and just want to
have a little fun, go with a console. Video games are full of creativity and
interesting technology that PC gamers usually fail to notice.
Game Feasibility
The feasibility of a game is difficult to judge because so much is possible once you
get started, and it is easy to underestimate your own capabilities (especially if you
have a few people helping you). One thing that you must be careful about when
designing a new game is scope. How big will the game be? You also don’t want to
bite off more than you can chew, to use the familiar expression.
Feasibility is the process of deciding how far you will go with the game and at
what point you will stop adding new features. But at the very least, feasibility is a
study of whether the game can be created in the first place. Once you are certain
that you have the capability to create a certain type of game and you have
narrowed the scope of the game to a manageable level, work can begin.
Feature Glut
As a general rule, you should get the game up and running before you work on
new features (the bells and whistles). Never spend more than a day working on
code without testing it! This is critical. Any time you change a major part of the
game, you must completely recompile the game and run it to make sure you
haven’t broken any part of it in the process.
I can’t tell you how many times I have thought up a new way to do something and
gone through all the source code for a game, making changes here and there, with
the result being that the game won’t compile or won’t run. Every change you
make during the development of the game should be small and easy to undo if it
doesn’t work.
My personal preference is to keep the game running throughout the day. Every
time I make even a minor change, I test the game to make sure it works before I
move on to a new section of code. This is really where object-oriented coding
pays off. By moving tried-and-tested code into a class, it is relatively safe to
assume the code works as expected because you are not modifying it as often.
It really helps to eliminate bugs when you have put the startup and shutdown
code inside a class (or within the Allegro library, where the library handles these
routines automatically). There is also another tremendous benefit to wrapping
code inside a library—information overload.There is a point at which we humans simply can’t handle any more information,
and ourmemory starts to fail. If you try to keep track of too many loose ends in a
game, you are bound to make a mistake! By putting common code in classes (or
in a separate library file altogether), you reduce the amount of information that
you must remember. It is such a relief when you need to do something quickly
and you realize that all the code is ready to do your bidding at a moment’s
notice. The alternative (and old-school) method of copying sections of code and
pasting them into your project is error-prone and will introduce bugs into your
game.
Your Ideal Video Game?
Allow me to go off topic for a moment. I love role-playing games. I am especially
fond of the old-school 2D RPGs that focus on strong character development,
exploration, and questing as a solo adventurer. I am still amazed with the
attention to detail in games such as Ultima VII: The Black Gate, which is now
more than 13 years old. This game was absolutely amazing, and its legacy lives on
today in the form of Ultima Online. The music in this game was so ominous that
it actually affected most players on an emotional level, drawing them into the
game with a desire to help the Avatar save Britannia. The open storyline and
freedom to explore the world made it so engaging and engrossing that it completely
suspended my sense of disbelief—that is, while playing, I tended to forget
it was merely a game.
A modern version of the Ultima VII engine has been developed by a team of volunteers, called
Exult. This open-source project includes a complete suite of editors you can use to modify the
world of Ultima. You can learn more about the Exult project at http://exult.sourceforge.net.
Contrast that experience with modern games that are more focused on eye candy
than exploring the imagination! It reminds me of the difference between a movie
and a book; each has a certain appeal, but a book delights at a more personal
level, opening the mind to new possibilities. I am drawn into a good game, such
as Ultima VII, just as I am with a good book; on the other hand, even an all-time
favorite movie usually fails to draw me into the story at a personal level. I am
experiencing the imagination and vision of another person, and those impressions
are completely different from my own. Teasing the imagination is what
separates brilliance from idle entertainment, and it is the difference between a
long remembered and beloved memory (found in a good book or a deeply
engaging game) and a quickly forgotten one It is a rare game that is able to enchant one’s imagination while also providing eye
candy. One such game is Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance (a console implementation of the bestselling PC game). This game is intelligent, challenging, imaginative,
enjoyable, engaging, and still manages to impress visually as well as audibly. The
layout of this game is an overhead view, although it is rendered in 3D, giving it a
2D feel that resembles the orientation of Ultima VII and Diablo II. That someone
is still building fantastic RPGs like this is a testament to the power of a good story
and the joy of character development and leveling up. The pizzazz of highly
detailed 3D graphics simply satisfies the picky gamers.
