INTERACTIVE GAMES

FILMS VERSUS GAMES

Habib Zargarpour

In a very short time the games industry has become as big as the film industry in terms of revenue, and many people are transitioning from working in one industry to the other. There have been numerous discussions about the convergence of films and games but it is important to understand what the differences are and what they have in common. Understanding these differences and commonalities can help the transition from one to the other. There are many types of games and for the most part in this section third-person and first-person games will be compared with films, though many of the same points also apply to other types of games.

Basic Differences

The most important difference between films and games is that, in games, the viewer clearly controls the camera and/or its movement. A theatrical film is linear and is watched passively; the viewer does not have control of its progression (except for simple linear operations like pause and rewind). Games are generally nonlinear, meaning that they will be slightly different every time. Even games that have linear levels can be different each time because of the freedom of movement the viewer/player has and the accumulation of all of the random factors, such as artificial intelligence (AI)-driven character movements or other players’ actions. Films are more predictable to make because the various steps of creation, from script to storyboard to previs to final shot process for the entire film, will end up as expected—in general. Games have so many unknowns and variables that typically the final result is quite different from the original concept. Everything is refined to enhance the fun factor and is in a constant state of flux and fine-tuning until the very last second.

Figure 8.1 Diagram showing the controlled and limited film camera views of an environment (left), compared with the free-roaming camera in a game (right). Green areas represent where the camera can be placed. (Image courtesy of Habib Zargarpour.)

The duration is also another difference; whereas an average film is 1.5 hours long, the average game can provide 20 hours of entertainment if played until the end. It is not uncommon to have some games take as long as 40 to 60 hours to complete.

Figure 8.2 A simple chart showing the basic differences between the two media. (Image courtesy of Habib Zargarpour.)

Most Important Aspect

The core of a good film is a good script.¹ Everything else follows from that. Without a strong script as the foundation, it is very difficult to produce a viable movie; hence, it is the most important aspect of a film. The most important aspect of a game is the gameplay. This is the most pertinent distinction between the two media. The gameplay is what is done within the game and it is the key to advancement: shooting bad guys, solving puzzles, traversing mazes, etc. If this gameplay, sometimes referred to as the core mechanics of the game, is not enjoyable, then the game is doomed to fail. All other aspects such as the main story or premise, the character designs, the environment, and the look of the game are incidental to this core and will need to be designed to support it. Early rough prototyping is a good way to determine if the gameplay is fun cost effectively.

The difference between games and films is that although game prototyping is the most cost-effective way to determine if the gameplay is engaging, it is much more expensive and requires more people and resources than reading a script. A script can be read in a few hours to determine whether it would make a good film, but the game-play is difficult to imagine and has to be proven via play-testing. While a large number of scripts are written that may or may not ever be made into a film, the process to determine which script to put into production is relatively inexpensive. A game, on the other hand, requires a full commitment from the start and is usually adjusted until it meets the criteria for fun.

Figure 8.3 Each medium has its own fundamental criteria for success. These criteria are used to weigh and prioritize each component that goes into the project. (Image courtesy of Habib Zargarpour.)

Narrative Storytelling

Both mediums provide for narrative storytelling. It is at the core of filmmaking and can be a strong component of a game as well. The immersive visceral nature of games makes them a good narrative medium. Of course some games don’t necessarily have to have a plot, for example, Pong or Tetris, but most games take advantage of this opportunity to involve the player more by having a story. Stories are used to add mystery or define a premise and compel the player to keep advancing through the game to find out more. Games such as Mass Effect² (2007), Half-Life 2³ (2006), Bioshock⁴ (2007), Resident Evil 5⁵ (2009), or Uncharted 2: Among Thieves⁶ (2009) are good examples of this.

In many games players essentially create their own story as they progress, and navigating through an environment can generate its own narrative. Many environments⁷ become treasure hunts and provide drama and clues as to where to go next. The freedom of movement means that the experience can be very different each time. This adds to the complexity of designing and testing games. There are helpful development tools that can track the movement of hundreds of testers and report back as to where players went and where they got lost. For example, Figure 8.4 shows where players tripped or fell in the skateboarding game Skate (2007), and this information is then used to improve the design of the environment and the players’ progression.

Figure 8.4 Example “Heat Map” showing where players fell the most, superimposed over a top view map of the third-person game Skate (2007). (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Differences in Limitations

Thanks to the rapid advances made in real-time graphics technology, CG models made for games can be as complex as ones made for film. The difference is how that asset is processed to fit into the game. When creating digital films, or films with visual effects, there are virtually unlimited resources to render or create a single frame—within budget and time constraints. Some shots can take up to 9 months of work, with frames taking anywhere from 1 to 20 hours, or more, to generate; the process is repeated until the shot is finaled. If physical simulations are needed, those can take several weeks to generate on powerful multicore towers. The data is then rendered for the shot.

The constraints are much more stringent for game makers. Because the game is interactive and has to respond immediately to the player’s actions, the frames need to be rendered in real time.⁸ The slightest delay will cause players to overcorrect their actions—which results in reducing the fun factor! Figure 8.5 shows the relative memory of various game consoles. All the content needs to fit into those memory limits, including world geometry, textures, characters, animation, music, sound effects, game logic, and the physics software. Additional content can be streamed from the disk or hard drive if the console has one. Streaming the content allows the game environments to be larger than would fit into memory all at once, and only the sections that are viewable by the player are loaded at any one time. Personal computers (PCs) are similar; while they have more memory and hard disk space than a console, the slowest PCs still have to be able to run the game smoothly.

Figure 8.5 Comparison of the constraints for creating pre-rendered images versus real-time ones. A game engine cannot take longer than 1/30 second (33 milliseconds) to render each frame. (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

The content of a film is simply composed of frames, so it has a fixed size on disk depending on the compression used. However, the data for a game is all in pieces. Imagine rendering a digital feature on the fly: all of the original geometry and textures, lighting information, and animation needed to re-create the shot. This is what games have to do. Some games can have between 10,000 and 20,000 individual animations that have to be dynamically loaded depending on the action taking place. The sheer complexity of handling that much data makes the real-time rendering even more challenging.

