GameDev@AlaskaJohn - All Game Topics

Our Dare To Be Digital Team has submitted our application and are waiting to find out if we “got in". The application process actually took longer than expected as we had to fit our ideas into “100 word or less” answers.

Below I have included highlights of our team’s application. We should know if we get in by the 20th of May, although there will still be interviews conducted before that.

1. Basic Information

   Team Region: Scotland
   Team Name: Mirage
   Game Name: Labyrinth of NeverMind
   Game Genre: Psychological-Mystery

2. Game Description Describe your game in 100 words or less. Imagine you are marketing/selling your game to your target audience.

   Tip: as you are limited to 100 words, you really need to sell it to us here. You should mention the unique features of your game and what will make it stand out from the rest.

   NeverMind is a unique single player game. Set in a surreal world of the subconscious, it will give players hours of unique gameplay never seen before.

   NeverMind is designed to change the way players interact with games. The player’s physical movements are transformed into a variety of controls and telekinetic powers by utilizing Intelligent Earth’s webcam head-tracking.

   Players must face the main character’s fears and memories, represented by challenges, enemies, and puzzles, enabling them to gain new powers. By performing physical movements to manoeuvre themselves and objects, they must escape from the delusional world of NeverMind.

3. Game Play Describe the ‘core game play’ in 100 words or less including the ‘story’ and a short description of the first few minutes of game play:

   You awake to discover you have exciting new powers in a fun physics based labyrinth where not everything is as it first appears. These powers are used to solve puzzles and defend yourselves from dangers you find.

   Navigation, Attacking and Telekinetic powers can be all controlled by a combination of head movements and more traditional controls. Avoiding dangers and solving puzzles of increasing difficulty allow you to progress and acquire additional powers in which you will need to complete the labyrinth.

4. Target Audience In 200 words or less – who is your target audience?

   Evidence suggests that creating a game with head-tracking is what players are beginning to expect from game manufactures.

   The success of the Wii as the current best-selling video game player, with more than 20 million units sold, demonstrates that the audience wants more interactivity from their gaming experience. Recently, Johnny Lee of Carnegie Mellon demonstrated head-tracking on the Wii, and his YouTube video has 4.9 million views.

   Combined with the fact that webcams are now built-into most laptops and come standard with PC bundles means the hardware is already in the hands of the player, positioning our game to perfectly step into this new market.

   Our goal is to focus on the gameplay and thereby not alienate any audience. And while the controls will require some eye/hand coordination, the goal is to make them feel as natural as possible, allowing us to reach gamers of all ages.

   Moreover, once the interface has been successfully demonstrated, it will easily port to the console market via the Playstation’s “EyeToy” and the 360’s “Live Vision”. In addition, new technologies like the 3DV system’s zCam are expected later this year which will only help to expand the possibilities.

5. Dare Judging Criteria In 100 words or less for each of the following 3 criteria.

   Market Potential:
   Current market trends show that the gaming audience are looking for new ways to interact with 3D environments, the success of the Wii (24.4 million units worldwide sales as of 31/3/2008), and Nintendo DS (70.4 million sales worldwide) are clear evidence of this. NeverMind will offer a complimentary technology which can reach the same market without directly competing.

   By using a webcam, NeverMind also seeks to tap into the ever expanding YouTube and video blogging marketplace, whose users own and use a webcam on a regular basis, while also introducing new users to a widely available, affordable, and stable technology.

   Innovation & Creativity
   NeverMind seeks to innovate through the use of webcam head-tracking as a primary means of user input. Nintendo’s Gunpei Yokoi (inventor of the gameboy) coined the phrase “Lateral thinking of withered technology”, the philosophy of taking existing, cheap, well understood technology and finding radical new ways to use it. The influence of this ethos can still be seen today in the current market leader; the Wii’s, use of accelerometers in their input device. NeverMind will take existing, affordable webcam technology and put a new spin on it, allowing the player an experience unlike any other.

   Use of Technology
   Innovative controls provided by Intelligent Earth’s Virtual Window technology, tracks head movements and translates these into in-game actions. Combined with the existing controlpad, it allows intuitive player input exceeding anything currently available.

   For development, Qube Software has agreed to provide us with Q 2.0 launched at GDC 2008. Using this modularized game engine, Qube Software will provide our team full developer support during the competition, allowing us the freedom to create.

   Phillips AmBX system could be integrated, greatly enhancing our environment. While not a primary feature currently, it could easily be included in the later stages of development.

6. Visuals (optional) Up to 3 images can be attached to show off the character and/or game design. Diagrams, rough sketches or computer generated visuals are acceptable.

   
   
   

7. Team Skills and Experience Briefly detail the skills and experience (past employment / University project) of each team member, ensuring they are relevant to this competition. Please do not list CV’s:

   John (programmer, team lead)
   John has a BSc in Mathematics (minor in Physics) and is currently working toward his MSc in Computer Games Technology at the University of Abertay. He has seven years of experience as a software programmer/analyst in the Higher Education sector, but has always made a hobby of developing computer games.

