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Modular Sandbox Design: Tools and Workflows for Hitman Marinus Rørbech Senior Programmer, Io-Interactive
Modular SandboxDesign: Tools and Workflows for Hitman
Marinus RørbechSenior Programmer, Io-Interactive
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Who Am I?
• Marinus Rørbech
• Senior Programmer, Io-Interactive
• 8 years in the industry
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Agenda
• Motivation
• Introducing ”Bricks”
• Impact
• Wrap Up
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• Motivation
•
•
•
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Traditional level structure at IOI
• Scene
• Tree hierarchy of ”entities”• Geometry
• Logic from C++
• Logic from visual programming
• Hitman: Absolution
• 1 checkpoint = 1 scene ≈ 30.000 entities
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Traditional level design at IOI
• Defining entity logic
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Traditional level design at IOI
• Defining entity logic
• Entity references wire entities together
• Set property values
• Register event handlers
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Vision For Hitman
• Freedom of approach
• High-definition sandbox
• Many ways of completing a mission
• More load-out options
• Replayability
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Vision For Hitman
• Ever expanding
• New missions appear over time
• More than one mission in the same location
• Time-limited targets
• React to community
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Vision For Hitman
• Contracts mode
• Asynchronous multiplayer
• Players define their own missions• Mark target(s)
• Define intended murder weapon
• Planned escape route
• Etc.
• Increase player options
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Challenges
• Static level structure
• When a level is shipped, that’s how it is
• (Almost) no sharing of set-ups across missions
• Duplicated set-ups leading to repetitive work
• Other systems get abused for workarounds
• Download size
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•
• Introducing ”Bricks”
•
•
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• Scenes are split into parts
Introducing ”Bricks”
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• Scenes are split into parts
• 1 brick = 1 partial scene
• 1 scene = N bricks
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Introducing ”Bricks”
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• Scene is defined by a brick
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Introducing ”Bricks”
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• Scene is defined by a brick
• Brick references define which bricks are loaded
• Backwards compatibility
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
Brick Dependencies
• Old scenes are bricks with no other references
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Brick Dependencies
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
• Entity references
• Entities have unique ids
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Brick Dependencies
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
• Entity references
• Entities have unique ids
• Ensure availability of target entities by adding brick references
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Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick A
Sharing Bricks
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• Bricks can be referenced more than once
Brick C
Sharing Bricks
Main Brick B
Brick D
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• Changes to a brick affect all scenes that use it
Brick C
Main Brick A
Sharing Bricks
Main Brick B
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Sharing Bricks
• Use bricks as building blocks
• Reduces duplicated set-ups
• Reduces repetitive bug-fixing
• Find the right granularity
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Location bricks• Basic environment geometry• Max. 1 per mission
Location
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Location bricks• Basic environment geometry• Max. 1 per mission
Ambient bricks• Mission-agnostic set-ups• Location-specific
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Location
NPCset-up
NPCset-up
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Location bricks• Basic environment geometry• Max. 1 per mission
Ambient bricks• Mission-agnostic set-ups• Location-specific
Mission bricks• Mission-specific set-ups• Mission definition
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Location
NPCset-up
Mission
NPCset-up
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Location bricks• Basic environment geometry• Max. 1 per mission
Ambient bricks• Mission-agnostic set-ups• Location-specific
Mission bricks• Mission-specific set-ups• Mission definition
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Location
NPCset-up
Mission Mission
NPCset-up
NPCset-up
Location
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Location bricks• Basic environment geometry• Max. 1 per mission
Ambient bricks• Mission-agnostic set-ups• Location-specific
Mission bricks• Mission-specific set-ups• Mission definition
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Location
NPCset-up
Mission Mission
NPCset-up
NPCset-up
Location
Mission
NPCset-up
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Library bricks• Generic logic/content• Can be used in all missions
Location bricks• Basic environment geometry• Max. 1 per mission
Ambient bricks• Mission-agnostic set-ups• Location-specific
Mission bricks• Mission-specific set-ups• Mission definition
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Location
NPCset-up
Mission Mission
NPCset-up
NPCset-up
Location
Mission
NPCset-up
Mission
NPCset-up
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Location brick
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Location brick + ambient brick(s)
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This is really great... but....
