Computer Game Development

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Computer Game Development
By Jijun Tang
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People

• Instructor Jijun Tang
• TA None, the dept. is too poor to support one
• Room 3A63
• Email jtang_at_cse.sc.edu
• Phone [phone]

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Web Site etc.

• www.cse.sc.edu/jtang/CSE552S10
• Will create a forum/group to share ideas and
  questions
• Will accept emails for questions and suggestions

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Grading

• No exam
• One big project (70)
• Group of 4, you pick your own group.
• Finish a 2D/3D game using existing engines.
• 50 points for the programming part, including
  the final presentation
• 20 for intermediate presentations

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Presentations

• 2 intermediate presentations
• 1st presentation is about the overall design,
  seek approval from the class
• 2nd presentation is about the detailed design,
  check any missing part and discuss possible
  problems
• Final presentation will be an open demo
• Good to show off
• With food

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Homework

• 30, 6-7 homework total
• Some are simple, like doing a survey
• Some are complex, for example to create a flash
  game

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Game Development 2010

• Game History

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Game History

• First game William Higinbotham
• 1958
• Analog computer
• An isolated incident
• Inpsiration Steve Slug Russell
• 1961 as a student in MIT
• DEC PDP-1 (18 bit) 120,000

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Tennis for two (1958)
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Spacewar (1961)
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Game for the Masses

• Ralph Baer (left) and Nolan Bushnell (right)

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Magnavox Odyssey (1972)

• 1967-1968, Ralph Baer
• Light gun and shooting
• Brown Box, the first home video game console
• Sold to Magnavox

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Light Gun and Odyssey
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Nolan Bushnell and Atari (1972)

• Computer Space machines
• Atari company
• Arcade games
• Pong first popular video game

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Pong and Arcade
Computer Space
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Cartridge-based Console (1977)

• Atari 2600, 1977
• Able to support many games

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Crash (1983)

• Poor games
• Pac-Man on console
• E.T. (20 Million for the right)
• Too many cartridges
• Rebirth, with Japanese companies
• Nintendo Entertainment System (8 bit) from
  Nintendo
• Miyamotos Mario

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NES (90 market)
NES
Mario
Gameboy
contra
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Wii
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Sega

• Sega Master System (1985)
• 16 bit
• Genesis
• Saturn (1994)
• Not successful, but can add modem
• Dreamcast (1999)
• Built-in modem, 128-bit graphics
• Last from Sega

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Sega Systems
Master System
Saturn
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Playstation

• Playstation I
• Sony (1994-1995)
• CD form
• Playstation II (2000)
• DVD
• Strong third party support
• Playstation III (2006)

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Playstation I
Final Fantasy
Grand Theft Auto
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Xbox

• Microsoft has been in game for long
• Flight simulator
• Age of Empires
• Microsoft (2001)
• PC architecture
• Xbox Live
• Xbox 360 (2006)loosing big money

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MS Games
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Designers

• Will Wright
• SimCity
• The Sims
• Sid Meier
• Pirates!
• Railroad Tycoon
• Civilization
• Ken Roberta Williams
• Adventure games Quest
• half-Life
• Richard Garriott
• RPG games
• Ultima

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Old Legendary Games

• Pac-Man
• Tetris
• Final Fantasy
• Pokémon
• Doom

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Studios

• MS (flight simulator, AE)
• Electronic Arts (publisher)
• Interplay
• LucasArts
• Blizzard (Warcraft)
• Id Software (DOOM)

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Types

• Adventure (text-based/graphical)
• Action (shooting, combat sim)
• First-person shooting
• Combat sim
• Action adventure
• Platformer (Mario)
• Fighting
• Real-time strategy (RTS)
• Survival Horror

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Types

• Role Playing Game (RPG)
• Stealth
• Simulation
• SimCity
• Flight Simulator
• Train Simulator
• Racing
• Sports

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Types

• Rhythm
• Dance Dance Revolution
• Puzzle
• Tetris
• Education
• Typing
• NSF funds many such games

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DDR
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Languages

• Assembly
• C/C
• VB
• Java
• Flash
• Script

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Types of Players (from wiki)

• Casual gamer A person who enjoys playing games
  with simple rules or which do not require large
  blocks of time to play, may even not consider
  him/herself as a gamer
• Hardcore gamer spends much of their leisure time
  playing games.
• Competitive gamer plays games for the enjoyment
  of competing with other players.
• Retrogamer enjoys playing or collecting vintage
  video games from earlier eras.
• Glitcher enjoys finding flaws in a game or
  finding ways to exploit unintentional features.
• Professional Gamer plays games for money
• Game tournament
• Receive prizes
• Cyberathlete Professional League