As you delve further into this chapter, try to keep in mind what your ideal game
would be. What is your all-time favorite game? What genre does it represent?
How would you improve upon the game, given the opportunity? I will continually
encourage you to keep your ideal game design in mind while working
through this book. I hope you will start to develop that game as you progress
through each chapter. To that end and to form a basis for building your own
game, I will walk you through the creation of a complete game—not just a
sample or demonstration program, but a complete, full-featured game with all
the bells and whistles! Although I would really enjoy building an RPG, that is far
too ambitious for the goals of this book. RPGs are so enormous that even the
simplest of RPGs is a huge undertaking, and there are so many prerequisites just
to get started. For instance, will the hero be able to wield different weapons?
Animating a single character can require more than 100 animation frames for a
single sprite—and that is just with one weapon, one set of armor. What if you
want your character to be equipped with different kinds of weapons and armor in
the game (in my opinion, one of the best aspects of an RPG)? You could design
the game with a fixed character image, but you are still looking at a huge
investment in artwork.
My second choice is a strategy game, so that is the approach I have taken in this
book. Strategy games are enormously entertaining while requiring a meager
initial investment in artwork. In fact, in the spirit of the open-source tools used in
this book, I will also be using a public domain sprite library called SpriteLib. This
library was produced by Ari Feldman, a talented artist who was kind enough to
allow me to use his fantastic high-quality artwork in this book. As you will see in
the next two chapters, each great game idea starts with a basic prototype, so you
will develop the first prototype version of this strategy game in Chapter 4,
‘‘Writing Your First Allegro Game.’’ Following that, each major chapter will
include a short section on enhancing the game with the new information presented
in that chapter. For instance, the first version of the strategy game will
have a fixed background, but when I cover scrolling backgrounds I’ll show you
how to enhance the game to use that new feature. The same goes for animated
sprites, sound effects, music, special effects, and so on.
fond of the old-school 2D RPGs that focus on strong character development,
exploration, and questing as a solo adventurer. I am still amazed with the
attention to detail in games such as Ultima VII: The Black Gate, which is now
more than 13 years old. This game was absolutely amazing, and its legacy lives on
today in the form of Ultima Online. The music in this game was so ominous that
it actually affected most players on an emotional level, drawing them into the
game with a desire to help the Avatar save Britannia. The open storyline and
freedom to explore the world made it so engaging and engrossing that it completely
suspended my sense of disbelief—that is, while playing, I tended to forget
it was merely a game.
A modern version of the Ultima VII engine has been developed by a team of volunteers, called
Exult. This open-source project includes a complete suite of editors you can use to modify the
world of Ultima. You can learn more about the Exult project at http://exult.sourceforge.net.
Contrast that experience with modern games that are more focused on eye candy
than exploring the imagination! It reminds me of the difference between a movie
and a book; each has a certain appeal, but a book delights at a more personal
level, opening the mind to new possibilities. I am drawn into a good game, such
as Ultima VII, just as I am with a good book; on the other hand, even an all-time
favorite movie usually fails to draw me into the story at a personal level. I am
experiencing the imagination and vision of another person, and those impressions
are completely different from my own. Teasing the imagination is what
separates brilliance from idle entertainment, and it is the difference between a
long remembered and beloved memory (found in a good book or a deeply
engaging game) and a quickly forgotten one It is a rare game that is able to enchant one’s imagination while also providing eye
candy. One such game is Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance (a console implementation of the bestselling PC game). This game is intelligent, challenging, imaginative,
enjoyable, engaging, and still manages to impress visually as well as audibly. The
layout of this game is an overhead view, although it is rendered in 3D, giving it a
2D feel that resembles the orientation of Ultima VII and Diablo II. That someone
is still building fantastic RPGs like this is a testament to the power of a good story
and the joy of character development and leveling up. The pizzazz of highly
detailed 3D graphics simply satisfies the picky gamers.
As you delve further into this chapter, try to keep in mind what your ideal game
would be. What is your all-time favorite game? What genre does it represent?
