Some of video games greatest scores came from a time when a composer only had 2 pulse, 1 triangle and a noise wave, at their disposal. Dani Zuniga and Simar Bal of Laughing Ear have an extensive list of titles on platforms that use low CPU, ROM, and RAM. See how you can use these limitations on hand held and other small footprint platforms to your sonic advantage.
Michael Witz, CEO of Mob Science, explains why explosive viral growth
happens and debunks the many myths and misunderstandings around this
word of mouth phenomena. He will share real world examples and teach
you exactly how to measure your own game's viral coefficient.
Should you rent an office, pay salaries, buy advertising, and retain a PR firm in pursuit of iPhone riches, or should you moonlight on your boss and let console companies indirectly underwrite the growth of Apple?s App Store? Appy Entertainment tells all about how they?re trying to steer a middle path in iPhone game development. Like Goldilocks, they?re neither too hot, nor too cold, with a business that is neither a lumbering death star nor one guy without pants. They?re a dozen guys with a couple published Apps and some hard-won knowledge. Come throw fruit at them.
Loading and unloading assets based on offline-calculated dependency graphs and event-handling systems results in wasted memory allocations. Runtime statistics collection and processing methods, on the other hand, can be used to replace the guesswork with smart memory management. Instead of loading what might be played ?eventually?, runtime statistics can be used to always load assets at the right place and time.
A next-gen sound asset streaming system has been developed as an example implementation. With practically zero-length build times and absolutely no file duplication, this system is able to efficiently manage all sounds in memory across huge game worlds, without the need for complex fix-ups across sectioned boundaries.
Aristotle's 'Poetics' is one of the formative texts of literary theory and its insights have continued to influence writers and literary criticism to the present day. Dr Maurice Suckling will explore what the 'Poetics' might have to say on the subjects of games writing and games in general. Although the discussion is drawn from theoretical sources, there will be accompanying visuals, and video footage will be drawn from movies and games, and the emphasis is on the practical ramifications of the discussion.
This lecture presents techniques used to faithfully port a 3rd person shooter to iPhone. It covers general platform porting methods and principles as well as many iPhone specific features that can significantly speed up the porting process. The lecture also touches on game play and user interface design differences to consider when doing the port.
Building a strong narrative for video gaming's largest army of super heroes requires a unique fusion of writing techniques, tools, and production strategies. Join Lead Writer Evan Skolnick and Narrative Designer, Jonathan Mintz, as they take a deep dive into storytelling for a modern, large-scale Action RPG. You'll learn how they worked with the team to plan the narrative, develop the game's characters and world, and integrate story with gameplay. They'll share best practices for creating and organizing the wealth of content that modern games require - along with some hard-earned tips about pitfalls to avoid.
The game industry is seeing a shift from traditional video gaming to online and free-to-play gaming. In this business model, consumers play web-based, platform agnostic games for free, while developers attain revenue through microtransactions. In this session, Craig Sherman of Gaia Online will look at the strengths and weaknesses of the online gaming model, as well as, the differences between the U.S. and Asia markets. He will also predict the future of traditional video gaming versus online, free-to-play gaming, and will offer advice for companies who have adopted or are thinking of adopting this model and are exploring alternative revenue streams.
When Imangi Studios released their first game for the App Store launch, they knew almost nothing about the game industry - and nobody knew anything about the App Store. A year later, they are working on iPhone games full time, they?ve created four unique games, one app, and their latest game hit #3 on the US Top Paid Apps charts. Join this talk with Imagni?s owners as they share what has worked and what hasn't, how indie iPhone developers can turn their weaknesses into strengths, and how to avoid their rookie mistakes.
In this talk, Jesse Schell shows how to use the one hundred lenses from The Art of Game Design to help improve online games, using examples of successes and failures in the world of online gaming, with an eye towards unexploited opportunities in the online gaming space. The subtle differences and surprising similarities between online and offline game design will be discussed in depth.
The modern commercial game industry is frequently criticized for a reluctance toward innovation. Although independent game developers, to a certain extent, have accepted the challenge of advancing innovation in game design, another small but devoted group of individuals has been doing this for years, behind the scenes, in a genre largely overlooked in gaming circles: interactive fiction. A closer look at the many ways in which this medium has evolved over the years will reveal a number of techniques and strategies that game developers, mainstream and independent alike, might consider exploring and translating to their own genres and projects.
