1 / 55

Middleware in Game Development

Europe-China Workshop on E-Learning and Games (Edutainment 2005). Middleware in Game Development. Mr. Milo Yip (mcmilo@polyu.edu.hk). Multimedia Innovation Centre. Research & Development Games & Animation Education and Internet Technologies Hardware and Software Development

sun
Télécharger la présentation

Middleware in Game Development

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Europe-China Workshop on E-Learning and Games (Edutainment 2005) Middleware in Game Development Mr. Milo Yip (mcmilo@polyu.edu.hk)

  2. Multimedia Innovation Centre • Research & Development • Games & Animation • Education and Internet Technologies • Hardware and Software Development • Traditional and New Media • Education • Master of Science in Multimedia and Entertainment Technology (MScMET) • Undergraduate (EIE, SD), High Diploma & SPEED Courses

  3. Overview • Brief History of Game Development • What & Why Middleware? • Middleware Taxonomy • MSMOG Development Platform • Q & A

  4. 1. Brief History of Game Development

  5. Brief History (50s) • 1958: “Tennis for Two” • Willy Higginbotham (Brookhaven National Laboratories) • Analog Computer, Oscilloscope

  6. Brief History (60s) • 1961: Spacewar • Steve “Slug” Russel at MIT • PDP-1 (USD120,000)

  7. Brief History (70s) • 1972: Pong • Allan Alcorn at Atari • Entered home in 1975

  8. Brief History (80s) • 1981: Pac-man • Atari • Atari 2600/Intellivision • 1982: Pac-man plus • Namco

  9. Brief History (80s) • 1985: NES/FamiCom • Nitendo • Motorola 6502 (8-bit) • Popular Game Cartridge • Super Mario Bros. • Donkey Kong • Zelda

  10. Brief History (90s) • 1991: Wolfenstein 3D • id Software (John Carmack) • PC (386 33Mhz), VGA • 1996: Tomb Raider • Eidos • PC (Pentium 133Mhz) • 4MB Ram • SVGA, 3D Acceleration • Windows 95

  11. Brief History (Today) • Gaming Platforms: • PC (Pentium 4, Display card with Shader 3.0) • Consoles • Sony Playstation 2 • Microsoft XBox • GameCube • Mobiles • GameBoy Advance/DS • PDA (PalmOS, WindowsCE) • Mobile Phone (Symbian, J2ME) • Arcade

  12. Brief History (Today) • Development Team Size Growth (estimate) • Let’s see some real cases

  13. Black & White • By Lionhead Studios • USD ~ 5.7M budget • 25 full-time developers • 3 contractors • ~3 years • ~2M lines of code • In-house technology

  14. Neverwinter Night • By Bioware Corp • 75 developers at peek (~160 man-years of development) • 40 QAs • 5 sound contractors • 20 translators • ~5 years • In-house technology

  15. Splinter Cell (PS2 version) • By Ubisoft Entertainment • 76 full-time developers • 18 contractors • 5 months • Uses UnrealEngine as Middleware

  16. 2. What & WhyMiddleware?

  17. What Middleware? • Middleware are software that supports application (game) development • Middleware provide the common functionalities of specific domain of applications (game) Application Application Middleware Operating System Operating System Hardware Hardware

  18. Why Middleware? • Prevent re-inventing the wheel • Game system becomes more and more complicated: • real-time, interactive, networked, persisted, massive users, virtual reality system • Game development requires a vast domains of expertise nowadays • To use technologies with success stories

  19. Why Middleware? (cont.) • Developing a game from ground up is: • Expensive • Need to hire many domain experts • Train developers with latest technologies • Slow • Market changes rapidly • Publishers want shorter development time • Risky • Development of high-end technologies is very risky

  20. Why Middleware? (cont.) • However, there are a few disadvantages: • Licensing may be a big investment • Middleware may not be fully suitable to the project, customization may be needed • Difficult to integrate with existing assets • Developing in-house technologies makes • The game having unique features • Possible to re-use in future • Possible to sell to third parties (as middleware)

  21. 3. Middleware Taxonomy

  22. Middleware Taxonomy • Graphics Rendering • Audio Rendering • Physics Simulation • Artificial Intelligence • Multiplayer • Mathematics • Special (e.g. Plant, Planet synthesis) • All-in-one (3D Game Engine)

  23. Middleware Taxonomy • Middleware products normally include: • Application Programming Interface (API), normally in C/C++ • Runtime Components (e.g. DLLs) • Tools • Documentation • Examples • Some products are cross-platform

  24. Graphics Rendering • Visual quality and fluency is very important to games • Most games nowadays requires 3D real-time computer graphics • Famous products: • Criterion’s RenderWare Graphics