How would you improve upon the game, given the opportunity? I will continually
encourage you to keep your ideal game design in mind while working
through this book. I hope you will start to develop that game as you progress
through each chapter. To that end and to form a basis for building your own
game, I will walk you through the creation of a complete game—not just a
sample or demonstration program, but a complete, full-featured game with all
the bells and whistles! Although I would really enjoy building an RPG, that is far
too ambitious for the goals of this book. RPGs are so enormous that even the
simplest of RPGs is a huge undertaking, and there are so many prerequisites just
to get started. For instance, will the hero be able to wield different weapons?
Animating a single character can require more than 100 animation frames for a
single sprite—and that is just with one weapon, one set of armor. What if you
want your character to be equipped with different kinds of weapons and armor in
the game (in my opinion, one of the best aspects of an RPG)? You could design
the game with a fixed character image, but you are still looking at a huge
investment in artwork.
My second choice is a strategy game, so that is the approach I have taken in this
book. Strategy games are enormously entertaining while requiring a meager
initial investment in artwork. In fact, in the spirit of the open-source tools used in
this book, I will also be using a public domain sprite library called SpriteLib. This
library was produced by Ari Feldman, a talented artist who was kind enough to
allow me to use his fantastic high-quality artwork in this book. As you will see in
the next two chapters, each great game idea starts with a basic prototype, so you
will develop the first prototype version of this strategy game in Chapter 4,
‘‘Writing Your First Allegro Game.’’ Following that, each major chapter will
include a short section on enhancing the game with the new information presented
in that chapter. For instance, the first version of the strategy game will
have a fixed background, but when I cover scrolling backgrounds I’ll show you
how to enhance the game to use that new feature. The same goes for animated
sprites, sound effects, music, special effects, and so on.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Nintendo Wii Accessories Reviewed
Gaming is a multi-pronged world with consoles, accessories and more crowding the market. apart from gaming consoles there have developed over the years a great many gaming accessories that take gaming to new never before explored levels.
With Wii Nintendo brings to the fiercely competitive market a product that has family appeal, is affordable, and encompasses great technology. Nintendo intends with the release of Wii to retain its market presence and bring to its consumers new delights in gaming.
The much awaited Nintendo Wii comes with its own batch of must have accessories:
• The Wii remote is slotted for release in the US on November 19th and is priced at USD 39.99. According to pre-release information the Wii remote has a one-handed remote control design and so is more sensitive to pointing, movements, and user friendly. The remote has wireless functions and works using a short-range Bluetooth radio. One can use a maximum of four controllers at a distance of 5 meters from the Wii sensor bar. The Wii remote is multi functional and allows ambidextrous use, can be used horizontally, or like a steering wheel. According to expert gamers the design is such that experienced players will be able to hold a remote in each hand or a Nunchuk in one and a remote in the other. Technically advanced the Wii remote can sense movement and orientation. The remote can identify linear motion along three axes. The optical sensor can determine the direction. According to experts reviewers at CNET the pointer can get jerky or twitchy. And, the tilt control requires a light and subtle touch. The remote controls cannot be calibrated manually and gamers have to make do with Wii's calibrations.
• The Nunchuk is also slotted for release on Nov 19th and is priced at Us 19.99. This is a device that can be plugged into the Wii remote. It has an analog stick and two buttons and can be used in games like Red Steel and Twilight Princess. Since the nunchuk has motion sensors it permits gamers to perform specific character actions, like a spinning slash attack. According to industry reports this is all set to become the most popular and "must have" accessory.
• The Nintendo Classic Controller will also be released in the US on Nov 19th and is priced at USD 19.99. This is the classic-style expansion controller which can be used with the Wii remote slotted in to play games using a traditional game pad. It is to be used to play existing games, virtual console games, and multiplatform games. It connects to the Wii remote through a cord.
Aimed at gaming being fun the Nintendo Wii will disappoint if graphics and special effects are what are required. The biggest draws are supposed to be the motion-sensing remote , pseudo-reality controls, and internet capabilities. The Wii in its present form will not play CDs or DVDs although this feature is in the offing.
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