GDM March 2012

2012·13.3 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 9 N o 3
M A R c H 2 0 1 2 I N S I D E : D E S T R o Y Y o U R v E H I c L E S !
Intel® GPA† helps Zombie Studios
deliver Blacklight*: Retribution
ZOMBIE STUDIOS OPTIMIZES WITH
INTEL® GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE ANALYZERS
“Ultimately, the results of optimizations
we did with Intel® GPA tools made the
The Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) is a powerful graphics tool suite for
Blacklight*: Retribution experience better
analyzing and optimizing your games, media, and other graphics-intensive applications. With Intel and better for our players.”
GPA, you can conduct in-depth analysis from the system level all the way down to individual
— CHANCE LYON, LEAD DEVELOPER,
elements, allowing you to maximize the performance of your applications. ZOMBIE STUDIOS
GPA SYSTEM ANALYZER GPA FRAME ANALYZER GPA PLATFORM ANALYZER
• Quickly analyze game performance and • Optimize graphics performance through • HW thread view of game showing
identify potential bottlenecks deep frame analysis of elements at the thread context
draw-call level
• A heads up display (HUD) for real-time • Visualize performance of multi-threaded
performance analysis • Support for Microsoft DirectX* 9/10/11, CPU and GPU tasks
Microsoft Windows* XP, Microsoft Vista* 7
• Create DirectX* state overrides and • Intel® Media Analyzer for real-time and
conduct real-time experiments • Make changes and see visual and trace analysis
performance effects immediately
• Triage system-level performance with • Intel® OpenCL and browser profiling abilities
CPU and GPU metrics • Capture and share frames
• Game pause, step, resume
DOWNLOAD INTEL® GPA FOR FREE »
www.intel.com/software/gpa
Copyright © 2012 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands are
the property of their respective owners. © 2012 Zombie Studios. All Rights Reserved. Image courtesy of Zombie Studios. † GPA refers to Graphic Performance Analyzers.
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CONTENTS.0312
VOLUME 19 NUMBER 3
DEPARTMENTS POSTMORTEM
2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield [EDITORIAL] 20 HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY
A Confident Fall Halo: Combat evolveD represented a watershed moment for the Xbox.
The design, multiplayer, and high-end graphics helped the game
4 HEADS UP DISPLAY [NEwS]
become a cultural phenomenon. And so, to celebrate the original
Austin developers discuss the future of games, and the
title's tenth anniversary, Saber Interactive, 343 Industries, and
origins of Kyoto's 1H1D!! show.
Certain Affinity all worked together on a remake. Saber took on the
30 TOOL BOX By Mike de la Flor [REVIEw] brunt of the work, but even though the design and much of the code
Wacom Inkling was fixed in place, it was no walk in the park. From collision issues to
artistic choices, this postmortem is a primer on how to do a proper
33 THE INNER PRODUCT By Remi Quenin [PROGRAMMING]
HD remake of an already-HD game. By Andrey Iones
The SPUs are Hungry!
38 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART] FEATURES
The Happy Cog
40 THE BUSINESS By Kim Pallister [BUSINESS] 7 CHEATING BEHIND THE CLOUD
Copyfight Cheating is a problem in most online games, especially those with
synchronous play. Microsoft's Ferdinand Schober discusses how
42 DESIGN OF THE TIMES By Damion Schubert [DESIGN] you can implement a custom cheat-resistant cloud server to mitigate
Random is Random cheating without paying for anything but programmer time. By
45 AURAL FIXATION By Damian Kastbauer [SOUND] Ferdinand Schober
It's About People
13 GET SMASHED!
47 GOOD jOB By Brandon Sheffield [CAREER]
The challenges of collision in open-world games are legion. When
Q&A with Darren Hayward, who went where, and new studios
players can go anywhere and do anything, you have to be ready
49 GDC NEwS By Staff [NEwS] for anything. But in SaintS Row: tHe tHiRD, Volition wanted drivable
GDC special awards revealed tanks to be able to crush objects, including other vehicles. Volition
programmer Victor Cepeda IV outlines the visual deformation
50 EDUCATED PLAY By Tom Curtis [EDUCATION]
techniques from SaintS Row 1–3 to demonstrate how the team
Deity
conquered this problem. By Victor Cepeda IV
56 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT By Matthew Wasteland [HUMOR]
How To Annoy Your Testers
www.gDMAg.COM 1
GAME PLAN // BRANDON SHEFFIELD
GAME DEvELOPER
MAGAzINE
www.GDMAG.cOM
a confident fall
UBM LLC.
