OCTOBER 2000
GAME DEVELOPER MAGAZINE ON THE FRONT LINE OF GAME INNOVATION
DEVELOPER
GAME✎ PLAN 600 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR t: 415.905.2200 f: 415.947.6090 w: www.gdmag.com Publisher Jennifer Pahlka [email protected] EDITORIAL Editorial Director Alex Dunne [email protected] Editor-In-Chief Mark DeLoura [email protected] Senior Editor Exit, Stage Left Jennifer Olsen [email protected] Production Editor R.D.T. Byrd [email protected] riting has never the magazine. Art Director Audrey Welch [email protected] come easily to me. First, I’d like to thank Hal Barwood of Editor-At-Large In fact, I still react LucasArts. Every month, for years now, Chris Hecker [email protected] Contributing Editors to seeing my name Hal has sent me a long e-mail containing Daniel Huebner [email protected] in the magazine with thorough feedback about every article, Jeff Lander [email protected] Maarten Kraaijvanger [email protected] Wsome incredulity. I can still distinctly recall column, and review in the latest issue. The Advisory Board the joy I felt ten years ago as I was handed staggering amount of constructive criti- Hal Barwood LucasArts Noah Falstein The Inspiracy my college diploma, knowing that I would cism Hal provided has improved the mag- Brian Hook Verant Interactive never have to write another paper. God azine in many fundamental ways over the Susan Lee-Merrow Lucas Learning Mark Miller Group Process Consulting throws some wicked curveballs. years. One of my biggest challenges as edi- Paul Steed Independent Dan Teven Teven Consulting Being the editor of Game Developer for tor was to get him to write for the maga- Rob Wyatt The Groove Alliance most of its existence has been a wonderful zine, and one of my biggest regrets was ADVERTISING SALES experience, and yes, I’ve grown to love that I never succeeded. Hal, I hope you’re Director of Sales & Marketing writing. But you know what they say saving up all that wisdom for a book. Greg Kerwin e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6218 National Sales Manager about all good things, and it’s time for me The second person who’s been great to Jennifer Orvik e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 to move on. This is my last issue working me is Chris Hecker. It’s pretty amazing how Account Manager, Western Region, Silicon Valley & Asia on the magazine, but in reality, I’m not much time and energy Chris devotes to bet- Mike Colligan e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6223 Account Manager, Northern California going far at all — in fact, I’m not even tering this industry, and he’s been a con- Susan Kirby e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6226 moving my office. I’m moving into a full- stant source of information and inspiration. Account Manager, Eastern Region & Europe time producer position on Game Devel- Chris is a true asset to the entire industry. Afton Thatcher e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6224 Sales Representative/Recruitment oper’s sister site, Gamasutra. The siren Welcome Mark, Adios Alex. In my column Morgan Browning e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6225 song of the online world beckons! over the years I’ve introduced and bid ADVERTISING PRODUCTION I’ve had an incredible time working on farewell to quite a few magazine contrib- Senior Vice President/Production Andrew A. Mickus Game Developer. It doesn’t seem that utors, and it’s my final privilege to intro- Advertising Production Coordinator Kevin Chanel long ago that a bunch of us on the staff duce the new captain of this ship. Mark Reprints Stella Valdez t: 916.983.6971 of Software Development decided to DeLoura joins us from Nintendo, where CMP GAME MEDIA GROUP MARKETING secretly siphon off money from our maga- he was the software engineering lead in Senior MarCom Manager Susan McDonald Product Marketing Manager Darrielle Sadle zine to launch Game Developer. It was charge of third-party titles, and worked Field Marketing Manager Jennifer McLean daring stuff for us — we weren’t sure on one of my all-time favorite games, Marketing Coordinator Scott Lyon how our superiors would react to the fact LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME. You CIRCULATION that investment intended for one maga- also might recall the article he wrote for Group Circulation Director Kathy Henry zine was actually going into the unap- the magazine last November (“Putting Director of Audience Development Henry Fung proved launch of another. Thankfully the Curved Surfaces to Work on the Nintendo Circulation Manager Ron Escobar Game Developer Circulation Assistant Yumi Sato gamble paid off: the reader response to 64”), or maybe you’ve seen his brand-new magazine is BPA approved Newsstand Analyst Pam Santoro our initial issues was strong, and that book, Game Programming Gems. Mark SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES gave us enough courage to break the news brings a wealth of experience and expert- For information, order questions, and address changes about our guerrilla launch to executives ise to this magazine, and besides all of t: 800.250.2429 or 847.647.5928 f: 847.647.5972 e: [email protected] at our company. Instead of firing all of that, he’s one of the nicest people I’ve us, they kicked in official investment, and ever met in the industry. It’s good to INTERNATIONAL LICENSING INFORMATION Robert J. Abramson and Associates Inc. since then we’ve tried to improve the know that the magazine’s best days lie t: 914.723.4700 f: 914.723.4722 quality of the magazine every month. ahead with Mark at the helm. Welcome e: [email protected] That improvement is due in large part to Mark, and to all you readers, thanks for CMP MEDIA MANAGEMENT President & CEO Gary Marshall the feedback and contributions of people the memories. Corporate President/COO John Russell in the industry like yourself. CFO John Day There are so many people who have Group President, Business Technology Group Adam Marder Group President, Specialized Technology Group Regina Ridley helped shape the magazine into what it is Group President, Channel Group Pam Watkins today, and I’d like to thank all of them by Group President, Electronics Group Steve Weitzner name. But I’d easily burn the rest of my Senior Vice President, Human Resources Leah Landro Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing Bill Howard word count on this column trying to do Let us know what you think. Send Senior Vice President, Business Development Vittoria Borazio so. So I’ve narrowed it down to two e-mail to [email protected], or write General Counsel Sandra L. Grayson C Vice President, Creative Technologies Johanna Kleppe developers who have been extremely sup- to Game Developer, 600 Harrison St., portive from the beginning of my time on San Francisco, CA 94107
www.gdmag.com WWW.CMPGAME.COM FRONT LINE TOOLS ZWHAT’S NEW IN THE WORLD OF GAME DEVELOPMENT | daniel huebner
NEW TEXTURING ARSENAL FOR DEEP PAINTERS ELSA DEBUTS GLORIA III
ight Hemisphere is shipping LSA is releasing the newest member of R Texture Weapons, an add-on E its Gloria line of workstation graphics for its Deep Paint 3D texturing and cards, the ELSA Gloria III. Based on painting program. Texture Nvidia’s new Quadro 2 Pro, Gloria III Weapons is designed to extend offers nearly twice the processing power of Deep Paint 3D with enhanced the Quadro-based Gloria II. The new Gloria painting and mapping functionality, pushes up to 31 million triangles through its and to let users create textures with transform and lighting engine and fills tex- minimal distortion. Texture tures at a rate of one gigapixel per second. Weapons includes automatic and Its four pixel pipelines each handle seven manual UV editing tools as well as operations with two textures per pixel, per Projection Paint, a feature that pipeline, per clock. With 64MB of DDR allows users to paint from any posi- frame buffer memory and a 350MHz tion within a 3D space with brush and RAMDAC, the Gloria texture size unaffected by UV-coordinate variations. Texture Weapons is III will support up to available now, and is priced at $495 for Windows 98 and NT. 50-inch CRT moni- tors and 21-inch Texture Weapons | Right Hemisphere | www.righthemisphere.com DVI flat-screen monitors with reso- lutions as high as SONY UNVEILS PLAYSTATION 2–BASED 2048×1536 at RENDERING SYSTEM 85Hz in true color.
ony Computer Entertainment has rolled its Gloria III | ELSA | www.elsa.com S Playstation 2 development research into a new rendering system. The new machine, called the GS 3D STUDIO gMAX Cube, boasts 16 parallel graphics units, each one composed of the PS2’s Emotion Engine CPU and an enhanced iscreet is extending its 3D Studio Graphics Synthesizer GPU bumped up to 32MB of VRAM D Max tools with an authoring tool from the PS2’s 4MB. Sony envisions a truly interactive cine- available to game players at no charge. 3D ma experience, but concedes they are unsure of exactly what Studio gMax, a professional and consumer might be created with the GS Cube. Sony hasn’t set a date content creation platform based on the for release or any pricing strategy, but could have GS Cubes ready for commercial use next 3D Studio Max release, is aimed at by the end of the year. developers who plan to release custom level-editing tools with game titles next GS Cube | Sony Computer Entertainment | www.sony.com year. Licensed game development teams NEW MAX PLUG-IN GOES FROM RAGS TO STITCHES
igimation has a new plug-in for 3D also identify surrounding objects in a scene D Studio Max to act as collision will be able to use and extend gMax as a called Stitch, which objects, and can add game level-building tool for internal pro- aims to deliver a real- 3D Studio Max duction of a specific project, and then istic cloth simulation standard Wind and release those customizations as a Game complete with wind, Gravity space warps Pack that users can plug into a free, down- gravity, and colli- to the simulation for loadable gMax editor from Discreet. The sions. Stitch works as added realism. Stitch new product will be compile-compatible a modifier in Max, comes with a library with the next major release of 3D Studio allowing users to of preset cloth types Max, and Discreet plans to have the no- select an object and and generic patterns, charge download of 3D Studio gMax apply the Stitch mod- and costs $695 per available to consumers when the first set ifier to transform an license. of supported Game Packs are released. object into cloth with all of its associated properties. Users can Stitch | Digimation | www.digimation.com 3D Studio gMax | Discreet | www.discreet.com
www.gdmag.com 7 INDUSTRY WATCH JTHE BUZZ ABOUT THE GAME BIZ | daniel huebner
Sony prepares for U.S., European PS2 process of reworking its product line in an launches. Sony Computer Entertainment effort to return to profitability. president Ken Kutaragi announced that 3 million Playstation 2s have shipped in Too Grizzly for B.C. Authorities in British Japan as of August 1, less than five Columbia have given Raven’s SOLDIER OF months after its March 4 launch. By com- FORTUNE the equivalent of an X rating. The parison, the original Playstation took 19 game is the first in Canada to be classified months to achieve the same feat, having as an adult movie, making it illegal to sell moved more than 77 million units world- the title to anyone under 18. The classifica- wide to date. Several leading U.S. retailers tion, which carries penalties of up to six have halted or scaled back preorders for months in jail and a fine, came after a par- the new console, anticipating that supply SOLDIER OF FORTUNE: too gory for some Canadians. ent complained about the game’s violent will not be able to match demand at the content. SOLDIER OF FORTUNE publisher October 26 launch. Some of the retailers which has already been released in Japan. Activision announced that it will appeal the are still taking preorders through their The company took another big step in decision, and the game’s Canadian distribu- online stores, while others have eliminated the development of the Xbox with the tor, Beamscope Canada, has also filed a guarantees that preordered consoles will be shipment of the first Xbox development similar appeal. Both companies contend shipped on the launch date. kits. The company is refraining from call- that the B.C. Film Commission doesn’t have European players, meanwhile, will have ing the kits SDKs, preferring the more the jurisdiction to rate and classify games. their patience tested by a delay. The Play- clever name “XDK.” The company is The action has led the province to develop station 2 will arrive in 17 European coun- expecting to ship more than 1,000 kits to its own mandatory game ratings scheme, tries November 24. That date is nearly a some 100 development houses in prepara- similar to that used to rate movie content. month after the U.S. launch on October 26, tion for the console’s launch. The XDK is and even later than the previously expected being rolled out in three phases, starting Take-Two grabs Pop Top. Take-Two release date of November 17. Sony Com- with an upgradeable PC-based system and Interactive is buying Pop Top Software, puter Entertainment said the first wave of finishing with a customized console unit best known for developing last year’s hit Playstation 2s shipped to Europe will still delivered in the first part of 2001. The kits RAILROAD TYCOON 2. In addition, the sale out-pace the 600,000 units it shipped in the currently shipping provide developers with includes a provision to keep Pop Top presi- first three months of the original Play- early graphics hardware, a beta version of dent Phil Steinmeyer with the company in station’s European launch. Sony has also set DirectX 8, and off-the-shelf game pads to his current capacity for at least four more its PS2 pricing for Europe: 299 pounds simulate Xbox functionality. years. The terms of the sale have not been ($447) in the U.K., 2,990 francs ($413) in disclosed. Pop Top is currently working on France, and 869 marks ($403) in Germany. Interplay stays listed. Interplay will TROPICO, a 3D strategy game set for continue to trade its stock on the NAS- release in 2001, and will remain in its St. Microsoft flexes marketing muscles. DAQ’s National Market. The company Louis headquarters. q Microsoft plans to spend a cool half-billion had faced losing its National Market list- dollars on marketing its Xbox in the first ing because of its failure to meet all of 18 months of its debut, making it the the market’s listing requirements, but an UPCOMINGEVENTS biggest product launch ever for Microsoft. appeal to the Listing Qualifications Panel The plan at this point appears aimed pri- came down in Interplay’s favor. The panel CALENDAR marily at unseating the prominence of decided that Interplay has demonstrated Playstation 2, which will have been on the compliance with NASDAQ’s net tangible SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT EAST market about a year before Xbox launches assets criterion and may keep its listing as WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER in fall 2001, and staving off any threat long as the company’s assets do not fall Washington, D.C. from Nintendo’s next-generation console, below $8.3 million in its third quarter. October 29–November 2, 2000 which is expected to arrive in the U.S. at Interplay must also provide documenta- Cost: full conference starts at $1,695 around the same time as Xbox. A presenta- tion of compliance with NASDAQ’s vot- www.sdshow.com tion Microsoft gave to a meeting of finan- ing requirements. cial analysts was focused mainly on com- Another company facing delisting, COMDEX FALL parisons between Xbox and Playstation 2 Acclaim, lost it appeal to continue trading LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER, specifications and development environ- on the National Market, where it also failed SANDS EXPO &CONVENTION CENTER ments, leading some analysts to believe that to meet the exchange’s net tangible assets Las Vegas, Nev. Sony is the only competition Microsoft is listing criterion, and will begin trading on November 13–17, 2000 taking seriously. However, much less is NASDAQ’s Small Cap Market. Acclaim has Cost: variable known at this stage about Nintendo’s been hit hard in recent quarters by the con- www.key3media.com/comdex/fall2000 upcoming console than Playstation 2, sole transitions, and is currently in the
8 october 2000 | game developer PATTERNS GAME PROGRAMMING PATTERNS & IDIOMS | chris hecker & zachary booth simpson zwww.gamasutra.com/patterns Timestep Regulator a.k.a. Framerate Regulator, Real-Time Timestep, Fixed Timestep
Problem Issues One solution is to detect the emergence of the Evil Feedback Loop and abandon any games strive to achieve “real- ixed Timestep issues. If the actual absolute real time, stepping as far as possi- M time” behavior, meaning the game F machine running the game does not ble within the simulation time budget. appears to behave the same regardless of match the target machine speed, the game Timestep linearity. The relationship machine speed and computational load. will not have real-time behavior. Many PC between an algorithm’s run time and its The in-game speed of objects should not games exhibit a bias toward high-perform- step size can be constant, linear, or nonlin- be tied to the framerate; if an object is sup- ance machines for this reason. In extreme ear. For example, some simple AI algo- posed to be moving at five units per sec- cases, such as when a game developed for rithms do the same amount of work ond, it should move at five units per sec- a slow machine runs on a fast machine, a regardless of the step size. However, a colli- ond on all machines under all circum- framerate limiter may be employed to keep sion detection system that prevents objects stances, so all users experience the same the game from running too fast. from tunneling through one another will gameplay. Miscellaneous Variable Timestep issues. do more work the farther the objects move. Older games that violate this principle Initialization of the history is problematic, This relationship is important to under- often run too fast to be playable on new and it’s possible to overshoot the current stand in order to implement a Variable machines. Similarly, the gameplay on mod- real time due to spikes. There is debate Timestep that predicts frame times accu- ern games is sometimes too slow to work over whether games should simulate up to rately and avoids the Evil Feedback Loop. as intended on even slightly older the beginning of the frame, or to the exact Multiplayer synchronization. Keeping net- machines. A more subtle manifestation of moment the user will see the updated worked games synchronized is an issue this problem occurs when the gameplay image after rendering. with both solutions. This is a huge issue changes speed due to fluctuating in-game Evil Feedback Loop. This is the biggest and will be the topic of future patterns. Be processing overhead. danger for Variable Timestep algorithms. sure to submit your thoughts on this topic! Most advanced rendering, simulation, and Solutions AI algorithms use coherency — similarity Uses, Credits, and between frames — to improve perform- References ixed Timestep. If a suitable target ance; the less coherency, the longer the F machine speed and computational load algorithm takes to execute. For example, on Blow from Bolt Action Software can be determined a priori, and the fram- in a continuous level-of-detail terrain sys- J coined the term Evil Feedback Loop erate can be kept relatively constant, the tem that caches tessellations, the farther and used it in his Siggraph 2000 talk, but Timestep Regulator can be a simple con- the eye moves, the more work the algo- many developers have run up against the stant fixed timestep. Alternatively, a set of rithm must do to generate the new ground issue in many different games. Chris Heck- fixed timesteps can be used within precom- polygons. A Variable Timestep can turn er’s articles on www.d6.com/users/ puted zones or situations. this into a destructive positive feedback checker/dynamics.htm show some simple Variable Timestep. If the frame time loop: If a given frame takes a long time, Variable Timestep implementations. q varies unpredictably, a variable timestep the simulation will try to make up for lost can be used as the Timestep Regulator to time during the next frame and step for- We Want to Hear from You! keep the “game time” approximately syn- ward by a large amount. This large time- chronized with “real time.” The variable step causes objects to move farther than This column depends on your contributions! timestep is usually based on the previous usual, destroying coherence, and causing Send your patterns and idioms to us at frame’s time, or an average of a history of the coherence-sensitive algorithms to take [email protected]. To learn more about this frame times, to filter spikes in the frame- even longer to complete than the previous column and the Game Programming Pat- rate. More advanced implementations can frame. Once this loop begins, the frame terns Database, go to www.gamasutra.com/ keep track of different subsystem times to times increase until an equilibrium is patterns. If we publish your pattern in the predict future frame times more accurately reached where the timestep and the run column, we’ll give you recognition in print and help avoid the “Evil Feedback Loop” time match. This steady-state frame time is and $100! issue mentioned below. usually far too slow for interactive games.