Cost of Iterations and Changes during Production

If a visual effects shot has been completed for a film, it is very expensive to make changes. The shot would most likely have to be reanimated or simulated, rerendered, composited, and refilmed out. In a game a change can be made on the last day, even as late as when the master disk is being made, and that change will automatically propagate throughout the entire game. For example, if the texture on the main character is changed, then wherever that character appears in the game it will have the new texture. This is also a dangerous aspect of game creation because things can break at the last minute and propagate throughout the game. The data is accessed on the fly and for the most part there are no pre-rendered scenes. Where there are pre-rendered cinematics, the cost of changing them would be similar to the film process. Figure 8.6 summarizes these differences.

Figure 8.6 Comparison of the differences in the cost of making changes to the content later in production. Making changes to gameplay is generally costlier than content for games. (Image courtesy of Habib Zargarpour.)

Category Types

Films are categorized by their genre such as action, adventure, comedy, drama, and so forth. Games are categorized by the point of view of the player: “first person” or “third person,” or types that are referred to with their acronyms (see summary in Figure 8.7):

•   FPS (first-person shooter): The game camera is from the point of view of the player.

•   Third-person shooter⁹: The player sees his or her avatar in the game and the camera trails behind.

•   RTS (real-time strategy): Camera is high above overlooking a section of land.

•   RPG (role-playing game): Third person.

•   MMO (massive multiplayer online)

•   Sports: These can have high cameras overlooking the field (e.g., soccer) or first person (boxing).

•   2D: Side-scrolling action adventure (a Mario game) or puzzle.

•   Sim: simulation, such as Flight Simulator or Driving Simulator.

Of course, some of the film genres can apply to games, such as horror or science fiction, depending on the setting, action/adventure, or crime/gangster based on a story or plot.

Format Types

The film format that is most commonly used is 35mm film but with various aspect ratios: 1:1.85, 1:2.35, some IMAX, and most recently, digital format for theaters equipped with digital projectors. On a console, the game output format will match whatever TV standard is used in the country where the console is sold: NTSC/HDTV in North America and PAL/HDTV in Europe. Aspect ratios of 4:3 for standard definition and 16:9 for HD are the most common. On PCs the game will simply play on whatever type of monitor is connected to the computer. Online games can fit within a web browser. Many games are formatted for mobile/handheld devices such as cell phones and the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP.

Figure 8.7 Example formats and genres in each media. (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Figure 8.8 Various distribution and platform formats for each media. (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Most companies try to release their games on as many of the platforms as possible with the exception of first-party games. A first-party game is one that is made, or commissioned, by the company that also owns the platform; for example, Microsoft created the Xbox 360, Sony owns the PlayStation 3 (PS3), and Nintendo owns the Wii. Each company will try to create dedicated games that are only released on their own consoles as a way to attract consumers to purchase their hardware and accessories. Games made by other companies are called third-party games. Figure 8.8 shows the rough distribution ratios between various consoles.

Transmedia Production Design Techniques

One field that is converging among the various media is production design for the environments. Whether the design is for a film, digital feature, game, web, theater, or real architecture (designing real buildings), the principles and tools/techniques are very similar.¹⁰

Before designing an environment certain questions need to be answered about the requirements and constraints. These questions are answered differently depending on which of the following media are involved:

1.  Real architecture (for real buildings):

a.  Designed for a first-person experience.

b.  Depending on the type of building, generally strive for beauty, awe, scale, comfort, and harmony.

c.  Some are designed to look good from the road while driving (car-chitecture¹¹).

2.  Environments for films:

a.  Entirely dependent on the type of film: replicating reality, historic, science fiction, time piece, comedy.

b.  Completely camera dependent: areas not seen from the camera do not need to be built.

c.  Sometimes the set or real environment is extended in postproduction and not built in its entirety.

d.  Set pieces may be cheated around on a shot-by-shot basis to make them look good. This applies if the sets are miniatures or digital.

3.  Environments for digital features:

a.  Similar to film but generally there is less modification of sets between shots in a scene due to the volume of shots to be generated.

b.  Since all of the environments are digital, there is full freedom to design the environment to enhance the story.

4.  Environments for games:

a.  Creating environments for games is very similar to those of digital features. The level of detail may be more simplified but the environments have to be designed and built as continuous pieces. (Refer to Figure 8.9.)

b.  In many ways there is more similarity to #1: real architecture. (Refer to Figure 8.10.)

c.  Because the viewer is interactively traversing through the environment, the set pieces cannot be moved or cheated on a shot-by-shot basis because there are no shots.

d.  Similar to films, completely camera dependent: Areas not seen from the camera do not need to be built. If the player does not need to go inside a building, the interiors will not need to be built. Similarly, rooftops or backs of buildings would not need to be built if not visible. In films the extras off camera need not continue to act, and in games the AI characters don’t need to be drawn.

e.  A good game environment is designed to draw the players through to the key places with the use of lighting and object placement while using landmarks to keep them from getting lost or disoriented. (Refer to Figure 8.11.)

Prototyping or previs is an area where all of these media have the most similarity. They use the same tools to create simple geometry and animation and to block in the environments to quickly find out if the designs would work. There are even cases where architects use game engines to preview walking around their building designs and verify their work before the buildings are made.

