GDM March 2011

2011·13 MB·English

by  UBM TechWeb

T H E L E A D I N G G A M E I N D U S T R Y M A G A Z I N E v o L 1 8 N o 3
M A R c H 2 0 1 1 I N S I D E : D E A D N A T I o N P o S T M o R T E M

CONTENTS.0311
VOLUME 18 NUMBER 3
DEPARTMENTS
POSTMORTEM 2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield [EDITORIAL]
Surprise! Your Game Is Canned
13 HOUSEMARQUE'S DEAD NATION
Marrying a twin stick shooter with the Zombie genre was a perfect 4 HEADS UP DISPLAY [NEWS]
match. So much so that Housemarque's enthusiasm for the project Cowclickification, Japanese game market woes, and Nathan Fouts'
resulted in ever increasing feature creep. What was supposed to be Developer Notebook.
a small-scale downloadable title was starting to look like a full-on
retail game. 28 TOOL BOX By Seth Gibson and Damian Kastbauer [REVIEW]
By Harri Tikkanen and Ilari Kuittinen Autodesk Maya 2011 and BaseHead 2.5
20 FIRAXIS' SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION V 32 DESIGN OF THE TIMES By Soren Johnson [DESIGN]
When the team began work on CIVILIZATION V the technology for the new Water Finds a Crack
game was not yet in place. This forced them to run a development
plan that put design and engineering on separate but simultaneous 35 THE INNER PRODUCT By Dave Cowling [PROGRAMMING]
tracks. It wasn't until the final year of CIVILIZATION V's almost four Idle Threads
year production that the two came together to create a new CIV game
that was as pretty to look at as it was forward-thinking in its design. 39 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART]
By Dennis Shirk Blink of an Eye
43 AURAL FIXATION By Jesse Harlin [SOUND]
FEATURES Three Erroneous Conceits
7 TENSION MAPS 44 THE BUSINESS By Kim Pallister [BUSINESS]
Ideally, by the time a game ships, it's various systems should be in a A War of Attrition
state of careful balance. Of course, during development, systems will
need to be cut or modified and the closer a game is to its ship date 46 GOOD JOB! By Brandon Sheffield [CAREER]
the riskier those changes can be. Here, designer Simon Strange pres- Manveer Heir Q&A, Who Went Where, and New Studios.
ents a decision making approach for identifying and defining low-risk
design changes. 48 EYE ON GDC [GDC]
By Simon Strange 2011 GDC Classic Game Postmortem Lineup
26 RED MEANS BOOM! 50 EDUCATED PLAY By Jeffrey Fleming [EDUCATION]
Putting exploding barrels in your game should be pretty simple, Richard Flanagan's FRACT
right? Well, not quite, as this anecdote from behind the scenes of
BULLETSTORM illustrates. 56 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT By Matthew Wasteland [HUMOR]
By Arcade Berg To The Writer
WWW.GDMAG.COM 1
GAME PLAN // BRANDON SHEFFIELD GAME DEVELOPER
MAGAZINE
WWW.GDMAG.COM
SURPRISE! YOUR GAME IS CANNED
United Business Media
303 Second Street, Suite 900, South Tower
San Francisco, CA 94107
SO YOUR BIG GAME IS CANCELLED. WHAT THE HECK DO YOU DO NOW? t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND
UNTIL LAST WEEK, I WAS game, and burn at my by crunch, but I wasn’t may lose some of the
ADDRESS CHANGES
narrative director for missed opportunity? actually crunching in people that will fight for t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606
a mid-tier budget, big These questions are either job per se—I was risk and new experiences e: [email protected]
publisher-backed original unanswerable, but crunching in life, by in traditional games.
FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
IP for retail Xbox 360 always lurking in the back doing two full-time jobs I’m certainly not www.gdmag.com/digital
and PlayStation 3. Then, of my mind. simultaneously. saying I won’t work
EDITORIAL
suddenly, one executive Luckily, nobody’s Suddenly, I find in a traditional game
PUBLISHER
shuffle later, projects losing their job over myself with reams of development setting Simon Carless l [email protected]
were getting canned left this—the team absorbed free time. No weekly again—I most likely will, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
and right, mine among all its core members into meetings, no deliverables, when the opportunity Brandon Sheffield l [email protected]
them. It’s happened to other projects, and life no misunderstandings to presents itself. There are PRODUCTION EDITOR
Jeffrey Fleming l [email protected]
nearly everyone in the goes on. As an external clear up, and no critical certain kinds of narrative
ART DIRECTOR
industry, but it’s the first contractor though, my issues to think through. experiences that are Joseph Mitch l [email protected]
time for me, so I’ll delve journey with this team But the energy remains. difficult to put forward PRODUCTION INTERN
into this a little bit. has ended. It was a good I still need to “do,” and to with a small team, and Tom Curtis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
group we had, with solid “create.” those ideas still intrigue Jesse Harlin
WELL, THAT SUCKS! ideas, crazy work ethic, I’ve talked a lot in these me. But there are persons Steve Theodore
» Nobody saw it and a willingness to take pages about the merits for whom rest and repose Kim Pallister
Dave Cowling
coming—the game’s alpha a stab at something new. of smaller-scale teams hold only limited appeal—I Soren Johnson
was approved and paid I suppose everyone feels and development, so I’m think many game Damion Schubert
for, response from the that way about their going to put my money developers feel this way, ADVISORY BOARD
Hal Barwood Designer-at-Large
publisher was positive, teams, don’t they? where my mouth is, and and it’s what pushes us to Mick West Independent
and all our ideas were work on a few iPhone and keep creating and make Brad Bulkley Neversoft
Clinton Keith Independent
really coming together. WHAT NOW? XBLIG projects I’ve been the games we make. For Brenda Brathwaite Lolapps
The story made sense » When you’ve put considering for some time. all of you out there who Bijan Forutanpour Sony Online Entertainment
Mark DeLoura THQ
and had a flow to it. All months of your life There’s something to be may have recently lost Carey Chico Independent
gameplay elements and much of your said for working at your your job, had your game
existed in the alpha, brainpower into one own pace, on a project canceled, been scaled to ADVERTISING SALES
and our unique look was project, it’s difficult to that’s very much your half-time, or anything of GLOBAL SALES DIRECTOR
Aaron Murawski e: [email protected]
showing through. Five derail. I keep thinking own, even if the financial that nature, I urge you to t: 415.947.6227
days after that, word came of things I could do to rewards are uncertain. find out what you really MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER
down that it was over. make the story better, want to express, and find John Malik Watson e: [email protected]
t: 415.947.6224
Ultimately, it came down the characters more TALENT BLEED? a way to make it happen
» GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, RECRUITMENT
to publisher finances, believable, the subtext I outlined all this so for yourself, even if that’s Gina Gross e: [email protected]
there was nothing anyone more subversive. Since explicitly because I think not within games. t: 415.947.6241
could do about it, and this does no particular my experience is not Rather than looking GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION
Rafael Vallin e: [email protected]
frankly I don’t even blame good for anybody, unique. When a project at this as a time to t: 415.947.6223
the publisher. Still, one I’ve got to redirect my you’re passionate about mope and feel sorry for
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
can’t help but think—what thoughts to something slips away from you, oneself, the best thing
PRODUCTION MANAGER
if we’d put a little more else. And that’s one of the passion doesn’t go to do is to work on those Pete C. Scibilia e: [email protected]
effort in? What if we’d the silver linings to a away. The need to create smaller or weirder games t: 516-562-5134
worked longer hours, or project cancellation—if remains, and must be you’ve had floating REPRINTS
made our ideas more you do have other channeled somewhere, around in your head,
WRIGHT'S MEDIA
obvious in the alpha build? ideas, a canceled game or be lost. I think this write that screenplay, Ryan Pratt e: [email protected]
Would it have helped? is obviously a huge experience is what turns code that application, or t: 877.652.5295
Doubts and misgivings are disappointment, but it’s a lot of modern-day finish that novel. That’s AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
difficult to avoid. also a weight lifted. To developers away from my challenge to myself, TYSON ASSOCIATES Elaine Tyson
The game took a lot of make this magazine run the traditional publisher- and to those of you in e: [email protected]
calculated risks, which for and also be narrative backed game industry. similar situations, I pose LIST RENTAL Merit Direct LLC
NDA reasons I obviously director on a decent- This is good for players, the same challenge. Let’s t: 914.368.1000
can’t divulge—did those sized game, I made because they get more see what we can come
risks keep us afloat myself work some crazy varied experiences across up with before we get
longer, or did they kill us hours. Essentially, I more platforms—but back to the big grind, if
prematurely? Will I get never stopped. That may it’s bad for traditional indeed we ever do.
