Design Teams
Team Structure
Interdisciplinary Teams
Spring 2007
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Game Design
1.
2.
The game design vision drives
everything
Every team member contributes
something vital
Respect their expertise
Spring 2007
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Team Structure
 Director/Producer
– The person who’s driving
– Has the creative vision for entire project
– Possibly an expert in some area
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The Game Vision
A
game derives from a vision
 The Visual, Audio, Graphics, AI, Networks
derives from this vision
 It’s a collaboration!
 It’s probably not a dictatorship
– No one person can do all the work
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Team
Components/Members
Game Play/Storyboard
 Level Design
 Graphics
 Graphic Design
 Animators
 MoCap Actors
 Networks
 Multi-player Design

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AI
 Audio
 Audio Design
 Dialog
 Voice Talent
 Playtesting
 Marketing
 Technical Writers

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Software Engineering
 The
Waterfall Model:
– Design -> Spec -> Coding -> 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 nonprogrammers
 Eg. Graphic artists are sometimes semiliterate
– 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
 It’s not all about software per se
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The Bottom Line
 The
team members are there for a
reason:
 Each
Spring 2007
team member is an expert
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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
Spring 2007
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Logic Source
 The
audio design logic arises from game
logic
 The driving vision comes from the game
– It’s not about creating a hit record, for
example

Team members…
Spring 2007
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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
Spring 2007
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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
Spring 2007
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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
Spring 2007
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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
Spring 2007
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Graphic Design
 Expertise:
Visual Arts/Graphic Design
 Providing the visual content
– Design the look
– Implement the look
 Graphic
system
design will generate a visual
– Main task is to make the system visually
consistent, coherent
Spring 2007
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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
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COMP 7970
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
Spring 2007
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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
Spring 2007
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Audio Design
 Expertise:
Music
 Designers
– Create audio space
– Interact with other system elements
• Player health, location
• Time of day, environment
Spring 2007
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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!)
Spring 2007
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Voice Talent
 Expertise:
Acting, Radio
 Create a compelling animated voice
character
– Voice fits the body
– Delivers the lines appropriately
Spring 2007
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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
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