10 october 2000 | game developer PRODUCT REVIEW XXTHE SKINNY ON NEW TOOLS Physics Engines Part Two: The Rest of the Story by jeff lander & chris hecker
ast month (“Physics Engines, environments, and so on? Is the collision Part 1: The Stress Tests,” Sep- detector full-featured? How many con- tember 2000), we put three straint types are there? How many types licensable rigid body physics of friction? We’re focusing on the rigid engines through their paces body dynamics features, not things like Lwith a series of stress tests specifically cloth, soft bodies, water, or domain-specif- designed to find stability problems. Math- ic subsystems such as cars and airplanes. Engine’s Dynamics Toolkit 2.0 and Colli- Documentation. Is the information sion Toolkit 1.0, the Havok GDK from included adequate and well presented? Havok, and Ipion’s Virtual Physics SDK all Does it address nonintuitive problems that made their way through the 12 tests with A car built by connecting rigid objects with arise? Does it discuss tuning tolerance varying levels of success. springs in Ipion’s Virtual Physics SDK. parameters in detail? Are there clear and This month, we are going to take a instructional sample programs included? broader look at each package. But first, tion algorithms in order for such imple- Ease of use. Are the libraries intuitive to you are probably asking yourself... mentations to be successful. However, we program with? also feel this level of knowledge is less Production. Does it include export and Should I License a than what’s required to implement a preview tools to simplify production and Physics Engine? physics simulator in the first place, so artist use? Can you save internal object licensing might be a good idea. You won’t representations on the disk so you don’t ame physics is a complex issue. We know exactly why things are breaking, but have to let the engine preprocess them G are not going to answer the question, you’ll be a year ahead of the guy down the every time you load? Does the library “Should I use rigid body physics in my street trying to implement his simulator include source code? Is it cross-platform? game?” That’s a decision you will have to from scratch. Integration. Is it easy to integrate into a make. However, if (or, we hope, when) you production? Is it modular, and are the decide to try physics in your game, should Criteria & Disclaimers modules well designed? Do the modules you build or buy? That too, is a complicat- work well together? ed question. ven after reading this review, anyone Input and feedback. Can the game inter- Rigid body dynamics is a relatively new E who is contemplating licensing a act with the objects effectively via forces technology for the game industry. It is physics engine should arrange for an eval- and impulses? Is useful information avail- mathematically intense and difficult to uation period to determine how it might fit able from the simulation, such as object implement. This would seem to make it per- into an individual project. With a high-risk speed, contact state, and so on? fect for licensing, because a third party has piece of core technology, there is no substi- Cost. What is the cost, both in licensing already done the hard part, and you can tute for firsthand experience. and support? just buy the technology from them. This is We reviewed each package as if we were Technical support. How well do the com- true to some extent, but it remains to be going to license the package and either panies respond to problems? seen how knowledgeable programmers and integrate it into an existing game or start a designers need to be about physics to use a new game with the engine. These are sub- What We’re Missing physics engine. As you saw last month, tly different goals, and we’ll point out physics is not a technology you can put in areas where this distinction is important he most glaringly omitted criteria are your game and have it work perfectly every later on. For this review, we looked at the T stability and performance. We covered time. Current simulators are quite sensitive following factors: stability last month with the stress tests, to initial parameters and tolerances, and Feature set. What are the elements of and as we said in that article, we cannot require hand-holding and tuning. each system? Can it be used to simulate a cover all cases. You have to test situations We feel that developers using physics great variety of things, including machines, specific to your game design. simulators to make games in the near future will need to know a fair amount THE AUTHORS | Jeff Lander ([email protected]) is the Graphic Content columnist for about physics and the underlying simula- Game Developer. Chris Hecker ([email protected]) is Game Developer’s editor-at-large.
13 XPRODUCT REVIEW
Performance is another complicated and ple framework, so it’s hard to tell how to including applying impulses to objects and hard-to-review feature. All three engines use the engine on its own. attaching actuators and controllers (like seem fast in the demos, but we implore Ease of use. The library has been engi- springs, magnets, and user-defined impuls- you to try them on your representative neered as a class hierarchy. Objects need to es). Ipion includes a class of “listeners” data sets before making a judgment. be allocated and owned by the system. that allow the game to get information Related to performance are memory and Sometimes the public sections of classes about objects and collisions in the system. resource usage. Does one engine allocate have many “comment enforced” rules. We With these you can determine if objects are 100MB under certain special circum- could not find a clear way to control the actively being simulated or are “asleep.” stances? We don’t know. simulator step-size. No access is provided The collision events are very important for We haven’t covered track records or to the low-level dynamics algorithms, such adding things like sound effects to a game. postmortems. To our knowledge, no hit as the contact solver. These listeners look very useful, though games have shipped with any of these Production. Ipion doesn’t include much they are not terribly well documented. SDKs. We’ve talked to a few developers in the way of production tools. There are Cost. The base price for the Ipion SDK is using the engines, but a thorough set of no exporters for standard 3D modeling $50,000 to $60,000 for a single title. interviews and developer feedback would packages, nor any importers for generic Royalty-based fees can be negotiated on an be very interesting and useful. 3D model files. QUAKE 2 .BSP files are sup- individual basis. Before we get into the reviews, we must ported with sample code. Most of the Technical support. Technical support for note that Ipion was recently purchased by example programs generate models using the Ipion system is now handled by Havok, and the Virtual Physics SDK will custom code. Users would need to create Havok. They have a web-based forum for eventually be integrated into the Havok tools in order to let artists try out their answering developer questions as well as GDK. For the time being, we will treat models easily. Ipion does provide a tool for telephone and e-mail support. It is not yet them as separate products and consider creating a custom convex hull for compli- clear how support will be handled between them separately here. The packages are cated concave models; however, this tool the Havok and Ipion packages. presented in no particular order. doesn’t load any standard file formats, either. There is an example of saving inter- MathEngine’s Dynamics Ipion’s Virtual nal collision information to disk, but it is Toolkit 2.0 and Collision Physics SDK not documented and doesn’t appear to be cross-platform-safe or version-controlled. Toolkit 1.0 eatures. Ipion’s collision detection sys- The engine supports PC and Playstation 2. eatures. The MathEngine system is F tem has all the necessary features, Ipion has licensed the complete source F composed of two pieces intended to including broad and narrow phase algo- code to game developers in the past, work together. The Dynamics Toolkit sim- rithms, and functions and utilities for gener- although it’s not clear if the Havok acqui- ulates rigid bodies, constraints, and con- ating collision volumes from meshes. You sition will affect this stance. tacts. A number of constraints and contact can apply forces to the objects through Integration. As mentioned above, the friction types are included, and access to actuators, such as motors, springs, and even class hierarchy might make integration the dynamic simulator is provided at a a simple buoyancy simulation. The system with an existing architecture more difficult number of levels. The Collision Toolkit supports a constraint system where you can than with a more procedural API. The handles collision detection between specify the degrees of freedom between the classes are well organized and mostly docu- objects, but it is very basic. It only sup- constrained objects or use built-in joints, mented. The libraries such as hinge or ball-and-socket. are composed of two Documentation. The manual is a relative- pieces, the physics ly scant 76-page Microsoft Word document. engine and the sur- It covers the main features, but it does not face builder, which go into great depth, making thorough allows users to create examination of the samples and header files optimized convex imperative. It would have been very helpful hulls from polygon to have all of the classes fully explained and meshes at run time. If an overall description of the architecture. you don’t need the Tuning parameters are hardly documented. surface builder func- The examples are numerous, providing a tion, you can choose demonstration of the complete functionality not to include it. of the system, as well as creating a starting Input and feed- point for most situations one would typical- back. The engine has ly encounter in the development of a game. a few different ways The example code comments are a little of physically affect- sparse. All of the examples are in an exam- ing the simulation, Collision detection with random polygons in Ipion’s Virtual Physics SDK.
14 october 2000 | game developer XPRODUCT REVIEW
mented contact- telephone is very good, although we did resolver function not test this support anonymously. directly. This layered approach is the right Havok GDK 1.2 way to design a physics engine API eatures. Havok provides an underlying for licensing, in our F rigid body simulator and a toolkit for opinion. However, higher-level access layered on top. Havok’s MathEngine has not constraint system is weak compared to the provided a complete other libraries, supporting only spherical interface between the joints and point-to-path. The collision sub- systems, so you have system is full-featured, supporting simple to do extra work to collision volumes as well as convex hulls get them to cooper- and true concave objects. A number of ate. The system has contact-solver friction types are included. no matrix helper In addition to basic rigid body dynamics, functions. Simulation the system simulates soft body objects A dynamically controlled object in a scene in MathEngine. memory allocation is (such as blobs and cloth) and particles, as error-prone. well as a simple fluid model; however, we ports a small set of collision primitives Production. Similar to the Ipion library, didn’t test these features and can’t vouch (sphere, box, plane, and cylinder) and their the MathEngine system is designed mainly for their completeness. unions. The API is modular (more on this for coders. Any tools needed for importing Documentation. Havok provides a nice below), so adding a custom collision detec- models or allowing artists to preview the set of documentation along with updates tor is possible, but it would be a lot of system will need to be created. The Colli- on Havok’s web site. While not as thor- work — work you were hoping to save by sion Toolkit can use Renderware models, licensing a physics engine. but no other formats. There appears to be OTHER CHOICES Documentation. MathEngine’s documen- no way to write internal preprocessed data tation is the best of the three packages. to the disk. The engine supports the PC The manual is very thorough with both a and Playstation 2 platforms. MathEngine There are other options beyond the rigid user’s guide and complete reference to all does not generally license complete source body dynamics simulators we discussed the classes in the architecture. There is code, but said they would discuss it on a here. Several middleware providers have even a glossy foldout that shows frequent- case-by-case basis. created tools to aid the development of ly used information. The code is well Integration. The layered approach to the physical simulations. Here are a couple organized and documented. There is a API makes integration very easy, probably we haven’t looked at closely, so “caveat small amount of inconsistency in the docu- much easier than the other two engines. If programmer.” mentation; for example, it uses the terms your program already handles collision The ReelMotion Animation Tool alive/awake and dead/asleep interchange- detection, you can easily use only the (www.reelmotion.com)is a simulator for ably. The friction parameters are nonintu- dynamics system or vice versa. Math- generating animation data for a variety of itive and nonphysical. Some guidelines and Engine provides most of the source code to vehicles such as cars, helicopters, air- a bit more documentation on setting them the abstraction layer that communicates planes, and motorcycles. It uses dynamic would have helped. The tolerance values with the dynamics and constraint solver. simulation and sophisticated physical used by the simulator are documented, and Input and feedback. There are simple models for the objects to generate the some effort is made to describe them. APIs for exerting torques and forces on motion data. Additionally, there is a section on optimiz- bodies, but the programmer must apply Hypermatter from Second Nature ing and constructing good simulations. joint forces and torques manually. Some of (www.hypermatter.net) provides a real- While easy to read and understand, the the toolkits and subsystems have callback time system for animating soft body demonstration programs were too basic. functions for feedback, while others have objects. The stiffness of the object can be Ease of use. The system is a class hierar- “get” functions; most of the rest have controlled so the objects can vary from chy in structure, but the access to the enough sample code included that direct rigid to very soft while still preserving the library is through fairly lightweight stan- access of the data structures is possible. volume of the original object. The system dard C functions and data structures. The Cost. MathEngine has two pricing plans, contains a number of features common API is clean and relatively well designed. either a single fee of $50,000 per project, to a rigid body simulator, such as con- The dynamics and the collision toolkits are or $5,000 plus royalty of 50 cents per unit. straints. The toolkit is currently available completely modularized and loosely cou- Technical support. The MathEngine web for the PC, and a Playstation 2 version is pled, so a developer could easily use either site has a developers’ forum for discussing in development. the toolkit by itself, or call the well-docu- the toolkits. Support over both e-mail and
16 october 2000 | game developer XPRODUCT REVIEW
tion is through “action” code examples are plentiful and very useful. classes that are called The availability of a 3D Studio Max tool back during integration, for artists is a great aid to production. If and through a complete you need a one-stop, do-everything physics set of access functions engine, this is the one for you. The only on the bodies. Because weak points are its constraints (admittedly, the constraint system a very large weak point, especially if you’re only supports one type interested in simulating articulated figures), of constraint, there are library modularity, and occasional collision no constraint actuator resolution issues. functions. The Havok The MathEngine Dynamics Toolkit 2.0 GDK provides a com- and Collision Toolkit 1.0 is a very well plete set of event call- designed SDK. The documentation is the backs and access func- best of the three, and technical support is tions to determine what outstanding. The well-documented archi- Dynamically controlled objects in a scene in Havok. is happening inside the tecture makes the engine easy to integrate simulator. with existing game projects. Programmers ough as MathEngine’s documentation, the Cost. The Havok 3D Studio Max plug-in with knowledge of dynamic simulators documents were useful. There were a few is $495 per seat with multi-seat discounts should be able to dig right down into the minor consistency problems with function available. The Havok GDK is available for core and control the simulation. The names and terms. There is a great variety $65,000 to $75,000 per title without royal- dynamic simulator is very good, and the of well-documented examples of various ties. Royalty pricing and other pricing rigid-constraint support is the best of the levels of complexity. The underlying simu- options are available on an individual basis. three systems we looked at. However, the lator API is not as well documented. Technical support. Like MathEngine, the lack of advanced collision detection meth- Ease of use. The Havok GDK toolkit is Havok web site has a developers’ forum ods might be a showstopper of a problem. very easy to use, with the code organized in for discussion of the toolkits. Technical (We must note here that as we went to an easy to understand class hierarchy. The support was very good, but again, it was press, we learned that a new beta version system provides helper utilities for common not attained anonymously. of the MathEngine Toolkit was released math functions. The underlying simulation that includes collisions with convex objects API seems slightly more difficult to use and Conclusions among other new features. We didn’t have not quite as completely exposed as Math- time to check this out thoroughly, but Engine’s, but is more complete because of ll three of these packages performed because all of these packages are constant- the advanced collision detector. A better than we expected. They are ly evolving, we again encourage you to do Production. Because the system provides clearly up to the task of handling most your homework when weighing your a plug-in for 3D Studio Max, artists can rigid body simulation needs. But which options.) Finally, the simplicity of the easily start using it. They can create mod- one is right for you? We arrived at some demos may also make it tough to find spe- els with boundary volumes and run them general conclusions. cific examples to build on. in the simulation without programmer While its collision detection system is As we’ve said many times, you must involvement. Another nice feature allows very fast and flexible, the Ipion Virtual review the packages for your specific needs you to dump the state of the objects in the Physics SDK has some problems. It lacks before making a decision. Physics is not simulation at any point to a file to reload adequate documentation, and the code mature enough to buy a package based later or examine for debugging purposes. architecture may make integration with simply on a recommendation. All three When trying to debug a physics-heavy your game application more difficult. It is a packages are available for evaluation, and game, features like this are very useful. product at the end of its lifetime, and this is really the only way to make sure The library is available for the PC, Macin- unless your needs are very near-term and it you get the package that is right for you tosh, and Playstation 2 platforms. Havok is a perfect fit for your code structure, we and your project. q does not license the engine source code, would hesitate to recommend it. We do though they will discuss full source-level hope that Havok can integrate many of FOR MORE INFORMATION needs individually. Ipion’s good features into their architecture. Integration. Havok breaks the package The Havok GDK is the most full-fea- Havok GDK and Ipion’s Virtual Physics SDK up into several libraries. While it may be tured physics engine available. The system www.havok.com possible to leave out unused portions, they handles collision detection of arbitrary are very tightly integrated. This makes geometries and has models for soft bodies, MathEngine’s Dynamics Toolkit 2.0 programming easier at the expense of particle systems, and basic fluid dynamics. and Collision Toolkit 1.0 modularity. The documentation is fairly good (though www.mathengine.com Input and feedback. Input to the simula- we hope it continues to improve), and the
18 october 2000 | game developer jeff lander GRAPHIC CONTENT
That’s a Wrap Texture Mapping Methods
any artists and pro- a map, you could not simply draw a This leads to quite a bit of distortion near grammers struggle with straight line between the ports and follow the poles as well. Many people assume that the issue of applying a that course. Instead, you had to adjust Greenland is the size of South America flat texture to 3D your heading along the way to compensate from looking at maps, when it is actually objects. There are many for the earth’s curvature. Gerhard, who, in quite a bit smaller. Mchoices to make. The artist must decide the educated fashion of the day, Latinized Despite its limitations, the Mercator which type of mapping will provide the his name to Gerardus Mercator (Kremer is projection remains an incredible achieve- an old German word meaning “mer- ment, and is still in common use today. chant”), studied the problem of map navi- Unfortunately, like many great thinkers of gation. Sailors at the time were able to his day, as a reward for his brilliance and guide their boats at a constant heading his Protestant beliefs, Mercator became a fairly easily; therefore, they needed a map guest of the Inquisition for almost a year. where a straight line defined a constant heading. The concept of lines of longitude Mapping and Me and latitude were well understood by this time. Mercator created a map where both ortunately, mapping today doesn’t usu- the lines of latitude and longitude were F ally mean actual torture, but it is still parallel, straight lines. This map projection quite a pain. In real-time 3D art, we are is now known as the Mercator projection, usually concerned with the opposite prob- or more formally, a lem that Mercator had — given a 2D map, cylindrical, ortho- we would like to apply it to a 3D object. morphic, conformal The goals are pretty much the same, projection. While we though: make the map as accurate and free can easily create this of distortion as possible. Artists continually projection with a struggle with the annoying artifacts that computer, Mercator various mapping methods create. created this map with Last month, I discussed a 3D paint appli- just a compass and cation (“Art and Intelligence: 3D Painting,” protractor. September 2000). To have a canvas to This projection paint on, I needed a texture applied to the made traveling easier object with texture coordinates at each ver- FIGURE 1. The earth (top) and its Mercator projection (bottom). for sailors, but it had tex. At the time, I relied on objects that a few drawbacks. already had mapping coordinates from a most complete coverage with the least dis- Although sailors could now travel between 3D modeling package. Nevertheless, many tortion. Aligning or attempting to hide the two destinations on a constant course, times I want to start with an object that texture seam is also a pretty complicated because of the curvature of the earth this has never had a texture applied and start task. It can often be torture. However, was not always the shortest distance painting on it. That means I need to gener- mapping is not a new problem. between two points. To this day, measuring ate the texture-map coordinates myself. In the 16th century, a German cartogra- distance on a Mercator map is not entirely This is where I turn back to mapping pro- pher named Gerhard Kremer was worried accurate. You may have noticed this if you jections. This month, I’m going to explain about spherical mapping. His goal was to have ever traveled to Europe over the polar some basic texture projection concepts and unwrap the globe onto a 2D map for use route — on the map it looks like you are build up a toolkit of texturing tools that by ocean navigators. Up to that time, maps not traveling the shortest route. Also, in will come in handy later. of the world did not take into account the order to keep the longitudinal lines from Professional 3D modeling packages curvature of the earth. In order to navigate getting closer at the poles, the scale must be allow you to project a texture map on a ship from one port to another using such increased with distance from the equator. objects through a number of algorithmic
JEFF LANDER | When not circumnavigating the globe with a well-used 16th century map, Jeff can be found sitting in his comfy chair mak- ing other heretical plans at Darwin 3D. Poke him with the corner of a soft pillow at [email protected].