to see these risks taken be a bad example to set game developers and —Brandon Sheffield
eventually in some other in an industry plagued publishers, because they twitter: @necrosofty
WWW.UBM.COM
2 GAME DEVELOPER | MARCH 2011

HEADS-UP DISPLAY
cowclickification rising
h\pC\oao\spw B ul uaClauillirdnc sicknohegcer iu,da Ipl aa ogn naC Bmo howiegs o sastti re Btpohpeorpogopoourlsgettuh wsn taahityniisset s“sha uaescs’s cm preeoasasnslsyi tzi hbeladet to C C BowliCkerlitz paiePd uChizotoziwonlene C gfaloaipCrmpkth ee(crM oo Manmc oF ioAnaBpcgipel),eb Sa otnoodrke ,
Clicker platform offering a click a cow every six hours.” a Moogle search engine
programmable API, a new Thus he’s expanding enabling users to search
Facebook game, an iPhone the Cow CliCker Platform the web by clicking on their
app, a Moogle search to include a Cow CliCker own virtual cow.
engine, and more. Connect web-widget that He announced that
Initially designed as a allows content publishers companies will be able
parody of shallow social to “cowclickify” their to “moonetize” their
games and launched properties by integrating cowclickified application
last July, Cow CliCker clickable bovines into their with an upcoming app store
“challenges” users to click a sites, and a programmable called The Stockyard, which
virtual cow every six hours Cow CliCker API allowing will provide a hub “where
to earn clicks and publish developers to build developers and businesses
their accomplishment onto their own cow clicker can publish their
their Facebook feed. Players applications. cowclickified applications,
can then spend those clicks “It’s called and where eager cow
to buy custom premium cowclickification—the clickers can find new
cows and in-game items. application of cow clicking opportunities to click.”
The game has since mechanics to non-cow Bogost adds, “Moove
taken off and convinced clicking applications,” over gamification, it’s time
more than 50,000 people Bogost explains. “Now for gamoofication. The Cow
to click over 50 breeds everyone can graze on employ new cow clicking products and services.” CliCker platform is here to
of cows at least 5 million the sweet grasses and mechanics such as To show the Cow turn your marketing and
times. step in the pungent clicking a cow to distract CliCker API in action, the branding initiatives into a
Game designer, pies of Cow CliCker’s customers from the vapid developer announced a thunderous stampede of
professor, and author pasture. Businesses can pointlessness of their new Cow CliCker Blitz clicks!” —Eric Caoili
japanese retail falling
\\\ A report from Japanese ($6.53 billion) in 2009, the category fell 18.9 percent Portable games topped smartphones for gaming,
Famitsu publisher and according to a translation year-on-year to ¥175.59 the software charts, as much as in the West.
research firm Enterbrain on Andriasang.com. billion ($2.11 billion), Pokemon Co’s September In November last year,
found Japan’s retail video The drop marks the third according to the report. 2010 release PokeMon BlaCk Japanese mobile social
game market declined 9 year in a row of Japanese Software sales dropped 2.5 & white for DS sold 4.9 network operator and game
percent in 2010 to ¥493.66 video game retail decline. percent to ¥318.08 billion million units during the year, creator DeNA reported a
billion ($5.94 billion), Falling hardware revenues ($3.83 billion). and Capcom’s PSP game, 216 percent year-over-year
down from ¥542.64 billion drove the 2010 decline, as Nintendo’s DS line Monster hunter PortaBle jump in its second quarter
of handhelds led game- 3rd, sold 3.5 million units sales to $336.4 million.
