COMP150 Game Design

LESSON #4: Team Formation Day!

TODAY:

1. Discussion of ARGs, Art, and Options.

2. MIT Gambit Game Lab and Team Formation

3. Paper Prototypes, Design Documents, Scheduling

ARGS Roundup

• QUESTION: What problems did you seek to address in your games this past week?

ARGS Roundup

• QUESTION: What problems did you seek to address in your games this past week?

• QUESTION: What else do you want to address in the world, big or small?

ARGS Roundup

• QUESTION: What problems did you seek to address in your games this past week?

• QUESTION: What else do you want to address in the world, big or small?

• BULLYING• DISCRIMINATION

• PHOBIAS

Marketing: Why should people care about your game?

• Make a Game You Want to Play: if you won’t enjoy it, chances are your audience won’t, ether.

• Address a Real-world Problem: Solutions make news, and fascinate audiences.

• Original Gameplay Mechanics (Disruption): New ways to move, to solve problems, to feel and think.

• Original Visuals and Audio: Create new visual experiences with radically playful and wacky art.

Marketing: Why should people care about your game?

• Original Visuals and Audio: Create new visual experiences with radically playful and wacky art.

Remember Schell’s “Infinite Inspiration”: Don’t look to other video games to inspire your art or music—look to everything else! Pop-art posters from the 20s or 60s, textiles, architecture, finger paints, tattooed skin, cave paintings, bottle-caps, circuitry, human organs, animal skeletons, etchings, watercolors, scrimshaw, mosaics, glassblowing, woodwork, art nouveau, cubism, and folk art from cultures around the world, current and ancient.

Minimalism:Vib-Ribbon, Nidhogg, and Low-Polygon Art

Real-World Materials:Tearaway, Little Big Planet, Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Real-World Materials: Stop-Motion“Nest” by Hand Dyed Co, Neverhood

Real-World Materials: Folded PaperTengami, Kami

Modern Pixel Art (NOT retro):Sword & Sworcery, Fez

Shader Focus:Mirror’s Edge, Journey, Unfinished Swan

World Culture:Persian Rug Space Invaders, Okami, Grim Fandango

Historical (1960’s/70’s Groovy):Hohokum, Katamary Damacy

Radical/Playful Proportions:Design with simple shapes (rectangles/ovals) & contrasting proportions:

Psychonauts, Rayman Legends

Painterly and Silhouettes:Braid, Limbo

Gambit Game Lab: http://gambit.mit.edu/

Collaboration between MIT and Singapore: 5-

year funding to research and explore the social

impact of game development.

Amazing minds: Philip Tan

Clara Fernandez-Vara Matt Weiss

Sara VerrilliJesper Juul

Rik EberhardtTodd Harper

…and many others.

Gambit Game LabDozens of “Summer Research Games”

The Snowfield: Modular narrative gameElude: Teach families about bipolar

experiences

DESIGN METHOD #5: Accelerated Brainstorming for Team Formation, Part A

MIT Gambit Game Lab System, Part A:

1. Turn Off Computers: Conversation+ Paper!2. 5 silent minutes to write: Consider some game ideas on

your own.3. 3 ten-minute brainstorming sessions: talk about games

you would like to make, listen for cool enhancements or other ideas that might excite you. LISTEN > TALK!

4. 1-minutes silent reflection between sessions.5. 15 minute break: Continue to think and/or talk, but leave

the space for water/bathroom.

DESIGN METHOD #5: Accelerated Brainstorming for Team Formation, Part B

MIT Gambit Game Lab System, Part B:

6. Reconvene to Write on Postcards: Have an idea you are truly excited about? Take a card: Game Title on blank side, “Pitch” 1-sentence description on other.

7. Everyone Reads Their Pitches: Say your name, the Game Title, and 40-seconds to describe the game, end with game title and stick to wall, title-up.

8. Everyone Votes: Attach your colored name-PostIt around the game you are most excited to make.

9. Proctor Manages Results: Removes games with 0-1 votes, uses colors to re-balance as needed. If necessary, revote with remaining games.

DESIGN METHOD #5: Accelerated Brainstorming for Team Formation, Part C

MIT Gambit Game Lab System, Part C:

You Have your Teams! You have your Game Pitch! But you don’t know yet if it is a game worth making.

10. Now Teams Meet: Share email and phone contact information, plan to meet at least twice this week to work on homework.

11. Your Homework Goal: Turn the Idea into Playable Prototypes: Almost all game ideas sound great initially, but are not actually viable play experiences until prototyped and tested and revised. CREATE PAPER PROTOTYPES TO PLAYTEST THIS WEEK!