Having created the Bit.Trip series for WiiWare to significant acclaim, Gaijin Games has melded retro game design aesthetics with a unified, holistic-feeling style to create games with a special ?feel?. In this design talk, Gaijin Games' Art Director Mike Roush discusses how they created the retro-infused series, giving tips on standing out on WiiWare and how to intelligently mine classic gaming for a unique look.
The Hiring Manager for Obsidian Entertainment will detail, step by step, how to effectively market yourself to game companies. How do you write a resume and a cover letter? What should you have on your website (and what shouldn?t you!) that will get you noticed by HR? This session is designed to foster questions so bring them and they will be answered.
Coming off the award-winning PC and Xbox Live Arcade title, THE MAW, Austin-based indie developer Twisted Pixel embarked on an unconventional XBLA title called SPLOSION MAN. In this in-depth postmortem, the lead programmer and lead designer look at how the splode-happy gameplay of the title evolved, including what went right and wrong during the project?s hyper-aggressive 6 month schedule, and lessons for indies wanting to make console downloadable games.
Brian Reynolds, lead designer of such conventional hits as Civilization 2 and Rise of Nations, and now Chief Designer at Zynga, talks about the reasons he made the switch to social network gaming. We?ll discuss Zynga?s growth trajectory and why the social network space is growing so quickly compared to the rest of the gaming industry. We?ll also talk about the substantial differences in designing a social network game and designing a traditional game ? in terms of game mechanics as well as design process ? and some of the unique approaches available to social network developers.
Online games present unique challenges to the security professional. Some classic principals apply and some do not easily fit into the dynamic world of game development. This talk will focus on risk assessment company wide, current threat trends in the wild and damage control when the bad guys are sneakier than you want them to be.
Recognizablity is the glue that holds an IP together. Ideally every element in a game from the smallest plants to creatures to the user interface should have a distinct style that players will associate with the title even when viewed outside the game world. This kind of recognizability requires a strong consistent visual style and a commitment from all stakeholders to continually uphold it.
The development of the style begins with the core game, encompassing characters, environments, UI and FX. It then extends into cross departmental collaboration between the Developers, Marketing, PR, Web presence and all outsourcing. Doing this successfully requires attention to key elements that will be discussed in this presentation.
The line between what has traditionally been thought of as 'casual gamer' and 'hardcore gamer' has blurred considerably over the past few years, forcing developers to re-examine various gamer groups and their approach to marketing. Jon Radoff presents new behavioral gameplay data across multiple platforms and gamer groups, challenging the tired dichotomy of 'casual versus hardcore' and illustrating that gamers are more diverse than ever before. Providing analysis of current behavioral data, Jon will also help to answer the question of how to more effectively deliver and market a product to these various gamer groups.
SOE development services directors take a look back at six months of iterative usability testing from registration flow to UI and Tutorial intuitiveness. From the benefits of in-house laboratories to the challenges of providing satellite studio remote testing this lecture will detail their approach to as it pertains to identifying and recruiting the target demographic, test planning and execution, data gathering and reporting. Join Tony Rado and Paul Venuti and as they share their experiences in understanding how to ignore what they say not what they do.
HALO, CALL OF DUTY, GTA, WORLD OF WARCRAFT....anything with 'Tom Clancy' in front of it...the games industry is increasingly reliant upon, and dominated by, established intellectual properties. Finding ways to bring fresh and innovative ideas to such projects can be a challenge for developers of all stripes, but writers in particular may be especially daunted by the sometimes rigorous constraints imposed by legacy titles. This lecture provides practical tips and advice for stretching creative borders without breaking any franchise boundaries.
FINAL FANTASY XI is a global MMO in every sense of the phrase. Players across regions, languages, and platforms play together throughout a 24 hour day. FINAL FANTASY XI uniquely updates and operates each platform and region simultaneously. The Square Enix Community Teams work together to support the global players, while operating locally to create promotions for players of all types and tastes. In this talk, the senior community planner looks to explore the process of working with a global community and detail the tools his team uses to work with fan sites, player feedback requests, customer satisfaction and account safety.