specific hardware sales after just being released on The sales marked rapid
with nearly 3 million units December 1. growth for the firm, which
sold, followed closely by While Japanese video acquired U.S.-based mobile
Sony’s PSP line with 2.9 game retail revenues game company Ngmoco
million units. continue to shrink, Japanese for up to $403 million last
The Nintendo Wii led consumers seem to be year. DeNA’s mobile social
home console unit sales spending more money in network, Mobage-town
with 11.2 million units, emerging game markets (MobaMingle in the West),
followed by PlayStation 3 such as mobile and social reportedly has over 20.5
(1.6 million) and Xbox 360 gaming, and using devices million registered users.
Monster hunter portaBle 3rd
(209,000). such as PCs, phones and —Kris Graft
4 gAmE DEvELoPEr | mArcH 2011
designer's notebook: nathan fouts
\\\ As the artist, designer, and primary coder behind Mommy’s Best Games, Nathan Fouts has the freedom to create an
index of visual obsessions that both disturbs and delights in equal measure. As seen in titles like Weapon of ChoiCe, Shoot
Japanese Retail Game maRket Down
1Up, exploSionade, and the upcoming Grapple BUGGy, his hand-drawn art presents game players with an efflorescent riot of
aberrant biology. Here we get a look at some of Fout's early design sketches from Weapon of ChoiCe and Grapple BUGGy that
show an Albertus Seba-like fascination for organic forms.
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TM
ENROLL | COMPETE | DOMINATE
GET IN THE GAME at HTTP://GAMETREETV.COM/COMPETITION
S I M O N S T R A N G E
All systems are fundamentally in one of three states: growth, decay, or
equilibrium.
For a video game, which can be viewed as a system of systems, growth and decay both happen
during development. As systems are added, removed, and adjusted, the game more and more resembles
its final shape. By the time you ship, your game is (hopefully!) at equilibrium.
Of course, designers cannot simply tweak and tune game systems on a whim. The target equilibrium
point (the final state of the game’s systems) needs to be identified fairly early on, so that individual
systems (and their supporting assets) can be locked down during development. This is a very practical
way to reduce risk and manage a project. Unfortunately, this tends to create an antagonistic relationship
between a designer’s ability to effect change and the amount of development time left. This reduces
the designer’s ability to work on game systems during the latter half of the project, which can be very
frustrating.
Over the last few years, I’ve developed a system for identifying and defining low-risk design changes.
My goal is to allow design changes during the majority of a project instead of being forced to lock down
design elements early on. By identifying low-risk options in a systematic way, using charts and visual
aids (which I discuss in parts 2 and 3), I have been able to describe to producers and publishers in
advance exactly why certain changes pose little to no risk to the project’s long-term stability. This has
afforded me almost twice as much time for fine-tuning our game’s core systems, which has resulted in
better, and more balanced, more polished products.
WWW.GDMAG.COM 7
fewer smooth walls equals lower tension.
As PORTAL exists now, there is no penalty for creating more portals than
necessary. But if we were to track the number of shots used in each room—
by limiting the gun’s ammo, or simply telling the player that we expected
them to be more prudent (16 shots / 8 expected)—players would become
aware of each shot as a resource to be managed. Managing more resources
means higher tension.
MEGA MAN
))) MEGA MAN games have always included difficult jump sequences. In
most cases, missing a jump means you have to start the sequence over
again. But in a few spots, missing a jump means instant death. Jumps
always provide opportunities to progress through the level but jumps
over spikes or pits also offer an opportunity to fail the
level entirely.