303 Second Street, Suite 900, South Tower
knowledge-sharing, the rise of western game design, and the threat of ruining it all San Francisco, CA 94107
t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090
SUbScription SerViceS
Western games have taken over sense. In 1995, the organization indies and new media developers for inforMation, order QUeStionS, and
the console game space, there now known as the IGDA came get more open, the big publishers addreSS cHangeS
is no denying it. It was tough to to be. Then in 1996, there was are getting more tight-lipped. t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606
e: [email protected]
imagine this back in the late '80s Gamasutra. Western game Though the developers of call of
and early '90s, when the common developers have been sharing duty, fallout neW VeGas, and even for digital SUbScription inforMation
feeling was that all the best knowledge with each other in some draGon aGe leGends on Facebook www.gdmag.com/subscribe

console games came from Japan, official forum or another for 24 would have loved to share editorial
while Western companies churned years—and Eastern developers postmortems and technical pieces pUbliSHer
out poor licensed titles and jittery have yet to catch up. in this magazine, their publishers Simon Carless e: [email protected]
platform games. Ray Nakazato (former president put the kibosh on their efforts. editor-in-cHief
Brandon Sheffield e: [email protected]
While Western companies may of lost odyssey developer FeelPlus, Some publishers have a “no
prodUction editor
have struggled to match the design now at THQ in Japan) agreed with public postmortems” policy, Jade Kraus e: [email protected]
and vision of Japanese games on this sentiment in an interview we across the board, while others art director
Joseph Mitch e: [email protected]
the console in those early days, they conducted a couple years back. “I’m are simply wary of sharing tech
deSigner
were simultaneously innovating worried about technology, Japan secrets. Others are willing to Cliff Scorso e: [email protected]
on the PC for as long as the format is already quite behind, and will allow third-party published games contribUting writerS
existed. Quake might not have been be more behind,” he said. “A lot of to have postmortems, but not Tom Curtis
a huge leap over the graphics of its good technology is coming from first-party. I would caution any Mike de la Flor
Remi Quenin
PlayStation contemporaries, but the States. You have (events like publisher or developer that is Kim Pallister
by the end of the '90s, the PC was GDC). I was a founding member reluctant to share (or in fact is Damian Kastbauer
Damion Schubert
far and away the most graphically of CEDEC (Japanese development flat-out against the concept) to Victor Cepeda IV
advanced platform available. And it conference put on by CESA, which learn from the above history. Matthew Wasteland
was Western companies that were is akin to the ESA in the U.S.), and Indie, social, and mobile games adViSorY board
Mick West independent
pushing this graphical revolution. I wanted to make it the GDC of are making great strides, as the Brad Bulkley microsoft
Perhaps the variety wasn't there in Japan, but CESA saw it differently. tools to support them get cheaper Clinton Keith independent
Brenda Brathwaite loot drop
the design and direction yet, but the So it became CEDEC. It’s modeled and more robust. And they actually
Bijan Forutanpour sony online entertainment
tech was becoming peerless. And after GDC, but it's very different.” make up a huge chunk of the Mark DeLoura thQ
as tech becomes more of a solved “Japanese people are not good market. Indie game bundles are Carey Chico globex studios
Mike Acton insomniac
problem, the focus turns to design. at speaking,” he adds. “They are selling in the millions of dollars,
When this happened in the West, afraid of disclosing things, so all the and app developers on iTunes have adVertiSing SaleS
developers started to really push sessions are very vague and generic, collectively made $4 billion (though global SaleS director
Aaron Murawski e: [email protected]
forward in this arena as well. Games and all are sponsored sessions, or some of those are assuredly not t: 415.947.6227
like Halo proved that Western game academic. I think Japanese industry games). Zynga just went live with Media accoUnt Manager
design and tech had married to people want to hear a lot of stuff its huge IPO. Jennifer Sulik e: [email protected]
t: 415.947.6227
create a cultural phenomenon. from people who are actually making Publishers may be concerned
global accoUnt Manager, recrUitMent
By the time Gears of War 3 games, but they don't speak much, that these burgeoning markets will Gina Gross e: [email protected]
came out, nothing in Japan could so all they hear is the academia or encroach on their sales, as they t: 415.947.6241
match it visually, and that country's sponsored messages.” try to buy their way into these global accoUnt Manager, edUcation
Rafael Vallin e: [email protected]
industry has not, to date, caught up. CEDEC has gotten better, and industries. Makers of games in t: 415.947.6223
In 1990, would you have predicted Japanese developers do talk in similar genres may be concerned
adVertiSing prodUction
that uncHarted would be made in Los a more casual sense about their that revealing the “secret sauce”
