THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE VOL19 NO 11 NOVEMBER 2012 INSIDE: GAME DEVELOPER POWER 50 THE BINDING NOVEMBER 2012 OF ISAAC www.unrealengine.com real Matinee extensively for Lost Planet 3. many inspirations from visionary directors Spark Unlimited Explores Sophos said these tools empower level de- such as Ridley Scott and John Carpenter. Lost Planet 3 with signers, artist, animators and sound design- Using UE3’s volumetric lighting capabilities ers to quickly prototype, iterate and polish of the engine, Spark was able to more effec- Unreal Engine 3 gameplay scenarios and cinematics. With tively create the moody atmosphere and light- multiple departments being comfortable with ing schemes to help create a sci-fi world that Capcom has enlisted Los Angeles developer Kismet and Matinee, engineers and design- shows as nicely as the reference it draws upon. Spark Unlimited to continue the adventures ers are no longer the bottleneck when it “Even though it takes place in the future, in the world of E.D.N. III. Lost Planet 3 is a comes to implementing assets, which fa- we defi nitely took a lot of inspiration from the prequel to the original game, offering fans of cilitates rapid development and leads to a Old West frontier,” said Sophos. “We also the franchise a very different experience in higher level of polish across the entire game. wanted a lived-in, retro-vibe, so high-tech the harsh, icy conditions of the unforgiving Sophos said the communication between hardware took a backseat to improvised planet. The game combines on-foot third-per- Spark and Epic has been great in its ongoing weapons and real-world fi rearms. The Utility son perspective action with fi rst-person mech relationship, plus his studio has been able to Rig feels more like a trucker’s big rig than a combat against an array of monstrous Akrids. utilize the Unreal Developer Network (UDN) mech. Surprisingly, there was only so much in- For the fi rst time in the best-sell- for any issues throughout development. spiration we could take from the arctic. Snow ing franchise, the game is being devel- “UDN offers a great community knowl- environments can easily devolve into looking oped with Unreal Engine 3 (UE3), which edge base that we can tap into any time like Antarctica, so we were careful to accentu- suits Spark well thanks to a long his- a question arises for how to tackle tough ate the alien nature of the landscape to con- tory of working with UE3 technology. problems,” said Sophos. “This has helped stantly remind players E.D.N. III is not Earth.” “The previous two current-gen titles answer many questions that would nor- In addition to a very deep single-player developed here used UE3, so the deci- mally have taken weeks of research, al- experience, aims to deliver a campaign sion to use it for Lost Planet 3 was natu- lowing us to iterate more quickly than if we that’s massive in scope yet fueled by an in- ral,” said Matt Sophos, Lost Planet 3 game had to recreate the process from scratch.” timate story, down-to-earth characters, and director, Spark Unlimited. “It allows us to Spark has added proprietary technol- the small personal touches that drives a leverage our past experience and opti- ogy on top of UE3, including dynamic storm player’s desire to see what happens next, mized workfl ow, thus increasing our ef- states that punctuate the volatile nature of the Spark is pushing the multiplayer experience. fi ciency and quality. UE3’s robust toolset hostile planet of E.D.N. III. The storm states Sophos said the team has chosen to imple- also makes it the best choice for level de- allow for environmental storytelling, as well ment a robust suite of gameplay modes that sign because it enables us to hit the ground as giving the player new visuals that show is separate from the single-player narrative running from day one – laying out game- the damage and effects of extreme weather campaign in order to best serve the needs play spaces and prototyping encounters.” conditions on the planet and its inhabitants. of both experiences. Gamers will be able “The tools are extremely powerful for “Most of our additions on top of UE3 to explore the extreme conditions of Lost artists and designers who are creating con- are gameplay systems to support Lost Planet 3 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2013. tent for a game,” said Sophos. “UE3 has a Planet 3, such as a more robust third- Thanks to Spark Unlimited for speaking with freelance reporter fast iteration pipeline and the ease of use person camera system, animation cho- John Gaudiosi for this feature. allows artists and designers to be directors reography, a collision system for larger so they can work on shaping the scene and creatures, a multi-threaded AI formation UPCOMING EPIC ATTENDED EVENTS the experience rather than simply creating