Game Developer Bonus Sigraph Issue (Jul 11) Production V
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0710gd_cover_vIjf 9/19/07 3:04 PM Page 1 >> POSTMORTEM: REALTIME WORLDS’ CRACKDOWN OCTOBER 2007 THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE >>CRUSHING HEISENBUGS >>LIFE AFTER AUSTIN >>UML AND YOU EXTERMINATE UNCERTAINTY HARDCORE MMO MEETS DESIGN PATTERNS WITH MENTAL FORTITUDE CASUAL GAMEPLAY FOR GAME CODERS $5.95US $6.95CAN 10 0 71486 02133 9 DISPLAY UNTIL NOVEMBER 13, 2007 B:8 in T:7.75 in S:6.75 in Using Autodeskodesk® HumanIK® middle-middle- Autodesk® ware, Ubisoftoft MotionBuilder™ grounded ththee software enabled assassin inn his In Assassin’s Creed, th the assassin to 12 centuryy boots Ubisoft used and his run-time-time ® ® fl uidly jump Autodesk 3ds Max environment.nt. software to create from rooftops to a hero character so cobblestone real you can almost streets with ease. feel the coarseness of his tunic. B:10.75 in T:10.5 in T:10.5 S:9.5 in HOW UBISOFT GAVE AN ASSASSIN HIS SOUL. autodesk.com/Games IImmagge cocouru tteesyy of Ubiisofft Autodesk, MotionBuilder, HumanIK and 3ds Max are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. © 2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. Job # 07.M&E.131 - Mech A Description 3ds Max ad Last Modifi ed 7/11/07 5:09 PM User/Prev. User Chad Kukahiko / Noel Espiritu Fonts Location Client Autodesk Art Director D. Lee Kievit (Medium, Regular, Italic; Type 1), Helvetica (Me- WD | Chad Bleed 8 in x 10.75 in Studio Artist N. Espiritu dium; Type 1) DocuColor 240 Trim 7.75 in x 10.5 in Copy Writer S. Saunders Placed Graphics Inks L1_HaloonWire.tif (CMYK; 340 ppi; 79.4MB; 88%), Live 6.75 in x 9.5 in Account Mgr A. Gould Cyan, Magenta, L4_ADSK.eps (387KB), L1_UCMA_AssassinWireframe. SETUP Yellow, Black PERSONNEL Gutter None Traffi c S. Sherwin CONTENT psd (CMYK; 458 ppi; 1.2MB; 21.79%), L1_Skeleton_ thicker.psd (CMYK; 805 ppi; 1.0MB; 8.94%), L1_HIK. Publication Game Developer Bonus Sigraph Issue (Jul 11) Production V. Speiser psd (CMYK; 554 ppi; 4.4MB; 12.97%), L1_Assassin.psd Print Scale 100% ROUND 12 / FINAL (CMYK; 754 ppi; 117.3MB; 19.87%), L2_Ubisoft_2.eps Southern 8432 Culver City FILE NAME: Ind01B_07.M&E.131A_3dsMax.indd Californa California JOB NO CLIENT DESCRIPTION IMAGESETTER SCREEN PROOF # DATE TIME OPERATOR Steller 707147 Wong Doody Autodesk 3ds Max Ad Fuji 133 3 07-12-07 7:25 PM jbg Graphics Drive 90232 BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW 0710gd_toc_vIjf 9/19/07 3:13 PM Page 1 []CONTENTS OCTOBER 2007 VOLUME 14, NUMBER 9 FEATURES 6 TOP 20 PUBLISHERS Game Developer’s Top 20 Publishers report, now in its fifth year, charts the ups and downs of our publishing pals, ranking them according to revenue, number of titles, reputation, and other factors. While it’s 6 admirable to even be in the list in the first place, several publishers have certainly made a concerted run for the top of the heap. The top ranking may surprise you! By Trevor Wilson 26 19 UML AND YOU Unified Modeling Language has been used for years in other industries, most notably related to software—but it hasn’t really taken 19 POSTMORTEM off in the game arena. Beautiful Game Studios’ Ed Pechorro thinks that should 26 REALTIME WORLDS’ CRACKDOWN change, and wrote an article to prove it! The benefits of a unified language for coders are CRACKDOWN’s ambitious use of vertical game space and superhero-style certainly enticing—but it’s not for everyone. sandbox design won the game