Angeles, instead of Tokyo? problems, typically over drinks will allow their competitors to prodUction Manager
Pete C. Scibilia e: [email protected]
and the like. Still, official sharing get an edge. And there may be t: 516-562-5134
Helping Hand of information across companies, some truth to both of these. But
reprintS
» Even back then, there might and sometimes across teams transparency is good for the
WRIGHT'S MEDIA
have been reason to believe in the within companies, is often industry, and walled gardens only Jason Pampell e: [email protected]
Western game industry. Starting frowned upon. This has led to isolate and compartmentalize. t: 877-652-5295
in 1988, game developers began Japanese companies solving If big publishers (and big aUdience deVelopMent
to meet to discuss the art of problems individually, instead of developers) want to succeed in this
aUdience deVelopMent Manager
game creation at what would later collectively, and falling behind rapidly-changing market, they will Nancy Grant
become the Game Developers as a result. Western companies have to learn what the Japanese e: [email protected]
Conference. Developers shared rocketed forward, propelled by their game industry is still trying to liSt rental Peter Candito
their technical hurdles, and openness with each other. catch up to; the more we help each Specialist Marketing Services
t: 631-787-3008 x 3020
design quandaries. In 1994, Game other, the better we all become.
e: [email protected]
Developer magazine was born, Spring forward, fall back
ubm.sms-inc.com
sharing technical knowledge in an » Why bring all this up now? —Brandon Sheffield
even wider (and more frequent) Because, for whatever reason, as twitter: @necrosofty
2 GAME DEvELOPER | MARcH 2012 www.UbM.coM

headS-Up dISplaY
a panel of experts discuss the pending console transition
\\\ The University of Texas at Austin concerns. “We started authoring
Department of Computer Sciences way above what the console can
hosted an event called Infinite handle. We have stuff like Zbrush
Resolution Zero Latency on January where we’re authoring millions and
25, wherein local developers and millions of polys and breaking them
other industry professionals took down.”
turns prognosticating the changes The significance of this for
developers will see going into the the next generation of consoles,
next generation. Most present according to Teasdale, is that
seemed to agree the mobile developers already have acquired
space will greatly influence how the skills to create those games. In
games will be made, played, and a rather bold statement, he claimed
distributed moving forward, though the industry has had its Citizen
they didn’t agree on how we’ll get Kane moment.
there. “I think we passed that point a
“I actually really believe the few years ago without realizing it,”
future is going to be handheld, he explained. “We have now defined
but handhelds won’t really be our tools, our skill-sets. A design
handhelds anymore,” predicted vocab was something people at
Greg Zeschuk, VP of EA and GDC panels would try and make ten
general manager at BioWare years ago. We have that now.”
Austin. He detailed a scenario Others also provided examples
where a consumer might place a of innovations and tools that are
hypothetical “iPhone 17” on a table, still being developed and learned.
which would start a television. A Twisted Pixel's The GunsTrinGer. University of Texas computer
player would then use a virtual science professor Donald Fussell
controller that doesn’t need to be amid concerns for staggering On the heels of Kinect title The described research students have
physically touched. Zeschuk said a development costs for future GunsTrinGer, Twisted Pixel lead put into efficiency-related software
point would come where handhelds Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo designer Dan Teasdale painted a tools, such as a system checking
could significantly lessen the gap of hardware. markedly more positive future for process called model checking.
what can be done with a high-end Angst over these potential next-generation game development, “What we want to do is have
PC, citing a finite level of fidelity to production costs hovered over predicting a Golden Age. He cited game [developers] be able to check
which games can actually be built. smArtist principal Jon Jones’s his experience at Pandemic Studios the consistency of the virtual
Red Fly Studios’ director vision of how many will have to as an example of the negative view worlds that they are building while
of product development Mike reconfigure their studios to survive. of console transitions. He said the they build them,” Fussell said. The
McShaffry is already working in “As long as expensive plug in play studio failed to produce the amount idea is with a push of a button to
the mobile space, and shared his blockbusters are made, dumb of content desired under the allow developers to answer the
thought that gaming will go the money will follow,” Jones said. schedule necessary. questions concerning various
way of mobile without sounding the “Mistakes will be made, studios will “Every console transition you states and the conditions for those
death knell of consoles as we know crumble, and layoffs will abound.” learn a new set of skills,” Teasdale states in a kind of concurrent bug
them. A recent report stated that Under these circumstances, said. “You basically relearn how to checking.