How do you manage online communities that numbers in hundreds of thousands? Is it, in fact, possible to manage such a large community? The answer is yes-- one way is with ultra small player groups representing the greater community. EVE Online uses a democratically elected council of 9 community members to get a feel for what the whole wants, where they want EVE to go in the future and how we, players and developers, can get there together.
This presentation focuses on the creation of a highly-personal interactive narrative. The artist has developed a screen-based environment where the player explores images and stories from the two years he spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. The stories are told non-linearly through the 3D environment, meaning that a user navigates the landscape and explores narratives that emerge from information embedded therein. This talk will focus on the writing methods and choices made linking together the stories and the impact that non-linearity has had on their expression.
Flash-based physics sandbox webgame Fantastic Contraption has been played by millions of people, and brought in six-figure profits for its single developer. In this detailed talk, Colin Northway, the game s creator, will explain the boons and pitfalls of the development, launch, and maintenance of a game written in Flash that asks its players for money. How did Flash affect design decisions? What marketing and promotional strategies put millions of people in front of the game? How did Colin successfully monetize based on an initially free title?
In 2008, Rich Weil and Rebecca Newton gave a highly-regarded lecture about regulatory challenges in kids? gaming. They've returned to share a comprehensive update that will closely examine how the kids gaming landscape is evolving.
Expanding on last year's discussion, which focused primarily upon regulatory issues, this follow-up lecture will include a broader range of topics useful to everyone in the gaming and community industry.
Regulatory issues, community and support will be revisited, and this year they'll present an in-depth look at financial issues such as the relative merit and success of different business models, from subscription to freemium games.
FREE REALMS is a new virtual world aimed at tweens, teens, families and casual players. Designing FREE REALMS involved challenging many common beliefs and MMORPG 'rules' such as changing classes on demand, an unlimited inventory, playing on any server any time, and moving story to the back seat to put the focus on gameplay. Many design decisions led to new challenges and obstacles the team had to overcome while staying on schedule. This is a discussion of the user-driven design process the team followed, and a frank look at what worked for the team and for players...and what didn?t.
This talk presents algorithms to help increase texture quality for large, uniquely textured terrain systems. The session covers availability of compression techniques to reduce unique footprint, along with compositing systems to generate high resolution texturing at runtime very quickly. Colt McAnis will present the latest research on Example Based Texture Synthesis, and discuss implementation ideas on how to adapt this exciting technology to content pipelines. Additionally, solutions for directly dealing with increased content burden related to texturing large unique terrains, focusing on automation algorithms, as well as multiple-user problems and solutions.
Historically, PvE AI in MMOs has been a straight-forward
affair. While this leads to predictability, it also leads
to monotony. In online, team-based PvP games, however, much
of the attraction is the dynamic nature of the engagement
that necessitates that players read, communicate, and react
appropriately to changing, even unexpected actions of their
enemies. By leveraging more advanced techniques that are
becoming common in FPS, RPG, and RTS games, the AI in MMOs
can be designed to provide some of the more attractive and
engaging elements of PvP games. This, in turn, can lead to
more involved team play, greater replayability, and an
increased sense of community in the game.
Rainbow Studios, leaders in the offroad racing genre, explain, in detail, the evolution of recording engines for their games. What went right, wrong and caught on fire; a look into building the right rig, making the right mic choice and using tried and true field recording techniques to capture quality recordings on the first take.
Electronic Sports League (ESL) had a problem: how to scale up their server infrastructure to meet demand for single-threaded LAN servers, like Counter-Strike 1.6?
They thought 'virtualization can?t help, because the overhead is too high, right?' Wrong!
This case study shows how to effectively use latest VMWare and Intel server technologies to support 18x the Counter-Strike gamers per server, without compromising any Quality of Service (QoS). At the same time, ESL saw dramatically improved power usage and cost savings.
For this case study, VMWare ESX 3.5, with NetQueue feature, Intel Xeon processor 7400 series based servers and Intel NICs with VMDq feature were used.
While there are many experts at designing, building and marketing games, fewer have had the opportunity to learn to fund companies. An early stage company with the ability to raise capital has a huge advantage over its peers, and a much greater likelihood of creating a positive return for its founders.
