Making the Switch from Hard Core to Casual Game Development ??????? ?? ????-???? ? ??????? ? ?????????? ???

1
Making the Switch from Hard Core to Casual Game
Development??????? ?? ????-???? ? ??????? ?
?????????? ???

• Scott BilasDevelopment DirectorOberon Games
  Studio
• ????? ?????
• ???????? ?????? ??????????
• Oberon Games Studio

2
Introduction????????

• About me
• Development Director at Oberon Games Studio
• Background systems engineering, dev management
• This lecture
• My teams experiences moving from hard core to
  casual from developer point of view

• ? ????
• ???????? ?????? ?????????? Oberon Games Studio
• ????????????? ????????? ??????????, ??????????
  ????????? ??????????
• ? ??? ??? ??????
• ?? ????? ???????? ??????? ?????????????, ?
  ??????? ? ???????, ?? ????-???? ? ??????? ? ?????
  ?????? ?????????????.

3
Titles Shipped Pre-Casual???? ????????
??-??????

• 7 years of work
• Mighty Math Cosmic Geometry
• iCat Commerce Online
• Gabriel Knight 3
• Dungeon Siege

• 7 ??? ??????
• Mighty Math Cosmic Geometry
• iCat Commerce Online
• Gabriel Knight 3
• Dungeon Siege

4
Titles Shipped Casual???? ???????? ??????

• 3 years of work
• Inspector Parker
• Candy Crisis
• Betrapped!
• A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Oberon Multiplayer Platform
• Reversi, Chess, others
• 8 Vista in-box games Chess Titans, Mahjong
  Titans, Purble Place, Solitaire, Spider
  Solitaire, FreeCell, Hearts, Minesweeper
• Oberon Games Feedback Service (analytics)
• Scrubbles
• Galapago

• ?? ??? ???? ?????? ????????
• Inspector Parker
• Candy Crisis
• Betrapped!
• A Series of Unfortunate Events
• ??????????????? ????????? Oberon
• Reversi, Chess ? ??.
• 8 ??? ??? Vista Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans,
  Purble Place, Solitaire, Spider Solitaire,
  FreeCell, Hearts, Minesweeper
• ?????? ???????? ????? ?? ????? Oberon(?????????)
• Scrubbles
• Galapago

5
So Whats Different About Casual???? ? ??? ??
??????? ?????????? ????

• Generally, casual is
• Smaller
• Digitally distributed
• Mass market
• Way more fun
• (More details coming up)
• but still very challenging!
• Engineering skills transfer over well
• Solve interesting (but smaller) problems
• Constraints freedom
• How does this affect development?

• ??? ???????, ?????????? ????
• ?????? ?? ???????
• ???????????????? ? ???? ????????
• ???????????????? ?? ???????? ?????
• ?? ??????? ?????????????
• ??????????? ???????
• ? ??? ????? ?? ??????????- ?????????? ????!
• ????????????? ??? ?????????? ????-???? ??????
  ???????????? ???????? ????? ????????? ? ???????
  ???????
• ?????????? ?????? ?????????? ??????(???? ????????
  ????????)
• ??????????? ???????
• ??? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????????

6
Casual Shorter Timeline?????? ????? ????????
?????? ??????????

• One day in production
• Hard core nothing - one subsystem can take
  months to build
• Casual game significant of the project
  timeline!
• Be careful how much time you spend making tools
  and processes correct
• (This took me a long time to truly appreciate)
• Instead, slowly build up toolset across game
  releases
• Incremental engine features can be tied to game
  releases

• ?? ???? ???? ??????????
• ? ????-???? ?????? ?? ?????????? ?? ????????
  ????? ?????????? ????? ???? ??????
• ? ??????? ???????????? ??????? ???????????
  ????? ?? ???????!
• ??????????? ??????? ?? ???, ??????? ??????? ? ???
  ???????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ? ?????????
• (? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ????, ????? ???
  ??????)
• ?????????? ????????????? ????? ???????????? ?
  ???????? ?????????? ?????????? ???
• ? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ? ??????
  ?????????????.

