CS 426
Designing the Game
Part 1
© Jason Leigh
Electronic Visualization Lab,
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Know the Player
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Why Do Players Play?
What Do Players Expect?
Starting a Game Idea
Game Design Document
Technical Document
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Why Do Players Play?
• Players want to HAVE FUN!
• Players want a challenge – sense of accomplishment, or
adrenaline rush
• Players want a dynamic solitaire experience – different from
books or movies- interactive.
• Players want to socialize – play with friends and strangers
over the network; bragging rights
• Players want bragging rights- high scores & score
comparisons at the end of each multiplayer tournament
• Players want an emotional experience – excitement in
shooters; fear in horror
• Players want to fantasize – do what is not normally
possible; become someone else
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
What Do Players Expect?
• Players Do Not Know What They Really Want, But They
Know It When They See It
• Expect to be Immersed – suspension of disbelief, ignoring
their own surroundings.
• Expect a consistent world – same rules should apply
everywhere.
• Expect to understand the game-world’s bounds – What is
possible and not possible in a game.
• Expect reasonable solutions to work – ie solutions should
not be arbitrary.
• Expect Direction – truly free form games do not really exist
(yet); players want some notion of a goal.
• Expect to accomplish a task incrementally – ie sub-goals
present themselves towards the final goal.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
What Do Players Expect?
• Expect to Fail - save games are therefore important.
• Expect a Fair Chance – multiple levels of difficulty – the
game must be at least completable at the easiest level.
• Expect to Not Need to Repeat Themselves – repetitions
should also include some differences (e.g. different levels of
a platformer).
• Expect to Not Get Hopelessly Stuck – provide multiple
solutions to a problem so that if a user forgot to do
something early on in the game, they are not prevented
from finishing the game. RPGs are notorious for this.
• Expect to Do, Not Watch – do not make cutscenes too long;
provide a way to skip through long scenes.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Players Do Not Know What They Really
Want, But They Know It When They See It
• Building a game “by-the-numbers” is not
enough anymore.
• Players expect a unique but at the same
time familiar experience. Something to
evoke: “That’s @&*$-ing cool!”
• E.g. GTA3’s open ended gameplay
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
A little survey
• From this list choose and rank the top 3 features that are most
important to you in order to attract you to plunk down $50 to buy a
game.
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Good weapons
Interactivity
Unpredictability
Lots of Action
Excitement
Interesting Story
Realistic Graphics
Good sound effects
Good characters
Others- please specify
• What type of game player are you:
– Casual Player – play arbitrary games now and then
– Hobbyist – have many genres of games but not an expert in any one
– Hardcore – hobbyist who is an expert in a genre and follows it “religiously”
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
47.5
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Steve Jones
1162 respondants
Name 3 of the most
important characteristics of
a good game.
0.7
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
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University of Illinois at Chicago
Summing up all the frequencies from the
3 tables
600
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Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Basic Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
Brainstorm game idea
High level design document – storyboards
Technical design document – data structures
Develop iterative prototype
1. Game loop
2. Art and code to support desired graphical effects
5. Play testing
1. For correctness
2. For fun-ness
6. Repeat at step 4 or 3 until reach publishing
deadline. Tune game.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Starting a Game Idea
• By Gameplay
– E.g. “It’s a first-person shooter, like DOOM”
• By Story
– Tends to occur most often in RPGs or games based on films – e.g. Infocom
Adventures, Knights of the Old Republic, Spiderman.
– Often stories are created after the gameplay is decided. – E.g. Jedi Knight
• By Technology
– E.g. Using a game engine like Quake, UnReal would typically suggest a first
or third person action/shooter rather than a strategy game.
• Because games are real time simulations that play on hardware that
has limitations, the brainstorms often need to be constrained by
technological capabilities and the abilities of a programming team to
develop them.
• E.g. Can you put 1000 enemies on the screen at the same time.
• E.g. Can you simulate the AI needed to create a compelling computer
opponent.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Documents
• Concept / Sales Pitch Document – gameplay explanation,
screen mockups, storyboards, description of art style, bios
of team members, chosen platform, marketplace, budgets,
estimated timelines
• Design Document – different from traditional functional spec
of say, a Word Processor. There is no way to spec a
“winning” game. The game is often tweaked during the
course of development. Spec consists of storyboards,
backstory, etc.
