Design Teams

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Design Teams

• Team Structure
• Interdisciplinary Teams

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Team Structure

• Director/Producer
• The person whos driving
• Has the creative vision for entire project
• Possibly an expert in some area

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Team Components/Members

• Game Play/Storyboard
• Level Design
• Graphics
• Graphic Design
• Animators
• MoCap Actors
• Networks
• Multi-player Design

• AI
• Audio
• Audio Design
• Dialog
• Voice Talent
• Playtesting
• Marketing
• Technical Writers

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Game Play

• Expertise Games, Storytelling
• Provide a compelling experience
• Set up goals for player(s)
• Script
• Storyboard
• Programmers
• Control game logic
• Formal Language Scripts, etc for game play
• Formal Language Script interpreter

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Level Design

• Expertise Games, Storytelling, Creative writing
• Provide compelling experience this level
• Adjust difficulty appropriate to level
• Subsidiary to game design
• Design
• Spatial layout
• Composition of forces
• Pacing

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Level Design

• Expertise Games, Storytelling
• Programmers
• Creating behavior of enemy agents in geographic
  space
• Special-purpose features this level
• Design tools

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Graphics

• Expertise CS -- Computer Graphics
• Programmers
• Create the graphics game engine
• Customize engine components for particular game
• Visual effects
• Performance tuning
• Until recently, used most CPU

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Graphic Design

• Expertise Visual Arts/Graphic Design
• Providing the visual content
• Design the look
• Implement the look
• Graphic design will generate a visual system
• Main task is to make the system visually
  consistent, coherent

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The Game Vision

• A game derives from a vision
• The Visual, Audio, Graphics, AI, Networks derives
  from this vision
• Its a collaboration!
• Its probably not a dictatorship
• No one person can do all the work

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Eg. Audio Design

• Like any design job, there must be a logic to the
  audio design
• The logic drives
• Instrumentation
• Musical style
• Selection of phrases

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Logic Source

• The audio design logic arises from game logic
• The driving vision comes from the game
• Its not about creating a hit record

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Software Engineering

• The Waterfall Model
• Design -gt Spec -gt Coding -gt Testing
• Better
• Programmers discover what the customer wants
• Programmers implement prototype
• Users test prototype
• Tests feed back to design

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Game Software Engineering

• Many team members are non-programmers
• Eg. Graphic artists are sometimes semi-literate
• Their mastery is pictures!
• Audio people have some CS experience
• Marketing people have limited CS experience

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Specifications

• Game specifications will cover many bases
• Its not all about software per se

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The Bottom Line

• The team members are there for a reason
• They are each experts

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Animators

• Expertise Visual Arts/Animation
• Create the animated characters
• Keyframes
• MoCap Capture, Blending, Adjustment
• Programming simulation controllers to create good
  animations

• Programmers
• Animation control playback system
• Scripting setup
• Simulation system

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MoCap Actors

• Expertise Dance, Acting
• Act out motion scripts
• Create consistent character for each captured
  motion
• Seamlessly join together motion segments
• Programmers
• Motion capture
• Data management

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Networks

• Expertise CS Networks, Multiplayer
• Programmers
• Implement network components
• Client-server system
• Server creation
• Create multi-player control for game
• Prediction, Etc

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Multi-player Design

• Expertise Multiplayer, CS Networks
• Design multi-player scheme
• Resolve conflicts
• Deal with lag
• Programmers
• Game-specific strategies

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AI

• Expertise AI Algorithms, AI Game Practice
• Programmers
• Create the AI engine
• Could be just a general object suite
• Customize to game components
• Responsible for good AI enemy play
• Details!

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Audio

• Expertise CS -- Digital Sound Filters/Effects
• Programmers
• Create System-level audio software
• Environmental effects filters
• Resource management

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Audio Design

• Expertise Music
• Designers
• Create audio space
• Interact with other system elements
• Player health, location
• Time of day, environment

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Dialog

• Expertise Creative Writing, Play Writing
• Create believable speaking characters
• Create lines of dialog that will sound good
• Get the point across (or obscure it!)

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Voice Talent

• Expertise Acting, Radio
• Create a compelling animated voice character
• Voice fits the body
• Delivers the lines appropriately

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Playtesting

• Expertise Games, Dealing with people
• Test the game with real users
• Get feedback
• Adjust game difficulty
• Adjust explanations, back story, etc
• Get organized!

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Marketing

• Expertise Game market, distribution
• Get the game on the market
• Figure out who your customers are
• Generate demand
• Get it reviewed favorably
• Place ads
• Hype

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Technical Writers

• Expertise Technical communications
• Create documentation
• Game manuals
• API manuals
• In house
• External