7
Casual Smaller Budget?????? ????? ????????
??????

• Smaller budget
• Obviously, no 50k physics engines or 500k 3D
  engines
• Many options home grown, Flash, T2D, etc.
• Easy to switch later if your engine of choice
  doesnt work out!
• Ogg instead of MP3 to avoid license, etc.
• Smaller size
• Small download size means more time spent packing
  assets
• Always be on lookout for tight codecs

• ????? ???????? ??????
• ??????????, ??????? ?????????? ??????? ??????????
  50 ???. ??? 3D-??????? ?? 500 ???.
• ??????? ????? ??? ??????????? ??????, Flash,
  T2D, ? ?.?.
• ???? ???? ?? ???????? ??????? ??????, ? ???????
  ????? ????? ????????????? ?? ??????!
• Ogg ???????????? ?????? MP3 ?? ????????? ???????
  ? ?????????, ? ?.?.
• ??????? ??????
• ??????? ?????? ????? ??? ???????? ?????????????
  ??, ??? ?? ????????? ?????? ??????? ??
  ??????????? ???????? ????????
• ??????? ?? ?????????? ??????????? ???????

8
Casual Minimal, Focused Scope??????
??????????? ????? ??????, ??????????????? ??
????????? ????????

• ????? ??????? ???????? 90 ????
• ?? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ????????
  ?????????? ??????????, ? ????? ??????????? ?? ?
  ????????? ?????!
• ??? ??????????? ?????????? ? ????-????.
• ????????? ????? ?? ?????????? ?????? ? ????????.
  ?????????????? ?? ????????
• ???? ????? ??????? ??????????? ???????? ? ??
  ?????????? ? ???????? ????
• ?????? ??????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????
  ????? ???????
• ?? ?????????? ??????? ??????, ????? ?? ?????????
  ???????? ?????????
• ??? ??????????? ??????? ??????? ???-????????,
  ???????? ?? ???????? ?????, ???????? ??????
• ?????????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ?????????
  ????, ??? ??? ?????????? ??? ???????!
• ????? ?????????, ?????, ?????? ? ?????

• Easy to quickly prototype 90 of the game
• Can spend more time making more prototypes
  throw away and try again!
• Near impossible on hard core
• Less workload on engine and content pipeline,
  focus more on gameplay
• Can hack a game together and not worry about code
  quality
• Careful tuning difficulty takes a long time
• Important dont scale down so much you hurt key
  processes
• Still need a good bugbase, source control, build
  process
• Casual games can have a long lifetime so plan
  ahead!
• New platforms, languages, channels, ports

9
Casual Game Team Composition??? ??????? ???????
????????????? ???????

• Casual games require generalists not specialists
• Everyone performs many varied tasks
• Can recruit from other industries (this is how
  Atari got started in 2600 days)
• Beware of aspiring hard core developers dressed
  casually
• Younger developers seem to want to make hard core
  games more often
• Hard core developers often look down on casual
  developers so recruiting is difficult anyway
• Casual game dev attracts better team balance
• Less nerdy boys, better female representation

• ?????????? ?????????? ??? ???? ????? ? ???????
  ??????????, ?? ????? ????????????
• ?????? ????????? ????????? ????? ??????
• ?? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?? ?????? ?????????
  (??? ??? Atari ? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?????
  ?? 2600 ????)
• ????????????? ????????????? ????-????,
  ??????????????? ??????????? ???????
• ??????? ???????????? ???????? ? ????-????
• ???????????? ????-???? ??????? ??????? ??
  ????????????? ???????, ??????? ??????? ????????
  ???????? ??????
• ??????? ????????????? ??????? ????? ?????????????
• ????? ?????? ?????????? ????????????? ? ??????
  ??????

10
Digital Distribution Woes???????? ???????????????

• Unlike hard core, you dont make your installer,
  the portals do
• Portals will screw up anything more complicated
  than file copying (pre-decompressed files,
  registering video codecs, etc. forget it)
• Even if they get it right initially they will
  mess it up six months later and you will notice
  by accident
• DRM situation is like Wild West
• Many providers, versions, levels of compatibility
• Postmortem (crash, stack dump) debugging in the
  field not possible due to DRM messing things up
• DRM can sometimes interfere with normal
  functioning code and require hacks