the next Microsoft console would Jones predicted what he called makes games again. You’re learning No matter what view of the
perhaps be six times more powerful “mercenary studios” rising to how to make this content that fits future speakers presented, there
than the current Xbox 360, and prominence. These specialized exactly the console that you’re remained a constant strain of hope
McShaffry predicted it could play studios will stay afloat doing authoring.” and opportunity for developers
part in failure of the system. project-to-project contract work. This time around, Teasdale through the night. Whether
“I don’t want to try to make a These boutique houses would be claimed developers should be the industry moves along with
game that going to cost me $1.7 a safer way to hedge a developer’s able to break the cycle by learning Teasdale’s proposed “Golden Age of
billion to make,” he explained, bets against closures and other lessons from the past several years gaming,” or continues further in the
noting the ease and low cost with calamities in the industry beyond of development. “This generation mobile and smartphone direction,
which developers can make a game their control, he claimed. The fall we did something I don’t think developers were relatively bullish
for iOS and Android devices. He of such studios in the U.K. would many people realized that we did,” on the future of the industry.
thinks that more quality games will suggest otherwise, but his opinion he continued, making a counter- —Gerren Fisher
make their way to the mobile space, stands. point to McShaffry’s bloated budget
4 game developer | march 2012
the origins of kyoto's best chiptune party
\\\ A cozy 8-bit themed bar, featuring Japanese lyrics sung March's 1H1D!!! headliner, label VORC, and veteran game
whose back corner substitutes by vocalist Asaka Tomoko, was Soichi Terada, is second only composer Kimitaka Matsumae.
for an elevated stage, has over performed at the most recent to foam-suited chip-pop group Even the sign outside is designed
the course of five years become 1H1D!!! live show. YMCK in elaborate style–he by pixelJunkeden artist Baiyon.
among the world’s most widely As of this writing, the most wears a white mask reminiscent These marks of legitimacy are
respected venues for live recent party witnessed Swedish of Noh theater and a Shinto easy to appreciate among chip
chiptune music. artist Nordloef, donned in a ski shaman's red hakama during music organizers in the West
Located in Kyoto, a stone’s mask, dreadlocks whipping his multimedia "Omodaka" who know what it takes to draw a
throw away from the historic madly through the air, wielding performance. loyal crowd.
geisha district of Gion, Café la dual Game Boys. The performer Omodaka addresses the Five annual 1H1D!!!
Siesta has been host to Bit Shifter is perhaps best known for audience through a guttural, compilations have been
of New York, Swiss Atari musician reinterpreting the aesthetic of the electronically distorted vocoder. published to disc, due to support
STU, and Akira 8GB of Argentina. classic console through the lens of After introducing his band from local artists. You'll usually
Part of the allure of the punk rock. members, which include a DS see KAZ a.k.a.HIGE, Ben, Longfi,
location’s 1H1D!!! live shows is It's easy to see how a gaming Lite and PSP, he performs these USK of Portalenz, NTDSK, or
the mellowness of the vibe. The device's signature sound can instruments next to a flat-screen the ever-unpronounceable
clink of beer glasses and casual capture an artist's imagination monitor that projects the image of NNNNNNNNNN at every show.
conversation mingle with the when that sound is pushed in a rosy-cheeked enka singer. Game The participation of these Kansai
reverberating square waves. The
party gets its name (short for “1
The Café la Siesta
hour, 1 day!”) from game creator interior.
Takahashi Meijin’s reminder to kids
to limit their Famicom intake to
one hour per day.
“These machines have had a
profound impact on my life,” says
shopkeeper Master Kohta of the
old-school Nintendo consoles.
“I get a lot out of using them to
create music.”