This panel will discuss various funding sources; Venture Capital, Syndicate of Angels, Equity Firms and how those avenues worked for them. Panelists will demystify and deconstruct early-stage financing to help attendees asses which method is a path they should pursue and if so, what their next steps should be.
The internet has dramatically changed the how marketing affects gamers. As a result, the days of traditional marketing, with heavy focus on print an TV are dying, and along with that, the need to work with a big publisher. The goal of this presentation is to teach developers how to launch their own interactive marketing campaigns, using larger publisher brand strategies, proven to have an effect on people. This presentation covers Dos and Don'ts, budgeting strategy, as well as actual case studies implemented by publishers and developers.
Games fundamentally model systems ? and that?s a topic that mathematicians wrestle with for a living! In fact, mathematicians have been busily ?solving? classic games algorithmically for years, determining that classics like Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect Four and many others always have the same outcome when played optimally.
Are there particular math problems that make for great game mechanics? Come learn about Karp?s 21 NP-Complete problems, the brain?s weaknesses in probability assessment.
This session will explore Lean Production methodology and how it applies to game development. Lean Production has been used by a number of developers to slash production costs by over 50%. As a complement to Scrum, Lean provides predictability, transparency and optimization for complex game production (including outsourcing).
This session will initially provide attendees with the top ten suggestions on how to strengthen the terms of their EULA and limit a companies? potential legal exposure. Moreover, this session will highlight the more than twenty programs in the United States and Canada which offer Tax incentives or other financial benefits to video game companies. Understanding the nature and requirements of these potentially substantial financial benefits is valuable to both established game companies and new development teams.
By reviewing a waveform outputs from videogames past and present, we?ll look at the current state of playback levels experienced by our customers. We?ll look at how these affect the player?s experience, and how they influence the aesthetic choices we have as developers. We?ll also look at how mix room setup relates to output levels, and how these choices interact with specific technologies such as Dolby Digital.
How do you use your own website, social networking channels (from Twitter through IRC and beyond), independent editorial content, and even pre-release versions of your tools to build a robust community around your game before it even ships? Wolfire's COO, John Graham, explains in depth how his company has been building momentum around PC indie title Overgrowth, what has worked, and what hasn?t.
Cloud computing has many applications for game developers. Deploy and write games with web-friendly technologies like Flash, Unity, Torque, O3D, or Javascript/DHTML. Use Google Spreadsheet to tweak gameplay. Run build scripts and game servers on Amazon EC2. Track player experiences with Google Analytics. Use hosted version control and bug tracking. Focus on your game and let the cloud handle the rest!
The time has passed for basic bullet-point community features; stats, leaderboards and forums!! Gamers now crave deeper, more robust interaction with their favorite
games and their creators. A community built without developer input can miss the mark and stagnate. A game built without an eye towards community can miss
opportunities to extend the experience, storytelling, and awareness that it provides. This talk examines the evolution of community, best practices in building your own, analysis from the speakers? respective business and technical backgrounds and the importance of integrating those fields moving forward.
One of the most stable indies out there, Ninjabee has made a large number of very diverse games for digital download. They?ve released games from CLONING CLYDE to A KINGDOM FOR KEFLINGS. These games were developed for XLA, WiiWare, PC, and iPhone. The down-to-earth Fox, talks about how NinjaBee can maintain the creative indie edge and still stay in business. He discusses how they handle contracting vs. self-funded games and compares development and success on various platforms. Hear tips and tricks on pitching your games to publishers or getting them approved from gatekeepers like Microsoft for XLA and much more on practical matters of interest to every indie game developer.
Word of mouth has always been a powerful tool that can help build early awareness of a product and contribute to its long-term success?or failure. Yesterday?s fan sites ? led by one enthusiast voice ? have morphed into today?s larger, more vocal communities. Passionate audiences with varying opinions populate the site, discussing, debating and influencing. Some communities attract more than a million unique visitors a month, creating a powerful force that can affect everything from a game?s early buzz to its official release to future iterations. This roundtable discussion will dissect the role of today?s online communities, the importance of the sites? leaders, the tools being used to communicate with each other, and the best ways for game developers to interact with these important audiences.