  25. Graphics Rendering • Features • Lighting/Material, Shadowing • Scene Management (indoor/outdoor) • Camera Control • Animation (objects, character, facial) • Special Effects (particles, lens flare, etc) • Workflow Tools (e.g. exporting 3D models from 3D Studio Max, Maya)

  26. Audio Rendering • Audio in games has very important effect to gamer’s emotion • Famous products: • RenderWare Audio

  27. Audio Rendering • Features • Mono/Stereo playback • 3D Surround Sound Emulation • Effect filters (e.g. echo, chorus, reverb, etc.) • Streaming

  28. Physics Simulation • Traditional games have little use of physics simulation • Collision Detection (preventing penetration among objects and environment) • Physics become more important in game development recently • Physics simulation add realism to games • Famous Products: • Havok • Novedex • Open Dynamics Engine

  29. Physics Simulation • Features • Collision Detection • Kinematics Simulation • Rigid-body Dynamics Simulation • Hinge, ball, slider joints • Special domains • Vehicle simulation • Ragdoll simulation

  30. Artificial Intelligence • Artificial Intelligence (AI) adds behavior to Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) • Behavior can be low- or high-level • Low-level behavior such as finding a path from current position to target is vital to games • High-level behavior such as decision making adds realism to human (or human-like) NPCs • Famous Products • Renderware AI

  31. Artificial Intelligence • Features • World/Perception Modeling • Mobility (Where NPCs can move through) • Visibility (What NPCs can see) • Audibility (What NPCs can here) • Path-Finding • Behavior Modeling • Finite-State Machine (FSM) • Artificial Neural Network (ANN) • Rule-based Systems • Team Collaboration

  32. Multiplayer • Multiplayer games continue to grow • Lobby Games • Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) • Multiplayer games are complicated to design and implement (relative to single player games) • In research, it is Networked Virtual Environment (NVE) • NVE can be applied on military simulation • Famous Products: • Net-Z/Eterna • Terazona • Butterfly.net (Distributed Architecture)

  33. Multiplayer • Features • Communication • TCP/UDP, Encryption, Compression • Session Management • Object • World Management, Transaction, Persistency • Remote Method Invocation (RMI) • Synchronization Management • Optimistic/Pessimistic • Dead-Reckoning Models • Interest Management (reduce synchronization traffic) • Lobby and User Management

  34. Special - Plant • Plant simulation and rendering • Famous products • SpeedTreeRT • RealNAT

  35. Special - Planet • Planet synthesis • Terrain, water, atmosphere, satellites • Very huge and detailed game worlds • Famous Products: • MojoWorld (not yet provide as middleware for public licensing)

  36. All-in-one (3D Game Engine) • 3D Game Engines provide all-in-one solutions to game development • Normally 3D Game Engines contain integrated workflow tools • Famous Products • Unreal Technology (Unreal Tournament) • Source Engine (Half-life 2) • Jupiter (No One Lives Forever) • Renderware Studio • NetImmerse

  37. All-in-one (3D Game Engine) • Features • 3D Graphics/Audio Rendering • Input Handling • Graphical User Interface (GUI) • Physics Simulation • Artificial Intelligence • Script Engine • Integrated Tools • Multiplayer (for lobby type only)

  38. 4. MSMOG Development Platform http://micn.polyu.edu.hk/~msmog/

  39. MSMOG Development Platform • Mini-Scale Multiplayer Online Game Development Platform (MSMOG DP) • Funded by SME Development Fund (10/2003 - 3/2005, 18 months, HKD ~2M) • Developed by MIC, PolyU • Aimed at enabling game companies to develop MSMOGs in a more rapid, efficient, secure and affordable way

  40. MSMOG • Types of online game nowadays • 2-16 players lobby game • 1000-10000 players Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), persist world • MSMOG is a new type of online game for • <200 players in controlled network environment (e.g. Cyber café) • Fast interaction games (e.g. fighting, racing, sports)

  41. MSMOG • Rationales for MSMOG • Asia have a huge number of cyber cafés • No games are designed for this market • New opportunity for Hong Kong game industry!

  42. MSMOG • MSMOG DP is an all-in-one middleware for game development • MSMOG divides into two products: • 3D Game Engine • Multiplayer Network Engine

  43. MSMOG - 3D Game Engine • 3D Game Engine provides: • 3D Graphics/Audio Rendering • Input Handling • Physics Simulation • Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Graphical User Interface (GUI) • Mathematics • Workflow Tools • All of them are tightly integrated

  44. MSMOG – Multiplayer Network Engine • The Multiplayer Network Engine supports • World Management • Interest Management • Communication • Synchronization • Persistency • Transaction • Current performance profile • 400 concurrent users at 20Hz sync.

More Related