numerous accolades. But it wasn’t always so lauded! Broken engines, immature toolsets, and sprawling design all By Ed Pechorro weighed the game down in its early days. Phil Wilson tells us how the game went from critical rags to riches, platform jumps and all. By Phil Wilson DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS 2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield 38 THE INNER PRODUCT By Mick West [PROGRAMMING] Life After Austin The Elusive Heisenbug 4 HEADS UP DISPLAY 41 GAME SHUI By Noah Falstein [DESIGN] Austin GDC quotes, Popcap’s casual survey, mature-rated game sales, HAL and Mycroft and more. 42 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART] 32 SKUNK WORKS By Tom Carroll One Foot in Front of the Other Art tool DVD roundup 45 AURAL FIXATION By Alexander Brandon [SOUND] Cooking up Iconic Music 64 BUSINESS LEVEL By Eric Peterson [BUSINESS] A License to Review COVER ART: CLIFF SCORSO WWW.GDMAG.COM 1 0710gd_gameplan_vIjf 9/19/07 3:20 PM Page 2 GAME PLAN [] www.gdmag.com CMP Media, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94107 t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090 CMP Media, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl., SanSUBSCRIPTION Francisco, SERVICES CA 94107 t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090 t:FOR415.947.6000 INFORMATION, f: ORDER415.947.6090 QUESTIONS, AND ADDRESS CHANGES t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606 e: [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONt: 800.250.2429 SERVICESSERVICES f: 847.763.9606 e: [email protected] FOREDITORIAL INFORMATION, ORDERORDER QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, AND AND ADDRESS ADDRESS CHANGES CHANGES EDITOR-IN-CHIEFt: 800.250.2429 f:f:847.763.9606847.763.9606e:e:[email protected]@halldata.com Simon Carless [email protected] EDITORIAL LIFE AFTER MANAGINGEDITORIAL EDITOR PUBLISHERJill Duffy [email protected] Simon Carless [email protected]@gdmag.com FEATURESSimon Carless [email protected] MANAGINGBrandon Sheffield EDITOR [email protected] Jill Duffy [email protected]@gdmag.com AUSTIN ART DIRECTOR SENIORCliff Scorso EDITOR [email protected] Brandon Sheffield [email protected]@gdmag.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ARTJesse DIRECTOR Harlin [email protected] CliffJesse Scorso Harlin [email protected]@gdmag.com NoahCliff Scorso Falstein [email protected]@gdmag.com [email protected] I PERSONALLY DON’T LIKE TO PLAY MMOS. THAT’S it. But you’ve had a real, meaningful experience, CONTRIBUTINGASSISTANTSteve Theodore PRODUCTION EDITORSEDITORS [email protected] EDITOR MickJesseJeffrey West Harlin Fleming [email protected] [email protected]@gdmag.com not to say they aren’t important, of course, or that which is what those of us who try to propose CONTRIBUTINGNoah Falstein EDITORS [email protected]@gdmag.com ADVISORYSteve Theodore BOARD [email protected] they’re not the future of our industry. They probably games as art are talking about. JesseHalSteve Barwood HarlinTheodore [email protected] Designer-at-Large [email protected] NoahMickHal Barwood West Falstein [email protected] Designer-at-Large [email protected] are, but they’re just not for me as a player. This was EllenMick GuonWest Beeman [email protected] Microsoft ADVISORYSteveBrad Bulkley Theodore BOARD Neversoft [email protected] MickBrad BulkleyWest [email protected] Neversoft my first Austin GDC, and also the first with the GUYS WITH MACHINE GUNS HalClinton Barwood Keith High