With the trend towards microtransaction payments, many MMOs are heading toward game designs that resemble traditional trading card games. Online TCGs have been around since 1997, but the marketplace acceptance of micropayments have made them more relevant in the marketplace. The most important aspect of a trading card game's design is also it's most misunderstood and it's most underdeveloped: resources, gameplay delineation (the 'color pie') and how those things relate. This session gives examples that have worked, online and offline, over the past fifteen years. It will delve into the specifics of successful TCGs by pointing the decisions they made that led to a design path that can last a decade or longer. Time will be spent showing how these design principles apply to other MMO games.
This session provides insight into how studios can gain project efficiencies by communicating more effectively and engaging in constructive conflict. Using the trials and successes at Next Level Games, learn how efficiency drops and work gets derailed when people work in silos, don?t communicate or 'assume' they know what?s going on. Getting questions on the table at the beginning and throughout the project, along with planning for more face time, creates efficiencies that will reclaim hundreds of lost hours. Attendees will learn how common sense and the commitment to applying these principles consistently will put their team in a better position to turn out a superior product. It may sound simple, but if it was so easy, why isn?t everyone doing it?
Striking a balance between story and gameplay seems to be a continual challenge in this industry. Will we ever succeed in engrossing players in rich, story-driven narratives, while simultaneously allowing them to define their own paths -- and their own stories -- through such a narrative?
Mary DeMarle, Lead Writer on Eidos Montreal?s upcoming game DEUS EX 3, has spent the past two years tackling this question. She believes the answer can only be found by understanding what writing a game really means ? and in realizing that it requires game writers to do more than just craft dialog.
Four presenters enter. No presenters leave. 10 minutes each to serve up an in-depth look at the topics that matter most to them. Welcome to Audio Shorts. (Shorts sold separately.)
Online and MMO games have very specific requirements when it comes to world design. Supporting large environments introduces many new technical and design challenges. This presentation covers editing and runtime solutions for streaming large worlds and terrains. This presentation provides some in-depth technical topics like resource dependency graphs, streaming queues and world editing requirements.
With the introduction of the Facebook Platform, a new set of opportunities were created for game developers. Some game studios, (or game studios, depending on the company), are built entirely on this platform, but opportunities for other types of integration exist. This session is intended to examine the opportunities that exist, the drawbacks of these platforms like Facebook and what it all means for game developers. While everyone in the industry seems to be scrambling to figure out a Social Network Integration Strategy, this session commits heresy and asks Should you even bother??
With the rapidly scaling needs of destructible environments, LucasArts chose to implement Pixelux's Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) in combination with Havoc physics to create true next-gen game play and THE FORCE like it's never been seen or heard before. The audio team faced the unique challenges of bringing sound to the STAR WARS universe by utilizing proprietary technology and tool sets created to unleash the sonic mayhem of a dynamic physical world. This talk presents an overview of the decisions and processes used for prototyping, technical implementation, and asset management involved with bringing sound to these real world simulations.
Local Texas independent developer Certain Affinity has done contract work for big AAA console titles (Left 4 Dead, Call Of Duty: World At War) and developed significant original IP (downloadable title Age Of Booty.) This talk will discuss how to recognize and accept that your game development studio is now running a business ? and how a small company juggles work for hire and original IP in such a way as to make the difference between failure and success, especially during an economic downturn.
Sony Online Entertainment collaborated with The Art Institute of California San Diego to simulate real world working conditions in the classroom. SOE Mentor is a professional mentoring program that simulates real world game development challenges using SOE game titles. The program initially challenged small class based teams of students to build game prototype spaces based on the game FREE REALMS which was under development at SOE?s San Diego studio. The students benefitted by having the opportunity to compare their work to a shipping product, the value of school curriculum was underscored, and SOE benefitted by evaluating potential hires. Mentors were able to judge their ability to create the exact types of assets needed and evaluate who worked well under pressure.
The iPhone has great built-in hardware features that you can use to make your game stand out in a crowd. This talk will explain the ins and outs of design and coding to take advantage of the accelerometer, multi-touch input, and GPS location services in all iPhones, and the compass in the 3GS. We?ll cover the capabilities of the systems, the basics of coding for them, and give you tips on how to make them work best in your game.