• Tree hierarchy is important
• For humans
• For gameplay logic
• New requirement:
• Inject entities anywhere in the scene tree
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• Parent relations are similar to entity references
Extending a Tree Hierarchy
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
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• Parent relations are similar to entity references
• Entities can refer to parents in other bricks
Extending a Tree Hierarchy
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
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• Parent relations are similar to entity references
• Entities can refer to parents in other bricks
• Ensure availability of parents by adding brick references
Extending a Tree Hierarchy
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
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Now we can almost use the brick system... but...
• Properties are too static
• New requirement:
• Override properties in other bricks
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Property Overrides
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
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• Specify new value for target property
• Original brick is unchanged
Property Overrides
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
Color = RedPos = (3, 1, 4)
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• Specify new value for target property
• Original brick is unchanged
Property Overrides
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
• Ensure availability of target entity by adding brick references
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Location brick+ ambient brick(s)
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Location brick+ ambient brick(s)
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Location brick+ ambient brick(s)+ overriding brick
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NOW we can almost use the brick system... but...
• Scene tree is too static
• New requirement:
• Remove entities in other bricks
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Override Deletes
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
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Override Deletes
• Specify entity to remove
• Implicitly removes children
• Original brick is unchanged
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
Delete Delete
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• Specify entity to remove
• Implicitly removes children
• Original brick is unchanged
Override Deletes
Brick CBrick A Brick B
Main Brick
• Ensure availability of entities to remove by adding brick references
Delete Delete
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Location brick
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Location brick
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Location brick + deleting brick
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Dynamic Brick Configurations
• Dynamically change existing set-ups
• Toggled by players
• User-configurable missions (Contracts)
• Toggled from a server
• Seasonal content
• Time-limited mission goals
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Dynamic Brick Configurations
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Mission
NPCset-up
Location
NPCset-up
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Dynamic Brick Configurations
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Mission
NPCset-up
Location
NPCset-up
Tweak NPC behavior
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Dynamic Brick Configurations
Agent 47 In-game menu Core elements
Mission
NPCset-up
Location
NPCset-up
Christmas decoration
Tweak NPC behavior
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Overview
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•
• Impact
•
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Implementation plan
• 1-2 level designers start using bricks
• Get experience with tools and workflow
• Discover missing tools and features
• Iron out introductory hiccups
• Full team roll-out
• Embraced by entire team
• Brick tool engineers are heroes
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Basic Brick Management
• New view: Brick View
• Create new bricks
• Load/unload existing bricks
• Navigate brick references
• Manage brick references• Manual process: connection by
design – not chance
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Basic Brick Management
• Brick references define a graph
• Navigating a graph using lists view is hard
• New view: Brick Graph
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New Concept: Work Scopes
• Active brick• Selected by the user
• New entities, property overrides and override deletes are added to the active brick
• Reachable bricks• Bricks with direct reference from the active brick
• Entities in reachable bricks can referenced
• Cannot be edited
• Unreachable bricks• Bricks with no direct reference from the active brick
• Entities in these brick cannot be referenced
• Cannot be edited
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Updated View: Scene Tree
• Reflecting work scopes
• Active brick selection
• Entities in active brick• Original style
• Reachable entities• Light gray background
• Unreachable entities• Dark gray background
• Gray scaled icons
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Updated View: Scene Tree
• Reflecting override deletes
• Directly deleted entities
• Implicitely deleted children
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Centralized constraint system
• All operations constrainted wrt. work scope
• Move entities between bricks....
• ...uh oh... disable constraints, please
• New view: Scene Issues
• Issues related to bricks (”What did I break”)
• Bonus: Can show misc. legacy issues
• Automatic bulk fixing of issues
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Effects on Production
• Challenges
• Cultural change in the way levels are made
• Added complexity to level design
• Harder to get an overview
• Initial level construction is slower
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Effects on Production
• Benefits
• Production speed improves as the brick toolbox grows
• Making level-variations is much faster
• Prototyping is easier
• Allows for set-ups that were not possible before
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Overview
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•
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• Wrap Up
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Credits
• Tobias Sicheritz, Mi’pu’mi Games
• Kasper Fauerby
• Søren Seeberg
• Torbjørn V. Christensen
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Q&A
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