Figure 8.9 City planning for the racing game Need for Speed Most Wanted (2006) based on custom-designed roads. (Concept art by Aaron Kambeitz. Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Figure 8.10 Design criteria for environments in a game can be very similar to those for real architecture. Seen here are the key vistas along a coastal drive for the racing game Need for Speed Most Wanted (2006). (Concept art by Aaron Kambeitz. Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Figure 8.11 Screenshot from the FPS game Medal of Honor Airborne (2008). In a shooter game the environment is designed to provide areas of cover or “affordances” to the player. (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Figure 8.12 Example of post effects showing the visual filters both on and off. These post effects need to be processed over each frame within the 33-millisecond time limit. Screenshot from the game Need for Speed Most Wanted (2006). (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

Digital Intermediate and Post Effects

Films can be processed through a digital intermediate (DI) process, in which all of the color correction can take place and a specific look may be applied to the movie. Games don’t have this luxury but do have the option of real-time post-processing. In such a process real-time compositing techniques such as bloom, desaturation, contrast, color correction, and many other effects can be applied. These effects or visual filters may be applied to every frame as it is rendered while still maintaining the 30 fps required as a limitation for how intricate they can get.

Machinima Films

Machinima is the term used when a game engine is used to make a film. The footage is rendered in real time but then recorded, edited, and scored. There are examples of this on the web at such sites as http://machinima.com and Red vs. Blue (2003) (www.redvsblue.com), where they use the Halo game engine to record their footage and apply audio and editing in post. There are now games dedicated to creating Machinima such as Lionshead’s

Figure 8.13 Screenshot from the racing game Need for Speed SHIFT (2009) shows the advancements in real-time rendering in full HD resolution. (Image courtesy of Electronic Arts.)

The Movies Game. A few film projects have been put online that can be remixed by anyone so they can create their own versions. One such site to see and do this is http://modfilms.com.

Convergence

Much has been said about the convergence of film and games. While no one is thinking that films will become interactive, there is no question that each field is influencing the other. Games are becoming more cinematic, and many of the tools, artists, and programmers working in either field are converging because they both use similar computer graphic techniques. Shaders, once the exclusive domain of offline renderers, are now commonly used in real-time game engines, and advances such as faster graphics cards are in turn helping speed up the visual effects process. The CG medium is helping the two to share their creative crews.

GAMES AND PLATFORMS

Henry LaBounta

Video games are still a relatively new form of entertainment. Competition drives constant innovation in many areas including gameplay, interactivity, technology, graphics, and storytelling. Major game consoles are released approximately every 5 years, which creates a regular pace of innovation and reinvention in the industry. The game market has grown rapidly, with game sales exceeding movie sales in America in 2005. The cost of making games has also risen as more advanced hardware requires more complex engineering. Consumers now expect massive open world game environments in HD that require more art content. Popular game franchises dominate the market with multiple sequels. Many games are released on multiple platforms, each of which has different graphics, memory, and performance requirements. Game hardware choices also affect the audience that will be reached. A hardcore gamer may be more likely to have PS3 or Xbox 360 than a Wii, for example.

There are many differences and similarities between the game industry and film industry. Unlike the film industry there is no clear, established process of using tools like screenplays and storyboards to previs games. What makes an interactive experience fun is hard to define and requires extensive interactive play testing. Game teams are usually small compared to a film crew, and some positions cover many areas. For example, an Art Director may be involved in doing everything from production design to visual effects supervision, character design, and animation direction and may also be the Director of Photography for the game. Most major game companies also own the products they create, so unlike visual effects contractors it is more like working on staff at a film studio. The computer graphics technology used in games is similar to digital visual effects work, but the hardware rendering all happens in real time.

Game Types

1.  Role-playing games, aka RPG: In these games the players explore a large open-ended world and develop their character’s skills, attributes, and equipment through the course of an epic narrative.

2.  Action games: These games often feature physical skill challenges that require quick response time and hand-eye coordination (aka twitch-based games). Players face increasingly difficult challenges and opponents as they progress through the game. The goal is usually to achieve some objective or reach some destination without dying. Many games will also allow the player to score points as a measure of how well they are playing. Many additional types of games also fall under the action umbrella:

a.  First-person shooter games (FPS): In these shooting games the camera is in the player’s point of view (POV), showing the characters’ arms and weapon on the bottom of the screen. A popular variation of the FPS is the third-person shooter, in which the camera looks forward over the player-character’s shoulder.

b.  Fighting games: In these games the player controls a character who is in combat with one or more other characters. Players must master defensive and offensive moves as well as combinations of moves to beat the opponent.

c. Platform games (aka Platformer): From Donkey Kong to Super Mario Brothers, Nintendo popularized this category. These games started with 2D side-scrolling games where the image scrolled by as the player avoided obstacles while jumping from one platform to another. These and other types of games became more dimensional by using an isometric perspective, aka 2.5D in the 1980s and 1990s. Modern 3D platform games still focus on the core activity of jumping from place to place to reach a destination.

d.  Action/adventure games: These are a combination of action and adventure games that deliver both fast-paced action and story elements.

3.  Sports games: These games present a simulation of a real-life sport where the gameplayer takes on the role of a sports player, a whole team, or even a team manager or owner of a team. They can be played single player against the game AI or multiplayer offline or online. Many use a high camera angle that shows enough of the playing field to be able to pass the ball.

4.  Alternative sports games: Unlike stadium team sports games, these games feature activities such as snowboarding and skateboarding.

5.  Puzzle games: Classic games such as Tetris spawned a variety of puzzle games that usually involve spatial problem solving within an abstract rule set. Many other types of games also include puzzle-solving challenges.

6.  Racing games: These range from an arcade experience to more authentic simulation (or sim) driving games. Some include story elements and happen in an open world environment while others are more track based. Generally the player can choose between a third-person camera and a first-person bumper cam or sometimes a cockpit interior camera.

7.  Real-time strategy games (RTS): These are war-themed games where the player builds and controls an entire army. The player generally looks down on a landscape and builds assets to support an army that a player controls to fight against the AI or other players. These games are also popular online where sometimes up to eight players are participating. Player stats are persistent and often world ranked.