First Team Meeting: 5 minutes: Exchange Contact Info, Discuss Schedules

Due Next Week:HOMEWORK #4: Final Game, Preproduction • Each team meet AT LEAST 2x to:

1. Create Paper Prototypes to test/revise game. 2. Draft your Design Document.3. Draft a Production Schedule.4. Set up online team resources: Source Control

(like GitHub), Production Tracking (like Trello) , and a Wiki for your Designs, Backlog, and Visual References (aesthetic ideas).

• ALSO Read Schell pp 75-95 (Prototyping chapter).• Try at least one Unity Tutorial: Ball Roll or Shmup

How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype?

How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before

investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”

• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect?

How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before

investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”

• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect? No: Create paper prototypes for core game interaction.

• QUESTION: How do we start a paper-prototype?

How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before

investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”

• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect? No: Create paper prototypes for core game interaction.

• QUESTION: How do we start a paper-prototype? Identify core interactions you want to test. Create a minimalist board game. If your game has Ai, then have one tester play the Ai and give them rules. Playtest, revise and playtest again. Keep it simple—the point is to iterate rapidly.

How to Paper Prototype:Stone Librande (Designer for EA/Maxis, Riot games)

paper prototypes for Spore:

How to Paper Prototype:Clockwork Demon: “Testing if blending exploration-based storytelling

with emergent, sandbox mechanics was as compelling as we thought.”

How to Paper Prototype:• QUESTION: Why do we paper-prototype? Test for fun before

investing large amounts of time and effort into digital development. Avoid “attachment”

• QUESTION: Do we need to paper-prototype every game aspect? No: Create paper prototypes for core game interaction.

• QUESTION: How do we start a paper-prototype? Identify core interactions you want to test. Create a minimalist board game. If your game has Ai, then have one tester play the Ai and give them rules. Playtest, revise and playtest again. Keep it simple—the point is to iterate rapidly.

• PAPER PROTOTYPE HAND-IN: Submit your final paper prototype like all board games this term, both digitally and paper. Also submit testing page: briefly describe each test session and how you adjusted the prototype. Photos welcome!

What is a Design Document?: A roadmap for the scope of your project…

DESIGN DOCUMENT PAGES (obviously, not all details apply to all games)• Summary (1 page): overview of entire game: name, 1-3-sentence pitch,

concept, genre, audience, Game Flow summary, and basic Look and Feel.• Gameplay: challenge/puzzle structure, objectives, play flow• Mechanics: implicit/explicit game rules, physics/ actions/ economy/ etc.• Story/Setting: narrative, setting, backstory, gameworld, characters.• Levels: describe intended level progression• Interface: visual system, needed key elements• Artificial Intelligence: opponent/enemy, friendlies, and support AI• Technical: target platform, game engine/network hurdles to research.• Game Art/Audio: Description of style, asset list, tools for development.• Milestones and Production Timeline: Rough outline of testable

prototype stages and completed product.

What is a Design Document?: …but not engraved in stone.

You won’t have to have everything figured out this week! This is about drafting your ideas and testing them on paper.• Benefits of Design Document: Agreement, Clarity, Grounded-ness,

Scheduling• Limitations of traditional design documents: Make too many

assumptions, Always out of Date, Only useful if read, Too rigid, Don’t allow for failure.

• INSTEAD: Keep it light, agile, and collaborative. Research / record experiences as you go. Use a non-rigid tool to document your ideas like Prezi, wiki, Google Docs (avoid Word).

• Don’t Pad: Be concise, clear, straightforward, and as graphically organized as you can to create something you will go back to again and again, and add to as you develop your project.

Production Scheduling: Course Milestones

• Due Week 5: Paper Prototypes: “Fun”• Due Week 6: Digital Prototypes: “Quantity.”• Due Week 7: Full Playable Prototypes: “User Clarity.”• Due Week 9: Revised prototypes: “Fun.” • Due Week 12: Beta Complete: Art and Audio locked.• Due Week 14: Alpha Complete: Levels done, bugs

fixed.• Final Presentations: Playable Game and completed.

Marketing materials: Trailer, Website, Press Release, Icon, and Marketing Plan.

Due Next Week:HOMEWORK #4: Final Game, Preproduction • Each team meet AT LEAST 2x to:

1. Create Paper Prototypes to test/revise game. 2. Draft your Design Document.3. Draft a Production Schedule.4. Set up online team resources: Source Control

(like GitHub), Production Tracking (like Trello) , and a Wiki for your Designs, Backlog, and Visual References (aesthetic ideas).

• ALSO Read Schell pp 75-95 (Prototyping chapter).• Try at least one Unity Tutorial: Ball Roll or Shmup

Have an Inspiring Week!

And don’t forget to email us with questions:

Instructor: JASON WISERJason.Wiser@Tufts.edu

Available an hour after class and daily email.

TA: MIKE SHAHMichael.Shah@Tufts.edu

Lab hours: Wednesdays 4:30-5:45