   John’s passion is for AI programming and game design, with a desire to use his diverse background to help make games more enjoyable. Platform experience includes PC (DirectX and OpenGL), Flash, and PS2 (Linux DevKit).

   Additionally, John has significant experience as a team leader in both professional and non-profit sectors having served as the president of two service organizations and the chair for variety of smaller projects.

   David (programmer)
   Following the successful completion of his undergraduate degree in Computer Games programming at the University of Huddersfield, David is currently studying towards his Masters in Computer Games Technology at the University of Abertay. With a real passion for gaming, David has been programming from an early age and has accumulated a depth of knowledge on the subject. David has worked on a wide array of programming projects both individually and as a part of a team for a range of platforms including Widows, Linux, Mac Xbox, PS2 and Xbox360.

   David’s key skills lie in his strong problem solving skills, high work ethic, and ambition to be successful along with his breadth of understanding and great team skills. David worked on Football Manager 2006 as a part of his undergraduate study. Other projects have included a cross-platform game engine, which he designed and programmed from the ground up, and a number of original games and research projects. David’s main focus of study has been on graphics and game play programming. Through this competition David seeks to enhance the skills he has, learn new things, and make a name for himself and his team within the games industry.

   Stuart (programmer)
   Stuart is currently an MSc Computer Games Student at the University of Abertay Dundee having graduated with a MEng degree in Computer Systems and Software Engineering at York University. He has experience programming at both a low level (Assembler) and at higher levels on a variety of platforms (PC, PS2 (Linux DevKit), Z80) and has knowledge of a wide range of language (C/C++, Ada95, Prolog, Java, ActionScript, PHP). In terms of games he has graphical programming experience in both OpenGL and DirectX as well as experience using game engines. He has produced AI systems for both game and non-game projects (AI being his favourite area of Computing) and has participated in a number of group projects (both game and non-game related) with teams of various sizes. Stuart’s motivation for competing in the competition is that he is passionate about games and hopes to create something new that breaks away from the current trends in the industry.

   Vykintas (artist and audio)
   Vykintas is currently finishing his 3rd year of BA (hons) Computer Arts at Abertay. His key interest is an ambition to gain knowledge in traditional art forms with experience in digital techniques and admiration of how it can merge into games.

   Always passionate about games, he has developed skills in 3D modelling, animation and rigging in addition to audio creation and editing. Brought up in a family of artists and studying arts from the age of eleven, he has worked with paint, sculpture, and graphic art, but has focused on graphic design and developed valuable life drawing and sketching techniques.

   Further, Vykintas is a dedicated team player with strong flexibility and problem solving skills. He has participated in various projects, including an animation team with Ink Digital and successful completion of a seven minute long 3D animation film.

   Murray (artist)
   Murray has always enjoyed being involved in the creative process, recently transitioning to work in 3D graphics while working toward his BA in Computer Arts at Abertay. There he has developed the key abilities to producing creative results in 3D.

   Over the last five months he has worked as part of a team to produce a short 3D animation under the direction of Gili Dolev from Ink Digital, giving him valuable experience in a production environment.

   Murray was recently selected to represent Halfords at the International UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, where under pressure, he had to demonstrate strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively as part of the a team to deliver a friendly, professional service to the public.

   Long having had an interest in the aesthetics of games, combined with his recent 3D experiences, Murray now wants to gain a better understanding of the game development process, which he feels will help him become part of the exciting and challenging game industry.

8. Reasons for Applying In 100 words or less – outline your reasons for applying

   While individually we each have our own motivations for participating in DTBD, as a group we share a few common goals. This includes our self-interests of wanting to kick-start our careers by demonstrating our skills and work ethic as the industry watches. But more importantly, we feel this is a huge opportunity to work on something new and fun in a competitive yet friendly environment. We know that after completing our formal studies, we still have more to learn and this provides an opportunity to continue our education while doing what we love.

Our group has almost completed work on our six man project to build a game in just a few months using a game engine for our Game Design and Development course at the University of Abertay Dundee.

This was of course just one module. The others included a module on DirectX and a module on PS2 (see previous post).

This game was built using the NXOgre game engine (Ogre3D for graphics, Aegia PhysX for physics, and OpenAL for audio). My primary responsibility in the group was movement and AI, as you can see in this early development video (from less than two months ago).

All in all, I’m relatively happy with the effort. We had our fair share of bumps as we had to agree on an idea, learn a game engine, and make a game. Turns out, agreeing on an idea took 50% of our time… but then again, it’s often been said that planning is the most crucial phase of any project … and that it where you should put all of your effort.

We have a presentation this Thursday, and a report due on Friday.

Other news (for those paying attention) … my other group (our Dare To Be Digital team) submitted our application today. We are application number 275 … and that will be my next post. So stay tuned!

My 3D Domino Game is complete on both the PlayStation2 and DirectX PC platforms. Below are two video demonstrations of the game in action.