8.  Massively multiplayer online games (MMO or MMOG): MMO games allow thousands of players to play together in a large, open-ended world. These are typically PC games and, recently, also console games that require an Internet connection to play. These games sometimes use a subscription model, such as World of Warcraft, which currently has 11 million subscribers. Many types of games can be MMOs including sports and FPS games.

9. Serious games: These are games that aren’t focused solely on entertainment. Some of these games are:

a.  training games,

b.  educational games, and

c.  scientific games.

10. Virtual worlds: These are generally PC games where many players interact with each other in either a fantasy or more realistic world. Often players can communicate with each other with text or voice. These are very social games and players trade in a virtual economy.

11. Adventure games: These types of games are narrative heavy. The player explores the environment and completes prob1em-solving and puzzle challenges in order to progress through the story. These games rarely include combat or action elements.

Game Platforms

The following is a snapshot of the primary game devices for 2009. Currently, there are no announcements of any new major consoles coming out soon. However, new game platforms are constantly coming out, especially for handheld devices such as cell phones. Online capability has been one of the big developments in the current seventh generation of game consoles. This allows players to both play with friends as well as anyone else who is online. Online also allows players to easily download entire games, content, mini-games, additional post-launch game content, and patches. The online capability has changed some game markets already and will likely change others. In Korea, for example, many games are “free to play” (F2P) meaning the game can be downloaded and played for free. Game companies then sell additional game items through “micro transactions,” allowing the player to stand out from the crowd or making the game easier and more convenient to play. Most items cost very little but for successful games they can all add up and some more expensive items are available for hardcore players.

At the 2009 Game Developers Conference (GDC), Reardon Studios announced a new microconsole called OnLive. This set-top box allows users to play any game without owning the game hardware necessary for them by streaming the game video to a TV, Mac, or PC. The controller input is sent to their servers for the computing, which then sends the video results back to the player.

The following is a snapshot of the primary game devices as of December 2009:

1.  Wii, released in 2006 by Nintendo, has been a huge hit. It uses an innovative controller that combines pointing and orientation. Players often stand up and swing their arms in full gestures to control the game. Unlike the Xbox 360 and PS3, high-end graphics performance is not a focus for this console.

2.  PlayStation 3 (PS3), released in 2006 by Sony, follows the very successful PS2 and PlayStation. The wireless controller is similar to the PS2 controller, but it also has a six-axis orientation control. This console features a Blu-ray DVD player and free online access for players with an Internet connection via the PlayStation Network. The hardware includes a 7 SPU (CPU) cell microprocessor and NVIDIA RSX graphics GPU with 2 × 256 MB of memory.

3.  Xbox 360, released by Microsoft in 2005, was a follow-up to the original Xbox. Xbox Live is a subscription-based service, which allows players with an Internet connection to play online as well as download new content. The controller is very similar to the original Xbox but is wireless. The hardware includes a triple-core, IBM-designed Xenon CPU and ATI GPU for graphics processing with 512 MB of memory.

4.  PlayStation 2 (PS2), released in 2000 by Sony, has been the bestselling console to date with more than 140 million units sold. The hardware features a 64-bit, 290-MHz CPU with 32 MB of memory, two vector units (VUs), and a 147-MHz GPU.

5.  PC games, unlike console games, operate on a personal computer. Computer games have been around since the 1960s and have evolved by pushing the graphics capability of the latest PC hardware. They are dependent on the PC hardware and operating system, which can be configured in countless ways, so many offer the ability to adjust the graphic quality to accommodate older hardware. The keyboard and a mouse are the basic input devices for many PC games and a wide variety of peripherals including joysticks, gamepads, and steering wheels may be used for specific types of games.

6.  Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable), widely released in 2005, is a handheld gaming console offering a wide variety of multimedia capabilities. It uses a UMD optical disk media format and can connect with PlayStation consoles as well as the Internet. While graphics capabilities are limited in handheld consoles, they are still impressive for the screen size. The upcoming PSP Go replaces the UMD drive with internal flash-based memory, allowing games to be distributed online.

7.  Nintendo DS, released in 2005, is a dual-screen handheld gaming console. The bottom screen is a touchscreen that users can use either with a stylus or their fingers for input.

8.  iPhone, which is Apple’s smartphone with gaming capability, has grown rapidly since its launch in 2007. The multimedia smartphone offers a large touchscreen and a three-axis accelerometer, which senses the orientation of the phone. Due to the lack of conventional game pad buttons on the iPhone, designing interactive controls requires a different approach.

Film and game convergence has been a hot topic for a number of years. It is already happening with games based on films, and films based on games—both with varying degrees of success. On average, console games can take anywhere from 1 to 3 years to create. In the past, there has generally been little to no collaboration between game developers and film production and visual effects studios. Further convergence will come from early collaboration that will likely yield better and more cost-effective games.

Just as great films start with great scripts, great games start with great gameplay. In making a successful game it is easy to focus on the visual aspects, which are also important, but can never replace the need for great gameplay. Some key questions to answer early on include “What is the player doing?” and “Is that fun and rewarding?” This will also help determine not only what type of game it is but which console it should be developed for.

There are many ways to learn more about games including conferences, magazines, and websites. The two main conferences are the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). GDC focuses on the art and craft of game creation, whereas E3 focuses more on the business side with developers and publishers exhibiting their games. Additionally, many schools have courses on game development.

WHAT ARE GAME ENGINES AND HOW DO THEY FUNCTION?

Matt Whiting, Jeff Lander

A game engine is a software system or series of modular software components designed to be used for the creation of video games. The engine serves to abstract the details of interfacing with game hardware or several game hardware platforms in order to allow the game creators to focus their time on making the actual gameplay code and logic that define the game. Game engines exist in a variety of levels of complexity and features. While a game developer may develop game engine technology for use on a project, engines are often acquired by license from a commercial engine creator for a fee, or occasionally a royalty, from the game maker. However, the definition of a game engine is generally accepted to refer to technology capable of creating complex consumer-quality game experiences in console and PC game titles seen in stores. These are usually, but not exclusively, engines for the creation of 3D games. These types of projects require a great deal of technology to create.