system, a quest system, and so on,” he said. D.I.C.E Summit assets that go into a game. Another ma- One of the many things that stands out in Las Vegas, NV jor benefi t to using Unreal is the amount of this new adventure is the cinematic look and February 2013 documentation and training videos made feel of the game. The world of E.D.N. III comes Cloud Gaming Europe available by Epic. This can dramatically cut to life in a new way, thanks to the game’s set- London, UK down our training time for new employees.” ting that takes place early on in the human February 21-22, 2013 Although there are many tools to work habitation of the distant planet. Sophos said Please email [email protected] for appointments with, Spark used Unreal Kismet and Un- the art direction of Lost Planet 3 has drawn © 2012, Epic Games, Inc. Epic, Epic Games, Unreal, Unreal Developer Network, UDN, Unreal Engine, UE3, Unreal Kismet and Unreal Matinee are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. postmortem departments 26 THE BINDING OF ISAAC 2 GAMEPLAN By Patrick Miller [EDITORIAL] One year ago, SUPER MEAT BOY dev Edmund McMillen rocked the indie- Help Us Help You game world with THE BINDING OF ISAAC, a highly controversial—and at 4 HEADS UP DISPLAY By Lauren Manary [NEWS] times even disturbing—dungeon-crawling roguelike that captivated TECMO SUPER BOWL 2013 and including players with disabilities audiences with its grotesque, evocative imagery and design. In this month’s postmortem, McMillen tells us how THE BINDING OF ISAAC started 34 TOOLBOX By Tobias Heussner [REVIEW] life as a game jam project conceived from a deeply personal place— Articy:Draft Review and how it went from an underdog to an international indie hit. 37 INNER PRODUCT By Niklas Frykholm [PROGRAMMING] By Edmund McMillen 10 Tips for Cleaning Bad Code features 42 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART] 6 POWER 50 Seen Through Goggles People power the game industry. In this year’s installment of the Power 44 DESIGN OF THE TIMES By Soren Johnson [DESIGN] 50, Game Developer and Gamasutra editors team up to acknowledge How to Become a Game Designer the individuals in and around the game industry whose efforts in art, audio, design, business, evangelism, and programming have inspired 47 AURAL FIX By Damian Kastbauer [SOUND] us to step up our collective games. Dynamic Animation Sound Now By Patrick Miller, Christian Nutt, and Thomas Curtis 49 THE BUSINESS By Sana Choudary [BUSINESS] Tell Story, Sell Game 14 SHOOT MANY ROBOTS: ARENA KINGS MIDMORTEM How does a game developer “pivot”? Demiurge Studios’s cofounder 50 INSERT CREDIT By Brandon Sheffi eld [EDITORIAL] takes us through a special “midmortem” that explains how work on Video Games in Retrograde XBLA 2D shooter SHOOT MANY ROBOTS set up the studio to make a free- 52 GDC News By Staff [NEWS] to-play multiplayer spinoff called SHOOT MANY ROBOTS: ARENA KINGS. Find GDC Next, App Developers Conference, and GDC China 2012 talks out what has gone right and wrong (so far) with the process of taking work on one game and turning into a completely new game altogether. 53 GOOD JOB By Alexandra Hall [CAREER] By Albert Reed Q&A with Derek Manning, new studios, and who went where 54 EDUCATED PLAY By Alexandra Hall [EDUCATION] 23 HOW LOUD SHOULD IT BE? OF LIGHT & SHADOW Loudness metering standards can open up new avenues for game 56 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT By M. Wasteland & M. Underland [HUMOR] audio designers to be creative (and effi cient)—but only if they use the The Real Hollywood Mojo right standards. Audio specialist Shaun Farley explains why the game audio community needs to look outside loudness metering standards designed for broadcast media or risk losing their oomph. By Shaun Farley CONTENTS.1112 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 11 WWW.GDMAG.COM 1 game developer GAMEgame PLANplan //// BRANDONpatrick miller SHEFFIELD magazine www.gdmag.com UBM LLC. 303 Second Street, Suite 900, South Tower San Francisco, CA 94107 HELP US HELP YOU t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090 ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DEV TO HELP GAM… D…V…LOP…R? SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Hello, world! Starting with this issue, I’ll officially be taking over the Game Plan editorial (and FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND the rest of the magazine) while editor emeritus Brandon Sheffield jumps headfirst into the ADDRESS CHANGES deep end of game development. (You can still find him in the mag in his new column called t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606 Insert Credit, where he’ll continue to opine on all things dev-related.) e: [email protected] www.gdmag.com/contactus GDMAG: THE GAME edition: Thanks! We’re still trying as a full-time magazine freelancer.