Game Design and Development, Spring 2017, Lecture 1
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The document outlines a course on game design and development offered by Dr. Vasile Aliba at 'Al. I. Cuza' University, focusing on both theoretical and practical aspects. It emphasizes collaboration, the use of specific game engines like Unreal Engine 4 and Unity, and the goal of building a medium-complexity game by the end of the semester. Students are required to work in teams, complete assignments, and meet milestones throughout the course, with resources and references provided for further learning.
Game Design and Development, Spring 2017, Lecture 1
- 1. GAME DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT Spring 2017 Dr.VasileAlaiba Faculty of Computer Science “Al. I. Cuza” University Iași, România
- 2. Welcome! ■ Who am I? ■ Why am I here? ■ Why are you here?
- 3. What isThis?Why? ■ This is both a course of Game Design AND Game Development. – This is not a course on Art, Sound, Animation or anything not related to Game Design or Development! ■ The topics of Game Design and Development are of great interest for students and industry, but were absent from the FCS curricula. ■ I love games! :D ■ I want to help develop the GDD community and industry in Iași. ■ Check the GDD Iași community pages and join! – https://www.facebook.com/groups/gdd.is/ – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5a-_aNeaF4G677gIpmk_ZQ
- 4. Game DesignTopics: The Structure of Games ■ What is a Game? Genres, ... ■ The Role of the Game Designer ■ Working with Formal Elements: Players, Objectives, Procedures, Rules, ... ■ Working with Dramatic Elements: Challenge, Premise, Character, Story, ... ■ Working with System Dynamics:Objects, Properties, Behaviors, ...
- 5. Game DesignTopics: Designing a Game ■ Conceptualization: turning ideas into games ■ Prototyping and Digital Prototyping ■ Playtesting ■ Functionality,Completeness, and Balance ■ Communicating Design: the Design Document
- 6. Game Design References ■ Primary: – Fullerton,T., Game DesignWorkshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games,CRC Press, 2014 ■ Secondary: – Aronson, L., The 21st Century Screenplay: A ComprehensiveGuide toWriting Tomorrow’s Films,Allen&Unwin, 2010 – Hiwiller, Z., Players Making Decisions:Game Design Essentials and the Art of UnderstandingYour Players, New Riders, 2016 – Sweetser, P., Emergence in Games,Charles River Media, 2007 – Iuppa, N., Borst,T., Story and Simulations for Serious Games:Tales from the Trenches, Elsevier, 2007
- 7. Game DevelopmentTopics: Unreal Engine 4 (secondary Unity) ■ Getting Started,Terminology: Project, Object, Class,Component, Pawn, … ■ Level Design: Editor, Actors, ManagingContent, … ■ Game Programming Essentials:C++ vs Blueprints ■ Using Physics, Controlling Input, … ■ AI with BehaviorTrees ■ UMG UI Designer ■ … - the list can go on almost forever, we will adapt the topics as we progress
- 8. Game Development References ■ I highly recommend using the primary sources from EpicGames and Unity Technologies: – https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/ – https://unity3d.com/learn ■ Game Engine technology evolves at a rapid pace, so many books on the subject become largely obsolete within a year with respect to the latest engine features. For example, check the release anouncements of the latest versions of both UE4 and Unity: – https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/unreal-engine-4-15-released – https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/11/29/unity-5-5-is-ready-for- you/?_ga=1.18521465.179794246.1486970085
- 9. OtherTopics ■ Working in teams with version control (GIT) ■ What it means to be an indie developer? ■ Monetization strategies. ■ Publishing on marketplaces. ■ Developing multi-platform games, including mobile. ■ Serious Games or Game Based Learning: Using games for education and other purposes than entertainment. ■ Using free and cheap asset sources to build your prototypes.
- 10. Game EngineVersions ■ The latest available when the course started (February 22nd, 2017): – Unreal Engine 4.15 – Unity 5.5.1 ■ Please make sure you have these installedAND DO NOT UPDATE your game engine to future releases! ■ Sometimes upgrading from one game engine version to another leads to projects getting broken! ■ I will be using exactly these engine versions to check your projects.
- 11. Evaluation Course Objective: By the end of the semester, you will be able to build a game of medium complexity, in terms of programming and design. ■ Weekly tasks, to be done individually (5 p / task) – will help you improve your skills both in design and development – will only be evaluated during the assigned week! No late submissions!
- 12. Evaluation ■ Semester project: Build a game! – teams of 3-5 students – weekly reporting of progress ■ Three milestones: – (20 p)Week 4.Game Proposal Document + Proof of Concept – (30 p)Week 9. CompleteGame Design Document +Working Prototype – (50 p)Week 14. FinalGame Design Document + MinimumViable Product ■ Pass criteria:Total points >= 50 p ■ Final grading on a curve using the standard FCS percentages.
- 13. Working with GIT ■ Check this event on GDD Iași for more on how to work in a team: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KadhiVK8ZWE ■ How to use GIT with Unreal Engine 4: https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Git_source_control_(Tutorial) ■ How to use GIT with Unity: https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/cloud-build/creating-your-first-source- control-repository
- 14. Assignment forWeek 1 ■ Join the Facebook group of the class: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1761623210831895/ ■ Form a team of 3-5 students. Choose oneTeam Leader. – TheTL role will rotate between ALL team members EVERYWEEK! ■ Decide if you are going to use Unreal Engine 4 or Unity. – One team will use ONLYONE game engine! ■ Each member will create an account with UE4 or Unity and install the game engine on their own computer. ■ Create a GIT repository on BitBucket (or any other server that I will be able to access).
- 15. Assignment forWeek 1 ■ Make sure all team members have full access to the repository. ■ Give me read access to the repository (alaiba@info.uaic.ro), if it is not already public. ■ TheTeam Leader will then submit this form no later than February 26th: https://goo.gl/forms/faHvC9sse33dhuy22 – If the form is submitted before the deadline and with all the correct information, every team member will gain 5 p.
- 16. Ask for Help! ■ Post any questions you have on the Facebook group of the class: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1761623210831895/ ■ You can also try the GDD Iași community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gdd.is/ ■ Or ask me directly in class or via Facebook Messenger.