The bar’s frequent nighttime
parties are set in motion by a
DJ set by Kohta, as listeners
in Japan and overseas join the
Ustream feed. Broadcasting his
shows has paved the way for
surprising collaborations. For
example, the freeware developer
Locomalito, maker of the side-
scrolling shooter HydoraH
alongside composer Gryzor87,
recently reached out to 1H1D!!! unintended directions, as with hardware is put to use in conjuring -area musicians, among others,
over the web from their studio in Nordloef's cover of Weezer's up a contemporary take on ancient has been the key to Café la
Andalucia, Spain. "Buddy Holly". Many chiptune Japanese tradition. (Terada has Siesta’s success.
This correspondence led to musicians prefer not to have their previously written music for the So if ever you find yourself
the PC game’s Spanish-language work confused with game scores, ape escape game series.) in Kyoto, do yourself a favor and
vocal track “Path of Scylla” being but at Café la Siesta the historical Other performances at Café head to Café la Siesta, and let the
arranged by Kohta and Siesta contexts of 8-bit are impossible la Siesta have featured Hally, the chiptunes begin.
regular BIG BROTHER. The remix, to ignore. founder of influential chiptune —jeriaska
www.gdmag.com 5
Introducing
• New DAW inspired multi-track music and event editing interface
• Fully featured mixing desk with pro effects for mastering
• Create, add, edit and mix audio content live in game
• Integrated profiler captures game events and audio output
• Hardware control surface support, mixer snapshots, VCAs, sendss,, nnneeesstted events,
source control/mmuulltttii uusseerrr cccollaboration and more!
See us at GDC 2012, Stall 1532
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TTTTToo ggeeettttt iiinnvvoollvvvvveeeeeeddd cccooonnntttttaaaaaccttt uuuss aaaaatttt ssaaleeeessss@@@ffffmmmmmmooooooooooooddddddddd..ooorrrggg...
FFiirreeeellliiggghhhttt TTTTTeeeeeccchhhnnooolloooogggggiess PPtttyyyy Ltd.
wwwwwwwwww...ffffmodd..ooorg
F E R D I N A N D S C H O B E R
You’re at home, and you’ve just logged into the latest, greatest multiplayer FPS to come out of
BigAddictiveTimeSuck Studios. You’ve spent countless hours in multiplayer matches and maxed out your
character. You dumped more cash than you did on your previous vacation to Hawaii to upgrade your character
until he had more killing power than Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. Your win streak was flawless—
one more and you’ll be at the top of the leaderboard. You log into a server and are ready to kick some butt. Then
you get whomped by the first level-1 character with a wooden club.
Welcome to cheating hell: You picked the wrong server. There is no with a new game, it’s often very difficult to estimate a concurrent player
salvation. Your statistics are going to suffer. Kiss that flawless win count, which frequently results in unused server capacity. Secondly,
streak goodbye. unlike in single datacenters, appropriating new servers in the cloud is
Multiplayer and MMO game functionality is now at a stage where easy, and it is no challenge to absorb even the most significant player
game developers are no longer investigating how to do it, but rather how spikes over the lifetime of a game (see Figure 1). Finally, it also frees up
to do it more securely and efficiently. There are more online players, and constrained development resources that could be used more efficiently
eSports, and in-game economies than ever. And those that are backed by elsewhere. Overall, hosting servers in the cloud can significantly reduce
real money require more robust security than is typically implemented for running costs of multiplayer and MMO games, especially if strong player
multiplayer games. fluctuations are expected during the game's lifetime.
The current prevalent security approach is to have game servers Because of these benefits, moving to the cloud seems like a great
under full control of developers and publishers, either on a closed console proposal for most development studios. But what if you are a small studio
platform or in a datacenter. This limits the attack vector of cheaters that has to reduce costs? What if any sizeable datacenter is a no-go, and
significantly, and it allows for much more secure play than leaving the even using a cloud service is outside your reach? What if you want to
game server in the hands of the players. At the same time, it causes a provide your players with the ability to host their games securely for end-
scalability bottleneck and an end-of-life support issue for games. of-life scenarios, when you have to stop ongoing support of a game? The
To address scalability, an increasing number of developers and answer you may often hear is that “without servers under authoritative
publishers are turning to cloud environments to host servers for control, it’s impossible to guarantee cheat-resistant gameplay."
multiplayer games. Pushing servers into the cloud has multiple Here I will show you a different approach: If you are willing to spend
benefits. First and foremost, it virtually eliminates capacity planning; engineering effort, it’s possible to build a cheat-resistant peer-to-peer
WWW.GDMAG.COM 7