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E-Sports
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ESA

• Entertainment Software Association
• www.theesa.com

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Industry Facts

• Facts 57 billion software sale globally in
  2008, 68 billion in 2012??
• US grew 23 to 11.7 billion in 2008,
  quadrupling since 1996
• 25 age 50 play video game (9 in 1999)
• 68 households play games
• Average player is 35 years old and has been
  playing games for 12 years
• 84 games are E, 10 and T rated

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Sales
From ESA
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Comparison
2003 Ave age 29 Game buyer 36 Women 39 Online 22 Women online 40 2005 Ave age 33 Game buyer 40 Women 38 Online 44 Women online 42 Head of household 67 2009 Ave age 35 Game buyer 39 Women 40 Online ? Women online 43 Head of household 68
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Who and what
From ESA
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Genre info
From ESA
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Online game
From ESA
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How to Interpret the Data

• Pro-data
• Do as data suggests
• Why the failure of targeting pre-teen female
  market
• Anti-data
• Explore un-charted territory
• Target older audience on Xbox?
• Real Time Strategy on Xbox?
• Shooting game for moms?

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ESRB

• Entertainment Software Rating Board
• Self-regulated rating board

From ESA
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Why Rating? Example Conker

• Animated Violence, Mature Sexual Themes, Strong
  Language
• Age 17
• Seven different worlds with 60 sub-chapters to
  explore
• Massive multiplayer mode
• Easy to confuse parents and buy for young kids

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Conker Screens
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New Conker on Xbox
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Controversial Games

• Segas Night Trap (1992)

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DOOM

• School shooting----Doom?

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Grand Theft Auto

• Teaching how to hi-jack?

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Hot Coffee Mod

• Hidden sexual mini-game in Grand Auto Theft San
  Andreas
• Can be unlocked by changing one bit in the
  main.scm file
• Who created the scene?
• Re-rating and recall, lost 300M, numerous
  lawsuits.
• Whos responsibility? Rockstar? Modifier? End
  users?

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The Mini-Game
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Game and Violence

• Study from National Institute on Media and the
  Family
• Concerns
• Children are more likely to imitate the actions
  of a character with whom they identify. In
  violent video games the player is often required
  to take the point of view of the shooter or
  perpetrator.
• Video games by their very nature require active
  participation rather than passive observation.
• Repetition increases learning. Video games
  involve a great deal of repetition. If the games
  are violent, then the effect is a behavioral
  rehearsal for violent activity.
• Rewards increase learning, and video games are
  based on a reward system.

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Concerns Warranted?

• Exposure to violent games increases physiological
  arousal  
• Exposure to violent games increases aggressive
  thoughts
• Exposure to violent games increases aggressive
  emotions
• Exposure to violent games increases aggressive
  actions
• Exposure to violent games decreases positive
  prosocial (i.e., helping) actions

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Evidence against Linking Games and Violence

• Violent crime, particularly among the young, has
  decreased dramatically since the early 1990s,
  whilevideo games have steadily increased in
  popularity and use.
• Many games with violent content sold in the U.S.
  -- and some with far more violence -- are also
  sold in foreign markets.  However, the level of
  violent crime in these foreign markets is
  considerably lower than that in the U.S
• Numerous authoritieshave examined the scientific
  record and found that it does not establish any
  causal link between violent programming and
  violent behavior.
• The above are claims from theesa.com

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Results on 9th Grader
By David Walsh
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Parents Controling Kids
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Culture Issues

• Culture acceptance is hard to predict
• Stereotypes
• may backfire
• but also may pay-off, should we avoid?
• Foreign policies
• Try to understand other cultures
• Have some sensitivities
• Culture acceptance is hard to predict

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Requirements of Our Projects

• We will mimic ESRB and rate your games (E, 10 or
  T)
• Vote from the class
• Please do some research about your games culture
  issue, violence? IP?
• Avoid controversies

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MMORPG

• Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
• World of Warcraft (8M worldwide, 2M North
  America, 1.5M Europe, 3.5M China)
• NavyField
• MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
• Counter Strike online first person shooter game
  (gt200K simultaneously)
• EverQuest
• Second Life (virtual world)

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Examples
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Society Issues with Online Games

• Improve society and provide fun
• Some people make a living through adding stuff to
  online games
• Bad things can happen
• Play too much, mess real life or cannot separate
  real from virtual
• Security problems, cheating, hacking
• Deindividuation
• In-game regulatory tools