Though the name game engine is often mistakenly used for software development kits (SDKs) such as DirectX, OpenGL, or Havok Physics, within the industry these are not considered game engines. SDKs such as these do provide abstraction from the game hardware. However, they only provide a portion of what is needed to create a game, such as a rendering library or physics system. To qualify as a game engine, a software package would have to provide a much more complete solution for game creation. Systems typically covered by a game engine include many low-level modules for rendering, physics, controller input, sound, and artificial intelligence components such as pathfinding, animation, file access, memory management, and network support. Many of these components can be licensed from a software provider, and these individually licensed components are commonly known as middleware. Though many game engine creators provide much of this functionality directly, some game engines are created from or supplemented by the inclusion of additional pieces of middleware.

Working with a Game Engine

Game engines at best provide an easy-to-use method for content creators and game makers to get their ideas and assets into a playable game. This is often called the game production pipeline. By providing as much of the technical low-level capabilities as the engine’s modular components, the game makers can focus on what makes their game different and special.

This means different things to different people, and a variety of game engine technology is available to suit those needs. For a team with strong artistic capability and design vision, but lacking the engineering talent to make a game from scratch, a game engine can provide the program backbone for these artists to express their ideas. Likewise, if the team is engineering savvy and capable of creating the game foundation, they can instead focus on programming innovations to take their game much farther than they could without it. By providing the basic pipeline and game infrastructure, the team can save a great deal of time.

The game engine at the basic level allows artists to create the art and bring it into the game world. Then designers and programmers manipulate the logic to create the game. The engine then allows the developers to package and distribute the game on their target platforms.

Usually someone who uses a game engine has an expectation that this engine will provide a minimum set of tools. The minimum set of tools provides a pipeline that will allow them to take their raw game assets, such as textures, 3D models, and sounds, and bring them into the game world to play. This pipeline can consist of many individual tools and steps, or it can be an all-encompassing game engine editor and playback environment.

The engine must allow the programmers or designers some method for defining and modifying the logic systems that create the game experience itself. This can take the form of writing computer code, scripts, manipulating visual logic controls, or a broad mix of these.

Technical Knowledge and Software

To use a game engine effectively, developers need the skills required to make a game. They need content creators capable of making art and sounds to comprise the game experience. This can, of course, take a number of forms such as 2D pictures, 3D models, videos, audio clips, etc. Many types of software are available to help with this aspect of game creation. High-end 3D modeling and animation packages such as Maya and 2D art creation tools such as Photoshop are commonly used and are required to create a quality game experience. Even if the developer is just going to reuse content from an existing game for the project, he or she must have some knowledge of art creation tools, if only to make the small changes needed in any game project.

For the creation of the game logic, having computer programming knowledge and expertise is usually, though not always, required. Any modification to the game rules or logic systems will mean changing some code or scripts. Most high-end game engines work in the C programming language, although there are exceptions. Many projects employ game design experts who, while not always programmers, are skilled in the art of making games that are fun to play. This knowledge is incredibly valuable to any project.

Similarities among Software Packages

Game engines are similar to 3D computer graphics programs in that they usually work in the 3D world with objects and the manipulation of time and space. However, game engines are specifically designed to organize large game worlds in an efficient manner with complex logic and are able to present this content back at interactive rates. 3D CG programs, as well as 2D paint programs, are generally termed digital content creation (DCC) tools. These tools are very efficient at the creation of content for game projects. The focus on user interface for the creators means that they are easy for skilled artists to use. However, their focus is not on the efficient organization and playback of interactive game experiences. It is true that some of the 3D content tools have many elements of a game engine, such as scripting languages and asset organization. However, these tools are not suited to dealing with the amount of logic and data that must be manipulated for a modern game experience.

One particularly blurry line is the concept of the game engine level editor. The level editor is the tool in many game projects that allows the game creator to lay out the world objects in space for the play of the actual level. DCC tools can be quite well suited to this task since they have nice, consistent user interfaces specifically designed for 3D object manipulation. These interface systems are very difficult to re-create in a custom tool. However, the DCC tools are often not well suited to the specific needs of individual game environments. They also may buckle under the shear amount of data needed for a modern game level. But for many applications, a DCC tool performs this task well.

CG Applications and Game Engines

Game engines generally receive the game content via export from a DCC tool. This can be done via common content output formats such as TGA files or OBJ models. But often, the complexity of game engines requires custom export formats from the DCC tools. Most game engines need to modify this exported data to be optimally formatted for the target platforms. This step can be done at the export stage, the import stage into the game engine, or as the content is packaged up to play the game.

One of the main things a game engine provides the game developer is the pipeline that brings artistic content from the DCC packages into the game.

Common Game Engines

Many game engines are available in a large variety of categories. These engines all serve specific needs and provide different advantages and disadvantages to the developers. Many lists of game engines exist, but Wikipedia provides a fairly detailed list with links to the engine providers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines).

Professional developers are concerned with game engines that provide a great deal of features, appropriate for the desired game, an efficient game creation pipeline, and support for the target platforms (PC, game consoles, etc.).

The most common game engines at the professional level, at this time, include:

This list is by no means comprehensive and many mid-to high-end game engines exist, including many low-cost to no-cost and open-source solutions.

WHAT ARE THE PRODUCTION STEPS IN CREATING A GAME?

Neil Eskuri

The first major step in creating a game is deciding what kind of game is being created. This sounds obvious, but there are many types of games and platforms. They include first-person shooter, racing, sports, and role-playing games among others (see the earlier sections on games). And they are played on many different types of platforms—each one having its own requirements, limitations, and considerations. These platforms include consoles, handheld units, and PCs. Establishing the idea and platform is crucial to how the game will be developed and produced regardless of the size of the game publishing company.

