1 Jenkins Ñ Innovating Game Development CS134: Innovating ...

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Jenkins — Innovating Game Development

Robot Learning and Autonomy at Browncjenkins@cs.brown.edu

CS134: Innovating Game Development –A Course in Games Technology

Chad JenkinsAssistant Professor

Dept. of Computer ScienceBrown University

Research and Development (R&D)for Games! What entity is responsible for much of the research

and development that has led to today’s games?

! That is, graphics pipelines, computing architectures, networking, artificial intelligence, display technology, etc.

! What entity is responsible for much of the research and development that has led to today’s games?

! The military!

Research and Development (R&D)for Games

Interesting story on the post World War II evolution of R&Dhttp://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8769863

Tennis for two (1958)

Spacewar! (1961)

What is Games Research?

– Game design: device-independent game mechanics

– Game development (D): implementing specific games

– Games technology (R): innovating basic technology

! Graphics, AI, computing, networks, interfaces, physics

! Theory, prog. lang., biomechanics, neuro

What is Games Research?

Game Content(e.g. story, modelscharacters, scripts)

Game Technology(e.g. computing, display,network, AI, physics)

User Gameplay(via console or arcade)

Game Engine(e.g. Torque, WiiUnreal, Ogre)

Developed Game(e.g. Halo, Madden,Mario, Gran Turismo)

GameDesign

Basic Research(e.g. scientific exploration)

SystemsIntegration

GamesResearch

PracticalKnowledge

TechnicalConstraints

PerformanceStatistics

GameDevelopment

Game Reviews

Interactive(Virtual)World

Games = Storytelling (Interactively)

! People play games to have fun and escape reality

– Middle-earth does not exist

– You are likely not NBA or Top Gun material

– although it is fun to pretend

! Technology improves story, but does not replace it

Course Objectives

! All about making a technologically novel game

! Capstone course

– use your cumulative knowledge to design and implement an open-ended project

! Final deliverable

– compelling game demo in a distributable form

– intellectual merit with catchy aesthetics

! Prerequisites

– CS 32, 36, or written permission

– More exactly, near completion of your concentration

Course Staff

! Instructor

– Chad Jenkins (cjenkins), hours MW 10-11

– Korhan Bircan (kbircan)

– contact for game engine and tool support

– Scott Daniel (sadaniel)

– Neehar Reddy (neehar)

Course Structure

! Case Studies

– What makes a game innovative?

! “Onepagers”

– Brainstorming game ideas.

! Preliminary Projects

– Quick familiarity with standard game engines and tools

! Course Project

– Develop and integrate a novel game technology

! External Speakers

– How to put innovation into practice?

Course Resources

! Mailing list: cs134@list.cs.brown.edu

– make sure you subscribe

! Support for some game engines and tools

– /course/cs134/lib

! Handouts and textbook available in course directory

– /course/cs134/pub

! and course webpage: www.cs.brown.edu/courses/csci1340

Course Resources

! Document handin and feedback via MyCourses

– mycourses.brown.edu

! Extra directory space for project and assignments

– location: TBD

– Implementation handin will occur in project space

Course Textbook

! McGuire & Jenkins, “Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology”, working draft, AK Peters 2008.

! Covers process of game development and mechanics, and some enabling technologies

! You will be responsible for reading this own your own.

! Selected topics will be discussed in class.

Creating Games:Mechanics, Content, and Technology

McGuire & Jenkins

2007 A. K. Peters

Lessons from CS 196-2, Spring 2006

! A wide range of guest speakers

– Industry: Harmonix, Mad Doc, Ironlore, Demiurge, etc.

– Academia: databases, NPR, biofeedback, game theory

! Take away messages

– New technologies work properly at 50%-85%

– Mask technological shortcomings with gameplay

– Leverage external systems/libraries (“NIH syndrome”)

– Build a simple version first; then refine

– Start early, you have less than 4 months

Grading

Starting next week, class meetings will be devoted exclusively to presenting case studies.

SIGN UP FOR PRESENTATION SLOTS NOW!!!

Written submission viaMyCourses.

Format outline on cs134 webpage.

Grading

Starting next week, 2 onepagers aredue every Friday viaMyCourses

Grading

Introductory assignments will be covered during TA sessions.

We support Ogre, Irrlicht, and XNA. Other engines require approval.

Grading

Proposal describes your class project and has a rough working prototype. Must be approved by spring break

Written submission and sta" feedback via MyCourses.

Grading

Two graded implementation due dates.

Intermediate prototype has full integration with incomplete components.

Final implementation is the final working game.

Public demos of final games

Grading

Final report for the project outlining pros/cons of project, lessons learned, and technical detail of innovative contributions

Grading

Ask questions and provide weekly progress reports on your project.

Grading

Turn your work in on time or we will apply significant late penalties.

Collaboration:Case studies and onepagers are to be done individually. Other work can be collaborative. External sources must be cited!

B. LeesE. Taylor

M. ten Bosch

D. DadushC. SwepsonJ. PerezN. Mehta

Noteworthy Gamesfrom Spring 2006

SwordplayD. Ignatoff, M. Katzourin, L. Quirk

! Swordfighting/ spellcasting game

! Vanquish as many hostiles as possible

! 2 6DOF wands in CAVE display

! Innovation

– Incorporation of symbol recognition

M. Katzourin, D. Ignatoff, L. Quirk, J. LaViola, O. Jenkins, “Swordplay: Innovating Game Development through VR", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, pp. 15-19, November/December, 2006.

Sword and Shield InterfaceConcept

Prototype

Bow and Arrow Interface

Concept

Spellcasting Interface

Concept

Upcoming Schedule

! Friday: games technology fast forward

– global illumination, learning algorithms, physical simulation, transaction processing, speech recognition, peek-a-boom, inertial sensing, exercise-based gaming, multi-core programming, etc.

! Next week: case study presentations

– remember to sign up to present your selected game

– outlines are in the course directory

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