Lecture 1 CS170: Game Design Studio 1

1. Lecture 1CS170: Game Design Studio 1 UC Santa Cruz School of Engineering www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps170/Fall2008 michaelm@cs.ucsc.edu 29 September 2008

2. The year-long game design studio sequence • CS 170 • Exposure to a variety of alternative game designs • Indie, serious games, political games, art games, etc. • Individual concept development • Frequent design pitches and rapid prototypes • Technology selection • Team formation • Final design documents • CS 171 • The heart of making the game • CS 172 • Emergency design revisions (the “oh my god” moment) • Final playtesting and tuning • Finish game • Win awards at indie game competitions

3. Class mechanics • Syllabus online at • www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps170/Fall08/ • Login and password for secure page (readings) • User name: cmps170 • Password: M2VkNG

4. Platforms • This class is technology neutral – no specific platform is required • Platforms to think about • Microsoft XNA Studio – game development framework for PCs and, in managed code mode (C# only) for Xbox 360 • It might be fun to be able to run your game on the Xbox – but it won’t be true console development (close to the hardware) • PC – use your favorite language (like C++) on the PC, use whatever libraries you want • Mobile • Homebrew development environments exist for DS (you can run in an emulator) • We have access to the Sony PSP development kit (but you have to sign a bunch of stuff) • Cell phone, though the innovation bar might be higher • Custom hardware • No game making tools (like game maker), though you can use engines (like Torque) • Torque is part of Microsoft XNA Studio

5. Game innovation • To spur innovation in this class, we’ll look at a number of examples of non-traditional indie games • We want you to move beyond replicating the elements of standard genres • Don’t just want standard RPG #47 or standard FPS #63

6. Game Design Overview – Adams Chapter 2 • Player centric approach to design • Key components of videogames • Stages of the design process • Design teams • Documenting the game • Anatomy of a game designer

7. Player centric design • You are creating an experience for the player – all design considerations must flow from the questions: • What does the player do? • What experience does this create for the player (why would they do it)? • You are not your own typical player – you should be able to design games for people different than you • The player is not your opponent – the goal is not to crush the player, but to entertain, inspire, create a feeling of agency and eventual mastery

8. Formal game elements • Player manipulates controller and sees/hear/feels outputs • User interface translates inputs into gameworld actions and translates challenges inito something the player can perceive • Core mechanics are the rules by which the gameworld and game operate

9. Difference between game and simulation • A simulation is a a runnable model of a real-world situation that is less complex than the real-world • Aspects of the world have been abstracted away • The core mechanics of a game like a simulation (runnable model that describes how the world state evolves) • What’s the difference between a simulation and a game? • A simulation isn’t playable, specifically • It doesn’t necessarily provide for player actions • And even if it does, it doesn’t structure the output in terms of challenges

10. Full model • User interface provides an interaction model and perspective • Gameplay consists of challenges and actions • Gameplay modes delimit subsets of gameplay available at any one time

11. Game design • Game design is distinct from game production • Design is the process of defining the concept, core mechanics, gameplay modes, gameworld, and so forth • Production is the process of turning a design into a polished, working game • In CS 170 we’re focusing on design and the beginnings of production • CS 171 and 172 will focus on production • Obviously some design continues into production, but the major design decisions should have been locked down before production • A game design is captured in a mixture of documents and prototypes

12. The stages of design • Concept stage • What is the main concept of the game? Who is the audience? What does the player do? What dream does the game fulfill (especially for representational games)? • Elaboration stage, iteratively design • Primary gameplay mode, core mechanics, protagonist, game world, additional modes, level design, story • Tuning stage • Small adjustments to core mechanics, levels, etc. so as to create a balanced, smoothly progressing game

13. Game design teams • Lead designer – responsible for overall design, “keeping the vision”. In this class will also serve as producer. Trades creativity for authority. • Game designer – defines and documents the game design • Level designer – take the essential components of the game defined by game designer (user interface, core mechanics, gameplay) and designs specific levels • User interface designer – designs layout of the screen in various gameplay modes. Traditionally has been left to the last minute (bad idea). • Writer – writes dialog, cut scenes, introductory material, etc. Often subcontracted to a freelancer or done by one of the designers • Art director – manages production of assets, responsible for the visual style of the game, in terms of authority, at the same level as the lead designer • Audio director – oversees production of audio assets

14. Game design documents • High concept – short document that pitches the big idea of the game. Should sell the concept and player experience • Character design document – concept art, move set (animations), backstory for at least the player avatar (if she has one) • World design document – provides overview of the world, documents the feel of the world, will guide level design • Flowboard – documents how the gameplay modes relate to each other, quick sketches of the screens and what actions are available to the player • Story and level progression – large scale story of the game, progression of missions, levels, cut-scenes, etc. • The game script – documents the rules and core mechanics of the game in enough detail that you could play it without a computer

15. Designer/engineers • As computer science students, you all have the chops to architect and implement game engines • But you know how to do this from a design-centric perspective • As designers, your magic bullet is deeply understanding what can be done with computation • Core mechanics are algorithms • In the 170 sequence you will have the opportunity to do conceptual design and see it all the way through to implementation