www.gdmag.com 21 GRAPHIC CONTENT
P
φ θ
FIGURE 2. Spherical mapping. FIGURE 3. A problem at the seam. FIGURE 4. The fixed seam. methods. The goal of this “projection” it is of unit magnitude. The Y component I don’t know how other 3D packages function is to map a 3D coordinate (x,y,z) of this vector is equal to sin(φ). Taking the handle this problem, but I just hack it by onto a 2D texture map coordinate (u,v). arcsin and scaling it so that the value going back through the model, checking The function takes the form: varies from 0 to 1 gives me the V coordi- whether any polygon’s UV interval is nate. Listing 1 contains the complete code greater then 0.9. If so, I add 1.0 to the (u,v) = F(x,y,z) for the spherical projection. lower UV value. This fixes the problem, as In a 3D modeling package, you will typi- There are problems with the spherical you see in Figure 4. Obviously, if I apply cally see several types of mapping func- projection. Like the Mercator projection, the spherical mapping to an object that tions. The most common are planar, cylin- there are singularities at the North and should have polygons spanning a large UV drical, and spherical. Because the Mercator South Poles. This is the main issue with interval, such as a box, this hack would projection is a form of inverse spherical mapping a rectangular texture onto a be bad. I make this seam hack optional, mapping, I’ll start with that. sphere. However, for generally round so it shouldn’t be a problem. objects, such as a basketball or even a Spherical Texture character’s head, this projection works Show Me Your Can Mapping pretty well. There is a second problem with the pro- he spherical projection is not right for iven a 3D polygonal object, I want to jection. At the horizontal seam where the T all objects. For example, if you were G create the texture mapping function, left edge of the texture meets the right, I going to texture-map a can of Jolt cola or F. The most obvious method would be to have a problem, as you can see in Figure 3. a chess piece, the spherical projection convert each x,y,z vertex to spherical coor- It may be hard to see, but in the little would not look correct. Objects like this dinates — azimuth and elevation or lati- space shown, the entire texture map is more closely resemble a cylinder, so that is tude and longitude — centered at the ori- stretched across a single polygon. This the type of mapping I want to use. gin. This situation is shown in Figure 2. happens because near I’m going to start by converting the 3D the seam, the vertex vertex, P, to the spherical coordinates calculations may gen- (θ,φ). I can get the value for θ with some erate a value for U simple trigonometry. near 1.0, say 0.9. x The next vertex in tan()θ = the polygon may z wrap to the begin- − x θ = tan 1 ning again with a z value of 0.0. The The value for θ will vary from 0 to 2π, but hardware has no way for the texture map I need it in the interval of knowing that this of 0 to 1. Dividing the θ value by 2π will polygon is on the do the job nicely. seam and would To get the value for the φ, I can create a draw the texture vector from the point on the model to the interval from 0.9 to origin. That is easy because it is just the 0.0 instead of the true point itself. I then normalize that vector so range of 0.9 to 1.0. FIGURE 5. The chess piece with a sphere and cylinder map.
22 october 2000 | game developer GRAPHIC CONTENT
projected directly along one of the main world axes. This is the LISTING 1. Spherical projection code. easiest case of all to program. To project along an axis, the UV coordinates map directly to the two remaining axes’ coordinates. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// For example, if you want to project the texture along the Z axis, // Function: SphereMapModel the X coordinate of each vertex becomes the U texture coordi- // Purpose: Calculate UV coordinates for model using spherical nate and the Y vertex coordinate becomes the V texture coordi- // projection nate. Again, some scaling and offsets can be used to center and // Arguments: Pointer to the model place the texture. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The main drawback to the planar projection is that the texture GLvoid COGLView::SphereMapModel(t_Visual *visual) coordinates for any faces parallel to the projection axis are ill { defined. While the projection appears accurate looking down the /// Local Variables ////////////////////////////////////////////// projection axis, the result looks kind of stretched on the sides, as int loop,loop2; you can see in Figure 6. The projection also goes completely tVector vect; through the object like an X-ray, so the texture can be seen on the t_faceIndex *face; back of the object as a mirror image. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// To combat this problem, many commercial modeling packages if (visual->vertex != NULL) allow the user to specify multiple planar projections either as mul- { tiple textures or as a single texture arranged like an unfolded face = visual->index; cardboard box. Often this form of projection is called “box” or // Loop through faces “cubic” mapping, where six planar projections determine each for (loop = 0; loop < visual->faceCnt; loop++,face++) face of a cube surrounding the object. I am unsure how other { modeling packages implement this feature, but my implementa- // Loop through face vertices tion is very simple. I use the face normal to determine which side for (loop2 = 0; loop2 < 3; loop2++) of the cube will be projected on the face. This face is then used { with the standard planar mapping algorithm. // Calculate the U coordinate visual->texture[face->t[loop2]].u = Extra Features atan2(visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].x, visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].z)/PI_TIMES_TWO; he scaling and offset values used in the cylindrical and planar // Calculate the V coordinate T projections can be calculated automatically based on the MAKEVECTOR(vect,visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].x, bounding-box size of the object. This simplifies things, but I still visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].y, like having the manual scale and offset controls to adjust the visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].z); mapping. NormalizeVector(&vect); In all of the projections I have discussed so far, the algorithms // Take the Arcsin of Y and scale to 0-1 range are aligned along one of the object’s root axes. This is not a limi- visual->texture[face->t[loop2]].v = asin(vect.y)/M_PI + 0.5; tation of any texture projection; it just makes the example a lot } simpler. I could easily change the algorithm to allow arbitrary ori- } entation of the projection. } Editing the data is another key idea to keep in mind. These algo- } rithmic techniques generate some UV coordinates that I can The U coordinate for a cylindrical map is handled in exactly the use to draw my tex- same way as the spherical map. However, the V coordinate is dif- ture-mapped objects. ferent. In fact, it’s a bit easier, because I can set the V coordinate The coordinates may directly from the vertex’s Y coordinate. I will need to scale the Y not be good ones or value and offset it a bit to get it centered. You can see a chess piece exactly what you had with both a spherical projection and a cylindrical projection in in mind, but they are Figure 5. The second projection clearly has much less distortion on a good starting point. objects like the chess piece. It’s certainly easier to use a base projection The Plane Truth than to go through and set each UV or many objects, neither the spherical nor the cylindrical pro- coordinate manually. F jections will work. In many of these cases, though, a simple Many times when I planar projection will do. In a planar projection, the texture is use the planar projec- FIGURE 6. Planar projection with stretched sides.
24 october 2000 | game developer GRAPHIC CONTENT
things up a bit. The first is a new texture projection mode in LISTING 2. Cylindrical projection code. which the software automatically determines the optimal number of planar projection maps from a given maximum needed to tex- //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ture the objects with the minimum distortion. The projected coor- // Function: CylinderMapModel dinates are then assembled together on a single texture map ready // Purpose: Calculate UV coordinates for model using cylindrical for painting. // projection A second new feature is designed to reduce distortion in the // Arguments: Pointer to the model mapping. The UV coordinates generated by these algorithms do //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// not consider the surface area of the projected polygons. For large GLvoid COGLView:: CylinderMapModel(t_Visual *visual, float scale, polygons, you can often allocate a very small portion of the texture float offset) map. Conversely, very small polygons can end up with dispropor- { tionately large texture space. This is similar to the distortion of /// Local Variables ////////////////////////////////////////////// Greenland we saw earlier in the Mercator projection. To combat int loop,loop2; this problem, Maya uses a system called “relaxation” that attempts tVector vect; to optimize the texture-map area each polygon uses so that it is t_faceIndex *face; more even. I haven’t had a chance to play with this much, but it ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// looked very useful. I’m sure there are features or plug-ins for the if (visual->vertex != NULL) other professional modeling packages that give you the same func- { tionality. However, I don’t know of any offhand. face = visual->index; Similarly, Dan Piponi and George Borshukov of Manex Enter- // Loop through faces tainment showed a technique at Siggraph using Maya’s dynamics for (loop = 0; loop < visual->faceCnt; loop++,face++) simulation system to dissect and stretch a 3D object so it is com- { pletely flattened and ready for a simple planar projection. Springs at // Loop through face vertices the polygon edges forced the system to maintain much of the shape for (loop2 = 0; loop2 < 3; loop2++) and surface area of the polygons. That system should be very easy { to implement using the particle dynamic methods I’ve described in // Calculate the U coordinate previous columns, but I will leave that up to an industrious reader. visual->texture[face->t[loop2]].u = This month you can play with the new, enhanced 3D painting atan2(visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].x, application. This program allows you to load an object and apply visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].z)/PI_TIMES_TWO; a texture map with the texture projections described. You can // Calculate the V coordinate then paint away directly on the object and save the texture out as visual->texture[face->t[loop2]].v = a .TGA file. Get the program and source code from the Game (visual->vertex[face->v[loop2]].y)*scale + 0.5f + offset; Developer web site at www.gdmag.com. q } } } Discuss this article in Gamasutra’s Connection! } www.gamasutra.com/discuss/gdmag tion, for example, UV coordinates for adjacent polygons can over- FOR MORE INFORMATION lap. That’s pretty bad when I’m using the texture for a 3D paint system. When this happens and you paint on a polygon that over- PUBLICATIONS laps, the paint appears in multiple places on the object — not what Wilford, John. “Revolutions in Mapping,” National Geographic (Vol. 193, you really want. One solution is to allow the user to manipulate No. 2): Feb. 1998. pp. 6–39. manually the UV coordinates that were generated by the algo- Piponi, Dan, and George Borshukov. “Seamless Texture Mapping of rithm. A user interface that allows you to drag UV coordinates Subdivision Surfaces by Model Pelting and Texture Blending.” around on the texture, as well as cut, copy, and paste those coordi- Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2000. pp. 471–477. nates, is very handy. However, an automatic way to make sure the Ebert, David, and others. Texturing and Modeling: A Procedural coordinates do not overlap would be very useful. Approach, 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998. pp. 119–121. Relax, Let Us Do the Work for You WEB SITES Earth Mercator projection from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, everal advanced modeling packages have begun to address Scientific Visualization Studio S some of the problems of conventional texture mapping. At http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagewall/hologlobe/earth_noclouds.html Siggraph this year, I took a look at Maya 3.0 from Alias|Wave- Alias|Wavefront’s Maya 3.0 front. In addition to all the basic texture projection options that I www.aliaswavefront.com have described here, they have added a few new features to speed
26 october 2000 | game developer maarten kraaijvanger ARTIST’S VIEW
The Evolution of 3D Game Models Part 1
ight years ago, just after I When you stop and think about how had graduated from college, I far game visuals have come in the past happened to walk into a ten years, it is absolutely amazing. (Fig- store that sold computer ures 1 and 2 show a side-by-side compari- games. Even though I didn’t son.) Since I started working in the indus- ownE a computer, one of the games on the try, games have evolved from 2D sprites shelf caught my attention. It was WOLFEN- in a flat world with 256 colors to 3D STEIN 3D: SPEAR OF DESTINY by id Soft- worlds beautifully rendered in millions of ware. I had never heard of it, but the colors. Naturally, within this time frame graphics on the back of the box looked so all the ways in which art content is creat- cool that I ended up buying the game. I ed for games has changed as well. asked my brother if I could come by his Textures that used to be created by push- work on a weekend and play it. He ing pixels one by one are now “painted” agreed, and I ended up playing the entire in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet at game on a Saturday afternoon. When I high resolutions. The editing packages was done, my ears were red with excite- used to design the world were simple 2D FIGURE 3. Lara Croft and her early contempo- ment and I was hooked. editors created specifically for one game, raries redefined how characters looked and whereas today 3D level editors such as interacted with 3D environments. QERadiant for QUAKE 3 are becoming more like professional modeling pack- only has to understand the current meth- ages. The characters inhabiting our game ods used to create models, but also be worlds are also becoming more sophisti- visionary in planning for the next genera- cated. From the early character sprites in tion of games. WOLFENSTEIN 3D and their few frames of animation, to today’s characters with ani- The First Characters mations ranging from motion capture to With a Backbone meticulously keyframed sequences, game characters are increasing in complexity ith the advent of the Playstation with stunning speed. W and Nintendo 64 consoles and 3D With these advances the average length graphics cards for PCs, it became clear of a game’s development has been increas- that 3D was the way of the future. Games ing steadily. What used to take a few became more immersive and characters months now takes more than two years. came alive with increased expression and With increased production time, it’s personality. Games such as TOMB RAIDER becoming harder to plan ahead and release and MARIO 64 introduced characters that a game with cutting-edge graphics that could interact with their environment like runs on a reasonable system specification. never before. Their characters had smooth To hit that visual sweet spot, an art team animations that oozed personality, as Lara needs to keep up with graphics trends, Croft demonstrates in Figure 3, helping to understand the increased sophistication establish them as true icons. Most impor- FIGURES 1 & 2. In just eight years, the increase with which models are built, and make the tantly, the introduction of 3D game char- of graphical sophistication in games has been necessary adjustments to ensure their game acters created a new level of immersion stunning. Top, 1992’s WOLFENSTEIN 3D; Bottom, will look good two or more years in the for players. 2000’s RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN. future. To accomplish this, an art team not The first 3D character skeletons all
MAARTEN KRAAIJVANGER | Maarten is the lead artist at Nihilistic Software. Prior to working on VAMPIRE:THE MASQUERADE — REDEMPTION, he was at Cyclone Studios where he worked on CAPTAIN QUAZAR, BATTLESPORT, and REQUIEM. He’s currently trying to set the target on the visual sweet spot for Nihilistic’s next game. Contact him at [email protected].
www.gdmag.com 29 ARTIST’S VIEW
that you couldn’t see fits. However, there were still limitations. into the parts. This To keep a character whole and make it could be a time-con- work with a skeleton, the character needed suming process, to be set up with clusters; in earlier meth- because all the joints ods of setting up 3D characters, the indi- had to be rotated to vidual polygon meshes were attached to their extremes to the joints. The next step in the evolution ensure that the of a model required a different type of geometry stayed attachment of the polygon mesh to the together. joints. A polygon mesh is made up of ver- Once the model tices, which can be grouped into clusters was carefully built attached to the joints; a cluster is a subset and attached to the of vertices that makes up the mesh shape. skeleton, it still had These groups of vertices then move one main limitation: according to the joint rotation, but the because the charac- entire mesh shape stays whole. With the ters were made up of introduction of clusters, a better simula- FIGURE 4. Adding lighting reveals the segments where different areas of many parts, when tion of skin became possible. the model’s geometry meet. you applied detailed The benefit of binding a model to a textures, the textures skeleton using clusters is that it gave the shared some of the same attributes. The broke up when the model started animat- artist the freedom to build the model as it characters were divided up into separate ing. The Lara Croft model avoided the should look. Once the model was com- parts to match the different joints in the texture problem by using mostly solid col- plete, the entire model mesh could be body; both Lara Croft and Mario were ors. It worked well for the game, because attached to a skeleton, and you didn’t have built in this manner. In Figure 4, the Lara was never that big on screen, and to worry about breaking it into separate model shown is composed of various looked great from the player’s point of pieces. In HALF-LIFE, the models looked pieces of geometry: rear end, thighs, lower view. The limitations of the models whole since they were made up of one legs, and feet (A shows the model in wire- became more apparent during in-game main mesh and no longer had lots of inter- frame, and B shows the flat-shaded cinematics, in which the camera is so close secting parts. Another benefit of a continu- model). Now look at the same geometry to the model that the player notices both ous mesh was that that the model could be with a texture map applied (C). Because it the lack of textures and the building textured more realistically, and the textures has flat lighting, the model comes out blocks that make up the model. A more would not break up when animated. The looking good. Much like when you play advanced technique was needed to make models for HALF-LIFE were able to look TOMB RAIDER in software without a 3D the models look realistic. convincing even when you walked right up accelerator, the model in C looks solid and to them and looked at them up close. has no apparent flaws. However, when Characters That Bend An additional benefit of cluster-binding dynamic lighting is added (D), the limita- a character model was the ability to open tions of the model become more apparent. he next step in the evolution of char- and close the mouth using the head mesh. Because of the segmented method in T acter models made it pos- which the model is created, the lighting on sible to do a better simulation the different parts highlight the areas of skin, even when the camera where the different pieces of geometry got close. For skin and cloth meet. Although this can be reduced with simulation to work, the model careful model design and construction, it had to stay whole rather than is almost impossible to create realistic skin be broken up into many parts. in places where joints come together, such By staying whole, the skin and as knees or elbows. The lighting will cloth looked and behaved invariably draw attention to imperfections more realistically. HALF-LIFE in the intersection of components. did a great job with this. It Another limitation of the early 3D had scientists who wore lab models is that they required very careful coats and characters that construction at the joints. Because these could talk with an actual parts needed to animate, the joints’ geom- moving mouth. HALF-LIFE etry had to be constructed to prevent any introduced a new layer of part from poking through. Additionally, complexity to character mod- FIGURE 5. HALF-LIFE’s models sported more realistic skin, with each piece of geometry needed a cap so els that had some great bene- cluster-bound continuous meshes on the skeletons.