The idea for a game can be anything one’s imagination can conjure up. However, important questions need to be addressed before moving forward:

•   What is the object of the game? i.e., conquer the world, build a family, win the championship

•   What is the type of game? first-person shooter, simulation, arcade

•   What is the setting? fictional environment, stadium, spaceship, etc.

•   What platform is it being created for? Xbox, PS3, PC, PSP iPhone, DS, Wii, etc.

The idea should have at least one full thread, from beginning to end, that can be built on for overall development. This will provide a solid basis on which developers can add more facets to gameplay.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to outline how to come up with an idea. That is the seed of the creative process and often the product of inspiration and passion. In this concept phase all blue-sky ideas are brought together and innovative exploration occurs. An extremely useful goal is to create a one-line description of the game that defines what it is about. If people are confused about the game after hearing this description, or elevator pitch, then more thought should go into the overall idea before the big pitch.

Marketing to an Audience

Another important question in game creation is “What is the target audience for the game?” Often, it is not considered until well into pre-production, or even production, which may cause a delay and major reconsideration as to what is going to be produced. A game idea should be pitched to a marketing group that understands the gaming industry and will help with positioning the game to a particular market. This group will usually have ideas about tailoring the concept, visuals, or gameplay to the specific audience targeted. This is a crucial step in focusing the game’s market and can be a useful tool in scheduling the overall production.

The gaming industry operates in a fast-changing landscape of cultural tastes. Understanding how the game idea fits within, or even creates, cultural tastes will be a large benefit to its success.

The game’s target audience can be better defined after it has been prototyped. However, an idea of the target audience should be determined well before pre-production and certainly before production begins.

Object of Game—Prototypes

Prototyping the game idea will help give clarity to the myriad of possibilities any game at this stage has. The object of the game will be one of the first prototypes created. This can take the shape of a storyboard, a board game, a timeline, or a rough computer model or simulation. The prototypes should be as concise and simple as possible to illustrate just one or two points of the game’s objective. The more complex a prototype is, the more difficult it will be to answer the basic questions it should have been designed to answer. Dozens, if not hundreds, of prototypes will need to be created and designed to fully flesh out all of the concepts and gameplay ideas and questions. These prototypes must be completed before pre-production begins in order to create an efficient and useful pipeline for production.

Things to consider when creating a prototype:

•   What is the main flow of the game?

•   Find the fun early—if the prototype is not fun, the game won’t be either.

•   How will the game end?

•   How do players/characters interact?

•   How many players/characters are in the game?

•   Can the user create any personal assets?

•   Are there rewards/setbacks? If so, what are they?

•   Can the game be incorporated into a specific culture?

•   Prove out any “science projects”—if there will be something that has not been created before, push that feature to a state where it can be confidently accomplished. Additionally, evaluate the time it will take to produce this feature at a level of quality necessary to ship the game.

•   Test memory constraints. These prototypes are an excellent method for understanding benchmarks for pipeline, performance, and memory.

•   Keep prototypes as simple as possible. Do not try to solve multiple issues with a single prototype. As an example, a “stickman,” as opposed to a fully skinned character, may be sufficient to solve gameplay questions. The more that is put into a prototype, the longer it will take to come to a conclusion on the feature. It is easy to fall into the trap of putting too much into a prototype.

As specifics are established they can begin to be incorporated with each other. This will give more clarity on the complexity of the game and the dependencies with other gameplay ideas.

Prototypes will be created throughout the game’s production cycle, but these initial prototypes are for establishing a foundation for the game and its natural complexity. Above all, the game must be fun and compelling. These early prototypes help to determine what makes the game fun and the reason people cannot live without the game idea.

Visuals

Before the game can be completely set up for success it must have a visual style. Prototypes or concepts need to be visually created to illustrate the different elements of the game and should support the ideas and theme of the game. Visual exploration will generally require a great deal of iteration. Explore as many ideas as possible with concept art and different combinations of elements. Real-world reference is a good guide but may not be applicable to the game idea. The better defined the original game idea is, the better the visuals will be.

Questions to explore with the visual team:

•   What are the environments in which the game will be played?

•   What do those environments look like?

•   What do the characters, if any, look like?

•   What specific details are particular to the gameplay or visual look?

•   What props/accessories are there and what do they look like?

•   Are there any specific physical properties of the environment? Gravity? Air? Wind?

•   What screens are needed and what is their style?

•   What visual effects are needed?

•   What cameras and camera moves are required?

•   What gameplay moments need illustration?

•   Is there a single image that defines the game? Is there a visual style that resonates with the target audience?

A visual target may be achieved by a quick video using real-world video and photographs. This helps to show how the game might look in motion, even though it is not being controlled by a user, and will give an emotional element in presenting the game to executives.

Animation prototypes are also important in illustrating the motion of characters, graphics, cameras, and visual effects. Again reference is important to show the type of motion during game-play. Animation prototypes do not need to be fully fleshed out productions, but they should clearly illustrate how things move. The sooner either real-world examples can be found or characters and/or objects can be animated, the better. Along with clear game ideas and visuals, motion exploration gives an immediate sense of what the game will ultimately be.

Along with the visuals, audio should be prototyped as well. The music, voices, and sound effects add a great deal of dynamics to a game and underscore the overall experience for the player(s).

Game Document

The game document is a clear and concise explanation of the overall game, what the object of the game is, and its target audience. It should include descriptions of the visuals and audio direction in as much detail as possible. The cast of characters and locations along with what screens are required for the front end and navigation throughout the game should be detailed as well. In short, all of the work done to lay out the game should be incorporated into this document. This will become the blueprint for all that follows. The areas of focus should include:

•   gameplay (flow, levels, AI, animation),

•   visuals (environments, characters, effects),

•   front-end (screen menus, overlays, game information for user),

•   dynasty/story mode,

•   presentation (cameras, overlays, cinematics, or noninteractive sequences),

•   audio,

•   online,

•   platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, PC, etc.),

•   marketing (demos, ad sales, exposure, etc.), and

•   pipeline (software, hardware, asset management, support).