DirectX (For a Windows PC or XBOX):

PlayStation2

The games were developed as second semester projects in my Computer Games Technology course at the University of Abertay Dundee in February - April of 2008.

Pile, John - UAD CS1123A Project Report (Dominoes 3D Postmortem)

The above link my project report for the DirectX version. The following excepts should give an idea on the content you’ll in in this report:

“I have held off developing a hard version of the AI that involves a weighted analysis of probability because game testing revealed something more important. I soon discovered that although I had developed a competitive AI, I had not yet addressed the other original goal of my AI design, specifically “interactivity”.

Interactivity was based less on research, and more from personal experience. I knew I wanted the AI to provide an auditory response, but one that did not seem repetitive. I knew that I wanted the AI be a ‘pleasant’ opponent and thus demonstrate happiness when scoring.

These ‘personal touches’, became as important to the gameplay as the logic and I believe demonstrate that computer games are not strictly about hard-science problem solving.”

“Finally, I think I should mention that I approached this coursework with a few secondary goals in mind. First, I did not want to create another ‘FPS’, ‘Spaceship’, or ‘Racing Game’. I felt that there was very little for me to gain by attempting to create another game in these genres. For each of these, the gameplay is relatively straight forward and very little can be learned that hasn’t already been covered in depth by many others before me. And second, I did not feel that given the resources at my disposal and the time available that I could make a complete game that would stand out. I believe that this is something that I have accomplished be taking the route I chose, at least so far as demonstrating the possibilities of exploring a new spin on a traditional game.”

I hope to provide a downloadable version of the game in the near future.

As many of you know, I’m currently converting my 3D Dominoes game that I wrote for the PlayStation2 over the PC platform. This is going to be my project for DirectX class that is due in about 48 hours (4pm, Friday 2nd of May).

Things are going well, but there are always the unexpected difficulties and the programming distractions. I still have to add some fancy shader graphics and write a report about how and why I’ve implemented things the way I have.

But until then (since it has been a while since my last blog update) I thought I’d take a quick break and show off some screenshots.

Full Game Scene

The full screen includes the domino game on the table, the surrounding environment, and the game scorecard in the upper-left of the screen.

Up Close: Domino Game In Progress

A domino game consists of the player and the AI taking turns place domino tiles on the table. Tiles must match end to end values in order to be played (doubles are played at 90 degrees and act as branches). A domino only scores points if the sum of all the unmatched ends is a power of five.

Up Close: Current Score Card (plans to update)

On the scorecard you can see the scores for both the player and the Artificial Intelligence. You can also see the number of tiles the AI has left, as well as the table score (sum of all the unmatched ends) from the last play. Remember, only a table score that is a power of 5 will actually score points to a player.

Up Close: Stereo to listen to tunes (yes, it really works)

A requirement of the project is to use 3D audio. And although the AI speaks, she has no physical representation, and so no physical sound source location to demonstrate that the sound truly is presented in 3D. Including a stereo system was a quick solution. If time allows, I will include other (more enviromentally appropriate) 3D sound effects.

Okay, back to work… 47 hours and 45 minutes remaining.

I was asked to write an entry for the University of Abertay’s website. This is what I submitted:

In the summer of 2007, I left a good job as a computer programmer at the University of Alaska, travelled over 6,000 miles and crossed 9 time zones, in order to “follow my dreams” of having a career as a computer game developer.

At the time, I had firsthand experience of how difficult it can be to break into the game industry and decided it was time to take a big gamble by spending a year pursuing an MSc in Computer Games Technology, here at the University of Abertay Dundee.

I am now convinced that it was not as big of a risk as it seemed at the time. Since arriving at UAD seven months ago I have been exposed to a breadth and depth of the game industry that I would not have been able to experience any other way. I have had access to a variety of industry resources including console development kits, software game engines, and a library full of books devoted to the art and science of game development. I have made connections with various people in the game industry during University sponsored talks. And most importantly, I have had great support from the faculty and staff here at the University.

An additional unexpected benefit has come from the structure of courses, which is significantly different than what you would expect in a North American school. There is no “hand holding”. The workload is heavy, and while the number of lectures is fewer than in a typical US course, the content is more condensed leaving you time to independently dig into the areas that interest you the most.

But it hasn’t been all work and no play. I’ve had time to explore Dundee and the surrounding countryside. This not only includes day trips to the classic Scotland highlights like castles, museums, whiskey distilleries, and lochs … but also evening cultural events at the Dundee Contemporary Arts centre and Hannah Maclure Centre, not to mention the variety of night clubs, pubs, and concerts (the Red Hot Chilli Pipers were my favourite).

As for life after University, preliminary job prospects have been great … but I’m waiting to see if I get into the Dare To Be Digital competition. However, even in the worst case scenario I feel confident in the skill-set I’ll be leaving with, and have no worries about where I’ll be this time next year, thanks to my time here at the University of Abertay.