30 october 2000 | game developer ARTIST’S VIEW
HALF-LIFE was one of the first games to vertices attached to the jaw opened the time because weighting eliminated a lot of use convincing real-time lip synch for their same amount. The corners of the mouth time-consuming tweaking. Weighting the characters. This additional layer of realism did not stretch; instead, the mouth moved vertices smoothed areas where pinching gave the characters in HALF-LIFE a more a little bit robotically. occurred and let us continue with our believable feel and in turn helped make Even with the benefits of the introduc- work. After we got comfortable with it, the player feel more immersed in the tion of clusters, the limitations were visi- using weighted vertices also helped us game. Although the mouths worked well, ble. When the joint of a HALF-LIFE skele- achieve more realistic facial expressions. the restriction of the clusters was appar- ton rotated, the vertices rotated the exact In Figures 6 and 7, you can see the three ent. When the jawbone opened, all the same amount as the joint’s rotation. In the different attachments and how they affect real world, skin and cloth geometry, both in wireframe and with a move differently, depending texture applied. Lara Croft used the on such properties as elastici- attachment method shown on the left. The ty, thickness, and consistency. separate pieces of geometry are attached to Because the artist did not the joint and move separately when the have control over the amount joint bends. The middle example uses sim- of movement of the vertices ple clusters without weights, like the setup near the joints, they tended used in HALF-LIFE. The geometry looks to pinch when rotated. So whole, but when the joint rotates, the ver- when an arm or knee bent, tices at the joint start to pinch and lose the inside of the joint actual- their shape. The example on the right ly became much thinner. If shows a model with weighted vertices. The the artist set up the model’s weighted vertices only move 50 percent of geometry carefully around the total rotation of the joint. With this the joints, the pinching could type of control, the skin and cloth of an be reduced. To fix this, the object become more manageable. artist needed to be able to Another great benefit of using weighted have more control over the vertices was that it added more facial vertices when they bent. The control to the models. Weighting the ver- model had to be set up with tices allowed us to simulate the muscles weighted vertices. underneath the skin. In VAMPIRE, we cre- ated expressive faces using joint attach- Throwing Some ments with the weighted vertices. In our main character, Christof (Figure 8), you Weight Around can see the results of weighting the differ- nce characters’ polygon ent parts of the face. The vertices along O meshes were sub- the eyebrows have different weights that grouped into clusters, they simulate the contraction of the forehead looked more solid, since they muscles. Rather than having the eyebrows were made of one piece of move uniformly, the eyebrow can be geometry. But to reduce the raised and twisted, yet look realistic. To pinching problems and take create a sneer, a joint placed on the top the next step to realism, lip can have a cluster group of vertices models needed weighted ver- that go halfway up the nose. When the tices. In VAMPIRE: THE joint moves, the farther the vertices are MASQUERADE — REDEMP- from the top lip, the less they move. So, TION, the game I worked on the vertices on the lip move 100 percent over the past two years, we of the joint’s translation, the nostril used cutscenes extensively moves about 50 percent of the transla- with lots of close-ups of the tion, and the ridge of the nose moves just in-game models. In order for slightly, with only 10 to 20 percent of the the models to hold up under total joint rotation. With these weights, FIGURE 6 (top). Three different joint attachments in wireframe. such intense scrutiny, we we were able to simulate the muscle con- The joint on the left is two separate pieces of geometry, in the implemented weighted ver- tracting the lip, creating an effective center is a joint built with clusters of vertices, and the joint on the tices. In addition to making expression of disgust. By attaching parts right was built with weighted vertices. the models look better, it of the face, such as the corners of the FIGURE 7 (bottom). The same joint setups with textures applied. ended up saving us a lot of mouth, lower lip, eyelids, and eyeballs to
32 october 2000 | game developer FIGURE 8. Weighting different parts of Christof’s face allowed for a variety of more natural-looking expressions. joints and carefully weighting them, new types of expression development times, there will be fewer games released, and mak- became possible. ing your game stand out from the competition is going to be even Each of the attachment systems has limitations, however. One more difficult. The time has come for us to push the envelope thing HALF-LIFE didn’t have to deal with was extensive shoulder and explore model-creation techniques that have until recently animations. The shoulders are one of the most extreme joints in only been used in film. So far, game art has been following the the body, so when one is creating a game model, the shoulder can road paved by the artists in the movie industry; the next genera- become an issue if it needs a wide range of motion. Because the tion of models could very well be competing with them. In next shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint and extremely flexible, attach- month’s article, I’ll focus on some of the new features that will be ing a solid mesh to a skeleton can be really hard, even with introduced in the next generation of character models. q weight control over the individual vertices. (Baseball game devel- opers out there must know what I’m talking about.) In VAMPIRE, Discuss this article in Gamasutra’s Connection! the characters needed to swing lots of different Dark Age www.gamasutra.com/discuss/gdmag weapons, so we needed a full range of shoulder motion. Although we had good results and the shoulder was able to keep its shape fairly well when it moved, it was still far from perfect. The shoulders turned out to be a big time-sink since they had to be carefully weighted and tweaked to look good no matter what their position. This became even more obvious when the charac- ter starts off shirtless, and the player can see how the shoulder moves. With one of our very muscular characters, the dense geometry that we needed in the shoulder to give it the right shape prevented the weights from working correctly, and we still ended up with awkward-looking shoulders. In retrospect, we realized the problem: the skeleton did not simulate a real shoulder. We only created a ball-and-socket joint, rather than try to simulate the entire shoulder blade and clavicle. Even with their great benefits, weighted vertices still have limi- tations, and new attachment systems have to be explored. As with all these different methods, the artist actually working on the model and the attachment is going to have a bigger impact than the method itself. But pushing technological barriers and giving artists more freedom to create better models can lead to better results. The Characters of the Next Generation ith an understanding of the three evolutionary phases of W character setup, artists are able to make art for today’s games. The problem is, we’re currently making games for two years in the future. If you don’t evolve with the times and keep pushing for even more sophisticated ways of creating models, you’ll find yourself going the way of the dodo. The next-genera- tion consoles are poised to come into more people’s homes than their predecessors. Ultimately, with increased budgets and longer
www.gdmag.com 33 STUDIO RECORDING robert stevenson
The f Noise o Recording an dio d F Stu ole Art me y Ga
Illustration by Audrey Welch
34 october 2000 | game developer n the increasingly level without permission. Even worse, some enough in the project to make sure it nears playing fields of 3D accel- environments may have electrical equip- completion long before the headaches of eration, elaborate input ment that will interfere with your gear’s trying to master happen. Using an outside devices, and broadband recording capability. contractor for your audio development is capability, game compa- While not a replacement for other sound recommended if you can’t do the work Onies are working harder than ever to find design techniques, in-studio recording of appropriately in-house. Bringing them on ways to differentiate themselves from one sound effects (called Foley) saves both time the project early will also yield fewer has- another. While design and art play a major and money spent searching for the right sles and better results, as there will be role in this process, sound is also an material elsewhere. For cutscenes or more time to make everything perfect. important factor in a game’s success or streamed audio clips, Foley can be entirely The specific time requirements for sound failure. In fact, it’s increasingly rare to find comprehensive and extremely fast. Addi- effects development will vary from design- top-selling titles that don’t also feature tionally, material can be created that is per- er to designer and project to project. Vari- top-notch audio design. So if you’re having fectly matched to your production, not ables such as how complex the sound trouble making your game’s sound envi- shoehorned in from an audio CD. Even requirements are, the sophistication of the ronment bigger and more distinguishable today, it is not uncommon to hear some of audio equipment being used, and how from your competition’s, this article is the same tired sound effects reused in game much pre-existing library material is designed to help. after game and in commercial after com- already on hand also enter the equation. Sound designers have myriad tools and mercial. The determined walk-step of your For a typical game development situation, techniques at their disposal to create a gun-toting hero can be cast a certain way, a good rule of thumb is to budget about complete audio environment for their while the sneaky footsteps of the villain he half an hour per incidental effect (minor or game. Sound effects libraries are often the is about to fight can be cast in another. background-type material) and a full hour easiest starting point for a design job and Finally, Foley techniques provide an excel- for major elements (foreground and are available in dozens of flavors, from big lent excuse to junk up the development stu- repeated sounds). Foley work can expedite production houses down to small, one- dio with all kinds of fun, eclectic props (see this process, particularly for minor effects. man shops. In general, stock sounds are sidebar, “Foley Props”). Budgeting equipment is another issue to available on individual CDs or in complete This article is intended for sound consider. Starting from scratch, you can sets with a common theme. Some of the designers who are looking to go beyond expect to put together a simple game-capa- more progressive sound providers offer the “sound via CD” techniques common- ble recording studio for both vocals and download capability from their web sites, ly overused in game production. The effects for under $5,000. Adding high-end, allowing you to grab samples even while focus is on studio recording within typical feature-film-quality equipment or a multi- pulling an all-nighter. game development budgets. Experienced channel digital recording system can run Sound generation from an electronic sound designers already working in you quite a bit more. If your sound budget source, such as a synthesizer or a soft- upscale studios may also find this article is tight, consider renting sound equipment ware package, is another route to take. a good refresher. rather than purchasing it. Items such as Sound designers working off of tradition- microphones, mixers, and DATs typically al white or pink noise functions, which Setup rent for nominal rates and will often be provide an even noise distribution over a cheaper on weekends. frequency range or octave values, have lthough in-studio recording is a fairly For planning an in-house recording ses- often found it the most flexible way to A involved process, setting up correctly sion, a good starting point is to create a sculpt a complex sound. before a session can be timesaving. In fact, comprehensive sound list or an audio story- Field recording is somewhat similar to a lot of things ought to be done before the board for the game. From an accurate studio recording, except that in many cases first audio take occurs. sound list, it isn’t difficult to break sound you will not be in direct control of the There are no hard and fast rules for groups into rough production categories of source material, but will rather be working budgeting sound design, other than to how each waveform will be built. Foleys around it. Field recording can be especially make sure you do actually budget for it. are generally best for “personal” sounds useful for recording large scenes and ambi- Too often on small projects it’s listed as attached to characters and creatures, or ent waveforms. Issues to consider when something the sound programmer or the specialty effects that require some individu- field recording are often obscure. For music guy can do on the side, or in some ality to set them apart in the game. Cut- example, at a military base, the recording cases it’s forgotten altogether. It is also scenes or animations are also prime candi- of some equipment may not be allowed good to tackle sound development early dates for custom recording work. Outside of the sound list, you will need ROBERT STEVENSON | Robert is the vice president of production at iROCK Interactive, some type of recording report to track a music game development company in North Carolina. When he’s not making games, he’s busy what actually happens during the record- playing them. He can be reached for questions or comments at [email protected]. ing session (see Figure 1). While session
www.gdmag.com 35 STUDIO RECORDING
notes can be scribbled on a piece of scrap name, along with take numbers, the pres- do footsteps. Essentially these pits are low- paper, the time it takes to create an official ence of the right and left audio channels, ered sections of floor filled with different comprehensive reporting system will be and some basic equipment setup informa- walking surfaces. Sand, rock, water, and more than made up when you are ready to tion. The recording report should also tile are all common pit fills. A simple inex- edit and mix down your effects. A typical include some type of indexing scheme that pensive pit can be constructed out of a report will have the sound or sound group matches your equipment or saving process. deep two-by-four frame (see Figure 2). Also be sure to leave room for miscella- Materials you might work with, such as neous notes on each take. With a well- concrete, flagstones, metal grating, and FOLEY PROPS planned recording report and a compre- even sod, can be purchased at almost any hensive sound list available, all you need is major hardware store. BBs. Classic BBs or peppercorns come in something to record. The space in which you record a sound handy for everything from rainfall to shot- Through the years, sound designers have is almost as important as the sound itself. gun pellets. relied on all manner of noisemaking If you don’t have access to a sound record- Baking sheets. Great for banging sounds like objects (dubbed props) and tricks to create ing facility or are working within a tight the metal sides of a vehicle or for creating the sound they are looking for. When the budget, almost any moderately sized room, metallic thunder effects. Aluminum foil and actual object needed for recording isn’t preferably one that is isolated, can be sheet metal can also be used for variations. available or is too unwieldy for the studio, adapted to the task. The most pressing Cat litter. Many of the dry, rounded types can creative improvisation often works best. concern with a recording room is control- simulate rocks sliding or scraping. Walking It’s a good idea to start a prop box filled ling the acoustics and, if possible, using on it produces a sandlike effect. with all kinds of noisemakers long before a them to your advantage. Problems general- Lettuce. Most vegetables are great for classic recording session takes place, preferably at ly arise from sound bounces, where a crunching and flesh-ripping sounds. Try the start of a project. Props can be almost sound wave traveling from its source is snapping a piece of dampened celery for a anything from baking soda to stalks of reflected off a hard surface, such as a table nice bone break. wheat; the only limit is your imagination. or wall. In a small space, these reflections Cardboard tubes. Excellent for swishing In situations where a prop might be are usually not perceptible to the human sounds. Purchased with an end cap, they destroyed during the take, such as the ear; in larger spaces they can manifest can simulate mortar shots or cannon fire. shattering of a glass, make sure to get mul- themselves as an echo or multiple dis- Compressed air. Air canisters (even balloons) tiples for practice or mistakes. It’s also a persed echoes, called reverberation. of all types can create explosions, pipes good idea to have on hand various wear- These alterations to the sound, some- snapping, or rocket exhaust. Releasing able prop items in your collection of good- times referred to as coloration, can often compressed air in a water-filled trashcan ies. The sound of a trench-coated hit man be dramatic, not only betraying the char- produces some interesting effects. drawing a pistol from his pocket is going acteristics of the recording space, but also Fabric. Expanses of various kinds of fabric can to be a lot more convincing if a trench modifying the fundamental characteristics make anything from flags flapping to para- coat is actually worn in the take. The same of the sound itself. Luckily, a little knowl- chutes opening. Try combining stiffing ele- notion applies for shoes, armor, helmets, edge of sound waves and the physics ments to create dragon wings. jewelry, and specific types of fabric, such involved can help eliminate such problems Glass. Scraping glass on glass yields all kinds as silk and wool. before they start. of interesting effects, from creepy horror Foley pits are another addition to your Sound waves are normally created sounds to mechanical grinds. recording area if you anticipate needing to through the elastic compression (the rapid Kitchen devices. Small electric appliances (can Game: Date: Settings/Configuration: Sound Recording Increased fill depth is better openers, blenders) coupled with dampening Report Line with plastic materials can make terrific engine, plat- Sound Group Index No. L Channel R Channel Notes: form, or sci-fi sounds. Electric razors can
also work wonders. 1' Military gear. A visit to the local surplus store can turn up all kinds of interesting hand props and game-ready devices, from 3' ammunition cases to wearable harnesses with clips and pouches galore. 3' Paper towels. Wet paper towels are great for stepping on or slinging mud. Foam and plywood base Stacked 2x4 frames Phone books. Almost any kind of dense book is perfect for hard falls or solid punching FIGURE 1. A recording report tracks what hap- FIGURE 2. An example of a “budget” Foley pit impacts. pens in the studio, and is an excellent reference setup, ideal for recording footsteps on a variety later on during editing and mixing. of surfaces.
