Building a Video Game World: a Developer's Journey

BUILDING A VIDEO GAME WORLD: A DEVELOPER’S JOURNEY A step-by-step view on how game developers create their own domains. Intel® Xeon® To learn more, visit platinum processor www.lenovo.com/workstations With childhood dreams of being an artist, sculptor, novelist, or astronaut, legendary video game designer Hideo Kojima of Kojima Productions found a way to reach the stars without ever leaving earth. “Video game development is just like space exploration,” says Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series and, more recently, Death Stranding. “I’m good at creating stories, dramas, building worlds,” says Kojima, although “those elements were lacking” when he first entered the video game industry. Fortunately, thanks to advanced computing technology, nearly anyone can now conceive of and build their own virtual gaming worlds on their own computer. Envisioning New Games “I truly believe that anyone can develop a Like a movie director, a game designer “can game,” says Jared Evans, an instructor of game see something like the finished product in their development at Neumont College of Computer head,” says Evans. Science, whose area of expertise is game design and development. To achieve the fulfillment of that vision, they then have to think through and plan everything “It all starts with a vision,” Evans says, “which is from the set, the environment, the costumes, different from an idea.” He explains that “an idea and the plot—all based on the conflict they are is a step just beyond the spark of inspiration, working to resolve. or the genre or type of game they want to At this stage, developing a prototype using pen develop, where a vision is broader and more and paper can be a good way to start. Spending comprehensive.” 20 minutes drafting a set of rules or drawing out a map—“like a board game version of your For example, a plan to develop a game like digital game,” Evans explains—is a good way to Super Mario Brothers is an idea—it’s a snippet of get things down on paper early on. a picture about how the game would function and what it would look and feel like. Clarify the big picture vision for your game, and then, as your next step, zero in on the “A vision takes the next step in the development core functionality. of the game, to include the style of game, level of difficulty, visual style, mood, and sound,” he explains. Intel® Xeon® platinum processor Start with Action “I think the strongest ideas start with what someone does,” Evans says. “What is the action they’re doing in the game?” Think back to Mario, he suggests, where “the player jumps and runs. That’s the primary thing that they do. The rest of the game, the vision is built out of that.” The next step in game development is producing a prototype, which is “the smallest version of this idea or action within the game that I could make,” Evans says. In many cases, you haven’t yet worked out what the characters look like, or what the backdrop of the action is, so you begin with a cube on a screen that does something. In Mario’s case, he jumps and runs, for example. The question at this stage is, “is it fun?” Is having a character run around fun? Or does the character need other functionality, like hammering a nail or shooting an arrow? Refine Your Prototype Once you’ve confirmed that your core activity is “Along the way, we have that little bit of quality fun for gamers to engage with, it’s time to start control to say, ‘yep, we’re still on track. That’s moving the lens out from tightly focused on an still the fun thing that we started with,’” says action to accounting for the next layer of detail Evans. “But if at any iteration the game loses its in the game. That might mean mocking up a appeal, you take a step back and fix whatever character and having them engage in the same, just went wrong.” core activity—confirming that it’s still fun. Then, you must move farther out from that and add an enemy for them to battle. After that, you add an obstacle. “You have a spiral effect, where you start small with the prototype and then expand out to just the next level,” says Evans. Then you test it at each iteration of the game, confirming that it works and that it becomes more enjoyable as you add story elements. Intel® Xeon® platinum processor Is It Done Yet? Even after running the entire game through many rounds of tests, “a game is never done, even when it is done,” he says. However, there are a few factors that may deem a game to be done for the time being: 1. You’ve been given a deadline by which the game needs to be finished 2. As a developer, you may reach a point where you’re tired of working on it 3. When you reach a point where the gaming experience matches your vision A video game can take anywhere from a few weeks—as with smaller branded advertising-type games—to a couple of years from start to finish. Some take longer, and those generally are major games with hundreds of developers dedicated to the work, Evans explains. The bigger question, however, is whether you’ve achieved that initial vision of the game that you imagined. “And, most importantly, is it still fun?” Evans emphasizes, “It needs to be fun.” A Developer’s Toolkit If you’re serious about game development, there are three core pieces of equipment you’ll need in your toolkit: • A workstation capable of creating and developing the game build that includes a CPU, GPU, and an abundance of fast memory and storage. This is the piece that makes possible the design and eventual game play. • Content creation software that allows you to create the highest quality end result in the most efficient manner. That includes developing characters, game assets, levels, and environments within the game. • Game engine and middleware, which serves as the foundation for the game being developed. It is the framework and logic that defines the game and game play and which pulls all of the elements together into a cohesive storyline and challenge for the player. Intel® Xeon® platinum processor Build Your End-to-End eSports Solution Creating a game development program that meets the needs of students and schools can represent a complex challenge. Committed to building smarter technology and empowering students and teachers through transformative education solutions, Lenovo is helping students and educators level up the intersections of learning and gaming. For schools looking to implement a serious, studio design program, look no further than the powerful ThinkStation P520. Complete with the Intel® Xeon® W-2295 with vProTM, this powerful workstation will have any campus creating hit games in no time. And, for high schools and campuses looking to empower creativity while staying budget-conscious, the ThinkStation P300 Tower is a workstation that delivers robust, uncompromised performance. Lenovo is a trusted resource to advance gaming within educational environments—providing consultation on school objectives, planning programs, installing dedicated eSports arenas, setting up and managing varsity teams for league competition, and more. The solutions also help students join a school’s gaming network and play from home with matchups and leaderboards to spur competition as well as offering network and league management capabilities to maintain and enhance the experience for eSports student athletes. To learn more, visit www.lenovo.com/workstations. Intel® Xeon® platinum processor.

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