Budget

Determining the cost to create the game can be a tricky endeavor because no matter how much has been planned, things will always change. Keep that in mind when a budget is being developed. The game document is a very good tool to help establish cost. In general, the more complex the game is, the more expensive it will be to produce.

Software engineers, artists, and technical artists can give valuable estimates to determine what it will take to deliver different features and assets required for production. Game producers will use the game document to break down specific tasks required to develop a game and their dependencies on other game areas. With this information a schedule may be created to provide an understanding of the overall scope of production and give a more accurate idea of people, time, and resources needed to create the game, that is, the cost of the game.

The budget should include an overall schedule of production. This includes pre-production, production, finaling, and manufacturing.

The Team

A team of producers, software engineers, artists, management, and marketing personnel comes together to bring a game to life.

In general, a production team will consist of producers (line producers, assistants, and associates), game designers, art director(s), computer graphic supervisor(s), development directors and managers, software engineers (technical directors and game area leads), artists and animators, sound artists, and marketing and production support personnel.

Of course, the exact number of individuals for each of these roles will depend on the type of game, its platform, and complexity. Several models can be used to organize a team. The entire team can be brought together in one studio or portions of the game can be outsourced. Larger game studios sometimes create central teams for more efficiency in creating assets and organizing data.

In conjunction with the main team, other groups required to complete the game are:

•   quality assurance,

•   publishing,

•   studio operations,

•   finance,

•   localization (if the game will be distributed in other countries),

•   human resources,

•   information technology,

•   legal/business affairs,

•   mastering,

•   media services, and

•   marketing.

Pipeline

The actual pipeline is determined by what studio creates the game or the personal experiences of the team that comes together for production. Each game production pipeline has different software and hardware needs. The game document and information from the technical team and information technology (IT) department will be extremely valuable in determining the makeup of the pipeline. Things to consider when designing a pipeline are:

•   software,

•   hardware,

•   asset management (versioning, backup, support),

•   outsourcing,

•   communication,

•   iteration, and

•   flexibility.

A good pipeline allows the production team flexibility in its use. Different parts of production should be able to add functionality, for quicker development, anywhere along the line without slowing down the process.

Phases of Development

Games are similar to most other types of production. There are phases of pre-production, production, finaling, post-production, and manufacturing—with checkpoints within each phase.

Pre-Production

Pre-production is where the final design for the game is established. Additional brainstorming is done with producers and game designers to flesh out all of the features of gameplay, visual look, and schedule. Additional prototyping on the features is created to prove out ideas and discover what technology is required for the pipeline and infrastructure. All major technical challenges should be addressed in this phase.

In pre-production, a plan is established for the production’s capacity, and estimates for a realistic and well-considered production schedule are put in place. Every game is different and the length of time for pre-production will differ in each case. For most games this period can be 1 to 6 months. However, for a brand new type of game it can be as much as 2 years or more.

For a successful pre-production, milestones should be established to ensure the production team will be moving in the right direction and in a timely manner. Some milestones are:

•   design review = overall game design with major and minor features,

•   business review = budget and financial, and

•   development review = detailed game design, schedule, technical plan.

One technique for development is known as agile development or scrums. This technique creates small groups who are empowered to solve problems, make fast decisions, and develop quick prototypes to determine what works and what does not work. These groups can remove traditional roadblocks in development and involve the entire team.

Production

Production is when the main aspects of the game are built. All of the pieces begin to come together during production. Not all of the pieces are fully tuned to work together at this point, but adequate time should be scheduled for several iterations to bring the game features to a working state. Overall game flow is established and visual themes and assets are incorporated. As with preproduction, production should have specific milestones to keep things on track. These milestones are:

•   Milestone reviews and tuning: Regular reviews and tuning time are established to adjust schedule, assess risk, and check quality of features and assets.

•   Game reviews: Demo the game with key features and review with marketing and publishing in preparation for completion.

•   Alpha review: Review game with an eye of entering the finaling phase. What are the key areas of focus?

The duration for production can be 3 to 15 months or more, depending on the game.

Finaling

Finaling is the process where all the features and functionality of the game come together and the finish line is crossed. Finite milestones are established to ensure the game hits its schedule. Generally these are referred to as:

•   Alpha: All features are complete. They may have bugs, but the main components are finished.

•   Dev Beta: This is the first fully functional version of the game with zero bugs. Very little tuning is still to be done.

•   Beta: All assets and features are final and incorporated. This version should have zero bugs for 2 days. For online games there can be “Open Beta” and “Closed Beta” for testing the game with select groups or the public at large.

•   Final: The game is completely approved internally and by the first party, the platform on which the game will be delivered (Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, etc.).

•   First-party approval: Ready for manufacturing and positioning all assets for output to manufacturer. PC games don’t have a first-party approval.

As with other phases of production, the length of time for finaling will vary. However, for most games, this phase lasts from 9 to 12 weeks.

Marketing

Marketing should be an ongoing endeavor to ensure that the game is exposed to the chosen target audience. Because things can change during all phases of production, marketing should be kept closely in the loop of where the game is going. Working with the marketing team is a big key to the success of any game. Marketing is responsible for positioning the game in the marketplace for optimal results. If the game is not marketed, no matter how groundbreaking or great it is, it is destined for failure.

Post-Production

Post-production in the gaming world is quite different from that of the film and television world. In gaming, post-production is when the game’s cycle is reviewed and a determination made about what works and what does not work—a post-mortem period. This is the time to evaluate the process and work on any corrective actions and plans for the next cycle or new game. During this time, it is a good idea to look at the resources for the next cycle and re-energize the team for the next upcoming cycle or game idea. Look at this time as planting the seeds for the future of the game or company, because the cycle usually begins anew in 3 to 6 weeks.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is production of the actual disk and packaging. The development team has completed the game and it is now moving toward shipping and its scheduled “street date.” The time frame is dependent on the platform(s) for the game—usually about 5 to 10 weeks from mass production and shipping.