36 october 2000 | game developer pushing together) and rarefaction (the urement of a sound’s loudness) with each rapid pulling apart) of air molecules (see doubling of its radial distance from the Figure 3). While one phase of compression source. This exponential relationship is and rarefaction is called a cycle, the physi- known as the inverse square law, and cal distance each cycle covers (noting that keeping it in mind during any recording sound travels at roughly 1,130 feet per sec- process can be extremely helpful. By ond) is referred to as its wavelength. The increasing the distance from your micro- number of cycles that occur in a single sec- phone to the closest source of reflections ond are measured as a frequency in hertz (at least two to three times greater), you (Hz). Humans with exemplary hearing can can dramatically diminish the intensity of detect frequencies from about 20Hz to any audio coloration (see Figure 5). 20kHz, although you’d be hard pressed to Of course, providing increased distance Source find any modern audio standard delivering from the source of reflections is not the Wavelength the entire range. only thing you can do to ensure a clean Compression Because sounds are physical waveforms (sometimes called a “dry”) recording. Time Rarefaction moving through air, they are free to inter- Soundproofing the recording space from 1 2345Frequency (1 sec) mix. When two sound waves encounter outside interference is a good start. While one another, their interference can be full sound studio setups can run into the termed either “in phase,” where both millions of dollars, small changes to any waveforms are perfectly aligned, or “out space used for recording can make a big Waveform A Waveform A of phase,” where the two waveforms are difference. Unless they were designed for shifted (phase-lagged) apart. The result is a acoustics, rooms with windows are not new waveform based on the sum of the advisable. Any doors in the recording Waveform B Waveform B displacement of each contributing wave- space should be replaced with the solid- form (see Figure 4). In the two most core variety and the walls should be extreme cases, perfectly in phase and soundproofed with insulation. Felt- exactly 180 degrees out of phase, a pair of padding or weather-stripping door frames In Phase Resultant Out of Phase Resultant sound waves will double in amplitude or and air vents can also help eliminate completely nullify each other, resulting in vibrations caused by air pressure varia- no sound. Either case is a recording mess. tions in a building. Sound waves have other important Music supply companies sell wide vari- properties to consider when setting up a eties of diffusers, used for dispersing an recording session. Each waveform’s com- audio reflection evenly, and dampening pressions and rarefactions also have a tiles, used for trapping sound. Hanging strength known as the intensity. The these on the walls of your recording space Diffusers here will help further spread of values from minimum to maxi- near the closest reflection areas to your Reflection (3 meters) mum intensity is the sound’s dynamic audio source or in the direction of the range. When a sound wave radiates from microphone’s pickup (see below) can D ire its source, it starts with a uniform intensi- work dramatically well. If you’re on a ct (1 m ty pushing on a volume of air. As it con- very tight budget, consider purchasing et er Ref ) tinues to travel away from its source, the acoustic blankets. More often found at lecti on (3 met expansion continues, but it has to push theatrical production houses than music ers) increasingly large volumes of air to stores, they can be hung or draped about achieve the same result. Without amplifi- for adequate effect. cation, the sound’s acoustic pressure dissi- pates, decreasing its intensity. The same Microphones FIGURE 3 (top). How sound waves work. A little behavior can be observed in any wave- knowledge of the mechanics involved will help form outside of a vacuum. For example, erhaps the most important piece of make your recording sessions successful. as the shock waves from an earthquake P hardware in the recording room is the FIGURE 4 (center). Different waveforms can spread from its epicenter, the area affected microphone. While there are literally hun- combine with varying results. On the left, two increases while the relative strength of the dreds of manufacturers, types, and styles, different waveforms combine to produce an “in shock waves declines. they can be broken down into a few basic phase” resultant, on the right, the resultant is Sound pressure varies inversely with the categories. A good Foley setup will typical- “out of phase.” square of the distance from its source. In ly have a wide range of microphones avail- FIGURE 5 (bottom). The inverse square law can numeric terms, an audio wave’s intensity able. Sometimes it may even be useful to help you diminish audio coloration through drops by six decibels (a logarithmic meas- presort microphones into smaller groups proper microphone placement.
www.gdmag.com 37 STUDIO RECORDING
0 0 small electric current. This current is so -5dB 30 -5dB 30 30 30 weak that it must be amplified before it -10dB -10dB exits the microphone. Therefore, con- 60 -15dB 60 60 -15dB 60 densers have a small preamplifier mounted -20dB -20dB in the mike body just behind the pickup. Because of the diaphragm mass and sensi- 90 90 90 90 tivity differences, condensers absorb a broader frequency spectrum than dynamic 120 120 120 120 mikes, ranging from as low as 20Hz to as high as 24kHz. With traditional condensers, there is a 150 150 150 150 need for a separate (sometimes called 180 180 “phantom”) power supply to actively Higher Frequencies (2kHz) Higher Frequencies (2kHz) charge the diaphragm plates, which makes Lower Frequencies (250Hz) Lower Frequencies (250Hz) them a little cumbersome for field work. Electret condensers, a special subtype man- 0 0 ufactured with a chemically polarized -5dB -5dB 30 30 30 30 diaphragm, do not require additional -10dB -10dB power and so avoid this problem. Conden- -15dB 60 -15dB 60 60 60 sers of all types are not the most rugged -20dB -20dB microphones, and care should be taken when handling them. Nonetheless, con- 90 90 90 90 densers make excellent Foley mikes, allow- ing the widest range of sound to be cap- 120 120 120 120 tured, giving your work an accurate and rich feel. In addition to the pickup, microphones 150 150 150 150 also have a sensitivity pattern that governs 180 180 where they can gather aural input from. As Higher Frequencies (2kHz) Higher Frequencies (2kHz) their name suggests, omnidirectional Lower Frequencies (250Hz) Lower Frequencies (250Hz) microphones have a spherical field pattern FIGURE 6 (top left). An omnidirectional microphone has a spherical field pattern, ideal for when back- radiating out from the diaphragm (see ground noise is meant to be part of the recording. FIGURE 7 (top right). A bidirectional microphone Figure 6). This makes omni mikes useful picks up sound equally from both the front and back of the mike. FIGURE 8 (bottom left). Cardioid, or when background noise or acoustics are unidirectional, microphones are used commonly in Foley work. FIGURE 9 (bottom right). Hyper- intended to be in the mix. cardioids offer increased directionality over regular cardioids, but can be tricky to work with. A bidirectional microphone picks up source material from both the front and that complement one another. Dynamic microphones make great gen- back equally well (see Figure 7). Sound The process of taking compressed eral-purpose devices, good for recording coming from the sides will be only mini- waveforms of air molecules and turning low-frequency or especially loud material. mally captured, if at all. This configuration them into electrical signals is the function Good dynamic mikes will typically have a is sometimes dubbed “figure eight” of a microphone’s pickup. Pickup mecha- frequency response range from 50Hz to because of the shape of its field pattern. nisms are often located near the tip of the 17kHz. Musicians often use them to Unidirectional, or cardioid, microphones microphone and are usually encased record drums. are sensitive front-diaphragm devices usu- behind some type of acoustically trans- Condenser microphones, sometimes ally favoring higher frequencies in their parent protection. called capacitor or electret mikes, are a directivity. They are useful in stage and Dynamic pickups are older, simple elec- more recent invention and operate differ- voice work, where they can be aimed at tromagnetic devices that operate off the ently from their dynamic cousins. The the sound source, and pointed away from vibration of a polyester diaphragm. As diaphragm for a condenser microphone is the audience (see Figure 8). In Foley work, pressure waves strike the diaphragm, an some type of charged metallic surface cardioid microphones are very common attached conducting coil moves back and mounted adjacent to a fixed, oppositely because they offer directionality with the forth axially along a stationary magnetic charged plate. As sound waves vibrate the freedom to move around. field. The movement of the coil through diaphragm, the gap between the plates Hypercardioid microphones feature the field induces an electric current directly alters, allowing some electrons to jump longer mounting tubes and increased direc- proportional to the amount of vibration in from one plate to the other, which varies tionality over traditional cardioids. Taken the diaphragm. the capacitance and charge, yielding a to the extreme, these microphones are
38 october 2000 | game developer called supercardioid or shotgun mikes. ples and common techniques before press- ing the sound source. These rifle-like microphones have a pickup ing the record button can help you get off The XY pickup pattern is a common pattern that matches their name — essen- to a good start. example of the coincident technique using tially straight out in front (see Figure 9). In most cases, for game audio you will two identical monophonic microphones. Because of their high sensitivity, they are want to record monophonically. However, The idea is to mimic the behavior of a sin- excellent at picking up sound within a very depending on the output specification, you gle stereo microphone by crisscrossing the narrow field while eliminating nearly may want a stereo recording. While stereo two independent mikes slightly more than everything to the sides and rear. This can microphones do exist, it’s relatively easy 90 degrees near the tip (see Figure 10), try- be incredibly useful in situations where the and more flexible to achieve excellent, col- ing to keep them close together. Keeping sound source is statically located in front oration-free results from two monaural the mikes arranged in this fashion also of the mike, such as using guns or hand microphones. Knowledge of a few basic helps minimize any phasing artifacts caused prop manipulations. However, in a situa- arrangement patterns and a little experi- by the sound reaching the diaphragm of tion with a moving source, such as an mentation is enough to get started. one microphone before the other. actor or a large Foley prop, shotgun mikes The easiest way to make a stereo cap- The ORTF pickup pattern is an extend- become unwieldy and difficult to track ture is to arrange the microphones equidis- ed modification to the XY technique. Sim- with, even for veteran operators. It’s also tant from the signal source. This can pro- ply stated, this pattern is a precise 110- worth noting that no matter what you may duce a decent, wide stereo effect on large degree separation angle between two have seen on TV, typical shotgun micro- sources or be useful for capturing multiple microphones spaced 7 inches apart, similar phones don’t have any more range than points of view, but can cause problems if to a human head. The MS (mid-side) pat- their cardioid brethren. wave cancellation issues arise, particularly tern is another common arrangement that From booms to woolies, there are all in a dynamic shot. A particular disadvan- uses a forward-facing cardioid mike to kinds of microphone accessories available tage to microphones spaced apart is that on the market. While most of these acces- they will not accurately capture the signal sories are not particularly useful for a typi- the way human ears naturally hear it RECORDING NOTES cal Foley shoot, a good set of stands and a because the interaural difference (the dif- shock mount are often handy to eliminate ference in physical spacing between chan- • Avoid electronically manipulating the sound vibrations or the occasional microphone nels in a stereo field) is too large. For that, during recording. Adding compression or reverb trauma. It is worthy to note that experi- you need to place the microphones in a later will be just as effective, and if something mentation with microphone coverings, pickup pattern that makes them sample goes wrong you’ll always have the original such as foam, socks, or even condoms, can both the right and left versions of a single, source to fall back on. sometimes produce interesting dampening coincident point in space. effects, if desired. Traditional coincident patterns will vary • Avoid recording on an empty stomach. Your Microphone pricing varies wildly, rang- from setup to setup, depending on the stomach will invariably growl during the best ing from low-end models around $50 to microphones used. Typically, two cardioid take of a set. high-end ones up into the thousands of or (if more ambience is desired) bidirec- • Watch out for unintended clothing noise. dollars. While you generally get what you tional mikes will be oriented perpendicular Remove anything that could cause unwanted pay for, sometimes the best sound for a to each other, split at 45 degrees and fac- ambience, such as watches or jewelry. particular session can be had with an inex- • Always monitor the signal. Unfortunately, pensive, off-the-shelf mike. It’s best to ears exposed to the sound source aren’t a experiment and find a set of microphones To source o good indication of what actually got recorded. that work well with your particular 0 Listening through a pair of high-quality head- recording environment. Every recording phones is the ideal monitoring technique. task has a specific set of requirements, and by having a wide selection of microphones • Don’t forget to report every take. This from which to choose, you can select one should become natural. Not doing so can cause Left Right that is best for the job. hemisphere hemisphere serious headaches after the session. • Record to a medium outside of your editing Recording environment if possible (sampler, DAT, mini- Right Left disc, and so on). You’ll always have a backup apturing a sound with microphones is microphone microphone copy when you’re working. C an art within itself. The difference between a “big” sound and something • Be attuned to background noise in your lesser is often due to the placement of the FIGURE 10. An XY pickup pattern mimics the recording environment. Computer fans, air con- mikes during a take. While dedicated prac- behavior of a single stereo microphone by criss- ditioning, and even co-workers down the hall tice will ultimately prove to be the best crossing two monophonic mikes approximately can leak in, ruining a recording. teacher, understanding some basic princi- 90 degrees near the tips.
www.gdmag.com 39 STUDIO RECORDING
capture the source directly, and a perpen- to properly configure the equipment. If each within their own distinct tracks. dicularly facing bidirectional microphone enough planning has transpired, working With the correct setup, all parts of the to capture any ambiences and reflections. through even a long sound list should be sound will be on the same acoustical page Playing with the input level on the micro- relatively quick. and in time with each other, making fur- phones in the MS pattern will produce a ther work easier. narrower or wider stereo field. Adding Zchwing! When working with sound effects, it’s In addition to microphone orientation, important to understand the tonality of you will need to select an appropriate dis- nce you’ve got days of recordings other audibles they are going to appear tance from the source to record. This is O captured and each effect done six dif- with, particularly during cutscenes where sometimes called the recording perspective. ferent ways, you’re bound to find you’re there should be a great amount of control Close-in approaches generally yield a tight still missing a little something. The process over the audio presentation. Avoiding focus with little ambience, while distant of intermixing, resculpting, and adding range conflicts caused by having too much techniques will pick up the surrounding highlights to sound effects is often called acoustic information within a limited part acoustics. In cases where you are trying to “sweetening,” and doing so can often turn of the frequency spectrum is a crucial task capture a detailed effect, such as a door a so-so effect into one that really roars. for good sound design. Fortunately, equal- latch or machine gun shells hitting pave- As a rule of thumb, it’s best to start by ization can provide more punch to your ment, it’s generally preferable to work having your multi-part sound clips avail- effects to push them past the music or close in, keeping the mike gain at a mini- able in a multi-track editing tool, or in vocals as appropriate. mum. Equalizing in postproduction on a the case of a two-channel editing tool, at All equalizers are variations on the same tight recording can make the sound dra- least in a mix-ready state before starting theme, producing better-sounding audio by matically bigger. Choosing a more distant any enhancement. For example, a shotgun increasing and decreasing the intensity of positioning may be required, depending on effect being built for a first-person shoot- frequency bands within the audio spec- the type of microphone you are using and er might start with a cocking sound fol- trum. Common types of equalizers are the size of the sound source. lowed by a trigger effect, and then multi- graphic, which allow partial or full octave Although you may have already elimi- ple simultaneous blast effects spanning control over bands within the frequency nated major sources of reflections within the entire range of the audio spectrum, spectrum, and parametric, which allow for your sound space, sound bounces off small surfaces close to the microphone can often change the tonal quality of the recording. SOUND ADVICE FROM THE PROS Common offenders are nearby tables or improperly positioned stands that may be “In this era of high-tech toys, a sound designer has many techniques and tools to create a sound- in the work area. Luckily, testing for these track. One process for creating effects is the technique labeled as “Foley.” This dates back to the radio close reflections is easy, and the fixes are era where engineers would, in real time, create effects while actors were performing radio dramas. even easier. This system, made famous by Jack Foley himself, is basically the technique of creating a room free of By placing a small mirror on the suspect noise and air conditioning as well as hum and buzz. Then, using simulated surfaces for footsteps and surface and eyeballing it from the micro- props for effects, sounds can be created and recorded in the controlled environment. Persons who do phone’s point of view, you can quickly tell this day in and day out are referred to as Foley artists. In traditional film and TV, a Foley artist is if the sound is bouncing off the surface required to watch, step, and create effects within two to six frames of synch, making it brilliant in the from the source. If the sound source is visi- first take. For a game sound designer, a Foley stage is a plethora of opportunities for creativity. The ble in the mirror, the object is likely caus- basic rule to sound design is that there are no rules.” ing the unwanted reflections. Reorienting — Scott Gershin, sound designer, creative director, SounDeluxe the offending fixture to make sure the prop is not visible in the mirror is the easi- “With voice recording, I always start new actors with a few minutes of grunts and “ughs” to help est solution. break the ice. After the session is done, I get a few minutes of screams and pain sounds. If they are Now that you’ve got your props and willing, it makes for great freebie stuff for my sound library. microphones set up, you’ll be tempted to “Also, really watch the levels. Clipping sounds in a game are bad. If an effect sounds bigger cut-off, start recording like mad. But before you make sure to pull it down and normalize.” start rolling, make sure to do some prac- — Christopher Roby, game/sound designer, Sinister Games tice runs to avoid obvious problems such as clip-outs, where a sound’s dynamic “Looping a sound is a challenging task that amounts to an art form within itself. When working on range has exceeded the capabilities of the looped material such as vehicles or machinery, I like to copy the file several times and apply different recording hardware and is experiencing a amounts of compression and signal processing to each copy before looping the samples. I then find loop distorted cutoff. If possible, also record a points on each file and listen for the best version to sit in a mix.” calibrated half-minute lineup tone to help — Mark Showers, sound designer, Soundwerx Productions you, or someone else that needs to work with the session material later, to be able
40 october 2000 | game developer STUDIO RECORDING
controlled boosting or cutting around a interpolation artifacts are generally low specific frequency. or antialiasable (minimized through
Using an equalizer effectively takes a + weighted averages), they will creep in, little practice, but just as with any other especially as the sound gets increasingly effect you should have a clear idea about Gain 3:1 Compression divergent from its original state. To be what you are trying to achieve before OUTPUT Level Ratio safe, pay close attention to the quality of starting. Equalizers are very good at your output, and only pitch-shift a few quickly boosting or cutting the bass (less Threshold octaves in either direction. than 250Hz), mid-range (500Hz to Effects recorded in the studio often 2kHz), or high frequencies (4kHz and don’t feel right when played back in the over) in a sound. Simulating phone lines scene for which they are intended. They or reduced radio transmissions can also - feel too close or too confined, like they are - + be done by peaking between 400Hz and INPUT Level playing back just inches from your ears. 3kHz. Parametric equalizers in particular This is where reverb comes in. The irony is are useful for eliminating unwanted nois- FIGURE 11. Manipulating the compression that after you’ve spent time and resources es, such as tape hiss or electric hums, at a threshold at specific points within the dynamic building the perfect sound studio to elimi- specific frequency. range produces different results. nate reflections, now you actually want to Besides equalization, audio compression add some. Reverb is also good for blend- is perhaps the most common method used (cutting off signals above a certain level) ing edits in multi-part sounds, helping to accentuate recordings by providing and expanding (increasing a signal’s them seem to be from the same acoustical direct control over maximizing and mini- dynamic range by decreasing low-intensi- page. Adding reverb is usually a fairly mizing the dynamic range of a signal. Sim- ty portions below the threshold). Expand- painless task, as most software and hard- ply stated, compression alters a signal by ing is also a good way to do smoothly ware units will have decent presets, usually taking the input volume and moving it transitioned noise reduction. named after materials or architectural down by a factor denoted by a ratio set- Pitch-shifting is another common way to spaces. Understanding what is actually ting. A threshold control makes the ratio improve the tonality of a sound or occa- happening during the process can help you change specifically at a point within the sionally just to warp it into something engage the problem more accurately. dynamic range, leaving everything below entirely different. Subtle shifting can also Reverb occurs because sound-reflecting it unmodified (see Figure 11). The number be used to fix the timing on sound, for surfaces in a space encourage the sound to of threshold changes and how dramatic example, to synch it with an in-game ani- bounce around, sometimes half a dozen they are is referred to as a “knee” setting. mation. With a little practice, even a con- times before finally reaching your ears. Hard knees cause abrupt changes in the vincing Doppler effect (the sensation that a Because some sound waves will invariably compression ratio, while soft knees are rapidly moving sound source, such as a car travel straight to your eardrum while oth- small changes in compression staged over in a racing game, has a higher pitch when ers take time bouncing about, you will a range in the signal. Additionally, how closing on a point in space than it does experience the primary sound wave fol- aggressive the compressor acts on the sig- when moving away) can be created. lowed by additional, sometimes weaker, nal as it’s processed can be set with attack Modifying a sound up or down and echoes of the original sound delayed by and decay parameters. Also, a compressor possibly locking its duration is easily han- just milliseconds. The reflections in a natu- can be output-gained to increase the vol- dled with pitch-transposition tools rally reverberant environment, sometimes ume across all parts of the signal. designed specifically for the task. Shifting dubbed a “wet” sound, will vary not only Compression tools — particularly ones upwards increases the frequency, making in timing but also in tonality, based on the in hardware — can be daunting, but the sound higher. Conversely, pitching shape, area, and absorption qualities of the slowly working through the parameters down provides a more low-end, basslike surface materials in the space. Softer mate- and making small adjustments while lis- effect. Playing with alternating pitch rials provide low-end reflections, while tening to the sound will make the settings (vibrato), can provide interesting results. stiff materials bounce high frequencies. much clearer. To start with sound effects, You can also make a particular effect To add reverb, start from the top by try using compression to simply regulate seem wider in a stereo mix; shifting one focusing on the length and density of the the high end and eliminate any distorting channel a small amount (generally less reflections. Working with the intensity clip-outs. Settings with a high ratio than 5 percent) will often work. decay rate of the reflections is also impor- around 3:1, a high threshold around 12 Pitch-shifting is not without adverse tant in defining the feel of a sound’s space. decibels, and a tight but soft knee are a effects. Because sound samples are either Short decays will suggest small spaces, good base. Bringing the knee up can pro- being duplicated or removed during pitch- while slightly longer decays will suggest vide a cleaner round-off, while bringing shifting, it’s a destructive process, making much larger areas. Nonlinear falloff can the overall ratio down will compress the it hard to backtrack by simply negating suggest an unevenly occluded environment. dynamic range of the whole signal. Varia- the effect. Additionally, while shifting The frequency range of the reflections is tions on compression include limiting technology has evolved to a level where also crucial. Adding more high or low end
42 october 2000 | game developer to a sound’s reflections will cause the sur- you’ve got an effect sequence done, then FOR MORE INFORMATION face materials present in a sound’s synthet- come back and listen to it later. Closing ic environment to feel significantly differ- your eyes during playback so you can WEB SITES ent. Be careful about overdoing it, though. focus on the quality of the sound is also a Gamasutra Reverb is an irreversible process because good technique. However, testing to make www.gamasutra.com/features/ editing it out is practically impossible. sure it feels right in the game itself is ulti- index_sound_and_music.htm In general, following the ordering of the mately the best way to make sure it really Equipment Emporium postproduction effects in this article will has been done satisfactorily. www.equipmentemporium.com/articles.htm have your sound ready for any last-minute Sound design is more of an art than a Acoustics & Vibrations Virtual Library finalizing and mix-down. While some steps science. Recording and editing fresh mate- www.ecgcorp.com/velav can be skipped, it’s a good idea to work at rial for your game project extends that least with the compression and equaliza- art even further, providing an almost lim- BOOKS tion on each waveform. Although it may itless canvas of aural creativity. But by Ballou, Glen M., ed. Handbook for Sound Engi- work otherwise for some productions, it’s applying knowledge from practiced sound neers, 2nd ed. Carmel, Ind.: SAMS/ usually better to apply any pitch-shifting designers with a bit of physics and a lot Macmillan, 1991. and equalization before compression to of imagination, the entire sound environ- Eargle, J. The Microphone Handbook. Plain- give each process the greatest dynamic ment of your game can be raised to the view, N.Y.: Elar Publishing, 1981. range within which to work. next level. q While most studio-recorded effects are Mott, Robert L. Radio Sound Effects. Jeffer- son, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1993. one-shot affairs, occasionally they will Be sure to check out the expanded version of need to loop during playback. There is this article on Gamasutra.com. Pohlmann, Ken C. Principles of Digital Audio, often little you can do to create a looping 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. track during recording other than trying Discuss this article on Yewdall, David Lewis. The Practical Art of for clean, editable breaks in a sound’s Gamastura.com! Motion Picture Sound. Boston: Focal Press, cycle. During editing, cross-fading multiple www.gamasutra.com/discuss/gdmag 1999. tracks of the same sound for loop effects that can’t simply be cut in or spliced is a good starting point. For sounds that vary in timbre across their duration, another technique is to reverse a copy and then play them back-to-back. The last part of the sound design process is mixing down and doing any nec- essary format conversion. This can be a complex task for cutscene productions, taking days, if not weeks, in front of a nonlinear editor. However, for most in- game sounds, it’s just a matter of combin- ing any multi-part sounds into one singu- lar effect. Keep in mind the final output during the mix-down process. If you have been working with stereo material, verify its mono compatibility. Also keep an eye on the level meters and watch for distor- tion, particularly if you are additively mix- ing material with a lot of dynamic range. If you need to down-sample your sound for output, maximize your signal-to-noise ratio with gating or compression before doing the conversion. Wrap-Up here is no single correct way to final- T ize a sound. In a game studio, it’s often best to take a break when you think
www.gdmag.com 43 CUSTOMER SERVICE derek sanderson
Taming the Customer Service Dragon in Persistent-State Worlds
t all started innocently enough. A come. Breathless with anticipation, the Shortly after the message board thread monk had gone a-questing for the player placed the treasures he had so care- started, Verant’s community relations Robe of the Lost Circle, an arti- fully collected into a special container, spokesman, Abashi, made a post in which fact found in the massively multi- pressed the Combine button to mold them he stated the skill check sounded like a player online role-playing game together, and...destroyed everything by poor design decision, and that he would EIVERQUEST. failing a skill check. ask to see if it could be removed from the He had spent nearly a hundred hours Surely this had to be a mistake, he quest. Cheers rang out from the message collecting the necessary components to thought. Surely the effort involved in col- board crowd at this display of responsible make the robe, traveling all across the lecting these items was the only risk the customer service. Shortly afterward, the lands of Norrath, speaking to non-player designers had intended for me to take. Had player posted that he had requested and characters (NPCs), waiting hours at a time they accidentally introduced a skill check been given a Robe of the Lost Circle by a for a particular monster to appear so he where there should be none? Upset and Game Master, one of EVERQUEST’s in-game could slay it and collect an item he needed confused, the player posted his tale of woe technical support personnel. from its corpse. His path had been ardu- on Sony’s EVERQUEST boards, and rallied the Cheers again erupted from the player’s ous, but the moment of truth had finally support of his fellow players behind him. supporters, but the mood soon turned sour. The Game Master who had given the monk his robe learned the loss was due not to a software bug but that it was the intended design, and promptly took the robe away. A firestorm ensued on the EVERQUEST message boards, prompting a return visit by Abashi to explain Verant’s decision: although Verant sympathized with the monk’s loss, it would not be cor- rect to overturn what had happened in the game, because the software had functioned as designed. To Be... Or Not to Be? o what should have happened? Was S it reasonable for the player to ask for a new robe after Abashi said the skill check was a poor design decision, and would likely be removed? Should the Game Master have given the player a robe when he thought the loss was due to a bug? Was the decision to take back the The EVERQUEST message boards: 107 pages of topics, and one overworked customer service robe correct? Should Verant have over- spokesman at the center of it all. turned that decision, because the robe
DEREK SANDERSON | Derek is a systems designer for ULTIMA WORLDS ONLINE: ORIGIN. He has held a variety of design, marketing, and customer service positions in the persistent-state world market over the past few years, and tries to use that experience to build “zero sup- port call” systems for his games. Contact him at [email protected].
44 october 2000 | game developer had already been given to the player for a good PSW designer will watch for patterns service run by General Electric, and their problem that was going to be fixed any- of complaints and strive to adjust the game design and customer service policies reflect- way? It’s a tricky issue, certainly, but a systems so they do not generate customer ed their small, pay-by-the-hour community typical one for persistent-state world service calls. This article will describe a with a high staff-to-customer ratio. That (PSW) games such as EVERQUEST. The few rules common to creating that mythi- community’s bonds were strained almost to answer is even trickier. All four of the cal “zero support call” game. the breaking point when the games went decisions were correct, and they perfectly from 50 simultaneous customers on Genie illustrate the PSW customer service para- Some Ground Rules to hundreds on AOL in late 1995, then dox: Sometimes you have to refuse an thousands a year later when AOL dropped individual customer’s request in the inter- et’s begin with the cardinal rule of its hourly charges in favor of a flat $20 est of maintaining a balanced game. L online customer service, which is: monthly fee. Obviously this creates a conflict of The biggest difficulties resulted from the If you don’t like what is happening in your interest for game administrators. On one loss of accountability for one’s actions game, you should first look for a design solu- hand, we want our customers to be that had been present in Genie’s small tion rather than have your customer service happy; happy customers are loyal cus- staff implement ad hoc fixes. You’ll save time, community. Many antisocial activities, tomers. On the other hand, our customers money, and staff morale in the long run. though allowed by the game mechanics, pay us to referee the game world for simply did not happen on Genie because them, which means we must keep that A company that relies on its customer the players would exact swift retribution world fair and balanced, making the risks service staff to fix problems generated by upon anyone who violated the communi- and rewards equal for all. Sometimes we its own game systems is one that will ty’s mores. For example, in the Genie will design those risks and rewards poorly, quickly see its customer service calls spiral days, if someone died and left his equip- and one of our players will have an out of control as its player base starts ment on the ground, other players helped unpleasant experience because of it, such depending on them to fix every minor him get his items back. Stealing from the as our friend the monk. But if we change issue that arises. You’re only fighting your- dead was almost unheard of, and the few the outcome for him, are we not giving self if you do this, and you should there- incidents that occurred caused such an him a competitive advantage over every fore only use ad hoc adjustments to game uproar among the players that they were other player who accepts the negative con- mechanics on a temporary basis when you talked about for months afterward. sequences our game imposes? fully intend to change the system that gen- Imagine the surprise of the Genie play- Refusing any customer is a no-win situa- erates the calls in the first place. ers when America Online came, bringing tion. Customers ask for our help when I can best illustrate this with a story with it the anonymity of five screen names they feel wronged, and do not care about from my early design days working on per account, each of them capable of play- lofty philosophies such as the balance of Simutronics’ venerable text MUDs, GEM ing the game with a new character, and no the game. They simply want their concerns STONE III and DRAGON REALMS. Both way to tell which characters were related addressed. We may not be able to help games — still going strong at www.play.net to each other. This anonymity, just as it them with every individual problem, but a — had their roots in the old Genie BBS does in all other areas of the Internet,
www.gdmag.com 45 CUSTOMER SERVICE
bred disruption: within weeks we were We quickly learned we would not be deleted by our garbage collection system besieged by anonymous characters who able to stem the tide without significant because no one was around to pick them logged in to rob dead adventurers, only to design changes, however, and struck back up. Those who lost items in this manner run away, hide, and then log off, never to with a variety of systems that restricted inevitably asked us to replace them, and be seen again. players’ ability to harass dead adventurers. we inevitably refused — after all, the sys- Because our games had a high level of One of those systems, for example, pre- tem was functioning exactly as we had item persistence — items rarely broke or vented a player from moving another’s designed it, wasn’t it? wore out — players who had been stolen corpse without the dead player’s permis- As you may have guessed, this was not from in this manner not only felt violated, sion. Another allowed players to protect an answer our customers were pleased to but often lost weeks or even months of their corpses from being looted for a few hear, any more than our friend the EVER- work from a single theft. And since the minutes via a protective spell. A third was QUEST monk was pleased to hear his robe player not only didn’t know who the real what we called our “Graverobber” system. would not be replaced. This is because: thief was, but also had no way of retriev- The Graverobber system tracked the Your customers expect your world to be pre- ing his items from someone who had owner of any item left on the ground at dictable, just as they expect the rules of any logged off immediately afterward, an inci- death. If another player picked up the game to be predictable. They will view unpre- dent of such looting inevitably generated a item, the system tracked that person and dictability as a flaw, and expect you to repair furious customer assistance call demanding anyone else to whom he subsequently the consequences of that flaw. we do something about the problem. passed the item. If someone holding a At first, we tried an administrative solu- stolen item logged off or lost connection DRAGON REALMS customers who lost tion. We considered the looting to be within a few minutes after the theft, the items to the Graverobber code were upset cheating, both because it involved the use system removed it from the player’s inven- because the code was intended to stop of an alternate, anonymous character to tory and sent it back to the room from looting, not delete items because a friend hide the looter’s identity, and because the which it had initially been taken. Under had inadvertently logged off before an looting character inevitably logged off optimal circumstances, the system worked arbitrary timer had expired. Although the immediately after the theft, abusing the beautifully: if an anonymous character code was functioning exactly as it was game’s logoff mechanics to avoid retribu- stole something and logged off, the item implemented (much like the skill check for tion. Because it was cheating, the looting would return to the owner’s body, and the the monk robe), it was not functioning as was an invalid action, and we confiscated staff would not have to intervene. it was intended. Intent is predictable. In a the items and issued a warning to the Circumstances were not always optimal, complex world simulation, however, indi- offending player for the disruption. however, and though the system stopped vidual game systems often combine to Our intentions were good, but we were many “loot and scoot” problems, we cause unpredictable side effects in their fighting a losing battle. After all, having sometimes found our own code working actual implementation. multiple screen names (and therefore mul- against us, since the Graverobber system tiple characters) was an integral part of did not differentiate between friend and “That’s Just How AOL’s system. Our game mechanics per- foe. Players frequently picked up items for Things Are” mitted dragging dead bodies to out-of-the- a dead friend, then lost connection while way places. Those same game mechanics traveling back to a safe area, only to have nother example from EVERQUEST is forced dead bodies to decay, leaving all the the items returned to the room in which A apropos here. A writer from the web items on the ground free for the taking a their friend had died and be subsequently site Gamefan was visiting one of EVER- few minutes after death. Instant logoff was QUEST’s islands one evening last June when also part of the game. Thus, it was he was beset by a pirate, one of the game’s inevitable that players would use these huntable creatures. Not having his mechanics to their advantage, whether it weapons ready, the writer first beat a tacti- was playing fairly or not. cal retreat until he was out of range, then Trying to control the problem with poli- attempted to equip his sword to prepare cy was expensive. The more often we for battle. In his panic, however, he acci- intervened, the more our customers expect- dentally clicked on the game window with ed us to do so. We still had to upgrade our sword in hand, which caused it to drop games and provide normal customer serv- into the world rather than his readied ice, and every hour spent tracking down weapon slot. an anonymous troublemaker meant one This problem happens occasionally in less hour devoted to development. We FIGURE 1. EVERQUEST’s inventory screen, overlay- EVERQUEST because of the way its invento- found ourselves spending more and more ing the game window. If a player misses while ry interface is designed, which you can see time hunting down thieves and returning placing an item into the lower-left inventory slot, in Figure 1. Each piece of equipment a items, so much so that some of our cus- it will be dropped into the world, perhaps never character wears is assigned a particular tomer service staff did little else. to be recovered. inventory slot, with said slots being dis-
46 october 2000 | game developer the places where they occur, so the victims should just accept their fate and move on, right? Nope. Macro predictability does not make us happy in real life, so why should we expect it to satisfy our customers inside our world simulations? This issue affects not only your game systems, but also every other aspect of your customers’ play experience, even their connectivity issues. Your customers, for example, will behave as if they do not believe in the Internet. A customer’s modem drops its connection? Your fault. A farmer in Pig’s Knuckle, Arkansas, cuts a major communications line, causing extreme latency not only in your game, but across the entire eastern seaboard? Your fault. Terrorists from a rival game compa- FIGURE 2. The Tracert program might show your customers that a latency problem is not your doing, ny blow up a router down the street? but they still will expect you to correct the consequences of that latency. That’s your fault, too. And because it’s your fault, your customers will expect you played directly over the world window Verant’s Game Master was unwilling to to fix anything that adversely affects their when a character manipulates his invento- replace the sword, however, because the play experience as a result. Once again, the ry. Click a few pixels too far to the left loss did not occur due to a genuine bug issue is one of differing expectations. As and the system assumes you want to drop but rather through player error. In fact, game designers, we are well aware of the an item into the world, rather than your from the eyes of a game provider, the issues the Internet has as a gaming plat- inventory. This is normally a recoverable event was an entirely predictable one: if form. It does things that hamper the usual mistake, as dropped items generally persist you’re careless when placing items into flow of gameplay in our worlds. On a for a few minutes before the system your inventory slots, you will throw the macro level, we know that while we can’t deletes them. The player knew this and item into the game world, where it is very predict each occurrence with pinpoint turned to pick up his sword, when, likely to be removed by the garbage col- accuracy, over the course of a month’s according to him, it disappeared. Frustrat- lection system. Players are meant to playing time a certain percentage of cus- ed, he called a Game Master, explained understand that this is “just how things tomers will experience high latency, packet what had happened, and was allegedly are” in the game, and to be careful when loss, or dropped connections. That’s just refused a replacement because there was placing items into their inventory, hence how things are on the Internet. no proof he had lost the weapon to a bug. they shouldn’t expect the game adminis- However, the player does not experience Outraged at this perceived injustice, the trators to make up for their mistakes. your game from your perspective; he expe- Gamefan editor went on to publish an Problem solved, right? Well, no, not really, riences it as an individual. To him, these angry editorial about the incident and because players don’t automatically under- events are exceptions to the game environ- other examples of what he perceived to be stand the designers’ notion of “that’s just ment you have created, not part of the Verant’s poor customer service. how things are.” normal “rules.” The player would not Now, I would argue the issue was not intentionally make his character kill him- “That’s just how things are” describes pre- one of poor service so much as another self by leaping off a cliff, so why should he dictability on a game-wide, “macro” level. Such illustration of the problems that ensue do so just because he lost connection while predictability is worthless from a customer when implementation and intent conflict. service perspective. Only individual, “micro” running? The player would not make his Verant designed an interface that made it predictability will make your customers happy. character suddenly stop fighting in the possible to drop an item into the game middle of a battle with a dragon, so why world — though there is rarely a need to On a macro level, about 50,000 Ameri- should he stop because the server is not do so — and also designed a garbage col- cans will die in car wrecks every year. receiving his “fight” packets? Players want lection system that eventually deletes That’s just how driving is. On a macro to be in full control of their characters dropped items so the world does not fill level, roughly one out of every 150,000 when something bad happens to them, and with clutter. They obviously did not intend jetliner flights will crash. That’s just how if they’re not, they will demand that you these two systems to function as a way to flying is. On a macro level, people will get rectify any adverse consequences they suf- delete items from their players’ inventory, mugged, struck by lightning, or have their fer, even if you can show them that the so players who lose items in this manner homes destroyed by natural disasters. real problem is not the game itself (Figure inevitably request a replacement. Those things happen to people who are in 2). Telling them, “Occasionally losing your
www.gdmag.com 47 CUSTOMER SERVICE
connection is just part of playing games on an exploit. However, if you explain to the Internet,” is like telling someone, your customers your reasoning for doing “Having your little brother kick over your so in advance, you will gain much greater Monopoly board is part of playing Mono- acceptance of your changes than if you poly in his room. Sorry, I won’t replace simply presented them with a fait accom- your hotels.” Sure, misbehavior from nasty pli. The feedback you receive may even kid brothers is something that can be pre- present you with better alternatives you dicted, but they are not part of the rules of hadn’t considered. After all, the minds of Monopoly. Therefore: your customers are legion, and you are simply a small group of designers who like Good disaster recovery mechanisms are to make computer games. At Origin, one vital to a successful PSW. Your volume of cus- FIGURE 3 (above). EVERQUEST requires that users way we like to keep in touch with cus- tomer service calls is inversely related to the ease with which players can prevent, and cor- confirm their decision before permanently tomers is with a “Question of the Week” rect, their mistakes. destroying an item. forum (Figure 4), in which we bounce ideas off future players of ULTIMA WORLDS Making it easy for players to fix their ers find the confirmation dialog annoying, ONLINE: ORIGIN. own mistakes is the equivalent of placing they can turn it off in an options menu. To You need to remember that your cus- a save-game feature into an online envi- Verant’s credit, they saw the value in these tomer base includes a wide variety of peo- ronment. This is a difficult thing to suggestions, and recently implemented just ple; be careful not to fall into the trap of accomplish efficiently in PSW design, as such a change. Players may now set their only talking to your “elite.” Your design there is a fine balance between allowing client to demand a confirmation before team may be full of role-players, but the players to correct mistakes and maintain- dropping items into the world, thus resolv- mass market most certainly is not. Your ing challenge in the game. The trick is to ing the conflict between design and intent, design team may post on popular fan web pinpoint those areas where your players and thereby probably reducing their volume sites, but again, the mass market does not, most frequently ask you for assistance, of customer service calls. nor do they participate in IRC chats, nor and enable them to accomplish these do they write you letters telling you how things themselves. A Benevolent they feel about the game. The mass market Getting back to the above example, in Dictatorship is a great, silent majority that you must which hordes of hapless players go plung- reach out to in order to learn what they ing off cliffs every time their packets miss efore you run off to make exciting really want. Don’t fall into the trap of that left turn at Albuquerque, one way to B new changes to your game, however, assuming everyone is like you, or that the reduce calls demanding reparations would keep in mind that anything you do will communications that fall in your lap are to be make someone stop running immedi- have a very real impact on the lives of representative of your entire customer base. ately should your system detect a loss of your customers. You may have designed A final word of caution: connectivity. Another would be to restrict the game, and you may have a vision for Your customers will overwhelm traditional the amount of damage one can take from what it should be like now and in the channels of communication, and will become falling, so it could injure but never kill. A future, but if you expect a high degree of angry when you cannot keep up with the third would be to make characters stop at customer loyalty you must encourage your demand. the edge of any slope that could cause players to believe they are full citizens of falling damage, and require a separate your world. They are not simply purchas- Nothing frustrates your customers more keystroke before leaping. You should even ing a service from you, and are not simply than being given an expectation of customer go so far as to question the very existence playing a game. Players live in the world support that isn’t met. Yes, many customers of any system that generates multiple sup- you create, and any changes you make will demand far more individual attention port calls — is falling damage really neces- affect their daily lives almost as much (and than is reasonable for ten dollars a month, sary in your game? Sure, it’s realistic, but more so in some cases) as anything that but it absolutely infuriates them when a unless it’s needed for some vital game sys- happens in the “real” world. company provides, and promotes, a channel tem, it probably doesn’t add a lot of fun of communication and then does not Let your customers know what you are to your gameplay. respond promptly to requests sent through thinking, and ask for their input, before making In the aftermath of the Gamefan editori- that channel. Falling behind only exacer- even the smallest of changes to your game al, many players suggested Verant add a mechanics. bates the problem; if you don’t answer their confirmation dialog that had to be closed phone calls, they’ll send you angry e-mail. If whenever a player attempted to drop an Of course, PSW administration can’t be you don’t answer their e-mail promptly, item into the game window. The suggestion a democracy. Sometimes hard decisions they’ll send you more e-mail demanding to has a precedent in EVERQUEST; a similar dia- must be made that your entire player base know why you haven’t answered their e- log (see Figure 3) pops up whenever a play- opposes, such as reducing the power of a mail. Don’t answer those e-mails, and they er attempts to destroy an item, and if play- popular spell or item in order to eliminate will flame you on the message boards.
48 october 2000 | game developer that is impossible to satisfy if you expect to make a profit. You must instead be just as clever designing your customer service systems as you are in designing your game, because your customers will get just as frustrated over your customer service when its intent (does this sound familiar?) does not match its implementation. No matter how you structure your serv- ice, be sure your representatives have the ear of your designers. The people who deal with the customers every day are the ones who know best what aspects of your game design are generating the most prob- lems, and if you let them be a part of solv- ing those problems, they’ll be much happi- er and more productive in the long run.
Design Is Hard. Customer Service Is Hard. Writing Articles Is Easy.
’ve used examples mainly from my com- I petitors’ games, but I want to make it clear that the problems I have described are a perfectly normal part of designing and administrating any PSW. Hindsight is 20/20, and it’s easy for me to sit in my ivory tower and say, “You should have done this,” and “You should have done that.” But even the best designer can’t pre- dict everything that could go awry in a game before it is released, and even the best customer service department can’t help but feel overwhelmed at the never- ending demand for personal attention its customers expect. If you remember nothing else from this article, keep this bit of advice: Remind yourself every day that you are creating worlds not for yourself, not for your com- pany, but for thousands of individuals who make individual decisions every day about whether to continue playing your game. FIGURE 4 (top). The ULTIMA WORLDS ONLINE: ORIGIN staff discusses design issues with their future cus- Listen carefully when they tell you some- tomers in a “Question of the Week” forum. thing is making them unhappy, and though BOTTOM, ULTIMA ONLINE’s Help screen is an example of a system designed to decrease the customer you must be a dictator, be a wise and service load by prescreening assistance calls and directing them to the best forum for getting prob- benevolent one. Give freely to your subjects lems resolved. whenever possible. Fix the little things as well as the big, because easy changes are Don’t respond on the message boards, and will call your main offices to gripe about appreciated just as much as the hard ones. they will page your in-game staff to gripe your staff ad infinitum. And above all, have fun. q about your poor phone and e-mail service, The solution is not to throw more bod- over which your in-game staff has no con- ies into your customer service department, Discuss this article on Gamastura.com! trol. This makes them think your in-game as there is an insatiable demand for indi- www.gamasutra.com/discuss/gdmag staff is ignoring their concerns, and they vidual attention in your customer base
www.gdmag.com 49 POSTMORTEM erich schaefer
Blizzard Entertainment’s DIABLO II
he original DIABLO went gold domly generating thousands of them. We on the day after Christmas in would improve the graphics with true trans- 1996, after a grueling four- parency, colored light sources, and a quasi- month crunch period. We 3D perspective mode. Level loads would be hadn’t put any thought into a thing of the past. The story would be fac- Twhat game to do next, but as most develop- tored in from the beginning and actually ers can probably relate to, we were pretty have some bearing on the quests. We knew certain we weren’t ready to return to the creating this opus would be a big job. DIABLO world after such a long develop- Because we had the gameplay basics already ment cycle. The only thing we were certain polished, we figured we would hire some of was that we wanted to avoid another new employees, create some good tools, and crunch like we had just experienced. DIABLO essentially make four times the original II went gold on June 15, 2000, after a gru- game doing only two times the work. We eling 12-month crunch period. estimated a two-year development schedule. After DIABLO shipped, we spent about The DIABLO II team comprised three three months recovering and kicking main groups: programming, character art around game ideas for our next project, but (everything that moves), and background nothing really stuck. The idea of returning art (everything that doesn’t move), with to DIABLO began to creep into the discus- roughly a dozen members each. Design was sions, and after a couple of months of recu- a largely open process, with members of all peration, we suddenly realized we weren’t teams contributing. Blizzard Irvine helped GAME DATA burned out on DIABLO anymore. We dusted out with network code and Battle.net sup- off the reams of wish-list items we had port. The Blizzard film department (also in PUBLISHER: Blizzard Entertainment remaining from the original, compiled criti- Irvine) contributed the cinematic sequences NUMBER OF FULL-TIME DEVELOPERS: 40 cisms from reviews and customers, and that bracket each of DIABLO’s acts, and col- began brainstorming how we could make laborated on the story line. LENGTH OF DEVELOPMENT: more than 3 years DIABLO II bigger and better in every way. Almost all of DIABLO II’s in-game and RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2000 DIABLO II never had an official, complete cinematic art was constructed and rendered design document. Of course, we had a in 3D Studio Max, while textures and 2D PLATFORMS: PC and Macintosh rough plan, but for the most part we just interface elements were created primarily DEVELOPMENT HARDWARE USED: Typical program- started off making up new stuff: four towns with Photoshop. The programmers wrote mer workstation: 500 MHz Pentium II running instead of the original game’s one; five char- in C and some C++, using Visual Studio Windows NT with 128MB RAM and 9GB hard acter classes, all different from the previous and SourceSafe for version control. drive. Typical artist workstation: dual 500 MHz three; and many new dungeons, vast wilder- Blizzard North started out as Condor Pentium IIs running Windows NT with 256MB ness tile-sets, and greatly expanded lists of Games in September 1993. The first con- RAM and 14GB hard drive. items, magic, and skills. We wanted to tracts we landed were ports of Acclaim’s improve upon every aspect of the original. QUARTERBACK CLUB football games for DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE USED: 3D Studio Max, Where DIABLO had three different armor handheld systems and, more significantly, a Photoshop, Microsoft Developer Studio/Visual “looks” for each character, DIABLO II would Sega Genesis version of JUSTICE LEAGUE Studio and SourceSafe use a component system to generate hun- TASK FORCE for Sunsoft. Silicon and NOTABLE TECHNOLOGIES USED: Glide, Direct3D, dreds of variations. Where DIABLO had Synapse, a developer that would later RAD Game Tools’ Bink, DirectSound3D, and “unique” boss monsters with special abili- change its name to Blizzard Entertainment, Creative Labs’ EAX. ties, DIABLO II would have a system for ran- was developing a Super Nintendo version
ERICH SCHAEFER | Erich is vice president of Blizzard North and one of its founders. Erich played a leadership role in the management, design, and art direction of DIABLO and DIABLO II. He got into the game development business from a background of graphic design and goofing off. With DIABLO II on the shelves, Erich and his new bride Hanna finally have time to get the house in order.
50 october 2000 | game developer While the player characters are only seen in the game as 75 pixels tall, all were modeled and rendered in high resolution for use on the character selection screen and in promo- tional materials. Here, the Paladin stands tall.
www.gdmag.com 51 POSTMORTEM
Creating detailed sketches of settings, such as this hut in the Act III dock Much time was spent perfecting Act I since it would likely be used in a town of Kurast, preceded the actual modeling of background art. beta test or demo. The Amazon was the first character to be completed. of JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE. Condor items, brought back only a handful of our generated levels, monsters, and treasure. ended up pitching the idea for DIABLO to favorite monsters, and designed a ton of This obviously allows for better replay Blizzard, and halfway through the result- new gameplay elements, such as running, potential, but also serves to make each ing development process Blizzard’s parent hirelings, left-click skills, and random player’s game his or her own. Players feel company acquired Condor, renaming us unique monsters. Why, then, did everyone an ownership of their own game experi- Blizzard North. Throughout a tangled his- think it was the same thing? In the end, we ence in that they are actively generating a tory of corporate juggling and ownership decided just to take it as a compliment. unique story. It’s enjoyable to tell friends changes, Blizzard North has remained a The play-testers and reviewers meant they about what you have just done in the very independent group. Our staff has were having exactly the same kind of fun game, knowing for sure that they have not grown steadily from about 12 at the start that they had in the original game. done the same thing. Simply following an of DIABLO to 24 at the start of DIABLO II, Both DIABLO and DIABLO II provide a online walk-through won’t help them and finally to our current group of more constant source of simple pleasures, many accomplish goals without effort. than 40. We concentrate 100 percent of of which are perhaps too basic and obvi- Finally, DIABLO and DIABLO II are easy our efforts on game development. To help ous to mention in evaluations and reviews, to play. We used what we call the “Mom keep this focus, Blizzard’s headquarters in but which are fundamental to their success. test”: could Mom figure this out without Irvine manages other functions, such as We used the term “kill/reward” to describe reading a manual? If we see new players quality assurance, marketing, public rela- our basic gameplay. Players continually kill struggling with how to sell items, we look tions, technical and customer support, as monsters and get rewarded with treasure at how they’re trying to do it and make well as the operation of the Battle.net and experience. But the rewards don’t stop that way work too. We strove to make the servers. Our parent company, Havas Inter- there. We offer a steady stream of goals interface as transparent as possible. You active, deals with business functions such and accomplishments to entice the player want to open a door? Left-click on it. as sales, manufacturing, and accounting. to keep playing. There’s always a quest Want to move to a target location? Left- that is almost finished, a waypoint almost click on it. Want to attack a monster, pick What Went Right reached, an experience level almost up an item, or talk to a non-player charac- achieved, and a dungeon nearly cleared ter? Well, you get the idea. It’s amazing DIABLO II is still DIABLO. A con- out. On a smaller scale, we tried to make how many games have different controls 1.stant theme in previews and every single action fun. Moving around and key combination for all these actions reviews of DIABLO II was that we didn’t inventory items produces pleasing sounds. when simpler is always better. change anything; it was more of the same. Monsters die in spectacular fashion, like At first that struck us as odd. We kept less piñatas exploding in a shower of goodies. Blizzard’s development than one percent of the code and art from We strove for overkill in this sense, in that 2.process. Blizzard’s development the first game. We rewrote the graphics players are constantly on the verge of process is designed to ensure that we make engine, changed all the character classes something great — only a few mouse-clicks a great game. While our goal is to meet and skills, shifted and expanded the set- away from a dozen interesting things. the milestones we set, our process, in ting, reworked and added to the magic DIABLO II retained DIABLO’s randomly terms of design and business, is structured
52 october 2000 | game developer to allow us to wait until the game is as that shape the game. A programmer sug- they gain an experience level. Characters good as it can be before we ship it. We rec- gested to a designer the concept of gem- can generalize by choosing a wide variety of ognize that not all developers have this socketed, upgradeable weapons, which skills, or specialize by allocating many skill same opportunity, but many of the meth- turned out to be a huge crowd-pleaser. A choices into a small group of skills. We also ods we use along the way are applicable to musician’s dislike for the old frog-demon’s created a strategy element of choosing skills any development environment. animation inspired us to redo it. As a you might not use, just so you can get to First, we make the game playable as soon team, we don’t have to wonder what our one further up the tree later. as possible in the development process. Our audience wants, because we are our audi- The end result of the skill tree is that initial priority was to get a guy moving ence. If we like the game we are making — one player can develop a Necromancer around on the screen and hacking monsters. especially if, after two years of playing it, who kills monsters with a powerful poison This is what players would be doing most we are not bored to death — the game is dagger skill augmented by curses that of the time, and it had to be fun. We were clearly going to be a winner. cause monsters to fight each other, while constantly able to hone the controls, path- his friend’s Necromancer will summon finding, and feedback mechanisms during Character skill tree. Our most hordes of skeletons to fight for him, and the entire length of the game’s development. 3.revolutionary new idea was the doesn’t use any curses at all. The longevity Most importantly, it allowed us to deter- character skill tree. For a character to of DIABLO II will be enhanced by the end- mine what was fun to do, so we could pro- attain more powerful skills, he or she must less strategies that can be debated and vide more of it, and discover what was master prerequisite skills. The ability for experimented with. awkward or boring, so we could modify or characters to branch into different areas of remove it. For instance, it became obvious the skill tree, and to choose a level of spe- Quality assurance. The task very early that players would be killing cialization in each skill along the way, pro- 4.of testing a game of DIABLO II’s large amounts of the same monsters, and vides truly unique characters. scope, with its huge degree of randomness those monsters would predominantly be At the start of development, we planned and its nearly infinite character skill and attacking the players. This gave us the to use the model from the original DIABLO: equipment paths, required a Herculean opportunity to plan for multiple death characters would find and read books to effort. We found we could not play-bal- sound effects and additional attacking ani- learn spells and skills. Unlike DIABLO, which ance the climactic fight against Diablo mations for each monster. If we hadn’t had 28 spells shared by all three characters, without actually playing the entire game experienced the core gameplay as early as we wanted to create a separate group of 16 up to that point, because we could not we did, combat would have ended up feel- skills for each of our five new character predict what kinds of equipment a charac- ing much more repetitive. classes. This would definitely have been an ter might have, or what path through the Also, we constantly reevaluate gameplay improvement, but every character of a given skill tree he or she may have followed. and features. Up until the very end, if we class would still end up knowing all the This meant 20 or 30 hours of play for all can make the game better we will, even if it same skills as other members of their class. the different characters, with a good vari- means redoing big tasks. For instance, we Another problem was that players would ety of skill sets and equipment for each. decided that we didn’t like the Bone Hel- likely be finding spell met graphics for the characters more than a books for other char- year after having rendered them, but we acter classes much went ahead and remade them, even though more often than for it took a couple of weeks and the collabo- their own. The skill ration of four artists. Only weeks away tree solved these from scheduled beta testing, we scrapped problems. The gener- our Act IV level layout schemes because al idea was taken they were just a bit too empty and similar. from the tech trees The last-minute fixes turned these levels many strategy games into some of the best, befitting their climac- employ. In strategy tic function. DIABLO II took more than 40 games, players people and over three years, essentially advance by research- because we made two or three games and ing new technologies, pared them down to the best one. which in turn open Another gigantic reason for our success up further avenues of is our open development process. We strive research. We adapted to hire people who love games, and we this to have our char- make games that we want to play. Every acters advance by The architecture in DIABLO combines aspects of many different cultures in member of the team has input into all choosing a new skill order to arrive at an interesting mix that doesn’t look too much like any aspects of the game. Discussions around or strengthening an single one. Here, the buildings of Travical from Act III are based on Mayan the halls and at lunch become the big ideas old skill every time and Aztec references.
www.gdmag.com 53 POSTMORTEM
Whenever we changed the game’s treasure list delineated more than 8,300 issues and Simultaneous worldwide spawn rate or experience curve, we had to suggestions. Well-organized teams of testers 5.release. In the past, Blizzard’s test it all again. Further complicating mat- concentrated on different aspects of the strategy for shipping its game has been to ters were multiplayer and difficulty-mode game, divided into groups that would specif- get games on North American retailers’ balance. Would a party of five Paladins, ically test character skills, item functionality, shelves as quickly as possible after the each using a different defensive aura, be monster types, and spawn rates, or explore English version of the game went gold. untouchable? After more than 100 hours the countless variations found in the ran- With the original DIABLO, we created our of play, is a fire-based Sorceress unable to dom level generation system. The members gold master on December 26, and some continue in “Hell mode”? of the QA team became very good players stores had it on the shelves by the 30th. The QA team created a web-based bug- and astute observers of the progress of the Since DIABLO was released, the percentage reporting database through which we cate- game. Everything worked much more of international customers had increased gorized and tracked all bugs, balance issues, smoothly than our experiences with the substantially, and with DIABLO II, we fully and gameplay suggestions. In the end, this original DIABLO. expect more than half of our sales to come from outside North America. With such a large number of customers located outside the United States, for DIABLO II we decided that there would be significant advantages to coordinating the U.S. release to coincide with the rest of the world, not only to build anticipation for the product, but for the benefit and satisfaction of our cus- tomers as well. If we release a game in the United States first, customers in the rest of the world don’t want to wait a few months while we translate and localize it for their country. Due in part to the international climate fostered by the Internet, players around the world all know about the game at the same time and want to get it while it’s hot. They might buy the U.S. version under the table or search out a pirated copy. Worse, they might lose inter- est by the time we release a localized ver- sion. DIABLO II’s simultaneous worldwide release also allowed our marketing and PR departments to focus their efforts toward creating a frenzy of interest for the first week of sales. Although the simultaneous release was a logistical headache, it was all worth it in light of DIABLO II’s superb success. What Went Wrong Developing the new Battle.net. 1.We have always been very proud that our company launched Battle.net with the original DIABLO. Just a couple of TOP. The player characters have modular armor of three varieties, light, medium, and heavy, which months after DIABLO shipped, Battle.net were mixed and matched to provide more individualized character appearances. “Paper dolls” creat- was the largest online game service in the ed on paper and in Photoshop allowed mixing and matching of different pieces of armor to see how world. At DIABLO II’s launch, Battle.net had they worked together on the Barbarian. more than 6 million unique active users. BOTTOM. The Barbarian, translated from the sketches into a full, high-polygon model. Each part of a Despite the original DIABLO’s success character’s armor (the head, the torso, the legs, each arm, a weapon, and a shield) was rendered online, we knew as we began development separately with in-house tools. that to create the type of multiplayer expe-
54 october 2000 | game developer Characters and monsters, such as this Vampire, were created in 3D Studio Max. An in-house tool would render the files from many different angles (eight for all monsters, 16 for player characters), and export them in the file formats used in the game. rience that we wanted to achieve in DIABLO Launching the new Battle.net. simulated in a beta test of 100,000 people. II, we would need to fundamentally change 2.The success of Battle.net after It took a much larger influx of players to the game network. And, as we expected, DIABLO’s launch created a new challenge trigger certain situations. this became one of our biggest challenges for us. When DIABLO was released, Knowing the massive scope of what we during development. We had to reinvent Battle.net was a new online service. Basi- were trying to achieve with Battle.net, we Battle.net’s structure by melding existing cally, we were able to ramp up as more had measures in place at launch to help us technology with new programming and customers joined the service. When DIA- deal with issues that arose as usage feature sets. This had implications across BLO II shipped, Battle.net had millions of increased. For instance, we maintained the board. We had to rethink everything — users. The level of anticipation was higher both a team of programmers and the entire programming, hardware, bandwidth, than for any of our other games. We were quality assurance department to solve staffing, online support, and how we could well aware of the expectations, and we problems as they appeared, and had our financially support this model while keep- knew that no other company had ever support team working overtime. We also ing it free. attempted to create and sustain an online had an action plan in place to increase Although the original Battle.net had been service that could support the type of hardware and bandwidth as needed. further modified to support STARCRAFT as a usage DIABLO II would experience right In some respects, we are victims of our chat and matchmaking service, for DIABLO out of the chute. own success. We underestimated sales, but II we needed much more: game servers We spent countless hours preparing for we also underestimated the allure of play- where the Realm games would actually be Battle.net’s DIABLO II debut. We teamed ing on the Battle.net Realms. By solving the played, secure character-data servers, and with the best ISPs in the word, and con- cheating problem in DIABLO and enhancing game tracking systems. Trying to shoehorn ducted months of internal and external Battle.net with new features — such as the these elements in the existing Battle.net sys- beta testing. We ramped up bandwidth ability to see everyone’s characters in the tem proved very difficult. For instance, we and hardware. We beefed up the chat room — we seem to have attracted a planned to have character names represent Battle.net, quality assurance, and support larger share of Battle.net players than with players in Battle.net, but it was designed to service teams. any of our previous titles. handle chatting between account names. It Although we had more than 100,000 took a lot of design and implementation people testing the DIABLO II Realms, hav- Graphics. Shortly before DIABLO time to arrive at our final system, where ing more than one million customers in 3.II shipped, we began noticing users see character names but have to send just three weeks proved to be very differ- some feedback from customers about the remote messages to account names. ent from beta testing. The beta test was resolution of the graphics in the game. We initially believed that working with very successful in uncovering many stabili- They were frequently labeled “outdated” the existing Battle.net would save us time, ty issues that were addressed before the or “pixellated.” The shame is that the tech- but in retrospect, we learned that melding launch. After the game shipped, we faced nology choices we made eclipsed the recog- technologies is a difficult process, and in bugs that only appeared at much higher nition of the fantastic job the artists did. some cases, recoding instead of integrating usage rates. The issues that we faced at We put a lot of effort into creating charac- is the better course of action. launch were ones that could not have been ters, monsters, and landscapes with a lot of
www.gdmag.com 55 POSTMORTEM
unique character. The game displays an want to take the time to improve them. player mode, where every facet of the incredible amount of action happening on- Unfortunately, in most of these cases, we game state can be saved to files and screen in an easy-to-follow manner. Still, were not really almost done with the reloaded at will, we opted to make all with all the negative reaction, we probably game, and in retrospect a couple of weeks’ modes behave more like DIABLO’s multi- should have done it differently. worth of work would have helped in the player game. In DIABLO II, we do not save When we began producing art for year or more of development remaining. the world state. Reloading the game resets DIABLO II in mid-1997, we investigated a The greatest deficiency of our tools was the location of monsters and treasures lot of options. We mocked up a 3D engine that they did not operate within our game every time. The character is placed in the and checked out voxel systems. It didn’t engine. We could not preview how mon- town he or she last visited, not in the take us long to go back to what we used in sters would look in the environments they wilderness or a dungeon. DIABLO: 2D graphics at 640×480 resolution would inhabit. We couldn’t even watch Although this choice was slightly contro- with 8-bit color depth. At that time it was them move around until a programmer versial around the office, it had a lot of still the only way to get eight characters, took the time to implement an AI. Even advantages. For one, players could not get upwards of 30 monsters, and upwards of after that, an artist would have to hassle stuck, unable to progress further. At any 100 missiles all interacting on the screen at someone to get a current working build of time you can restart in town, refight the one time without sacrificing detail and the game to see his creation in action. Our same monsters for more experience and atmosphere. sound effects engineers ended up painstak- loot, and return to a difficult area when The graphics criticism caught us by sur- ingly creating .AVI movie versions of ani- ready. We created a waypoint system that prise. We thought (and still think) that the mations in order to synch sounds with allows characters in new games to return game looked great. We probably should actions. Our lack of tools created long quickly somewhere close to where they quit have built in a scaling technology to take turnaround times, where artists would end the previous game. Finding new waypoints advantage of hardware that could display up having to re-animate monsters or make is a rewarding mini-goal during play. We the same graphics at higher resolutions. In missing background tiles months after the also wanted to discourage the type of play any case, DIABLO II will probably be our initial work was completed. where players feel they must always save last 2D game. We should have made tools that let us the game right before a difficult section, create content within the game engine. then constantly die and reload until they get Tools. We developed the original Instead of just handing off a set of anima- lucky and make it through. Finally, it was 4.DIABLO with almost no propri- tions and hoping they looked all right just easier to make single-player games and etary tools at all. We cut out all the back- when dropped into the game, artists multiplayer games work the same way, and ground tiles by hand and used commercial should have had the ability to position and multiplayer requires the method we used. software to process the character art. Spells orchestrate their creations themselves. The A lot of players don’t like our decision. and monsters were balanced by verbal esti- extra tool development time would have They feel it is too inconvenient to have to mates (“Hey, lets make the lightning about been more than offset by increased effi- fight their way back though the same ten percent weaker.”). DIABLO II’s vastly ciency and higher-quality work. areas and monsters. Many also want the increased scale required much better tools, opportunity to experiment with skill and we made some, but not enough. Save-game methodology. As choices and equipment purchases, then In many cases we created tools to speed 5.much as we tried to make a frus- later revert the game back to an earlier up content creation, but then abandoned tration-free game, we seem to have failed state if they don’t like the results. There them. Too often, we decided to keep using some people with our save-game scheme. are good points on both sides, and we inferior tools because we thought we were Eschewing the common save-game feature probably didn’t spend enough time devel- almost done with the game, and didn’t we used in the original DIABLO’s single- oping alternatives.
Some of the many locales in Act II: The Sand-Maggot lair (left), Jerhyn’s Palace (center), and the Sewers (right). Background elements were created and rendered in 3D Studio Max. The rendered files were cut into tiles and assembled into modular “rooms” with an in-house tile-editing tool. The game engine reassembles the rooms to provide a randomized game environment.
56 october 2000 | game developer Monsters have 14 possible classifications of animation, from basics such as Walk, Attack 1, and Death, to the seldom-used Block, Run, and four Special modes, reserved for miscellaneous animations. Diablo is the only monster who uses every animation category available. The Final Word
any more things “went right” than could fit in that section. M Our internally controversial plan to tell a separate but paral- lel story through our cinematic sequences seems to have succeeded, and the workmanship and quality of these sequences has set a new standard. Our marketing and PR departments did a fantastic job building customer awareness and creating a frenzy of interest. DIA- BLO II’s music is outstanding, and along with an amazing array of sound effects, contributes hugely to the atmosphere of the game. The development of DIABLO II is a remarkable success story. We got the opportunity to make the game we wanted to make — and the game we wanted to play. DIABLO II turned out to be a great game, one that many of us still play every day. Initial sales figures are phenomenal, and reviews have tended to be better than those of its predecessor. We have gained a lot of experience that should help us make even better games in the future. The only major downside to DIABLO II’s development was the inhuman amount of work it required. A yearlong crunch period puts a huge burden on people’s relationships and quality of life. Our biggest challenge for the future is figuring out how to keep making giant games like DIABLO II without burning out. As a start, we are hoping our experience will help us do a better job scheduling and managing the workload. We also believe that tak- ing the time to make better tools will make things easier at the end of projects. Although I tried to avoid personalizing this article, I am extraordinarily proud of the entire development team. DIABLO II could not have happened without all the superb individual efforts, the incredible creativity, and the whole team’s dedication to the project, for which they have earned my gratitude, and no doubt that of the legions of players who enjoy the game. q
Discuss this article in Gamasutra’s Connection! www.gamasutra.com/discuss/gdmag
www.gdmag.com 57 SOAPBOX cliff bleszinski
Staking Our Own Claim In Entertainment
dds are, the gaming indus- games so unexciting that we need pinup So why does our apparent inferiority try will once again make pictures and washed-up actors to draw complex persist? One reason could be more money this year attention to them? that in a game, the real “stars” are the than Hollywood takes in As an industry, we’re afraid to make and games’ characters, not the developers. at the box office. Yet we market our own brands. A team of talented Some see Lara Croft as the original gam- Ostill continue to act like we’re Holly- developers who create their own franchise ing starlet, which (depending on whom wood’s unpopular, ugly little brother, and want to build a new, original universe you ask) might be a step in the right both by borrowing franchises and brands will often fight an uphill battle with a pub- direction. Developers are more akin to as well as by mooching Hollywood lisher who wants to slap an existing brand cinematographers, screenwriters, and celebrities to endorse our products. This on it in an attempt to add value. directors, who frequently exist behind the problem is prevalent at scenes and rarely get the every corner of our credit that a film’s stars industry, from trade get. Still, by comparison, shows to journalism to these jobs are viewed as game music. more thrilling than game Consumer gaming development. A guy sit- magazines are subject to ting at a keyboard in the this infection as well. dark in front of a moni- Recently there has been a tor who works on code is rash of magazines that hardly as exciting to most claim to not only cover people as a screenwriter games but also “life- or director. style.” Lifestyle, to these So what can be done magazines, apparently about our industry’s over- means interviews with all sense of insecurity and no-name actors who have inferiority? First, we need nothing to do with gam- to start by making our ing whatsoever, and the own franchises. At the fact that some of these same time, we must magazines have folded in understand where pub- recent months suggests lishers are coming from consumers may want and have patience with something else to define them. It is your job to the games they play. convince the publisher At E3, it’s a very com- that your original brand mon sight to see aging, is better than the existing second-rate actors brand that they want to endorsing products, and stick on your title. From gaming web sites and their point of view they magazines eat it up with can have either “existing, “celebrity sightings!” proven brand X” or Hey, kids, sneak into E3 “what’s behind door and you might meet number 2.” You’d need
Daisy Duke! Big deal. Are Sosonko by Craig illustration continued on page 63
64 october 2000 | game developer SOAPBOX
continued from page 64 help build the brand behind the software. own projects and identities rather than some convincing if you were in their Finally, we need to continue to raise licensing “brand X” or we will become shoes, too. By making our own franchises our standards and production values. Most just another platform for the Hollywood we’ll ultimately make more money consumers are better than you might think advertising machine rather than the gen- instead of paying a steep price for an at judging good production design versus uine art form that is developing and begin- existing brand that may or may not work. hacked-together scenes, and distinguish- ning to flourish today. We’ll also make better games. Great ing talented voice acting from what your We are our own future, and it’s time we games stand on their own and sell regard- animator’s sister can provide. If we meet take our place at the forefront of the enter- less of existing brands. or better yet exceed their expectations for tainment industry. q Second, we need to do a better job of quality entertainment, then our industry branding ourselves as people and teams. id will grow at an even faster rate. CLIFF BLESZINSKI | Cliff is 25 years Software did a great job of building noto- Like most other folks young and old, I old and already considered an industry veter- riety not only because of the phenomenon enjoy movies. I’ll admit that I love going an. He has been in the industry professionally that was DOOM, but because of the inter- to the theater on a summer night to watch since the age of 17, when he designed the hit esting, dynamic personalities behind it. a mindless popcorn flick. However, when I title JAZZ JACKRABBIT for Epic Games. A JAZZ The flamboyant Romero, the genius Car- was growing up I wanted to meet Shigeru sequel followed soon after, and he then went mack, and the enigmatic Cloud all con- Miyamoto, not Robert DeNiro. I wanted on to co-design the hugely successful UNREAL tributed to and helped define the id brand. to meet Richard Garriott, not Steven Spiel- and UNREAL TOURNAMENT. Cliff is now lead Fascinating, real people behind the games berg. We need to continue to push our designer on Epic’s upcoming projects.
www.gdmag.com 63