Spikes and pits have absolutely no consequence on
a successful jump, as they are simply an extra harsh
PART 1 DEFINING TENSION penalty for failure. Reducing these cases allows players
))) The key concept is “equilibrium tension.” A system in equilibrium feels to master the tricky jumps without fear of penalty. This
the effect of many sub-systems, but each “pull” is balanced by an inverse changes the aggregate angle of the jump “tension” and reduces the player’s
“pull” of equal magnitude. In the simplest cases, this means two sub- fear of failure. Less fear equals lower tension.
systems opposing one another’s effects, but in most cases a combination MEGA MAN games have always been moderately difficult due to tricky
of sub-systems must be considered. This is exactly analogous to the force jump timing, instant deaths, and limited attack options. But there have never
diagrams you might have drawn in physics classes. been strict time limits within individual stages. Simply adding a countdown
Imagine a brick resting on a table. The gravitational force on the brick is clock would give players yet another way to fail, increasing the tension of
exactly opposed by the table, so the brick remains in motionless equilibrium. every action in the game. Time limits mean higher tension.
(See Figure 1.) Now imagine your left hand on the left side of the brick. If
you press on the brick, the brick will slide to the right. (See Figure 2.) If you
use both hands, one on either side, and apply an equal amount of force, you ALIENS VS. PREDATOR
can re-establish equilibrium. (See Figure 3.) The point is that the brick can ))) Rebellion's 1999 PC game ALIENS VS. PREDATOR had some wonderfully
remain in equilibrium with any magnitude or combination of forces, so long austere levels, in which only a handful of enemies would appear. The clever
as each force is counteracted by other forces. twist—nearly unprecedented for a FPS at the time—was that enemies were
This does not mean that all equilibrium states are the same! The randomly distributed, and their locations were reset whenever you loaded
“squeezed” brick can absolutely feel the tension from your two hands. In the or re-loaded the level. This meant that while you could learn the geography
same way, you can make significantly different experiences within a video of the level, you never knew when or from where the enemies would be
game by changing the “tension” on that game’s equilibrium state. coming. This was a dramatic departure from the norm, and was a big part of
Imagine our brick as a playable character in a simple 2D platform game. AvP’s reputation as a very scary
A player could move the brick left or right, jumping over small obstacles to game. Unpredictability equals
progress through the world. If the player puts the controller down to take higher tension.
a break, nothing would happen to disturb the brick, just as you might have Another innovation in AvP
removed your hands from the physical brick and left it lying on the table. was the asymmetrical balance
Now let’s add a sub-system, and start throwing fireballs from the right between the three characters.
side of the screen every three seconds. The fireballs are a new force which, Predators and Marines each had
if unbalanced, would “push” the brick out of equilibrium. To balance this a suite of powerful weapons,
force, the player must simply “push” back by jumping over the fireballs as but they were all strictly limited
they appear. So long as the player jumps properly, the game remains in the by ammunition. This forced the characters to constantly guess which sort
same equilibrium as before. The difference is that the player is now actively of threat they would be facing at any moment, and to switch weapons
working to balance the game’s equilibrium. The more we demand of the accordingly. The Alien, on the other hand, had no equipment, ammunition,
player, the more tension we place on our equilibrium state. or other limiting factors at all. Aliens were always working at 100 percent
Let’s look at a few examples of how tension might be increased or effectiveness. This cognitive simplicity was a big source of the appeal for
decreased in some well-known games, without passing judgment in regard playing as the Alien. Fewer gameplay choices means lower tension while
to whether this increase or decrease would be a good thing. playing as an alien.
PORTAL ROCKBAND
))) The central system in PORTAL can be boiled down to “Where do I place the ))) ROCKBAND’s core gameplay has never really
blue portal?” and “Where do I place the orange portal?” changed. That’s actually an important principle
Not every surface in PORTAL is smooth enough for the player to open of the franchise, because they want to sell
a portal through. Since the possible solutions to each room increase or additional tracks to customers, and breaking
decrease with the number of possible portal locations, reducing the number backward-compatibility would be a big deal. But
of smooth walls makes the solution more readily apparent to the player. So the RB games have managed to change in other
8 GAME DEVELOPER | MARCH 2011