• ? ??????? ?? ????-????, ?? ?? ???????
  ???????????. ?? ??? ??? ???????
  ???????-????????????????.
• ??????? ?? ???????? ?????? ???-???? ?????
  ???????, ??? ??????????? ??????
  (????????????????? ?????, ???????????
  ?????-??????? ? ?.?. ??? ??? ???????? ?? ????)
• ???? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ???????? ? ????? ??????,
  ????????? ???-?????? ?????????? ????? ?????
  ???????. ? ?? ??? ???????? ????????? ???????????.
• ??????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????(DRM)
  ??? ????? ?????!
• ???????? ????? ???????????, ?????? ? ???????
  ?????????????
• ? ?????? ????? ? ???? ????? ??????? ??????????
  ??-?? ????, ??? DRM ??? ??????
• DRM ????? ?????? ??????????? ????????????????? ??
  ????????? ??????????????? ????? ? ????? ??????
  ??? ???????? ????????? ?????????

11
Casual Mass Market Non-Technical????????????
?? ??????????? ??? ??????????? ???????

• ???????? ??????????? ?? ????? ??????? ?????? ?
  ????????. ??? ???????, ? ??? ?????? ??????????
• ???? ??????? ?????? ???????? ??????, ???
  ????-???, ???? ???????????? ????? ???????? ?
  ??????????? ?? ???????
• ?? ??????? ????????????? ????? ?????????? ?? ?
  ??????????? ??????????
• ??????? ??????, ??? ??? ??????? ??? ?e? ?????? ?
  ??????? ????.
• ???? ?????? ???????? ?? ????????????? ? Vista ?
  XP LUA(!!)
• 3D ???????? ???????? ???? ??? ????????,
  ?????????? ?? ???????????? ??????? ??????
• ???? DirectX 9 ??????????- ??? ??????? ???????!
• ??????????? SwiftShader ???????? Transgaming ???
  ???????? ???????, ???? ??? ?????? ?????????
• .NET, Java ????? ? ???? ????

• End users very non-technical, have lower quality
  machines on average
• Slower, lower memory than hard core though
  specs vary depending on portal
• Often filled with spyware and resident apps
• Realistically, no patching, so get it right the
  first time
• This includes future-proofing Vista and XP LUA
  compatibility (!!)
• 3D drivers often buggy and outdated, video cards
  lacking fancy pixel shader support
• Lucky if DirectX 9 installed
• Try TransGamings SwiftShader as a fallback if
  budget can handle it
• .NET, Java low penetration

12
Casual Mass Market Picky Consumer??????-
???????? ?????- ?????????????? ???????????

• Little patience for games most players drop off
  within 5 minutes if they dont like or get bored
• Games are commodities these days due to amount of
  content (especially free) out there
• Difficulty curve is extremely important
• Take advantage of digital distribution use
  analytics tools to track and enhance tuning
• Casual games need a long postproduction cycle,
  vastly larger of overall dev time compared to
  hard core
• Embrace user playtesting for balance and
  usability
• Most casual players are very different from you
  and everyone you know

• ?????????????? ??????? ??????????? ?????
  ??????? ?????? ? ??????? ?????? 5 ?????, ????
  ???? ?? ?? ??????????? ??? ?? ??????.
• ???? ???????????? ? ????? ???????? ???????????
  ????????? ???????? ?????????? ???????? (????????
  ???????????)
• ?????? ????????? ??????????? ?????
• ?????????????? ??????? ????????-??????
  ??????????? ??????????? ??????? ??? ????, ?????
  ??????? ??????? ????????
• ?????????????? ????????? ????????? ????? ???????,
  ??????????? ??????, ??? ? ????-????
• ????? ???????????? ????????? ??? ??????? ??
  ??????? ??????? ? ?????????
• ??????????? ????????? ??????? ????? ?????????? ??
  ??? ? ????? ????????

13
Casual Games For Everyone?????? ???? ??? ????

• Stop being so nerdy
• Love your audience, dont resent them, get to
  know them
• More of a problem for U.S. and Western European
  developers

• ?? ??????????? ? ????!
• ???????? ???? ?????????, ?? ?????????? ??, ?
  ??????? ?? ???????
• ??? ?????? ????????? ? ????????????? ?? ??? ?
  ???????? ??????

14
But the Biggest Difference?? ????? ???????
???????.

• Making casual games is way more fun!!

• ???????? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??????? ??????
  ????????????!

Contact InfoScott Bilas http//scottbilas.blog
spot.com