Designer-at-LargeDesigner-at-Large Moon Studios ADVISORYEllenRyan LesserGuon BOARD Beeman Harmonix MicrosoftMicrosoft corporate overlord CMP branding stamped upon it. BIOSHOCK, SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, BEYOND GOOD BradRyan BulkleyLesser Harmonix Neversoft HalMarkBrad Barwood DeLouraBulkley Designer-at-LargeNeversoftUbisoft I heard varying postmortem-style reports from all AND EVIL and games of their conceptual and EllenClinton Guon Keith Beeman HighHigh Moon Moon Microsoft Studios Studios Ryan Lesser Harmonix walks of game development life, but the general structural ilk will continue to be the most ADVERTISINGBradRyan Bulkley Lesser SALES NeversoftHarmonix ADVERTISINGMark DeLoura SALES Ubisoft DIRECTORClintonMark DeLoura Keith OF SALES High Ubisoft Moon Studios impression I got was that the professionalism of compelling to me. DIRECTORRyan Lesser OF SALES Harmonix Steve McGill e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 ADVERTISINGMark DeLoura SALES Ubisoft the show’s organization outweighed the ‘oh my Despite all the backstory, intrigue, and universe GLOBALADVERTISING SALES SALESMANAGER, RECRUITMENT & EDUCATION building, the first boss in BIOSHOCK amounts to DIRECTORAaron Murawski OF SALESSALES e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6227 god they’re taking over’ feelings. ADVERTISINGDIRECTORSteve McGill OF SALES e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 In spite of my MMO aversion, I met a lot of really nothing more than another guy with a machine SR.Steve EVENTS McGill ACCOUNT e: [email protected] MANAGER, SOUTHWESTt: 415.947.6217 GLOBALMEDIAJasmin ACCOUNT SALESDavé e: MANAGER,[email protected] MANAGER RECRUITMENTt: 415.947.6226 & EDUCATION GLOBALAaronJohn Watson Murawski SALES e:MANAGER,[email protected] e: [email protected] RECRUITMENTt: 415.947.6224 & t:EDUCATION415.947.6227 smart folks, I thought the event was rather gun. We’re on our way to proving to other people SR.Aaron ACCOUNT Murawski MANAGER, e: [email protected] EAST COAST, EUROPE &t: EASTERN415.947.6227 CANADA SR.GLOBALCecily EVENTS Herbst SALES ACCOUNT e:MANAGER,[email protected] MANAGER, RECRUITMENT SOUTHWEST t: 415.947.6215 & EDUCATION successful meeting of the minds, since it brought what we’ve known all along, that games can make SR.AaronJasmin EVENTS Murawski Davé ACCOUNT e: [email protected] e: [email protected] MANAGER, SOUTHWESTt: 415.947.6226t: 415.947.6227 together more casual MMO visionaries like Nexon’s you feel a very intangible emotion. But we can MEDIAJasmin ACCOUNT Davé e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6226 SALESSR.John ACCOUNT WatsonREPRESENTATIVE, MANAGER,e: [email protected] EAST EDUCATION COAST, &t:EUROPE 415.947.224RECRUITMENT & EASTERN CANADA SR.CecilyGina ACCOUNT Gross Herbst e: MANAGER, [email protected]: [email protected] EAST COAST,t: 415.947.6241 t: EUROPE415.947.6215 & EASTERN CANADA Minho Kim (MAPLESTORY) and the more hardcore only do this if we can get people to pick up the Cecily Herbst e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6215 ACCOUNTDIRECTORADVERTISING MANAGER, OF PRODUCTION SALES WESTERN CANADA, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, & ASIA folks like the ubiquitous Mike Morhaime controller, and that’s what this casual business is ADVERTISINGMEDIAAmandaSteve ACCOUNTMcGill Mae PRODUCTION Miller MANAGER e: [email protected] MANAGER Kevin Chanelt: 785.838.7523 (Blizzard/WORLD OF WARCRAFT)—but Raph Koster so good at.