Conclusion

Once the project is completed and shipped, it is a good idea to bring the team together and evaluate the overall cycle and conduct a post mortem. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the process to determine what aspects of production went well and what aspects need some adjustment. The information learned may be extremely valuable in setting up the next game, its pipeline, resources, and future game teams.

GAME CINEMATIC SEQUENCES

Richard Winn Taylor II

Noninteractive Scenes

Noninteractive scene (NIS) sequences, sometimes referred to as cut-scenes, are at their core linear sequences that lack interactivity. They briefly take away the player’s control and force them to watch a pre-rendered sequence created with CG animation or live action. By using NIS scenes the game designers are able to convey the storyline or the structure of the game. Cut-scenes are used throughout the game to advance the story or inform the player of new challenges. Many games have a closing sequence to conclude the storyline and to reward the player for successfully completing the game.

Replay Sequences

Many games show a sequence of scenes edited together at the completion of a game level or at the end of the game. These sequences show the players’ actions through a variety of shots. Replay sequences are most commonly found in sports action games, racing games, and social games. In some games the players can build their own replay sequence by selecting the shots and editing them together. These replay sequences are often posted online.

Pre-Rendering

Pre-rendering is one of the two methods of creating NIS scenes in games. Pre-rendered scenes are created using traditional film, video, and computer graphic production techniques. Generally the scenes are created at 1920 × 1080 HD at 4:2:2. After the final DI color correction, the scenes are then downsized to 1280 × 720 using a video codec. Commonly used codecs include AMV, AVS, Bink, Dirac, Indeo, Pixlet, Real Video, RT Video, Sheer Video, Smacker, Theora, VC-1, VP6, and WMV The NIS scenes need to be compressed so they use as little space as possible on the DVDs that load and play the game on game consoles or onto the PC. PC games use a dual-layered DVD, and the NIS scenes are burned onto the second layer. They generally use about 4 GB of disk space. Console games use a variety of DVDs depending on the manufacturer. For example, the Xbox 360 uses the HDVD, the Sony PS3 uses the Blu-ray, and the Nintendo Wii has its own unique DVD.

There are several aspects to the pre-rendered approach that should be considered because they significantly impact the budget. If the gaming company does not have a dedicated in-house group to create the scenes, then the shots are subcontracted to an independent production company that works in Maya, Max, or Lightwave. In many cases the models and texture maps created for the game are not of sufficient resolution to work in the cinematic sequences and therefore the subcontractor must build all new models. Obviously good preparation by the game company in scripting and boarding the scenes and good communications between the companies are essential.

Pre-rendered sequences play a major role in the marketing of a game. They are incorporated into trailers that are posted online at major gaming sites and on the home page of the game. They are often shown on television and at gaming conferences around the world.

Localization

Games designed for a worldwide audience require that all of the names seen throughout the game and in the user interface (UI) be translated to other languages. This poses a significant logistical challenge in that it entails roughly 10 different composites of each scene.

Game Engine-Rendered NIS Scenes

The second technique for creating NIS scenes is to render them in real time using the game engine (see the earlier section on game engines). The engine is programmed to play a scene using the in-game camera, lighting, environments, characters, animation, physics, and effects. This approach has two advantages: First, the scenes are identical in their resolution and style to the imagery in the game and, second, they require very little disk space. The downside is that the game company must put together a dedicated team of artists and engineers who are familiar with the game engine’s camera, lighting, and animation tools to create these scenes.

The Design and Production Process

The creation of pre-rendered cut-scene sequences is parallel to the design and production of animated and live-action films. Game design is the controlling factor in the production of any game, just as the script is the backbone of any film. Until the game designers have defined the storyline and gameplay, there can be no production. Once the game design document is complete, the cinematic director breaks down the script and creates storyboards and proof-of-concept tests. Once the boards are approved, the project is competitively bid to outside production companies. Most bids include a previs step in creating the scenes. Once the job is awarded, the approval process is similar to most film projects. The final scenes are delivered as targa files. The game company’s in-house post-production team conforms the targa files to the codec and works with engineering to integrate the scenes into the game.

The processes used in creating the images for games are similar in most respects to the technology used in film production. The difference of course is that the images in games are rendered in real time by a game engine. Many effects studios are now experimenting with game engines as a means of lowering costs by expediting visual effects production. It is apparent that the collaboration between gaming and the film and television industry will continue to grow in the years to come.

¹ A good script in this context is described as a good story as detailed by the script.

² Mass Effect (2007) is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and then ported to Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 edition was released worldwide in November 2007, published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Windows edition was released on May 28, 2008, published by Electronic Arts.

³ Half-Life 2 (2006) is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the sequel to the highly acclaimed Half-Life. It was developed by Valve Corporation and was released on November 16, 2004.

⁴ Bioshock (2007) is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston/2K Australia—previously known as Irrational Games—designed by Ken Levine. It was released for the Windows operating system and Xbox 360 video game console on August 21, 2007, in North America.

⁵ Resident Evil 5 (2009), known in Japan as Biohazard 5, is a third-person shooter survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series and was released on March 5, 2009, in Japan and on March 13, 2009, in North America and Europe.

⁶ Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009) is an action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. It was released in October 2009 and has been named by Metacritic as the most critically acclaimed game of 2009.

⁷ The design, art direction, and lighting are key ingredients to the creation of a successful world to support the fiction.

⁸ The loose definition of real time is anything that is faster than 30 frames per second; any speed lower than this and the game will feel sluggish or unresponsive.

⁹ These are not called TPS, just third-person shooters!

¹⁰ A more in-depth discussion on this topic may be found at www.5dconference.com.

¹¹ See the book Carchitecture: When the Car and the City Collide by Jonathan Bell.