• Technical Design Document – Data structures, AI
algorithms, algorithms for implementing graphical elements
– like explosions.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Game Design Document
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Executive summary – the 1 page “big picture” summary – specifies the FOCUS of
the game.
Game mechanics - how the user reacts to the world. What can the user do in the
world?
Artificial Intelligence – how the world reacts to the user. How do opponents
respond to the users?
Game Progression – the events the player experiences. Game levels. What
happens when the player finishes a task? What happens when you finish the level?
What is different in the next level?
Game Elements - Characters, items, objects/mechanisms – elements that are
encountered, accessible, at each level of the game.
Story – if there is one, the story helps define why certain gameplay elements make
sense- e.g. why can the player fly?
Script – final execution of the story and cutscenes will require a script.
Sound effects – elements in the story that generate sound effects and the sound
effects they generate. Background sounds.
Menus and interface design – how users control the environment, game
dashboard, opening menus, save/load screens, options & cheat screens.
Art Bible – sketches and mockups of objects, characters, items.
Storyboards – useful in illustrating aspects of the gameplay- e.g. camera angles or
layout of game screens; storyboards are absolutely necessary for cutscenes.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Brainstorm the Gameplay Using
Storyboards
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
•
Brainstorm the
GAMEPLAY!
•
DO NOT start by
brainstorming the
opening cutscene of the
game.
•
Draw them by HAND.
NOT BY COMPUTER.
•
Do them FAST.
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Let the IDEAS flow.
•
DO NOT JUDGE the
Ideas
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
What I Expect from the Final Project
• A demo program like what one would typically
download from a game web site just before the
release of the game.
• Demo usually has 1 or 2 game levels that illustrate
to the player what the game is like.
• It is a mini-game- ie it has a Start, a Middle (the
game), and an Ending (usually advertisement- but
yours should just let the user restart from the
beginning.)
• The Demo must run on the GeoWall.
• See Jason’s BZBlitz Demo.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Final Documentation
• Web site that contains:
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Introduction
Play instructions (with good diagrams/illustrations)
Gallery of game play
A copy of the design document you created in Assignment 3
Technical documentation:
• Finite State Machine diagrams- main loop, NPCs (Non Player
Characters)
• Data structures used.
• Descriptions and illustrations on how graphical effects are implemented
– e.g. glowing fireball.
• Descriptions of basic AI algorithm.
• Descriptions and diagrams of any networking message handshakes
used.
– Full download of the entire game with source code and .exe file.
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Approaching the Game Design Document
1.
2.
3.
Today, go through Game Design Document template and write down what you know or have
defined explicitly, and what you still have to define.
Prioritize what are the aspects of the game that you will develop.
Web site for your company where you will post this design document.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Intro page with names of all the company members and roles
Game design document
Software design document
Gallery
a.
b.
e.
4.
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Early art work
Screen snaps as game develops
Link to download the game
Look at the due date for the 1st prototype presentation and work backwards to come up with
a schedule.
E.g.
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10/21 – present demo
10/20 – install and test demo on demo machines
10/18 – completed web page document to provide overview of what has been accomplished to-date
10/14 – freeze game prototype capabilities
10/7 – add models
10/1 – build basic game engine to drive tank through space and fire bullets
Oh crap- we’re out of time!
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Presentation Schedule for Blitz3D
Workshop
Group 1
1- Entity Movement
Group 2
2 – Entity Animation
Group 3
3 – Entity Control & Pivot
Group 4
4 – Entity State
Group 5
5 - Entity Collision
Group 6
6 - Camera
Group 7
7 - Surface
Group 8
8 - Sprite
Group 9
9 - Terrain
Group 10
10 – Listener/Audio Sound and Music
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Preparing for Workshop Presentations
• Day (s) before class, install your demo program on cs426 local directory
including your html document. Rehearse. If you don’t rehearse then
your first presentation is your rehearsal and ALL rehearsals are bad and
Jason will roast you for it 
• Link a copy of this on your company’s web site.
• 1 hour before class, do tech check of everything. Bring a backup copy
just in case.
• What to put in HTML document
– Outline of the purpose of the feature (ie why is it useful to anyone?)
– Explanation of command line parameters
– Example source code
• The presentation: (You have 15 minutes – 10 minutes to talk and 5
minutes to answer questions)
– Present HTML document – 5 minutes
– Run demo – 5 minutes
– Answer questions – 5 minutes
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago