GAME DEVELOPER MAGAZINEDEVELOPERGAME REVISITING ANDROID +++ POSTMORTEM: HUNDREDS +++ INTRO TO USER ANALYTICS MAY2013

MAY 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 05 THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE INDUSTRY GAME LEADING THE VOLUME 20 NUMBER 05 NUMBER 20 VOLUME

THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE GAME DESTINATION: BLACKBERRY 10

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POSIX-based Consistent form Development tools Leading game OS, support factor makes it using Microsoft engine and for openGL ES, easy for Visual Studio and middleware OpenAL developers Eclipse EDT support

Shadowgun image courtesy of SHADOWGUN, by MADFINGER. Alpha Zero images courtesy of Funkoi Ltd. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. © 2013 BlackBerry. All rights reserved. BlackBerry® and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Start mapping out your success developer.blackberry.com/games

Visit the BlackBerry booth at the Nordic Game Conference Malmö, Sweden on May 22-24, 2013 Project

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Sign up for the Project Anarchy newsletter on projectanarchy.com or join us on the interwebs for updates! EDITIONPOSTMORTEM BALDUR’SGATE: ENHANCED 31 INTERNALINDIES 27 INTROTO USERANALYTICS 22 ANDROID,REVISITED 12 Features HUNDREDS 34 Postmortem 064 060 058 056 055 052 045 040 011 009 008 006 004 Departments retdDvlpet [Humor] Arrested Development InsertCredit Aural Fixation Design oftheTimes [Programming] The Business Pixel Pusher InnerProduct Toolbox Educated Play HeadsUpDisplay GamePlan Trent Oster BioWare’s classic RPGto theiPad. By through theinsandoutsofbringing Trent Oster walksGameDeveloper Stopps their own internal “indie” group. By Steve revolution. Here’s how onestudio setup learn athingortwo from theindie Established gamedev studios could El-Nasr Seif AlessandroDrachen, Canossa, andMagy you actuponyour findings? ByAnders what shouldyou track, andhow should games—and makingmore money. But be apowerful tool for makingbetter Tracking your players’ behaviorcan pulse. ByPatrick Miller Android gamedevs to take themarket’s poor sales? We interviewed several issues ofplatform fragmentation and Are Android gamedevs still plaguedby team’s efforts to design went rightandwhatwent wrong inhis Indie dev AdamSaltsmantells uswhat GDC News Good Job Adam Saltsman a mobile gamefrom theground up.By VOLUME 20NUMBER05 CONTENTS_ H 003 May 2013 UNDREDS [Education] [Business] [Editorial] [Editorial] [Review] [Design] [Career] [Sound] [News] [News] as [Art]

003 game developer magazine 004 game developer magazine THE COSTOFDISRUPTION ASH HEAPOFHISTORY F that mightjust betheElvis for someoneelse. industry inthefirst place, butto learn new thingssowe can make new things—things that thejobaheadofusisnot to remake theworks thatinspired us to enter this medium. (Samegoesfor editors.) Solike Autobots, we transform and roll out,knowing major trend ingames dosoattheriskoftheircareers andtheirrelevance to the denial. Thereality is thatgamedevelopers whoignore mobile, orindies,anyother …COMES FROMSOMEOTHER BEGINNING’SENDThere ispride,andthen there is died abittoday. Welcome to theonly gameintown.” joy thatisunchecked bytheinjuriesofexperience andfailure. Inotherwords, you two you willbeyoung once again,andfeel atcapricious intervals theweightlessness ofa webcomic called Achewood, onthestrip for thedaythatMichaelJacksondied: or somethingridiculous like that.Ithinkperhapsthebest explanation comes from a Frank wasonthatday,andhe’s probably goingto namehisfirstborn GuybrushCifaldi games through; Ionly played afew ofthosegamesmyself,butIwas just asdown as any love for atleast adecade. We don’t miss of thestudio’s legacy despite the fact thatallthegameswe mournedhadn’tseen Gamasutra news director Frank Cifaldi aboutwhyeveryone wasmourningtheloss the wire, Ihadachatwithformer GameDeveloper EICBrandon Sheffield andformer EVERY NEWBEGINNING…Whennews ofLucasArts’s exit from gamedevelopment hit chance to make somethinggood,andnow it’s beingsupplanted bysomethingelse. resist thechangeasbest we can, ofcourse. It’s amatter ofpride;we just gotthe necessarily thekindofwork thatpersonally engagesus.We can digourheelsinand wholeheartedly anew aspectofthemediumknowing thatthework we’re doingisn’t that inspired usto jointhisindustry ourselves, anditcan behard to embrace form (well, more like microform, really) gamesandwriting.Butthatisn’tthework play in30-second bursts andwritingin140-character chunks. devices drastically changesthewaypeople wantto playorread; we wantgamesto start playingyour gameorreading myarticles. Ontheotherhand,designofthese given moment, someonewithafew spare seconds could whipouttheirphoneand Internet-connected computer meansthatourpotential audience hasexploded. Atany On onehand,thefact thatpractically everyone carries around somekindofhandheld, experienced similardisruptive patterns from theriseofmobile computing platforms. CLOSING TIMEInasense,boththepublishingindustry andthegameindustry have We’ve gotasupportgroup goingdown bythebar,andwe’ll save you aseat. have enoughfuture-friendly buzzwords to satisfyyour management,we understand. survey, andthoseofyou whowere laidoffbecause whatever you were working ondidn’t rather bittersweet. celebrates thenew andexciting world ofmobile gamedevelopment isdelicious, if official issue isthenext one(June-July). Stickaround for it;it’s gonnabegood. its printpublications. That’s right—ifyou haven’t already heard, GameDeveloper’s last topic untilnow israther shortsighted onourpart. to ignore, andthefact thatGameDeveloper hasn’tever devoted anentire issue to the years, mobile gameshave grown into apartoftheindustry nodeveloper can afford enthusiastic Iamto introduce ourfirst-ever mobile-themed issue. Inthepast few Had Iwritten thiseditorial two weeks earlier,I’dprobably bewritingabouthow we miss GAME PLAN_ 004 ANDANGO Welcome to theonly game intown. “He wasyour Elvis, andwhenyour Elvis dies,sodoestheprivate liethatsomeday As creators, we know thatthere are truly great thingsyou can dowithshort- To thoseofyou worried aboutyour future intriple-A dev dueto last month’s salary Of course, theirony ofannouncingthatwe’re ceasing publication intheissue that Then Ifound outthatGameDeveloper’s parent company UBMTech wasaxingall M ONKEY . And,weirdly enough,we miss themeven ifwe haven’t played eachofthose

gp I May 2013 SLAND and F ULL T HROTTLE S and TAR W X-W ARS ING : T

VS HE . TIEF F ORCE Editor, GameDeveloper IGHTER U NLEASHED -Patrick Miller and @pattheflip G RIM ;

Simon Carless [email protected] PUBLISHER EDITORIAL www.gdmag.com/contactus [email protected] t: 800.250.2429f:847.763.9606 ADDRESS CHANGES FOR INFORMATION, ORDERQUESTIONS,AND SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES t: 415.947.6000f:415.947.6090 San Francisco, CA 94107 303 Second Street, Suite 900,SouthTower UBM LLC. ubm.sms-inc.com [email protected] t: 631-787-3008x3020 Specialist Marketing Services Peter Candito LIST RENTAL Nancy Grant e:[email protected] AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT t: 877-562-5972 Jason Pampell WRIGHT’S MEDIA REPRINTS t: 516-562-5134 Robert Steigleider [email protected] PRODUCTION MANAGER ADVERTISING PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joseph Mitch [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Dan Mallory [email protected] MANAGER, PRODUCTION Brandon [email protected] EDITOR EMERITUS Patrick Miller [email protected] EDITOR t: 415.947.6223 Rafael Vallin [email protected] GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION t: 415.947.6241 Gina Gross [email protected] GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, RECRUITMENT t: 415.947.6227 Jennifer [email protected] MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER t: 415.947.6227 Aaron Murawski [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT,SALES ADVERTISING SALES Brenda Romero LootDrop Mike Acton Insomniac Carey Chico Independent Mark DeLoura Independent Bijan Forutanpour Qualcomm Clinton KeithIndependent Brad Bulkley Microsoft Mick West Independent ADVISORY BOARD El-Nasr Drachen, Alessandro Canossa, MagySeif Wasteland, MagnusUnderland,Anders Kim Pallister, Brandon Sheffield,Matthew Theodore, Soren Johnson,DavidKanaga, Saltsman, Nate Ralph,DeanEllis,Steve Alexandra Hall,Steve Stopps, Adam WWW.UBM.COM [email protected] WWW.GDMAG.COM MAGAZINE GAME DEVELOPER What’s in a Blueprint?

Unlocking Epic Games’ new Unreal Engine 4 Blueprint visual scripting system Above: Epic recently presented the “Infiltrator” real-time demo to highlight Unreal Engine 4’s latest features. The vehicle conveyor apparatus shown here is a Legions of developers rely upon Unreal Engine 3’s Blueprint. Center: Everything in this alien hovership game, which was created by Epic’s principal artist Shane Caudle in his spare time, is made entirely with Unreal Kismet, which is used to quickly build game- Blueprints. This includes the HUD, input handling, animation, gameplay controls, play prototypes and level events. With Unreal Engine 4 Epic introduces Blueprints, a revolutionary new visual scripting system that replaces Kismet and provides a massive leap in functionality and productivity. Blueprint visual scripting empowers artists and de- signers like never before by providing access to low level engine functions and the ability to rapidly proto- type without having to write a single line of code. Supported by built-in debugging tools and enhanced by Unreal Engine 4’s brand new interface, Blueprints deliver all the power of Kismet along with the ability to visually script reusable components for gameplay, AI, player controls, geometry creation and numerous other enemy AI, character setup, weapons, projectiles, and effects. Bottom: Unreal Engine 4’s new persona animation system provides state support and animation features. These components can be used as pervasive blending. Blueprints enable quick adjustment of speed, transitioning between states, parts of the world, so when a Blueprint is updated, the fine-tuning a character’s pitch, yaw and much more. change affects all parts of the game where the Blue- print is present. Blueprints can be utilized for gameplay behavior, animation blending, level building and design, and as mentioned before, object construction. Epic is only scratching the surface of what Blueprints can do so far. The only limitation is one’s imagination, and it will be exciting to see how Unreal Engine 4 licensees unleash their creativity with the new toolset. For additional info and the latest news about Unreal Engine, please visit unrealengine.com.

Come see Epic at upcoming industry events: Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) (June 11-13, Los Angeles, CA), Develop Conference (July 9-11, Brighton, UK), ChinaJoy (July 25-27, Shanghai, China). Email [email protected] for appointments and sign up for our newsletter at unrealengine.com.

© 2013, Epic Games, Inc. Epic, Epic Games, the Epic Games logo, Unreal, Unreal Engine, UE3 and UE4 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. h

006 game developer magazine PLAYERS MAKES ITEASYFORINDIEDEVS TO SELLDIRECTLY TO NEW PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT STOREFRONT SERVICE INDIE DEVS INDIE STORE FOR what-you-want? inspiration for itch.io? PATRICK MILLER: LEAF CORCORAN: PATRICK MILLER: use ittoo. thought others mightlike to Ludum Dare gamejam,and a few gameshemadefor the (www.itch.io) inorder to sell his own service called itch.io game dev Leaf Corcoran built making agame?Independent storefront ontop ofactually time to buildtheir own PWYW indie dev supposed to take the pay thebills.Buthow isan into something thatcan also to turntheirpassion projects have struggled to find ways as creative typesofallkinds Internet over thelast few years, plenty ofinterest across the business modelhasattracted The pay-what-you-want weeks untilI finally released it. though ittook aboutfive more majority oftheprogramming then, off from mydayjobanddidthe you-want model.SoItook aweek doing pretty well withapay-what- could tell itseemedlike they were pages everywhere, and from whatI keep onseeing Bandcamp music later Iwasthinkingabouthow I I puttheideaoff,butafew weeks be nice. simple game-page generator would manual work. SoIthoughtjust a because there isagoodamountof something like thisiskindofapain experience makingweb sites, doing some screenshots. AlthoughIhave each onewithadownload linkand wanted to putupminiweb sites for few gamesfor LudumDare andI fairly recently. Ihadcompleted a HEADS-UP DISPLAY 006 Whatwasthe Whygetbehind pay- The ideacame to me h _ May 2013 your cut? start theirown storefront? What’s does ittake for anindividualdev to LEAF CORCORAN: PATRICK MILLER: LEAF CORCORAN: download URLsare restricted to thedownloads ifthey wish.The prompted to pay,butthey can skip 0 meansthatthe userwillbe access. Aminimumprice of price you can restrict download the files, butifyou setaminimum By default, anyone can download you can thinkof. soundtracks, art books, or whatever other goodieswithyour game like type, soyou are free to give out upload files. Thefiles can beofany crap thatdidn’taddto thegame. were allplaguedwithabunchof for other similar marketplaces, they important. WhenIlooked around the bottom). Ithinkthat’s pretty for itch.io (except for atinylinkon game. There are nologos orlinks The gamepagesare allaboutthe your gameready to bedistributed. to have afast andsimple wayto get account. Ithinkit’s really important it immediately after registering an make agamepageandyou can do started; itdoesn’ttake long to profound thingsaboutthesite. I thinkthat’s oneofthemost they can give you somemoney. it upsoifsomeonelikes your game like thisinafew clicksyou can set money for them,butwithasystem probably never considered getting that just sitaround, andthey out there whohave madegames are a lot ofindiegamedevelopers experiment to me.I’msure there games—this whole thingisabig what-you-want isagoodmodelfor from experience onwhetherpay- With eachgameyou can also How muchwork Ireally can’t speak It’s very easyto get pipeline asfar asnew features? been sofar? the service. cut ofalltransactions asafee for are handled byPayPal. Itake a10% and soon.Currently allpayments purchase statistics, nice graphs, their pages—view, download, and the gamedevelopers insight to any platform. Also,Itryto give means you can upload gamesfor exactly asyou upload them.This from a browser andthey are kept the files are downloaded right is noDRMordownload client; pay before they download. There everyone getstheopportunityto share adirect linkto afile, so such thatit’s notpossible to LEAF CORCORAN: PATRICK MILLER: LEAF CORCORAN: PATRICK MILLER: browse thegames database. an “explore” pagesopeople can providers besidesPayPal, andbuild want to addotheronlinepayment (Flash, Unity,HTML5).Also,I ideas for hosting onlinegames right now, butI’mcoming upwith I only supportdownloadable games here are someofthemajorones: things are looking goodsofar. transactions. Smallbeginnings,but and five dollars andonecent of so far, with33gamescreated About 80people have signedup I released itasearly aspossible. cool—it’s oneofthereasons why suggestions, whichispretty I’m satisfied. Igetalot offeature marketing to do,though,before and Reddit.I’ve still gotalot of along withFacebook, Google+, developer message boards, posted itonahandfulofgame What’s next inthe How hasreception I’ve gotalot ofideas; Pretty good.I’ve —Patrick Miller h 007 HEADS-UP DISPLAY_May 2013

FAREWELL LUCASARTS DEVS SAY GOOD-BYE TO A BELOVED STUDIO

They were built on a winning combination of low-stress “mechanics and propelled by genuinely good writing. Many of the characters had heart and soul, the imagined worlds they inhabited were crafted with an impressive attention to detail, and in many cases the personalities and some aspect of the creators came through. Each of the mid-’90s LucasArts adventure video games is memorable on its own, but taken together they represent a studio’s glorious golden age that, in a fate similar to Atlantis (sorry), seemed to suddenly and cataclysmically sink beneath the ocean waves in the late ’90s. —Craig “Superbrothers”” Adams DAY OF THE TENTACLE. Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin; they had In early April, the Walt Disney Company announced “so many titles that stand out. Their adventure games it was shutting down all of LucasArts’s internal basically defi ned an era, with MANIAC MANSION, DAY OF THE game development and turning it into a licensing TENTACLE, ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND, FULL THROTTLE, house. Faced with this news, Game Developer sister and GRIM FANDANGO. INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF publication Gamasutra asked game devs to answer ATLANTIS is probably one of my favorite adventure games the following question: What is it about the classic of all time. Indiana Jones and the adventure game genre go LucasArts adventure games that makes them timeless? together… well, like fedoras and bullwhips. And for me, FATE Here is a selection of the answers we received. OF ATLANTIS delivered not only one my favorite adventure stories but also one of the best Indiana Jones stories ever. They often broke the fourth wall and made you feel like Certainly better than THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Sorry, George. “you were in on the joke. As if the joke was ‘Can you believe —Mark Rubin (Infi nity Ward)” we get to make these things?’ It was exhilarating and inspiring. Even today, my fantasy of what game development In adventure games, verbs are mechanics and writing nirvana feels like stems from my experience playing those “is gameplay. The two can live in harmony. LucasArts made games, and the insinuation that they were created in the some of the best—by turns thrilling, funny, strangely most liberating and creative environment on earth. morbid—and I will always be grateful for that.” —Mike Mika (Other Ocean ”Interactive) —C.J. Kershner (Ubisoft Montreal)

What I love about the classic LucasArts adventures as Classic LucasArts adventures are timeless because their “a game-industry person is that it seems like every single “infl uences are timeless. Frankenstein and fi lm noir and person in the game industry has played them. So you buddy comedies and teen movies, classic pulpy sci-fi and can use any of the games as shorthand when discussing swashbuckling movie serials crossed with irreverent, real, something (‘We need a Manny-like character for this’), believable characters living in outrageous worlds. I loved and more importantly, you can instantly learn a lot about FULL THROTTLE’s neo-noir before I knew what fi lm noir was. someone by what LucasArts adventures they like most (‘OK, I loved DAY OF THE TENTACLE’s Bernard, Hoagie, and Laverne you’re a MONKEY ISLAND guy? Got it. Still focused on putting archetypes before I’d ever seen the teen-movie source material. the hamster in the microwave in MANIAC MANSION? Cool. But regardless of the specifi c references and inspirations, You like THE DIG?! Right on…’). Because everyone has played classic LucasArts adventures are timeless because great, clever, them, they’re basically a Rorschach test for people in the earnest, memorable, human writing is timeless, and that is the game industry at this point. foundation on which all those great games were built. ” —Chris Charla (Microsoft Studios) —Steve Gaynor (The Fullbright” Company)

LucasArts writers and designers like Ron Gilbert and We’d spend months thinking about our games… “Tim Schafer brought to the table a wonderful knack for “brainstorming with the other brilliant designers, refi ning, character and dialogue, and I think the reason people still reworking, revamping, tossing out the parts that didn’t work (or talk about those early titles today is that we all have favorite the entire concept) and starting again. One of our edicts was scenes that we still remember. They also achieved a kind of ‘don’t ship shit’ and we wanted to make sure we never did. unstudied greatness that comes from not taking yourself too —David Fox (LucasArts” alum) seriously. MONKEY ISLAND II actually ended gameplay with a long list of things you could go out and do other than play —Frank Cifaldi video games. Who does that now? This article is an excerpt of an article originally posted on Gamasutra. —Peter” McConnell (LucasArts alum) You can fi nd the full-length version here: http://bit.ly/YXJG2L game developer magazine 007 008 game developer magazine ALEXANDRA HALL: video games. have abetter perspective on games. Ithinkthathelpedme brother andwatching himplay childhood issittingnext to my player. WhatIremember from I’m notalongtime videogame become agamedeveloper. was oneofmyfirst steps to MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: F to create games? player. to you What want drives that you’re not alongtime game called years, Ifound XNA.Makinga then VisualBasic.After afew years agowithQBasicand programming abouteight creatingstarted games? developing while Iranian. and theupsdowns of with Mahdito discuss Farsh Netherlands. We checked in Applied Sciences inthe NHTV Breda University of who’s studying atthe original gameplay concepts, with aknackfor concocting a young Iranian developer game from MahdiBahrami, Festival. It’s just thelatest 2013 IndependentGames Showcase Finalist inthe mechanic, wasaStudent clever carpet-unfurling puzzle gamewitha EDUCATED PLAY _ 008 HTTP://MARSIGAMES.BLOGSPOT.COM FARSH ARSH , aPersian-themed P I started learning ERSIAN It’s interesting What got you T ETRIS May 2013

Where fi doyou ideas? nd your get surprisingly complicated. achieving mydream. programming wasthekey to was adream for me.Learning able to create myown games a longtime player, butbeing original gamesare not always enough. game ifIthinkit’s notdifferent it. Idon’tstart working ona lot aboutthemain ideabehind I start to work onit,Ithinka to make anew game,before MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: MAHDI BAHRAMI: B games? interested inmakingoriginal games (

O PHOTO CREDIT Joram Walters. ) seemsimple at first, but F ARSH Yeah, I’mnot Yeah, even if WhenI’mgoing , N So you are you So only of Several your EGA K ON !, music in Rasouli created theexcellent creators? Inoticed Moslem to collaborate withother game with Moslem made make more originalgames. culture andithelpsme to are somehow inspired by my Persian culture. Mygames familiar withmany details of the opportunityto become game developer. Ihave about beinganIranian great games. Studio have potential to make Studio, andSourena Game Farhoud Farmand, DeadMage many gamedevelopers inIran. for anykindofart.Iknow many talented artists inIran MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: to designuniquegames. successful, Iwon’t stop trying a gamedeveloper inIran? of andnegatives positives being talented people. like to collaborate withother in Iran, andofcourse I[would] the young talented artists living beginning; heisanexample of better thanwhatitwasinthe makers? other Iranian/Persian game F ARSH Yeah, collaborating Ifeel good There are so Would want you Are there many . What are the F ARSH much much mentioned. to overcome thedifficulties I contact meifthey can helpme ask themto visitmyblog and living intheNetherlands. recently, even thoughIam for theU.S.wasrejected said before myvisaapplication because I’mstill Iranian. AsI difficulties are still withme, since Icame here) butthose (it’s aboutseven months studying intheNetherlands MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: MAHDI BAHRAMI: ALEXANDRA HALL: example: of mynationality. Just asan many problems just because On theotherhand,Ihave around theworld? game-makingpeers with your any message like you’d to share elsewhere? considered emigrating some ofthecompetitions. allowed to submitmygamesto a PayPal account. AndI’m not Iranian I’mnotallowed to have Indie Games,etc. Also,asan on theAppStore, Xbox Live games officially asanIranian difficulties Ihave. rejected. Thisisonly oneofthe my visaapplication was to travel to theU.S.because IGF finalists, butIwasnotable feedback. videos for gatheringdesign the game,Iusedthose For thefinal version of playing Farsh to YouTube. of theirexperience of uploaded gameplayvideos on myblog, manypeople first version ofthegame A funfact: After puttingthe game: About2,000 # oflinescode inthe Development budget:$0 months Development time:2 22, 2012 Release date: September and Moslem Rasouli Developer: MahdiBahrami I’m notable to sellmy F ARSH Iwould like to I’mcurrently Do you have Doyou Have you isoneofthe gj 009 GOOD JOB_May 2013

ONCE A PIRATE, ALWAYS A PIRATE RON GILBERT RETURNS TO THE HIGH INDIE SEAS

Ron Gilbert, creator of for small indie developers, and making games for close to classic LucasArts games the ones that do it well enjoy 30 years and from MANIAC such as THE SECRET OF some good success. “Build it MANSION to MONKEY ISLAND MONKEY ISLAND, recently and they will come” is a lie. :-) to PUTT-PUTT and PAJAMA left Double Fine after SAM to DEATHSPANK and on, I completing The Cave. ALEXANDRA HALL: THE CAVE don’t own any of it and that’s Now independent, he’s has been percolating since been a huge regret. collaborating on an before Maniac Mansion. Did it iOS game with Clayton change much since that early ALEXANDRA HALL: LucasArts is Kauzlaric, SCURVY conception? essentially no more. Can you SCALLYWAGS IN THE VOYAGE RON GILBERT: A lot changed. share some thoughts on this TO DISCOVER THE ULTIMATE The original idea was not an end of an era? SEA SHANTY: A MUSICAL adventure game and there RON GILBERT: When Disney MATCH-3 PIRATE RPG. were only three characters. bought Lucasfi lm last year, When I started working on it its being shut down was ALEXANDRA HALL: Here you are again a few years ago in what inevitable. As much as I like independent again, and making became THE CAVE, I added the different generation of players. to think they paid $4 billion funny games. Good feeling, or seven characters because I I do think nostalgia plays a to get the rights to Monkey best feeling? have always wanted to revisit role, and Kickstarter is great Island, the fact is Disney RON GILBERT: I don’t know if I’d that from MANIAC MANSION. for addressing that need. bought Lucasfi lm for the say it is a good or bad feeling, Star Wars movies and that’s it’s just a different feeling. I AH: It’s nice to see prominent ALEXANDRA HALL: Disney’s it. Everything else was just had a lot of fun working at game designers of the 1980s control of the LucasArts IPs an accounting rounding Double Fine on THE CAVE and and 1990s returning to the is one of the major factors error. My hope is that I can wouldn’t trade it for anything. spotlight. What’s fueling this? stopping you from working get the rights to MONKEY But I’ve always liked working Kickstarter, nostalgia…? on your classic properties. ISLAND back, and maybe on very small teams as well, RON GILBERT: There is defi nitely Is retaining IP one of the Gary [Winnick] and I can get and it will be fun to do that a maturing of the industry, most important things for MANIAC MANSION back. That again. I fi nd that 90% of my and by maturing I don’t developers? Has your stance would be fun. MONKEY ISLAND gaming these days happens mean we’re all getting old. on this evolved? KART RACING. You know you on my iPhone and iPad, so I’m The base of people playing RON GILBERT: Controlling and want it. It’s very sad that they looking forward to being able games has exploded in the owning your IP is key. If you are gone. I grew up there and to focus on those platforms. last fi ve or six years, due to can avoid it, never give up IP. even though I hadn’t worked Facebook and the iPhone and It’s a myth that publishers there since 1992, it always felt ALEXANDRA HALL: How do you Android, and they aren’t all will work harder to promote like home to me. stay afl oat in this economy? looking to play the same type the game if they own the IP. RON GILBERT: Stay small and of game and that’s creating Give publishers an exclusive P.S. I was kidding about keep focused and build stuff a lot more diversity. Some of window and fi rst right of MONKEY ISLAND KART that has a unique twist to it. the older genres are seeing refusal and all that, but don’t RACING…but it would probably Grassroots PR/marketing is key a comeback. It’s all new to a give up your IP. I’ve been sell really well. Sad, but true.

New Studios n Melbourne-based Loveshack Entertainment is the new of home of three senior developers from EA’s Firemint development studio. The team’s initial project, FRAMED, is described as “an innovative narrative-based puzzle game in Who Went Where which players must rewrite the story.” n Silvia Seibert has been appointed CFO of Slightly Mad Studios, n WB Games San Francisco is a new studio that will focus on the creators of the NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT games. developing free-to-play mobile and browser-based games. n Rod Fergusson, the former GEARS OF WAR producer who n Ovosonico, a new studio founded by SHADOWS OF THE DAMNED joined Irrational Games to help fi nish BIOSHOCK INFINITE, is director Massimo Guarini, is working on a new IP in partnership moving on now that Infi nite has shipped to wide acclaim. No with Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios Europe. word yet on where he’ll end up. n Pascale Audette, former studio head of Disney Online Studios, n Giordano Contestabile, PopCap’s longtime franchise manager and Lance Priebe, cofounder of Disney’s CLUB PENGUIN virtual for BEJEWELED, has left to join Tilting Point Media, where world, recently founded Hyper Hippo Productions, which will he’ll work to fund both established indie teams and new IP for focus on creating children’s games for digital platforms. Their mobile platforms. fi rst title will be MECH MICE. game developer magazine 009

Arts) XCOM: E M T D J GAME OFTHEYEAR D AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER further ourart. an advocate for videogamesandhelp or byreaching outsidetheindustry to be a better gamecommunity from within, better place, eitherthrough facilitating helped thegameindustry advance to a individual orindividualswhohave The Ambassador Award honors an Chris Melissinos AMBASSADOR AWARD WINNER: the myriadswhofollowed them. in videogamehistory, pavingthewayfor or gameplaydesignatacrucialjuncture breakthrough technology, game concept, those individualswhodeveloped a The PioneerAward celebrates Steve Russell PIONEER AWARD WINNER: development andgamesasawhole. indelible impactonthecraft ofgame of adeveloper whohasmadean recognizes thecareer andachievements The Lifetime Achievement Award Dr. RayMuzykaandDr. GregZeschuk Softworks) Games/2K Games) Softworks) Computer Entertainment) LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTWINNER: honors were selected bytheGameDevelopers Choice Awards advisoryboard. of thestandard categories, whichwere decidedthrough thevotes ofgamedevelopers, therecipients ofthree special The 13thAnnualGameDevelopers Choice Awards took place onWednesday, March 27,2013.Inadditionto thewinners CHOICE AWARDS THE 13THANNUALGAME DEVELOPERS OURNEY HE ISHONORED ISHONORED ASS W E ALKING FFECT (Thatgamecompany/Sony NEMY

(ArkaneStudios/Bethesda (Arkane Studios/Bethesda 3 D U EAD (BioWare/Electronic NKNOWN (Telltale Games)

(Firaxis Polytron Corporation ( Microsoft Studios) Studios) Microsoft Studios) Devolver Digital) Ubisoft) Giant Sparrow Fireproof Games D J BEST GAMEDESIGN M T S T J BEST DOWNLOADABLE GAME Humble Hearts Subset Games( BEST DEBUT H A S H J BEST AUDIO Z T FTL: F M J INNOVATION AWARD Games) Softworks) Studios) Sony Computer Entertainment) Computer Entertainment) Computer Entertainment) Computer Entertainment) Computer Entertainment) Computer Entertainment) OURNEY OURNEY OURNEY OURNEY RIALS HE HE OMBI OUND PELUNKY SSASSIN ISHONORED ALO OTLINE ARK ARK U W 4

NFINISHED U OF OF ALKING ASTER : E S (343Industries/Microsoft (UbisoftMontpellier/Ubisoft) M (Thatgamecompany/Sony (Thatgamecompany/Sony (Thatgamecompany/Sony

HAPES (Thatgamecompany/Sony VOLUTION ’ THE THE S (Derek Yu/Andy Hull) IAMI C T (ArkaneStudios/Bethesda N N REED D HAN (T

(QueasyGames/Sony INJA INJA (Dennaton Games/ EAD FTL: F (D S HE (T UST III L WAN (RedLynx/Microsoft HE U (Telltale Games) (Klei Entertainment/ (Klei Entertainment/ IGHT (UbisoftMontreal/ NFINISHED : A R ASTER F (GiantSparrow/ EZ OOM N (Subset ) E T LYSIAN ) HAN S L WAN T IGHT AIL ) ) ) Ubisoft) Games) Computer Entertainment) Entertainment) Entertainment/2K Games) Arts) S M H D F B J BEST VISUALARTS A C H P F BEST TECHNOLOGY V D M S T BEST NARRATIVE K S H G T BEST HANDHELD/MOBILEGAME XCOM: E Games) Activision) Microsoft Studios) Games/2K Games) Studios) Softworks) Softworks) Computer Entertainment) Computer Entertainment) HE HE AR OURNEY IRTUE AR PELUNKY PEC OUND SSASSIN LANET ALL ID RAVITY ORDERLANDS ISHONORED ISHONORED ALO ALO ERO ARK ASS I C W R C CARUS

4 O 4 E RY OOM A OF

RY ALKING OF MARCH 25–29,2013MOSCONECENTERSANFRANCISCO,CA GAME DEVELOPERSCONFERENCE ’ S PS FFECT (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios) (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios) CADEMY S (343 Industries/Microsoft 3 S R 3 D (Thatgamecompany/Sony NEMY L

HAPES IDE ’ THE (UbisoftMontreal/Ubisoft)

: T USH S (Derek Yu/Andy Hull) (Fireproof Games) UTY (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft) AST : U C 2 HE (Arkane Studios/Bethesda (ArkaneStudios/Bethesda D (ArkaneStudios/Bethesda N REED 3 : B (SCEJapanStudio/Sony PRISING U R 2 (Sony Online EAD L (BioWare/Electronic (RobotEntertainment)

INJA (Queasy Games/Sony (Gearbox Software/2K EWARD NKNOWN LACK INE (Telltale Games) III

(Yager (Klei Entertainment/ (UbisoftMontreal/ O (Sora/Nintendo) (Chunsoft/Aksys PS

(Firaxis II (Treyarch/ ®

011 game developer magazine 012 game developer magazine TAKING THEPULSEOFANDROIDGAME DEVELOPMENT REVISITING ANDROID different specsandmake sure thatourgame we are constantly havingto think about titles withallAndroid devices, whichmeans compatibility andhighperformance ofour Andy Keidel: Ken Chiu: Which devices target? doyou Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? the users andtheirneeds. there andensure we are always supporting for usto make sure we have abigpresence huge mobile platform anditis important absolutely aconsideration. Android isa J REVISITING ANDROID_ 012 of alltechnologies. Important to have astrong awareness depending ontheneedsofgame. Preferred toolset: Opento alltools Shipped Android titles: iOS, Android, Facebook Prior dev background (platforms): Andy Keidel(VPofengineering) Dharni (SVPofstudio operations), Ken Chiu(SVPofsocialgames),Anil GREE A ACKPOT NDROID them in2013. indie powerhouses, smallstudios, andindividualdevelopers to seehow theAndroid platform istreating tightfisted audience scared manydevs away. GameDeveloper caught upwithdevs from industry giants, early reports ofwidespread piracy, painfuldevice fragmentation issues, andtheperception ofarather appear to begainingalittle more ground oniOSevery year. From thedeveloper perspective, however, How’s Android doingthesedays?From theconsumer standpoint, Android tablets andsmartphones It definitely isnotaworry butis S , M LOTS Our goalisto ensure ODERN A NDROID W

AR A C

RIME NDROID C ITY ,

Patrick Miller How have gamessoldonAndroid? your we perform several times perweek. easier supportfor live content updates, which to ourin-memorygamedatabase to provide codebase, we developed acustom approach to behelpfulinstructuring ourapplication have found most Android-specific features application, activities,services, etc. While we understanding ofthelifecycles oftheAndroid to efficient development workfl ow isasolid dynamically for allotherscreens. Anotherkey specs, andthenmatch andscale theUI dimensions for themost common screen variations inscreen sizes,we specifyUI development workflow. To handle themany best practices to improve ourAndroid W Ken Chiu: Andy Keidel: Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the separately thetablet hardware. advantage ofsmartphonehardware and that we have therightspecsto best take biggest consideration isreally makingsure anything around theAndroid hardware. Our features andmechanicsaren’t limited by have released onGoogle Play— on Android platforms. Allofthetitles we AR , C RIME Our gameshave donereally well C We’ve come upwithseveral ITY , J ACKPOT S LOTS M ODERN —have

right now. Android phonesandtablets are the biggest andfastest-growing markets Ken Chiu: other mobile platforms? theextra Areworth work? looking you into have foundOverall, you Android dev to be sure ourgameshave long lifetimes. continuing to supportthembothandmake higher success thantheothers. We planon divide, andwe don’tseeoneOSshowing Android, showing usthatthere isavery even to beextremely engagedonbothiOSand IAP revenues. Ourusers have beenproven rates, strong supportofthetitles, andgreat as suchhave always seenstrong retention experiences thatare exciting for gamers, and exceptionally hard to create game Anil Dharni: Ken Chiu: something like grossing since theirlaunch(whichfor been pretty consistently inthetop-30 other platforms? Androidyour sales compare to sales your on Which appstores How support? doyou do tremendous success onAndroid devices. been almost ayear). Sowe are seeing success onallofthestores. and Amazon.We have seentremendous We supportiTunes, Google Play, Absolutely. Android isoneof We have always worked M ODERN W AR , meansit’s 013 game developer magazine 014 game developer magazine T David Edery: Which devices target? doyou Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? always keeping oureye onothermarkets. those two (Android andiOS),butwe are platforms, rightnow we really look to only support bothiOSandAndroid. Asfor other been balance andmakingsure we always That beingsaid,Ithinkthekey for ushas most definitely apower to keep aneye on. breaking outallover theworld andare extremely smallcustomer-support team. it, andwe’re avery smallcompany withan Fragmentation isafact oflife. We dealwith couple ofKindle Fires. more popularSamsung devices, and a is mainly comprised of Nexus devices, the can handle it,anyone can. Our QA library engineer for both iOSandAndroid. Ifwe RIPLE REVISITING ANDROID_ 014 Preferred toolset: Unity S Shipped Android titles: Web, Steam, Android, iOS Prior dev background (platforms): (director ofdanger) David Edery(CEO),Ryan Williams SPRY FOX TEAMBIRDS T OWN Itisnotamajorworry for us. wasdeveloped byasingle , T RIPLE

T OWN Patrick Miller reloading takes place entirely outsideof reload cycle, they become null.Thehot reloading, andonce you gothrough ahot user-defined classes donotwork withhot Specifically, dictionariesandgeneric type issupported bythisserialization. of every gameobject, andnotevery data reloading involves acustom serialization the process bywhichtheeditor does the start hackingonthe code. to thepointthatbugappears, andthen faster to solve: Playthegameuntilyou get take awhile to reproduce become much changes inactionrightaway. Bugsthat your code inthe other,andseethe repeatedly loop inonescreen, andedit you can simply setyour generation to work onprocedural generation, because few seconds. It’s awesome to usethisto the new code andstart usingitwithin a change to thecode, Unitywillcompile game intheUnityEditor andyou save a or supported, butifyou are playingyour functionality. It’s notwell-documented taking advantage ofthehotcode reloading used for mobile development, thismeans in-game. and experiencing theresults ofthecode reducing thetimebetween writingcode in development productivity comes from Ryan Williams: Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the This doesn’tcome for free, though; For Unity,whichistheenginewe’ve I’ve found thebiggest boost David Edery: T David Edery: How have gamessoldonAndroid? your works. could beimproved further,butitdefinitely dictionary’s declaration, soIfeel thatit This addsafair bitofboilerplate to each from thelists whenit’s found to benull. serializable), and restores thedictionary the dictionaryto apairoflists (whichare small class thatcopies thecontents of wanted to usedictionaries,soIwrote a entirely, orfind someworkaround. Ireally refrain from usingunserializable types development process, you have to either want to usehotreloading aspartofyour member variables are suddenly null.Ifyou happened isthatalltheunserializable your code can detect thata hotreload has your code andcontrol, andtheonly way Google Playis thetop-selling platform for downloaded over four milliontimes,and developing for othermobile platforms. considering otherplatforms, butwe are not on Android. other mobile platforms? theextra Areworth work? looking you into have foundOverall, you Android dev to be has beenabust for us,unfortunately. Appstore, butitisrelatively healthy. Amazon is there relative to iTunes andAmazon’s my headwhatexactly ourconversion rate RIPLE T OWN T Yes, it’s worth it.We’re always We’ve donevery well . RIPLE I’mnotsure offthetop of T OWN hasbeen Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? managing compatibility became a low-end-india-jan-feb-2013/). animoca-data-high-end-hong-kong-and- (http://www.animoca.com/en/2013/02/ high-end andlow-end markets there can seetheradical differences between publish ourfindings onourblog, andyou this varies hugely country bycountry. We the limitations. success, soitispossible to work around hardware, anditachieved substantial David Kim: said, to playtoo manygamesonthem.That low-end phonesare probably notexpecting device, butpeople whobuy ultra-cheap do limitwhichgamescan beplayed ona scaling. Processor andgraphics power Android form factors andlet theOShandle issue aslong asyou support thebasic Different screen sizesare amanageable greater compatibility thanmost developers. a worry for us,andwe tend to test for exaggerated issue. Ithasnever been proprietary tools Unity to Cocos2d-x, plusourown app inquestion, butallthewayfrom Preferred toolset: Dependsonthe Shipped Android titles: iOS, Web, PC,consoles Prior dev background (platforms): David Kim(CEO) ANIMOCA P P S P R L ORD PORTS RETTY IG RETTY OBO We look atitasan opportunity— In terms ofsoftware fragmentation, R P RETTY

USH 5, P OF P P E M Android fragmentation isan RETTY ET ET , M DITION P AGIC T S Y ET C YCOON ALON S , P P AR , ALON and dozensofothers ET RETTY S , M S ALON , T ALON Y willrunonmost OP C P S AR M 2, P TAR ET S ODELS S T EASONS G ALON ET OY IRL C S : AFÉ , TORE , , , , shape various network conditions. Animoca hasaninternal tool thatcan traffi c > as batching multiple calls together. servers viaeffective useof caching aswell > Minimizeexternal calls to external and moves through thelevels faster. aid for theQAteam asitadjusts thespeed where thegameplaysitself. Thisisagreat > Buildatesting framework inyour games David Kim: David Kim: targetDo you andtest for specific devices? the issue. you look atsomeofthealarmist reports on market, butnotasmuchyou’d thinkif and QAresources to address theAndroid require slightly more development time those devices andAndroid versions. Itcan want to target, andthentailor their appsto popular amongtheconsumers/regions they out whichdevices andOSversions are most fragmentation issues simply needsto figure good thing.Anyone struggling withthese that consumers have choice, whichisa various hardware andsoftware just means the fact thatthemarket isfragmented into competitive differentiator for us.Really, Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the a couple ofhigh-endSonydevices. Note 2,otherhigh-endGalaxyproducts, and market ofHongKongisthepricierGalaxy the most common device in thehigher-end Galaxy Y,Fit,andAce, while inexpensive Samsungdevices, suchasthe for Animoca users tend to berelatively more affordable phones,thetop 10phones In India,most users are onlower-end, vary byregion andbycountry.which games, devices most usedbyplayers ofAnimoca as possible, we still have to prioritizethe everyone anexperience thatisasgood multitude ofdevices inorder to offer principle isto target andtest for a Test against high-latency networks. Yes. Althoughourgeneral REVISITING ANDROID_ David Kim: David Kim: How have gamessoldonAndroid? your ThreadPoolExecutor, etc. high-level facilities suchasAsyncTask, from lower-level constructs. Try to use programming, don’troll your own > Whenyou have to doconcurrent Crittercism. workflow. Examples includeBugsenseand your codebase andyour development > Useacrash-reporting tool within time exceptions. > Catch your exceptions, includingrun- as possible. we’ve found itbeneficial to beinasmany more installs thanothers, butin general specific appstores. Somestores dodrive across manyalternatives includingcarrier- the NOOKStore, SamsungApps, and found onGoogle Play,Amazon’s Appstore, charts. Someofourapps,like appeared intheTop 100oreven theTop 10 well onAndroid, andmanyofthemhave S other platforms? Androidyour sales compare to sales your on Which appstores How support? doyou do year Android really came into itsown. that changeddramatically in2012:Last second fiddle to Apple’s iOS.I’dhave to say the market Android wasdefinitely playing in opensystems, butwhenwe entered could deliver because we are bigbelievers We hadhighexpectations for whatAndroid downloaded more than 120milliontimes. are pleased. Intotal, ourappshave been Top 10oftheTop-Grossing Appslist, sowe ALON and OurAndroid gamescan be Ourgameshave performed S TAR G IRL , have reached the Patrick Miller 015 P RETTY P ET

015 game developer magazine 016 game developer magazine Android highendisbecoming slicker and lack ofeasypaymentoptions,etc.) comparatively lower purchasing power, several barriers to payment exist (culture, markets like IndiaorChina, where be muchmore popularinpoorer emerging associated culture. Android alsotends to iOS interms ofin-apppurchasing andthe platform is(after all)afew years behind catering to theless wealthy, andthe number of“budget”hardware options because Android offers aremarkable with Android users. Thisisnotsurprising, spend more ontheirdevices, compared income andasaresult are more likely to more likely to have greater disposable users. ThatmeansthatiOSusers are to befinancially better offthanAndroid studies have shown thatApple users tend more expensive thanAndroid, andmost matter. TheApple product spectrumis basis thaniOS,butthisisavery complex apps monetizeslightly lower onaper-user REVISITING ANDROID_ 016 But allthatischangingvery fast: The Typically we have found thatAndroid

Patrick Miller David Kim: other mobile platforms? theextra Areworth work? looking you into have foundOverall, you Android dev to be Android audience. term whenyou factor inthe scale ofthe myopic, especially inthemedium-to long- is automatically inferior to iOSisrather popular view thatAndroid monetization correspondingly hugeopportunities.The the next couple ofyears willlead to Android users today andprojected over user base.Andthesheernumberof Android developers access to awealthier which drives updevice cost andgrants flashier withevery new phonereleased, and we wouldn’t wantto tieourselves but ourDNAisvery muchcross-platform Android isourprimaryfocus rightnow, is definitely aforward-looking platform. to otherdevelopers because rightnow this fragmentation, andwe dorecommend it of extra work itrequires to manage is absolutely worth theslightamount Yes, Android development This significantly simplifies asset packaging. lower-level mipsonRAM-limited devices). we decompress atload time(starting with alpha. For devices thatdon’tsupportS3TC, textures, andDXT5 for textures containing compression, we useETC1 for non-alpha Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the which OSversion theconsumer isrunning. device can have different bugsbasedon can beabitofnightmare because thesame shader compiler bugsintheirOSflavors. This for themanufacturers to shipwithsubtle can useNativeActivity. able to require 2.3(Gingerbread) sothatwe not suchabigdealfor ussince we’re now CPU performance; OSversion supportis anymore withtoday’s clock speedsand Neon floating-point mathis notabigdeal ratio from 4:3to 16:9andbeyond; lackof design ourgamesto supportanyaspect yes, butnotamajorworry anymore. We gotcha is UI.ButdesigningtheUIfor Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? Matt Small: Ralf Knoesel: Ralf Knoesel: an interesting case for theBlackBerry10. great hardware, andBlackberryismaking a beautifulsystem thatalready hassome exclusively to oneplatform. Windows 8is S tools, plusBullet PhysicsandFMOD Preferred toolset: Ourown gameengine/ Shipped Android titles: N64, PS1,PS2,Xbox, Xbox360, PS3,Wii Prior dev background (platforms): PC, Ralf Knoesel(CTO), MattSmall(CEO) VECTOR UNIT HINE The biggest issue for usisthetendency R UNNER Onthecontent side,thebiggest For dealing withtexture Fragmentation isaworry, , B EACH B R UGGY IPTIDE B GP, LITZ most recent free-to-play game well onAndroid, better than expected. Our one upandadditto ourroster. that we know isgoingto behuge,we pick statistics. Whenahotnew device comes out devices according to thedeveloper console we have coverage for thetop five to 10 enough to warrant support.Generally, quirky troublesome devices thatare popular the various GPUmanufacturers, plusafew selection ofpopulardevices representing How have gamessoldonAndroid? your and fix it. problem onapopulardevice, we’ll buyone we thinkit’lltake to fix it.Ifit’s aserious the severity oftheproblem andthetime balance thepopularityofdevice with on adevice we don’thave, we have to Ralf Knoesel: Matt Small: Ralf Knoesel: targetDo you andtest for specific devices? ratio andyou’re goodto go. basically throw your UIagainst anyaspect elements or3Dscenes. Thatwayyou can are madeupoftiling/stretching graphic or left/right from there. Thebackgrounds ratio, andmake everything slideup/down your backgrounds aspect-ratio-dependent. too tightly withthebackground, ormake the front-facing UIelements (like buttons) edges ofthescreen. Alsodon’tintegrate that float, stretch, orare locked to different thing isto make itflexible, with elements not have to beahugeheadache.Thekey multiple resolutions andaspectratios does We designfor a3:2default aspect If we getalotIf ofsupportemails Ourgameshave beendoing At thispointwe have adecent B EACH

to overcome thiswithvolume. much more rampant. However, we’re able for apps/in-apppurchases andpiracy is Android consumers are less willingto pay Regarding theconsumer, we find that some decent inertiaonce they getthere. apps tend to creep to thetop andhave a periodoftime.Thismeansthatquality on more thansimply numberofinstalls in acquisition spends.Rankingsare based by thebigpublishers withtheiruser- system ismore difficult to manipulate the fact thattheGoogle Playstore ranking Android platform for asmalldeveloper is Incross to sellinKorea (SKTT-Store, etc.). insignificant. We are alsopartneringwith cards, etc.), butsales onthosehave been stores inthepast (carrier-specific, prepaid successful. We have triedsomeotherapp Google Playhas byfar beenthemost Google Play,Amazon, andB&NNOOK. to planto becross-platform from thevery absolutely worth thework, butyou have the extraworth work? have foundOverall, you Android dev to be of ourrevenue comes from thePlayStore. developed. Like Ralfsaid,thevast majority mechanisms inthosestores are notaswell puzzle-type games,andthediscovery audiences lean more toward casual and good for us,butmyfeeling isthattheir Amazon andNOOKhave beenpretty of like $2.50for amonth’s worth ofsales. pretty abysmal.We getroyalty payments and hardware-specific appstores hasbeen Which appstores support? doyou moves theneedle. the 50%discount. ButonAndroid, itbarely jump insales thatmore thanmakes upfor $0.99—on iOSwe seeabig(temporary) we’ll putRiptideGPonsale from $1.99to on pay-to-play games.From timeto time players seemless concerned aboutprice up for it.Thatsaid,oddly enoughAndroid the volume onAndroid more thanmakes about two to three timesbetter oniOS,but free-to-play game-conversion rates are than oniOS.We have noticed thatinour have donesignificantly better onAndroid opposite ofwhatyou generally hear:We profitable. Ourfirst game, so that’s pretty good.It’s not of $1.99,andwe madeitfor about$100K, over 250Kinstalls, atanaverage MSRP Matt Small: Matt Small: Ralf Knoesel: Matt Small: Ralf Knoesel: experience withother platforms? How sales doyour compare to your small company going. money, butit’s more thanenoughto keep a Matt Small: B downloads onGoogle Play. UGGY B LITZ Android development is Ourexperience withcarrier- Ourexperience hasbeenthe All ofourgameshave been isaboutto hit10million Themainadvantage ofthe OnAndroid, we have used R IPTIDE A NGRY GP B REVISITING ANDROID_ IRDS , has , has expected) dueto the“early to market” effect. are seeingmoderate success (more than our gamesavailable onBB10where we Which devices target? doyou Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? Ralf Knoesel: iOS andthenbelatedly portthethingover. take agamethatwasspecifically madefor start ofdevelopment. It’s alot harder to Charley Price: Charley Price: for new Android devs. memory), which would likely beagoodread (for example, local memoryvs. SDcard inherent instoring data onAndroid devices data-pitfall/) aboutsomeofthepitfalls supersegfault.com/unity-on-android-save- up somethoughtsonhisblog (http:// engineers, ClarkKromenaker, wrote from sites like Prime31.com. using inexpensive, off-the-shelfsolutions Android-specific plug-inscan bemitigated example, manyoftheriskscreating our experiences developing inUnity. For notes endupbeingdirectly related to Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the ratios) andourNexus One(asaminspec). most populardevices withnarrow aspect NOOK Color andKindle Fire (amongour focus muchofourattention onourfirst-gen used to playourgame.Assuch,we tend to good senseofwhattypesdevices are being data andFlurryanalytics gives usapretty right outofthegate. we’ve generally beenable to supportthem devices andaspectratios were released, gameplay dramatically. Assuch,whennew variations inviewable space don’timpact the playspace, andmadesure thatslight (or are positionedrelative to) theedgesof titles withfloating UIelements thatanchor sizes/aspect ratios, we’ve developed our choices we madefor Android. helped to implicitly inform the minspec decision hardware-wise onthatplatform develop for iOSaswell, ourminspec sense of it all. Given that we simultaneously development process soyou can make define your minspeccriteria early inthe broad, itpretty muchdemandsthatyou in somewaysthevariety ofdevices isso Preferred toolset: Unity Shipped Android titles: Android GBA, PC,Xbox 360,PS3,Flash,iOS, Prior dev background (platforms): Charley Price (CCO) HIDDEN VARIABLE STUDIOS Going into more detail, oneofour As for devices, acombination ofAppStore Knowing therisksofdifferent screen Also, we are currently making Most ofourAndroid-specific It’s always aworry, but Patrick Miller B 017 AG I T !

017 game developer magazine 018 game developer magazine Charley Price: Google, Amazon,andB&NNOOK. financial return for usthus far have been that have really generated ameaningful less-common examples), buttheonly ones Samsung, Mobiroo, andFuhu to nameafew and foreign territory-specific (including Android appstores, bothworldwide released itonalmost adozendifferent simultaneously. Since then,we have back inlate 2011onbothiOSandAndroid Charley Price: How have gamessoldonAndroid? your worth theextra worth work? have foundOverall, you Android dev to be leverage moving forward. experience withpreloads thatwe hopeto game ontheplatform, andgave ussome else, thishelpedto buildawareness ofour preload dealwithourLite SKU.Ifnothing required. We were able to arrange adevice skeptical ofinvesting thetimeandenergy uncertain return on investment, we were and supportfor thehardware. Given the which required somecustom content Nabi Fuhu (akid-centric Android tablet), Meanwhile, oursales onGoogle Play decline (withoscillations thereafter). soon experienced apretty precipitous on iOSatlaunch, we (like many others) our success. After somemildsuccess on Android hasbeenacritical aspectof approached aboutreleasing of ourmost consistent revenue streams. roll ontheirstore—which endedupbeingone setup later andwe were pretty muchready to and itworked like acharm.Afew hours of device. We loaded uptheAPKthenandthere, NOOK reps suggested we checkouttheir Developer’s Conference, andoneoftheB&N the gameto somefolks atanAndroid B&N NOOK.Asithappens,we were showing any intention oflaunchingthegameon of freemium gamesonotherplatforms. a premium title, you’re able to avoid theglut versions available for fulltitles). Assuch,as supports premium games(withfree “trial” NOOK store isthefact thatitcurrently only we’ve beensosuccessful ontheB&N margin. Oneofthereasons we suspect both outperforming Amazonbyareasonable have beenpretty equalinterms ofsales, particular, bothGoogle PlayandB&NNOOK as aplatform for fear oflacksales. In of whomhave opted to eschew Android surprising to fellow mobile devs, many advantage over Android. IAPs still favor iOS,withalmost a3:1 neck (withiOSslightly ahead).Thatsaid, iOS andAndroid asawhole are neckand However, ifyou just count paiddownloads, one bigiOSpromo event it’s closer to 3:1). total downloads 7:1(althoughifyou remove outperformed ourAndroid SKUsinterms of REVISITING ANDROID_ 018 Overall, ouriOSversions of As anotherexample, we were Funny thingis,we originally didn’thave These numbers are generally pretty Absolutely. For us,releasing We first released

B ag B B I ag ag t ! I on the I t t ! Patrick Miller have ! platform aswell. to bring performs, andalready have tentative plans example, we’re eagerto seehow theOUYA We are constantly looking attrends; for platforms are definitely still onour radar! and third projects. However, alternative those resources focusing onoursecond risky proposition. Instead, we have spent relative to theknown ROImakes ita required to getthegameported over we needto findandfixthesebugs. have the time ormoney to getthehardware customers, butwe literally can’t; we don’t OS combination. Iwantto help these is nonfunctionalonaspecificdevice/ week where aparticularpartofthegame all. We receive afew supportrequests a is literally nowaywe can supportthem are somanydevices outthere thatthere concrete supportproblem isthatthere runs ourgames. device we’ve beenable to getourhands on number ofdevices to test on,butevery studio, ShinyShoehasaccess to alimited wide variety ofAndroid hardware. Asatiny easy for usto getourgamesrunningona done bytheengineers atUnity,ithasbeen Mark Cooke: you? Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for Charley Price: platforms? Are looking you into other mobile iOS opportunity. earlier andmissed outonour have shifted ourfocus to other projects for ourperformance onAndroid, we may three millionnew downloads. Were itnot (supported byAppoday)thatnetted usover leading to atemporary free promotion promotional opportunities—eventually support thegame,andpursued other the product. Sowe continued to actively to concerns abouttheoverall qualityof primarily discoverability issues, asopposed issues we were experiencing on iOSwere reviews. Thisgave usconfidence thatthe to accumulate heapsofgreat customer Beyond therevenue, we alsocontinued remained strong, consistent performers. feature ended—eachofourAndroid SKUs a timely feature), and—even after the exploded outofthegate (courtesy of Preferred toolset: Unity Shipped Android titles: OFFWORLD iOS, Android, Sifteo Cubes Xbox, Xbox 360,PS2,PS3,GameCube, Prior dev background (platforms): Mark Cooke (cofounder) Shiny Shoe What isfrustrating andcreates a B ag Thanksto thegreat work I Currently, thetime t ! ! (and future titles) to that decided to scrap oursetupandswitch couldn’t download it. Galaxy S2sandthus people with thatdevice thought ourgamedidn’twork onmany This meansthattheGoogle Playstore the aforementioned compression formats. didn’t have hardware thatsupported anyof Android device atthetimewe launched) of theSamsungGalaxyS2(avery popular quickly ran into ahugeissue—some models eventually launchedwiththissetup but build process setupyou’re infor pain.We nightmare andifyou don’thave agood texture data for eachplatform. Thisisa and DXT—via separate APKsthatincluded compressed texture formats—PVRTC, ATC, the three majorhardware-supported switching to uncompressed 16-bitcolor. memory orharmingvisualqualityby about eitherusingtoo muchruntime This wasscary—we were really concerned to uncompressed 16-or32-bittextures. ship asingle APK we’d have to switch over alpha channel,meaningifwe wanted to of textures andalmost allofthemhave an channel. OFFWORLD usesalarge number ETC1. Thatformat doesn’tsupportanalpha supported across allAndroid devices: one texture-compression format universally property. AsIunderstand it,there isonly hardware bythe APKs withmanifest files thatlimit target texture-compression formats viadifferent if you can avoid itistargeting multiple aspect ratio. reposition UIwidgetcontainers basedon out inBoston, whichallowed usto created byfellow indieOwlchemy Labs Unity plug-incalled Multiplatform toolkit, at. Incombination withthatwe useda the resolution thatourUIwasauthored on thevertical screen resolution and orthographic camera dynamically based many games;basically, we resize an route to achieve thisthatcan work for minimal UIwork. We took afairly simple launch onaton ofdifferent devices with on OFFWORLD anditmadeeasyto aspect ratios from thestart. We didthis UI to supportmultiple resolutions and Mark Cooke: Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the hasn’t beenahugeissue for us. comparison to Amazon.Overall, fragmentation the numberofdownloads onGoogle in have somewhere ontheorder of 100times time, andinourcase itwasn’tworth it;we wasn’t free interms ofengineeringandQA and otherstore-specific changes.This work additional work interms ofIAPprocessing Android fragmentation. Thisnecessitated App Store, anotherform ofdealingwith to launchonbothGoogle PlayandtheAmazon After going through allofthatwe So withthatinmindwe triedto support One thingIwould recommend against When we shipped OFFWORLD we decided When we shippedOFFWORLD we decided Make sure to designyour

until Unitysupportsit. Windows Phoneto test thatmarket, butnot I’m interested inpotentially releasing on for us,easingdevelopment significantly. done themajorityofengineeringwork think itwasworth theextra work. Unityhas platform development tool like Unity,I OFFWORLD, because we are usingacross- question onacase-by-case basis,butfor other mobile platforms? theextra Areworth work? looking you into have foundOverall, you Android dev to be been atotal bust for usunfortunately. similar between theplatforms. Amazonhas of theordinary, butfor usARPUisfairly our revenue oniOS.Also,Iknow thisisout Play iscurrently three timeshigherthan on Google Play. Ourrevenue onGoogle iOS buthave continued to findanaudience bump we dropped offinamajorwayon helped drive early installs. After theinitial features bybothplatform holders that really sure why,though!We received minor better onAndroid thanoniOS.We’re not wisdom, OFFWORLD hasdonesignificantly blame Android for that. a disaster, obviously, butIwouldn’t probably around $700!Thatlooks like sponsoring deal withTapjoy, andmade Android asafreemium aspartofour Emeric Thoa: Emeric Thoa: Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? Mark Cooke: Mark Cooke: How have gamessoldonAndroid? your S2 to download andplayourgame. for usandallowed allmodelsoftheGalaxy ultimately ithasworked outmuchbetter where we could getawaywithit,but additional work to reduce texture sizes to uncompressed textures. Thattook How have gamessoldonAndroid? your is thewayto go. that reaching thewidest audience possible what’s not,butsofar we wantto believe We are still learning what’s worth doing and match thedifferent stores’ requirements. and afreemium andapremium version to the different capabilities ofthedevices, versions: anHDandSDversion to match We know we willhave to dealwithseveral just additionalwork we needto planfor. Preferred toolset: Cocos2D, Unity W Shipped Android titles: iOS, Android, Xbox 360,PS3,Wii Prior dev background (platforms): Emeric Thoa(CEO) The Game Bakers ild W est Ialways consider this It’s notaworry assuch,it’s Contrary to conventional We released S S quid S quids quid s wasnot s , S on quids

W Android dev process? haveDo you any tipsfor optimizing the reason to worry. beginning there shouldn’tbetoo much now.” Ifyou dosomeplanningfrom the to getthisto work on100otherdevices built andsuddenly realize, “Ohgosh,Ihave problem whenyou already have something simultaneous launchoniOSandAndroid. Brent Porter: Emeric Thoa: a free-to-play game.Thesequel, it’s only natural thatitdidn’tsucceed as designed asafreemium gameatalland Is fragmentation stillamajorissue for you? other platforms? Androidyour sales compare to sales your on Which appstores How support? doyou do appthistime. premium a be our next game, fade. We’ll beable to compare better with but Ibelieve thatthisdifference isgoingto more usedto payingfor digital content, the ARPPU.MybetisthatApple users are The conversion rate ishigher,andso enough, theIAPs are alsobetter oniOS. so it’s hard to compare. Butsurprisingly iOS, butasIsaid,itreleased asapremium, the job Preferred toolset: Whatever best fits Shipped Android titles: iOS, Android Prior dev background (platforms): Br A ild c ent Porter (cofounder) t W ion Bu e s t , isreleasing March 8andwill

Iguess itonly becomes a S tt quids C on ombo wasasuccess on E n C t rew er T NNS t , asit’llbea ainmen revisiting android_ S quid t s

their gameto selllike an Android version. Imean,everyone wants to beforehand ifaparticularproject isgoing is always sortofyes? It’s difficult to see game to get attention so I guess the answer some attention. Andeveryone wants their worth itifyou thinkyou willbegetting theextraworth work? have foundOverall, you Android dev to be their experience withAndroid vs. iOS. numbers from different developers and explain whyyou hearaboutvastly different invest inacertain typeofgame.Thismight Maybe Android users are more likely to I guess ithasto come from somewhere! make purchases like you mightelsewhere. you aren’t goingto seeAndroid consumers sales onother platforms? How Android doyour sales compare to your something flexible. it suddenly makes alot ofsenseto gowith with different screen sizesandresolutions a Flashgame,”butwhenyou are dealing grossed outbysomethingthat“looks like independent artstyles. Somepeople get you seealot ofgameswithresolution- have to beflexible helps.Ithinkthisiswhy the beginningthatalot ofelements will Brent Porter: Brent Porter: Brent Porter: Android development! so, it’s timeto start planningyour future in lol” putstress andfear into your heart? If cared until Irealized itwasonly for iOS, will we getanAndroid version!!??” and“I question. Docomments like “God,when people. from gettingtheirgameinfront ofmore and HalfbrickStudiosdefinitely benefits definitely require andmake money with Maybe there’s aneven more important Ofcourse Android dev is There exists aperception that Again,understanding from J Patrick Miller etpa 019 ck J oyride ,

019 game developer magazine

selection. Feature selection isachallenge, perhaps especially whenitcomes to user behavior. what to track, andhow to analyze the data. Theprocess of choosingwhatto collect iscalled feature all feed into business intelligence management,informing decision-making. data obtained viatelemetry, market reports, QAsystems, benchmarktests, andnumerous othersources therefore, becoming anincreasingly important area ofbusiness intelligence for theindustry. Quantitative which benefitsmanydivisions ofagame company, including business, design,etc. Gameanalytics is, analytics into thegamedevelopment cycle wasdriven byaneedfor better knowledge abouttheplayers, The science ofgameanalytics hasgainedatremendous amountofattention inrecent years. Introducing C BY Anders How to turnyour players’ sessionsinto valuable designfeedback Intro to UserAn a Two ofthemost important questions whenintegrating analytics into the development process are noss a , a D nd M r a chen, Ales a g y

S eif E a s l- a lytics ndro Na sr USER ANALYTICS_ 021 May 2013

021 game developer magazine 022 game developer magazine its stability. platform, orinthecase ofagameserver, a gameexecutes onaclienthardware metrics includethe frame rate atwhich persistent games.Commonperformance a game,notably relevant for onlineor software-based infrastructure behind the performance ofthetechnical- and Performance data: Theseare related to DATA FOR ANALYTICS analytics isusefulfor allgames. not focused onF2Pandonlinegames— to measure. Importantly, thisarticle is process, where you select how andwhat and thenintroduce thefeature selection through thetypesoftrackable userdata, as anoverall theme.First, we’ll walk game analytics, withfeature selection fundamental concerns inuser-oriented we willattempt to outlinesomeofthe increase monetization.Inthisarticle, e.g., improve theuserexperience or several strategies thatvary ingoals: what behaviors to track; there are instead standard modelwe can apply to decide There isnosingle rightanswer or metrics. analytics emphasizinguser of sources ofdata for game Figure 1:Hierarchical diagram USER ANALYTICS_ 022 game analytics are: The three mainsources ofdata for customer interface process/ pipeline

May 2013 gameplay in-game metrics player game general domain ofbusiness analytics. analytics, butrather asfalling withinthe such data thespecifi c domain ofgame company revenue, etc. We donotconsider general business data, e.g.,company value, here. Thesethree categories donotcover This isthetypeofdata we willfocus on damage dealtpersession, andsoforth). on in-gamebehavior(average playtime, of itandwithotherplayers, byfocusing actual gamesystem andthecomponents investigating how people interact withthe analysis). Thesecond perspective isusedfor performance analysis, ormicrotransaction revenue (churnanalysis, customer support or whenperforming analyses related to per user(ARPU),daily active users (DAU)— metrics related to revenue—average revenue first perspective isusedwhencalculating way wheninteracting withgames.The or players,whobehave inaparticular either ascustomers (sources ofrevenue) users whoplayourgames.We view users source ofdata, these are derived from the User data: Byfar themost common and theuseofburndown charts. monitoring, e.g.,viatask-size estimation degree acreative process, butstill requires development isto asmaller orgreater actual process ofdeveloping games.Game Process data: Theseare related to the performance community system example, asfollows (seeFigure): 1 three different classes ofstakeholders—for to funnelusermetricsinthedirection of classification system isuseful,asitserves perspective, adevelopment-oriented over thepast few years. From atop-down USER DATA DEVELOPING METRICSFROM Player-player interaction can occur mechanics) orsocial (in-gamechat). (combat orcollaboration through game This interaction can be related to gameplay each otherifthey have theopportunity. Community metrics:Users interact with game’s customer base. data can provide powerful insightsinto a of demographic information withbehavioral and emailaddresses. Combining thiskind addresses, andsometimeseven age,gender, information oncustomers’ countries, IP mined andanalyzed. We can alsocollect their satisfaction withthegamecan be about theseusers, theirplaybehavior,and interaction platforms, from whichinformation forums, official ornot,othersocial- and soon.Users can alsointeract with bug reports, requests for help,complaints, interact withcustomer service, submitting timespans. Atthesametime,customers or virtualcurrency, over shorter orlonger out-of-game stores andshops,spendingreal any numberofvirtualitems from in-gameor can download andinstall agame,purchase Customer metrics:Asacustomer , users behavior of theusersisof interest. or any other positionwhere theactual design, userresearch, qualityassurance, are useful to professionals with working generally underprioritized.Thesemetrics chain ingamedevelopment, andhence are of therevenue perspective the traditional and userexperience, butare from furthest formost important evaluatinggamedesign for example). Gameplay metrics are the andnavigationtrade, intheenvironment, inside thegame(objectinteraction,object the actualbehavior of theuserasaplayer Gameplay metrics: community managers. These typesof metrics are useful to levels of resolution, suchasforum activity. movements of theusercommunity at all the Community metrics:Covers game development. marketing andmanagement of gamesand interesting to professionals with working These typesof metrics are notably of customer acquisition andretention. the userasacustomer—for example, cost Customer allaspectsof metrics:Covers methods ofclassifying userdata Many people have proposed different Any variablerelated to for example, players inatypical fantasy being measured persecond. Consider, player activity can includedozens ofactions to react andrespond. Accurate measures of inputs somethingto thegame system, ithas single gamesession—every timeaplayer behavioral measures over thecourse ofa well asfollowing launch. during allphasesofgamedevelopment, as These kindofgamemetricscan berecorded any barriers hinderingplayer progression. features asintended, andwhetherthere are over- orunderused,ifplayers utilize game including whetheranygameworld areas are the opportunityto address key questions, for informing gamedesign.They provide time isithappening?And:Whoinvolved? happening? Where isithappening?Atwhat happens to aplayer inagame:What is a player doessomethingor of information can belogged whenever of agame(whether2Dor3D).Four types actually doinsidethevirtualenvironment trading, running,andwhatever elseplayers navigation, item andabilityuse,jumping, metrics are measures ofplayer behavior: telemetry currently inuse.Gameplay widely logged andutilizedtypeofgame the usermetricsisperhapsmost Gameplay metrics:Thissubcategory of that could easily take upseveral volumes. from player-player interaction isatopic and reporting ongamemetricsderived deep iceberg, andthecollection, analysis, These examples are just thetipofavery many socialonlinegamesandF2Pgames. online business model,whichincludes community, andwhichhave adopted an create andsupportapersistent player but especially ingamesthatattempt to situations where there are multiple players, player-player interaction isimportant inall other problems. Monitoring andanalyzing logs inanonlinegamecan reveal bugsor data-mining datasets derived from chat problems inagame’s design.For example, forum posts can provide information about MMORPGs). Likewise, miningchatlogs and social environment (thinkguildleaders in players inthegamebycreating agood likely to helpretain abignumberofother social networks—who are theplayers game can reveal players withstrong analysis oftheusercommunity inaF2P contexts. For example, asocial-network information, applicable inanarray of players form animportant source of or viagameforums. via live conversation (TeamSpeak orSkype), each otherviachatfunctions,out-of-game function. In-game,users can interact with of equipmentusingapost-to-Facebook messages bragging aboutanew piece combination thereof—for example, sending in-game orout-of-game,some Players can generate thousands of Gameplay metricsare particularly useful These kindsofinteractions between MMORPG like searchable, for instance): (in order to make your metricsmore metrics into thefollowing three categories may wantto furthersubdividegameplay game clientto thecollection servers. information simply flow from theinstalled currency, andsoon—allthesebitsof character name,race, level, equipment, NPC enemiestoward theplayer, theplayer combat, trading, traveling), theattitudeofany (running, swinginganaxe), themode(in of anybuffsaffecting it,theactive action its current health,mana,stamina, thetime logging thepositionofplayer’s character, Measuring userbehaviorcould involve of apredefined set of conditions. player to thenext level upon satisfaction within aggro orprogressing range, the attacking ifitmoves aplayercharacter to playeractions.For example, aMOB actions, andsoon)initiate to respond system, automated events,MOB/NPC game enginesandtheirsubsystems (AI System: Systemmetrics cover the actions monitor brightness. variables, suchasmousesensitivityand and menus.Thisincludessetting game withthegameinterfaceplayer performs Interface: Includesallinteractionsthe form thebulkof collected usertelemetry. entities. Thiscategory willinmostcases with gameassets suchasobjectsand economic asinteraction behavior, aswell behaviors of players,includingnavigation, allin-gameactionsand In-game: Covers W From apractical perspective, you ORLD

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OF . W ARCRAFT : USER ANALYTICS_ INTEGRATING ANALYTICS ensure afunctionalworkflow inanalytics. necessary to avoid data overload andto process imposesabias,butisoften most essential information. Thisselection should aimfor logging andanalyzing the can bestaggering, andgenerally we from the users ofagame(orservice) To sumup,thearray ofpotential measures game anditsmonetization model. proper grounding inthedesign ofthe to track andanalyze, withouthavingthe teams, are forced to self-select features without havingsufficient access to design common problem that the analytics teams, this issue. Thisalso helpsalleviate the the teams, for example—helps to avoid analytics team communicates withall lateral integration—making sure thatthe parent department.Havingastrong team only services orprioritizestheir can lead to asituationwhere theanalytics marketing, and monetization,andthis directions, notably userresearch, arriving to theindustry from different across companies dueto analytics value ofanalytics willnotberealized. invariably endupmissing andthefull stakeholders, critical information will cannot communicate withallrelevant vacuum. Ifthoseresponsible for analytics a large degree whenanalysts work ina strategies adopted, andthathappensto be monitored andalsobythemeasuring Even for asmalldeveloper with apart- Analytics groups are placed differently by theselection ofthefeatures to Bias isintroduced inthedataset both 023 May 2013

023 game developer magazine 024 game developer magazine stages ofproduction andpost-launch varies. that theanalyses neededduringdifferent on theother. Itisalsoimportant to beaware hand, andthevalue oftheinsightsobtained and analyzing usertelemetry/metrics onone the resources required for tracking, storing, considers cost-benefit relationships between to develop anapproach to analytics that user behaviors, whichmeanswe have resources to track andanalyze allpossible Sadly, yes. Inreal life, we rarely have the do we really have to make choices here? how dowe thenselect amongthem?And FEATURE SELECTION processes, andafter launch. is embeddedthroughout thedevelopment tools like userresearch, inthatitideally In thisway,analytics issimilarto other be slappedonsometimeafter thebeta. marketing, etc. Analytics shouldnever from analytics to design,monetization, for optimalplanningofhow to ensure value frequently they wantto track it.This allows of behaviorthey wantto track, andhow Early on,devs shouldplanoutwhichkinds all thewaybackinearly designphases. integrated from theonsetofaproduction— analytics anddesign. teams alsohelpsalleviate frictionbetween datasets. Goodcommunication between is needed,orneedingto record additional to work withdata thatare notexactly what to alot ofextra timespentlater ontrying involving theanalytics team. Thiscan lead which behaviors to track ismadewithout typical problem isthatthedecisionabout time analyst thiscan beaproblem. Another USER ANALYTICS_ 024 B Importantly, analytics shouldbe ATTLEFIELD we can measure aboutuserbehavior, Knowing thatthere isanarray ofthings 4.

May 2013 in-game, orrecommends the gameto a item is),establishes afriendconnection purchases avirtualitem (andwhatthat for example, logging every timeauser of thebusiness modelofthecompany, essential attributes related to thecore 3) Core business attributes: The level completions, pointscores). planned, ifflow issustained, deathratios, (whether players are progressing as inferences abouttheuserexperience information thatlets designers make mechanics ofthegame,andshouldprovide be baseddirectly onthekey gameplay Defining thecore designattributes should number ofopponentskilled, andsoon.) time spentplaying,virtualcurrency spent, game. (For example, attributes related to of thegameplayandmechanics The essential attributes related to thecore 2) Core mechanics/designattributes: form thecore ofanygameanalytics dataset. user ID,IP,entrypoint,andsoon.These time atwhichauserstarts orstops playing,a for anycomputer game—for example, the core metricsthatcan always be collected, players) across allgames.Theseform the are shared for users (ascustomers and 1) General attributes: Theattributes that as to thefollowing (seeFigure): 2 and analyzed shouldincludeconsiderations attributes thatshouldbetracked, stored, of reasoning, theminimumsetofuser below, butinshort,byfollowing thisline made bythetarget audience yet. calculated because purchases have notbeen metrics related to monetizationcannot be development, tuningdesignisvital, butmany For example, duringthelatter phasesof We willdiscuss thisinmore detail game metricsand analyses are also is exacerbated insituationswhere the the preselected attributes. Thisproblem behavior thatcannot bedetected using of missing important patterns inuser data-gathering process, you run therisk but asyou restrict the scope ofthe telemetry andselect attributes accordingly. insights) we wishto obtain from user results (andthereby theactionable by defining thegamemetricsandanalysis selection can bedriven bypre-planning, is theextent to whichyour attribute set requirements for gameanalytics. can beanefficient wayto cutresource here, apartfrom notingthatsampling therefore notdelve furtheronthissubject is abigissue initsown right,andwe will fires agun,but only 1%ofthese.Sampling necessary to track every timesomeone another key consideration. Itmaynotbe evolving analytics practice. Samplingis track new attributes andthussustain an embed new hooksinthecode inorder to typically benecessary to somedegree to game orthrough DLCs/patches), itwill as following launch(whetherapersistent game evolves duringproduction aswell careful planning.Thatbeing said,asthe is awaste thatcan beeliminated with additional hooksatalater time—which need to gobackto thecode andembed involved stakeholders. Thisminimizesthe informed aspossible, andincludesallthe that theselection process isaswell- derived from them,you needto make sure set andplanningthemetricsthatcan be on thelist offeatures accordingly. may benecessary to augmentto attributes systems, andnotable gamesettings),it causes, hardware configuration ofclient assurance (recording crashes andcrash user research/user testing andquality is anyinterest inusingtelemetry data for 5) QAanduserresearch: Finally, ifthere categories mentionedabove. requirements mayornotalignwiththe number ofDaily Active Users (DAU). Such may place ahighvalue onknowing the For example, managementormarketing requirements thatneedto beconsidered. there can beanassortment ofstakeholder 4) Stakeholder requirements: Inaddition, none oftheseare ofinterest, ofcourse. marketing. Inatraditional retail situation, data can bevery interesting to assist target churn. For amobile game,geolocation related to revenue, retention, virality, and Facebook friend—oranyotherattributes PRESELECTING FEATURES Reducing complexity isnecessary, When buildingtheinitialattribute during thefeature selection process One important factor to consider user behaviorthat changevalue. Afirst moment, there can bemanyfeatures of changing. Thismeans thatatanygiven responses thatkeep thegamestate DESIGNERS’ KNOWLEDGE STRATEGIES DRIVENBY just whichoneiscorrect). measure andknow thepossible results, not driven methods(we know whatwe wantto what patterns they contain) andhypothesis- explorative (we look attheuserdata to see emphasizes theneedfor theuseofboth requirements can bechallenging. This This meansthatpredicting useranalytics behavior, whichisnotoriously unpredictable. user analytics, we are working withhuman to designandperformance. for thatwe need to look atmetricsrelated why 35% of the players drop out on level 8— not tell you aboutin-gamebehavior,e.g., example, focusing exclusively onKPIswill on available analytics resource. For situations isthebest solution,depending general, striking abalance between thetwo the predefined metricsandanalyses. In the behavioral data notdetectable via your chance offinding anypatterns in DAU, MAU,ARPU,LTV, etc.) can eliminate of Key Performance Indicators (suchas predefined—for example, relying onaset It isworth notingthatwhenitcomes to a continual loop ofactionsand During gameplay,ausercreates mechanics attributes design & general even ifdesigners have exhaustive expert are asked to group elements incategories, a clear interpretive bias anytimehumans through objective factor reduction; there is the variable “health.” used, butjust record every state changeto track thenumberofpotions andbandages the domain“healing,”it’s notnecessary to belonging to eachdomain.For example, for that capture allisomorphicinteractions Lastly, it’s required to identifymeasures are thengrouped into larger domains. behaviors. Theisomorphicinteractions are formally different but essentially similar bandage” or“healing50HPwithapotion” For example “restoring 5HPwitha similar even ifformally slightly different. and state changesthatare essentially groups ofsimilarinteractions, behaviors, identify isomorphicinteractions. Theseare factor reduction: Designers can easily the complexity through a knowledge-driven simplest game,itisnecessary to reduce number ofvariables involved even inthe such lists. Secondly, considering thesheer the beginningbyaskingthemto compile knowledge andinvolve designers from and players; it’s beneficial to harness that possible interactions between thegame are extremely knowledgeable aboutall the gameanditsplayers. Designers list ofallpossible interactions between could beacomprehensive anddetailed employ duringtheanalytical process step toward isolatingwhichfeatures to These domainshave notbeen derived definition attribute business model USER ANALYTICS_ include approaches such asclustering, range from simple to complex. Methods correlated to others; algorithmscan space anddrop features thatare highly on algorithmsto search theattribute variables monitored. most discriminatingfeatures outofallthe individuate only themost relevant andthe and how. Therefore, automated approaches already have defined which variables to track the scope ofautomated strategies; humans measures for suchvariables, falls outsideof defining variables, and establishing that theprocess ofanalyzing gamesystems, databases, ordata warehouses, meaning applied to existing datasets, relational Traditionally, automated approaches are generated byplayer-game interactions. complexity ofthehundreds ofstate changes a complementary approach to reducing the strategies, automated feature selection is More thananalternative to designer-driven learn without beingexplicitly programmed. LEARNING STRATEGIES DRIVENBYMACHINE variables shouldbemonitored, andhow. at thesametimehelpselect whichgame that players can express inagameand potentially contain allthepossible behaviors knowledge. Theselarger domainscan Automated feature selection relies that gives computers theabilityto Machine learning isafield ofstudy qualty assurance user research & game analytics, anumberofsources of Given thebroad scope ofapplication of selection for userbehaviorattributes. requirements stakeholder Figure 2:Thedrivers ofattribute requirements exist. 025 May 2013

025 game developer magazine 026 game developer magazine a similarprinciple. Ananalysis can be size, ormayreduce it. balanced system does notincrease crop crop size.Addingfertilizer to analready- diminishes, stops, andmayeven reduce the size, butafter acertain pointthisincrease adding fertilizer will increase thecrop an unbalanced system (underfertilized), literature isaddingfertilizer to afield. In process willyieldalower per-unitreturn. amount ofonesource ofdata inananalysis of diminishingreturns:theory Increasing the which basically describesasimplified benefit relationship ingametelemetry, telemetry data diminishes. value from theinformation contained inthe analysis increase, buttherate ofadded tracked, costs ofstorage, processing, and more detailed aspectsofuserbehaviorare of insightinto userbehavior. Asmore and collected, andanalyzed willprovide alot first variables/features thatare tracked, will needto track allrevenue). when itcomes to sales records, because you percentage (thisisofcourse notthecase from all players ofagame,butonly a not benecessary to log behavioral telemetry confusion to theanalysis. Similarly, itmay relevant insights,ormayeven addnoiseor variables/features maynotaddanynew each weapon. Addinganumberofadditional damage done,andthefrequency ofuse weapon balancingcould just berange, FPS. However, thekey metricsto evaluate very in-depthanalysis ofweapon useinan bullet trajectory, andsoon,willenable a target, kills,player andtarget positions, type, weapon modifications, range, damage, analyze them.For example, tracking weapon requirements inorder to transform and which inturnleads to hugeresource is possible. this brute-force approach to gameanalytics hooks into thegamecode, butintheory, substantial resources to addthemessage cause bandwidthissues, andwillrequire even every keystroke. Doingsowilllikely every chatmessage, every button press, of amove ofanavatar, every purchase, side system information, every fraction every user-initiated action—alltheserver- DIMINISHING RETURNS clusters found bythealgorithm. measure, degrading thequalityof definition oftypesaffects thesimilarity of features thatare notrelevant for the most relevant features, since thepresence mining. Thesecan beappliedto find the classification, prediction, andsequence USER ANALYTICS_ 026 Fundamentally, gameanalytics follow A classic example ineconomic What thismeansisthatthere isacost- In general, ifselected correctly, the However, itleads to very large datasets, is possible to track, store, andanalyze In asituationwithinfinite resources, it

May 2013 . broadly dividetheminto thefollowing: goals isvital. Essentially, theunderlying decision-making toward bothofthese process generates outputsupporting the investors). Ensuring thattheanalytics money (atleast from theperspective of a gamedevelopment company isto make However, the fundamental goalofrunning games thatprovide agooduser experience. fundamental goalofgame designisto create company andtheneedsofusers. The clarify how to satisfyboththeneedsof to therelevant stakeholder. performed, andtheresulting data reported need to doto ensure thatallthree are of inputdata they require, andwhatyou user-oriented gameanalytics, thekinds are theexistence ofthesethree typesof factors you shouldconcern yourself with approaching your usertelemetry, thefirst market research. telemetry data withotheruserdata and/or analytics focuses onmerging user infrastructure issues, whereas strategic analytics inform technical and To anextent, operational andtactical ANALYTICS GOALS OFUSER-ORIENTED variables related to theflaw are nottracked. hard to identifyifthespecific behavioral in asingle smalldesignflaw, whichcan be retention inasocialonlinegame,can rest behavioral pattern, whichdecreases for example, thecause ofaproblematic data. There can ofcourse beexceptions— noise andconfusion addedbytheadditional lead to asituationofnegative return dueto may reduce thereturn, orinextreme cases amount ofdata into ananalysis process necessary. Additionally, increasing the before additional(new) features are particular setofinputfeatures/variables, optimized upto aspecific pointgiven a match userbehavior inreal-time should make to apersistent gameto example, informing what changesyou current situation inthegame.For analysis andevaluationof theimmediate, analyticsOperational , whichtarget feature. example anA/Btest of anew game game designatfor theshort-term, Tactical analytics, whichaimto inform business model. based onanalysis of userbehavior andthe global view onhow agameshouldevolve Strategic analytics, whichtarget the The second factor to consider isto When you’re plotting astrategy for have avariety ofpurposes,butwe can User-oriented gameanalytics typically competitive and exciting asours. adaptable; it’s necessary inan industry as keep your decisionsandprocess fluent and added asresources permit.Finally, tryto designers getpaid).Additionaldetail can be monetization (for helpingmakingsure experience (for helpingdesigners) and from the mainmechanicsdrivinguser collection, andfrom thecore out,starting ensure comprehensive coverage indata models from thetop down, soyou can can give onuseranalytics isto develop invalid. Therefore, thebest advice we would rapidly render recommendations rate ofinnovation indesignishigh,which specific areas ofit),butalsobecause the a vast designspace anddonotcluster at within neatdesignclasses (gamesshare This isnotjust because gamesdonotfall all typesofgamesandusagesituations. generic guidelinesfor metricsacross because itisnigh-onimpossible to develop kill/death ratio, jumpsuccess ratio). This metrics (shotsfired/minute perweapon, rather thangenerating lists ofconcrete ensuring comprehensiveness incoverage to generate categories guidingselection, a somewhat abstract level, attempting SUMMING UP used asaproxy) andmonetization. both user experience (retention is sometimes whether aspecific designchangeincreases analysis methodslike A/Btesting to evaluate successful intheF2Pmarketplace whouse exemplified bycompanies thathave been at thesametime.Thisapproach is should inform bothdesignandmonetization in question. User-oriented gameanalytics revenue—irrespective ofthebusiness model that themonetizationcycle generates to acquire andretain customers; 2)ensuring ensuring aqualityuserexperience, inorder drivers for gameanalytics are twofold: 1) of material thechapters from. thisarticle draws Dynamics)contributed Soerensen (Crystal to some at Finally, Northeastern. JanusRauMoeller directs GameEducational Programs andResearch is anassociate professor laband at thePLAIT of personalityandmotivation. Dr. El-Nasr MagySeif interplay in-gamebehavior between andpsychology withthe working lab at University, Northeastern Canossa isanassociate professor at thePLAIT blog (blogs.gameanalytics.com). Dr. Alessandro game researcher. Hecurates theGA development Game Analytics, gameanalyst isaveteran and book. Dr. lead AndersDrachen, gameanalyst at article isbasedonselected content from the than 50expertsandresearch. inindustry This published compendium of insights from more Maximizing theValue ofPlayer Data , arecently Canossa are theeditors of GameAnalytics - andAlessandro El-Nasr,AndersDrachen, Magy Seif *** about feature selection hasbeenat Up to thispoint,thediscussion f 000 COLUMN_January 2013

BY STEVE STOPPS

Someone far more clever than me once said, “Creative endeavors are abandoned, not fi nished.” Anyone who has worked on a large game knows that game development can often be fi lled with both confl ict and compromise. I’ve worked on my share of commissioned games, and I know that these projects are tough. Big games are expensive to make, and that raises the already-high stakes for everyone involved—which, in turn, makes everyone involved far more risk-averse. Were the stakes substantially lower, most devs would want to take on more creatively ambitious projects, with no boundaries or restrictions getting in the way of making what we want to make. In other words, we’d want to be indies—but without the terrifying risk of failure. So, six months ago, I asked this question: Are there lessons from indie development that can be utilized in a larger, established studio setting? In order to answer this question, we set out a simple studio experiment. We changed our contracts of employment, invited fi ve of the most senior developers to form a new team, and gave that team complete creative freedom.

CHANGING THE CONTRACT company to potentially profi t Allow me to let you in on a formalized this and turned it The fi rst step was a relatively from that. The reason many little secret: If you work for a into a positive. small but signifi cant change companies seek to control reasonably large-sized studio, We found that this risk to our contracts, so that their developers’ IP is an there will be people who is worth it; when developers people could develop their understandable fear that some are working on cool stuff on feel like they own their work, own projects in their own time of them will go on to make their own time whether their they feel more creative and and retain the IP themselves— great games and leave the contracts allow it or more motivated to develop that is, own their own game studio to pursue their own not, because people who new skills. For example, one designs. Our aim was to free projects full time—and in fact, make games are inherently of the programmers on our our staff to be more creative this has already happened to creative. They can’t stop team learned new shader and for both them and the some degree to us. themselves. We just techniques on his own time, game developer magazine 0027 028 game developer magazine game, this trust withacompleted in thateightweeks. They repaid them free rein to make agame trusted theirabilities,we gave our most seniordevs andwe Because they were someof which they were learning. to prove outtheissues about they wanted to make agame initially envisioned—thatis, sense thanthecompany had more practical, hands-on They decidedto dothisina about themobile market. tasked withlearning more and thisgroup hadbeen research into various areas, often asked to undertake people between projects are began. Asinmanystudios, before theirnext projects and hadaround eightweeks finished theircompany projects most seniordevelopers had chance, asmallnumberofour BUILDING ANEWTEAMBy developed bytheteam. creativity, aswillfuture games through outside-of-work skills andknowledge gained directly benefited from thenew game. Ourcurrent game through developing theirown about Facebook integration while anotherlearned alot they decided thatmonetization needed to learn more about, so clearly akey area ourstudio games over thepast year was Also, theriseoffreemium had to betraditionally hardcore. not necessarily meanthe game quickly realized thatthis did games thatwere selling,they group). Havinglooked atthe 34 (70%more thananyother iOS comes from menages25- the majorityofmoney spenton as possible. lessons abouttheprocess to learn asmanypractical much better. They alsowanted understand themobile market something thatwould helpus personality, butalsocreate that haditsown voice and only wanted to make agame the whole process; they not commercially mindedduring LUMO Thisteam wasvery THE GOALS FOR KUMO after launch. million downloads just 10days Chillingo andreceived over one has since beenpublishedby INTERNAL INDIES_ 028 Their research showed that K UMO L UMO

, which , which Steve Stopp feasibility ofdelivery. Inthe scope for visualappeal, and possibility for monetization, on suitability for theaudience, designs. They were assessed all asone-sheetvisual presented several concepts, simple. Thedesignlead The designprocess was DESIGNING KUMOLUMO too. could learn aboutthisprocess, development, sothatthey social marketing alongside they decidedto dotheirown the audience. Consequently, ways ofengagingdirectly with These days,thatmeansfinding need to know thatitexists. made agoodgame,people and marketing. Once you’ve that agamelives ordiesbyPR the studio’s previous experience gameplay keeps people playing. Screenshots sellyour game,the as thegameplay. Putsimply: the gamewasasimportant options, thevisualdirection of Store shoppers bombarded by concept. To appealto App expertise required for this they hadneitherthetimenor movement, butquickly realized idea basedonthepapertoy they hadagreat puzzle-game game concepts. For example, simplicity ruled outmanyearly success. Theirfocus onthis to secure thebest chance of simple indesignandexecution knew thatthegamehadto be time andresources, they design from theoutset. should bepartofthegame Finally, theteam knew from Since theteam hadlimited L direction thatfelt right. before theteam settled ona before. Ittook lots ofiteration something thathadbeendone niche, orlooked too muchlike skewed too young, orwere too App Store. that would stand outonthe mobile, andsomething unique like, whatseemed to sellon thought theaudience would balance between whatthey Finally, they struck acareful best-selling mobile games. the artdirection ofmanythe like. Inparallel they looked at this audience liked anddidn’t on iOS,thenresearched what a large addressable market The team started byidentifying part research andpartinstinct. movement. Thisprocess was the sticker bomb/street art inspiration, they looked to had anindividualidentity. For felt suited to mobile, butalso appropriate for theaudience, choosing onethatwasboth visual treatments before explored manypotential on adesign,theartteam design shown below. end, theteam chosethe and maintained ablog at same period,they hadcreated Apple. Inaddition,duringthe for itsfirst submission to had afully formed gameready Eight weeks later theteam T-shirts andmugsordered. checked, URLssecured, trademarks andcopyright first week, theteam hadits UMO K The result was Some oftheearly concepts Once theteam haddecided UMO . Bytheendof L UMO one-sheetdesign. K UMO

stoke thiscontroversy alittle. in ourgame.Sowe helped generated traffic andinterest of feeling, andthisinturn was somereal strength development” angle. There picked uponour“undercover it. For example, someforums find thatout,just domore of most hitsto ourblog. Once you activity wasgenerating the team could understand which services suchasbit.ly, the Analytics andlink-tracking By usingtools like Google outreach. credibility to ourearly press sense ofbuzzaddedalot of up bymanykey players. This the game,whichwaspicked to create areal buzzaround Twitter, butitdidenable us direct sales from ourwork on believe we generated many we sayitwasworth it?Idon’t it. Butwhatdowe meanwhen takes time,butiswell worth engagement. Thiscertainly with people gotmuchbetter built personal relationships curated theirfollowers and team members whocarefully won’t helpyou withthat.The Click-throughs count, and bots your engagementwithpeople. but doesnotnecessarily help it increases your followers Twitter account isn’tuseful; bots to addusers to your human interaction. Using social mediareally isallabout personal. Rememberthat useful—if you make it initially thought. is really more difficult thanwe there andtrieditourselves, it marketing, buthavingbeen about the“darkarts”of make disparaging remarks looks. Developers frequently learned: as well. Here’s whatthey responsibility offto theteam and PR,sowe handedthat for theirown marketing too. Indiedevs are responsible make—it’s beingable to sellit, just makingwhatyou wantto independent developer isn’t Of course, partofbeingan DEVS ONMARKETING create interest. media to drive traffic and with various forms ofsocial kumolumo.com, andengaged Analytics are important. Twitter ismassively Marketing isharder thanit L K believed for awhile that are people outthere who an audience. Iamsure there of theirhard work inbuilding which ultimately undidmuch negotiation withapublisher, we moved into contract stop for three monthswhen Our team activityhadto much more ofanedge. developing theirown gamehas rogue element withinastudio isn’t uniqueorinteresting—a moving into iOSdevelopment interesting story. Alarge studio played onthisto create amore had noideawhat.Sowe something iOSrelated, but bosses knew we were doing project, itwastrue:Our At thepointofstarting the our “undercover development.” we created ourstory around might find interesting. For us, readership, andwhatthey attention. Thinkabouttheir are more likely to gettheir your story interesting, you content. Therefore, ifyou make interesting andengaging They have space to fill with driver oftraffic was still oursecond-biggest other activityputtogether, and traffic thanpretty muchallthe Facebook still generated more the Facebook page.However, didn’t doanythingto promote Twitter and Pinterest thatthey the team wassoexcited by really. Itsoundsobvious,but that we would show them with Chillingo,andthey agreed executives setupameeting Our business development American business trips. before oneofourregular The gamewasfinished just excellent decisionspaidoff: good timing,andtheteam’s warmly received. they hadlearned, whichwas team presented everything been previously involved. The to theexecutives, who hadnot The team unveiled thegame marketing was inprogress. game wasmadeandthe After abouteightweeks, the LUCK, SKILL,ANDTIMING the visualdirection and the liked it!They understood UMO UMO Facebook ismassive. No, Keep upthemomentum. Journalists needstories. This iswhensomeluck, wasvaporware. L UMO . Chillingoreally K UMO

good anopportunityto pass experience; itjust seemedtoo us theirvast knowledge and and whowanted to share with about thegameaswe were partner whowasaspassionate We felt thatwe hadmeta For ustheanswer wassimple. we could have self-published. why we usedapublisherwhen for thepast few months. the team hasbeenworking on game better, andthisiswhat feedback onhow to make the Of course, they hadsome great commercial promise. style of gameandfelt ithad

Sticker bomb branding sheet. We have often beenasked right way—noshortcuts! but only ifyou doitthe marketing isworthwhile, we learned thatsocialmedia delivers great results. Also, knowledgeable developers and trusting experienced and is motivating, andmotivating creative freedom, andtrust giving people autonomy, success; we learned that our indieexperiment a consider theresults of HUGE SUCCESS We would MAKING ANOTE HERE: with them. up. It’s beenareal joy working INTERNAL INDIES_ we learnedwe from beenapplyingwe’ve allthelessons and alive. make your gamefeel fresh idea andapurityofvisionwill games, take this:Anoriginal take nothing more from indie in, andmake itfun!Ifyou Make thegameyou believe anything, trust your vision. And probably more than next project, [Team Lumo ishard onour at work Team Lumo for BlitzGamesStudios. Steve Stopps isproject director of ***

K UMO P L APER Steve Stopp UMO 029 K UMO T first concept. ITANS L UMO , and .]

029 game developer magazine

031 Trent Oster Trent _ Cross-platform

Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition postmortem Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition launched on PC on November 28 and on iPad on December 8 to great fan interest, rocketing to the #2 spot on iTunes in the U.S. and #1 on many other app stores around the world. Our initial plan was to launch all platforms as close to each other as possible. In retrospect, this was very naive given the size of our team and the volume of work required. We’re working steadily now to build versions for the remaining platforms, and to roll out concurrent versions so cross-platform multiplayer can be a reality. We’ve had great success on the PC and iPad, with great sales and positive feedback from the fans. We’re very anxious to roll out versions for the remaining platforms as fast as we can. From the trenches, the development of Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition was an interesting journey. We had early moments of exuberance as we played the first tablet version and proved our theory that Baldur’s Gate did indeed kick ass on tablets. We had great moments of insight when we brought in people from the modding community and shared work-in-progress versions with them. We had moments of despair, such as lost source art and subsequent sacrifices to salvage the publishing deal. Along the way we had the opportunity to work with some great talents such as Mark Meer, John Gallagher, and Sam Hulick. Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition was a challenge, but we’ve all come out with some sanity remaining and a great

understanding of the game, the engine technology, and what makes Baldur’s Gate the legend it is. game developer magazine 031 032 game developer magazine to perform actionsin changes, aswe explored thelogical means before we shipped. running andsemifunctionalalmost ayear interface early on—we hadaniPad version Cameron Tofer went crazy onthetablet Beamdog cofounder andveteran developer Pocket Tactics hasbeenareal positive. media outlets like Touch Arcade and feedback from thefine fellows at respected The success hasbeenawesome, andthe market wasstarving for suchaproject. RPG inthetablet space and thatthe proved you could produce anepic,massive T WHAT WENTRIGHT recently withafurtherenhancement we be moved to amodalbutton. group, andassuch,group selection could a single character selected ortheentire actions inBGare performed witheither iterations we realized thevast majority of selection, butafter anumberofclumsy a single touch. We initially favored group is moving/interacting, whichwe mapped to scrolling. Thesecond most common action photo appUIstandard ofatouch-drag for is to scroll thescreen, sowe usedthe example, themost common player action the least-complex control mechanism.For favoring common actionsandgivingthem end, Cameron’s approach broke down to using atouch designparadigm. Inthe he Cross-platform_ 032 Every new buildbrought radical We’ve added to thislevel ofpolish

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project. Thefeedback onournew content was acore element to thesuccess ofthe development time. Inourmind,thebeta were able to suggest fixes thatcut our B rapid pace, inpartbecause experienced improve it.We found andfixed bugsat a tremendously helpfulfeedback onhow to over sixmonths,during whichwe received B systems working. overly integrated—damn you, Scott Greig) while keeping theexisting complex (and to balance rewriting theentire UIcode process waschallenging, aswe tried spots, like class selection). Theoverall height (whichwe only failed to doinafew as keeping buttons over 44pixels in guidelines from Apple for theiPad, such all while trying to embrace someUI panels around thenew portrait sizes, and slowly reconstructed alltheartand We listed alltherequired UI elements the userportraits aslarge aspossible. 1024x768. MypriorityinUIwasto make base itaround thenew resolution of we wanted to keep theoriginal feel, but move along. From anoverall UIdesign, we go,makingthegamebetter aswe and soon.We’ll continue to iterate as buildings, pickupitems from theground, interface, makingiteasierto enter with theless-accurate nature ofatouch the userto have theprecision ofamouse call smartradius. Smartradius allows eta aldur

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We beta tested thegamefor modders inthebeta of unexpected ways.Dueto thecomplexity cases thatcaused thequests to break in was excellent, aswe found bizarre edge a customer. Thedirect-sales optionand confusion onsupport,just adeveloper and directly to ourusers, no middlemen, no Store withthe goalofsellingourgames Games. We developed theBeamdog development team, whichwe call Overhaul digital distribution service, andourgame Beamdog hastw O hardware devices. differences between thedifferent iPad a “precertification”-style test to catch the coverage. They were able to run usthrough the iPad versions andto ensure testing company namediBeta to helpusfinal the system. database andbeta bugswent straight into The beta team hadaccess to ourbug so thefeedback wasfast andontarget. good background with theoriginalgame, We chosepeople withstrong skillsanda was volunteers recruited from ourforums. As Imentioned,thisbeta-testing group and notjust thedirect efforts ofourteam. knowledge ofacommunity ofdevelopers formats, we were able to leverage the the originalgamestructures andasset fix theproblem and retest. By sticking with quest could bebroken andactquickly to testing to findallthepossible ways a u B r We alsohired anexternal testing aldur o wn d ’ s igita G ate l d o parts:anonline , we neededalot of i s trib u ti o n s er v i c e

number offurther palette-manipulation colors. Following theremapping, any 256-color palette swapto enable player The sprite isthencolor-mapped usinga heavy resource-management system. loaded outofaresource file usinga very orientation ofacharacter sprite isfirst to thescreen, thecorrect frame and clever. For example: To render acharacter BioWare’s InfinityEngine ischock-fullof is whenthey create the greatest atrocities.” programmer believes they’re beingclever a development joke Ioften drop: “Whena Intr What expanding onwhatitcan dogoingforward. with ourservice to date andwe’ll be builds ofthegame.We’ve been very happy Mac OSX,iPad, andAndroid development We even useourservice to sendaround control, orasfast atbuilddistribution. agile inourresponse, effective atversion without itwe couldn’t have beennearly as internally for allourbuilddistribution, and data to ourusers. We useBeamdogdaily as we pushedhundreds ofterabytes of and we handled ahugesurge indemand without ahitch aswe approached launch, the East andWest coasts oftheU.S. servers inGermany,Singapore, andon exceptionally well. We were able to add systems, butthesystem performed out-of-date SSL root certificates onuser hiccups withtheclientsoftware and and corrected them.Sure, we hadafew in undertwo weeks aswe found issues record time,doingfour majorupdates able to pushPCfixes to thegamein to new versions withoutahitch. We were months inadvance andupdate testers to pushoutbeta buildsofthegamesix digital-distribution service allowed us developer. a great benefit for asmall,self-funded typical royalty-advance deal,whichwas payment manymonthsinadvance ofa a preorder program allowed usto receive The othergreat benefitwashow our i cate code-data dependency w ent w rong I have planned to doa T improvements we wanted to make. limited ourabilityto make thearchitectural intricate linkingofassets andcode really course inanRPGofthismagnitude,butthe default human.Complexity isparfor the to render adwarfsprite instead ofthe animation frames to adata redirection be manipulated, from equipment-changing many different .2dadata files onhow it can In somecases, thedata can reference which asimple sprite can bemanipulated. impossible to track down allthewaysin and tweaks along thewaymake itnearly previous buffer. Thevolume ofclever shifts with nochange,leaves thetile from the tiles asupdated andrenders themor, dynamic update system thatflags64x64 64x64 pixel tiles to berendered. The final result issent to thescreen in potentially covering elements are nearby. the sprite isrendered against whatever and furtherchangetheactualdata. Then code (stoneskin, anyone?) can step in the ISdepartment to findtheassets. removable drive andwork withDerek and arrangements to visitBioWare witha failed to findthesource art,soI made more data. We againdugthrough and BioWare, andhedugfurthersentus I said;contacted Derek French over at files and texture images.“No problem,” source artshouldbe—stuff like 3DSMax later we noticed alarge hole where the of theassets from BioWare. Afew days on thesamepage,andwe got ourfirst drop nailed down thecore terms, goteveryone movement to make thegamesmoother. We animation andaddnew orientations to the rerender themwithmanymore frames of planned to take thecharacter modelsand of theareas everyone remembers. We which would give usstunning versions resolutions andwithbetter materials, clean itup,andrerender itathigher plan wassimple: Grab theoriginalartwork, he lostsourceart The entire system runsundera B aldur Originally, we had ’ s G ate : HD . Our Cross-platform_ skills to bearon more andbringournewly leveled-up to continue to improve thegame even critical success sofar, we’re very anxious platforms. Withthe great commercial and better andintheprocess, bringitto new we wanted to make agreat gameeven development skillsandleave ourmark; role ofcurator. We didn’twantto change but early onwe decidedto adoptthe fewer bugsbymakingsweeping changes, development work, andwe could have had caring team. We could have donefaster hard, respectful work ofasmalland by theproduct itisbuiltupon,andthe testing oncurrent andbeta OSreleases. some extra timefor periodicperformance to anunplannedchange,andto budget performance for whenyou needitdue is to buildinsomeslackterms of build suffered. Thelesson learned here we wanted, andthequalityofshipping fixing timewasspentnotthebugs result wasthatagreat dealofourbug- to acompletely unplannedtask. Theend the end,we lost alot ofkey developer time quality andimproving theframerate. In between hurtingthevisualupscaling performance concerns. We fought awar key programming effort to fixingthe date. We quickly diverted most ofour from our contractually amendedship completely unplayable, less thanamonth iPads. TheiPad 1andiPad 3became took amassive hitinframerate onall in thecore iOSgraphics code, butwe We’re not100%sure whatwaschanged testing ontheupcoming iOS6beta build. learning here is:Don’tpanic! ways larger, butstill pretty awesome. Thekey as aresult, sotheproject isdifferent; insome time to make more widespread improvements initially planned, but we actually had a bit more less graphical flash for launchthan we had a year ofnegotiation.Theendresult isalittle discard ourplansandstart anew after almost back ontrack. We basically hadto completely had to renegotiate royalty terms to getthedeal the implications ofanon-HDversion andwe as opposedto an“HD”version. We discussed we repitched Atari withan“Enhanced Edition” spent afew weeks rethinking theconcept and the dealwasdeadinwater. Cameron andI we brought theinformation backto Atari and no avail. Thesource artwaslost. Atthispoint backed up.We dugthrough tape backupsto project drive, andassuchwasnotfrequently was stored onadepartmental drive andnota horrible realization thatthesource artwork Overhaul Games. Overhaul Trent Oster isthepresident of Beamdogand *** B iOS E n aldur h 6 In summary,BG:EEwasdefined After two daysofsearching we came to the anced Late indevelopment, we started ’ s G

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We opted for a modern, autodidactic approach to our puzzle design, allowing us to introduce new elements without requiring or relying on wordy tutorials. Players learn by experimenting and discovering things on their own, through what are essentially series of controlled experiments. We were very much inspired by games like Braid, Portal, and SpaceChem, though the barrier to entry for Hundreds is much lower in some ways than these more “hardcore” games, thanks to its simplified interface. Our team of four—a designer/artist, a programmer, a level designer, and a sound designer—took more than 15 months to create Hundreds. I am very, very proud of the work we did; making inclusive and humanist games is my game design passion, and I am completely satisfied with our efforts. We hadn’t shipped a profitable iOS game since Canabalt back in 2009, so building Hundreds was a huge experiment and a learning experience. Hopefully, this postmortem will let me clarify some of what we learned—both for my own sake, but also to lend some assistance or assurance to others in a similar situation. Finally, I’m normally a bit opposed to the traditional what-went- right/what-went-wrong approach to postmortems, but I promise I have done my best to include real, unfiltered pros and cons here!

WHAT WENT RIGHT

1/ HARDWARE-NATIVE DESIGN A few years ago, I was interviewing my friend and game designer Miah Slaczka (Lock’s Quest, Scribblenauts) for the now-defunct TIGRadio podcast, and we were talking about his design approach to the Nintendo DS specifically. He stressed the importance he personally placed on doing hardware- native design. That is, designing games really specifically based around the hardware interface and leveraging it, rather than simply compromising for it. A game like Ridiculous Fishing or Bit Pilot has really solid hardware-native controls and design, for example. A classic example of extremely non-native design, especially for touchscreens, is the virtual D-pad found in many ports and action games. PixelJunk’s DSi games for Nintendo (especially Trajectile) are great examples of hardware-native design too. Anyway, I was interviewing Miah just a few months after releasing Canabalt, which was sort of miraculously interfaceless. Anything with a touchscreen or a button can run Canabalt just fine. For me, at least, that was a design fluke; I tried designing more games with that much flexibility in their controls, and I was really struggling. Talking with Miah about hardware-native designs really changed my ideas about commercial game design, and I began thinking about designing games very specifically for touchscreens, rather than for multiple platforms. I designed a few different prototypes, but we didn’t end up building any of them. Getting into that headspace ended up being a huge win for Hundreds, though. With Canabalt, I’d been mulling over one-button action game designs for a few years, and I think that paid off in a big way. By the time the opportunity to work on Hundreds came along, I’d already been thinking about touchscreen-centric game design for a few years, and was eager to put that time to good use. Hundreds, to my mind anyway, is almost the perfect touchscreen game; it is very immediate and 1:1 in its interactions. There is no interface. We use multitouch in an intuitive way. We avoided contrived and complicated gestures, and focused on getting the basics just right.

2/ MINIMALIST DESIGN The thing that stands out the most about Hundreds is the way it looks. Greg Wohlwend’s striking minimalist graphic design permeates the entire game, with nearly everything important communicated by subtly different shades of gray, punctuated by bold, red user-interface elements. The minimalist design of Hundreds had two big benefits. The first (and maybe most important) benefit is what I (somewhat hyperbolically) refer to as the “#Sworcery Doctrine.” In this age of app stores and the proliferation of indie studios and indie games, game developer magazine it’s not enough to just make a pretty good game and release it. 0036 pm 037 postmortem_May 2013

You could probably argue that was never enough! Right now it 4/ DISTRIBUTED DEVELOPMENT Like some other small indie feels like creating something that stands out is an integral part studios, Semi Secret is a completely distributed development of making indie games commercially. There aren’t very many studio. We have no central office and we don’t even meet face games out there that look like Hundreds, and that made a very to face on a regular basis. Eric and I both live near Austin, but big difference for us. Greg was working from Baltimore, Chicago, and New York, and There are many different ways to make something that stands our incredible audio collaborator Scott Morgan worked from his out, of course. We knew from the start of this project that one of the home studio in Vancouver, CA. The huge pro here is that in spite things we wanted to build was a game that wasn’t embarrassing to of our lack of physical proximity, we got to work with exactly the play on your iPad in public. (That sounds snobby, and please keep right people. Scott (aka Loscil) was our first choice for audio, and in mind that I love cartoony games, and I enjoy violent games, and Hundreds was all Greg’s idea in the first place. Without long- this is not a low-culture/high-culture thing.) distance collaboration, this project would not have been possible; it There is a stigma about games being “for kids,” and I do think never would have existed. a lot of that has to do with their presentation, whether these We relied on a lot of common tools to accomplish this; Google games are aping Dreamworks cartoons, comic books, or R-rated Mail and Docs are basically invaluable. We rely exclusively on Git for action movies (which we all know are really marketed to kids). source control, but for the first time we made heavy use of Dropbox How hard is it to convince people that How to Train Your Dragon to coordinate with Greg and Scott. Dropbox is great for folks who is totally amazing? We really wanted to make a game that didn’t don’t need Git’s versioning and (for many new users) frustrating unnecessarily exclude anyone, and that definitely includes people level of complexity. who are turned off by stuff that is obviously “for kids.” Games researcher Ian Bogost went so far as describing the Hundreds 5/ SLOW DEVELOPMENT Hundreds took us a pretty long time to aesthetic as “haute couture” in an article for The Atlantic. The great make, by my standards anyway: 15 months at least; maybe a bit more. thing is that kids still love Hundreds; it turns out they don’t really The longest I ever worked on the same game before this was a few need cartoon birds in order to enjoy something. months. Canabalt took five days. 15 months was a lot longer than The more pragmatic benefit we got from pursuing a minimalist I expected, and this had some serious ramifications for the project design is that we didn’t have to spend months or even years (more on this later). But it had a big positive effect on the project drawing thousands of frames of animation, modeling backgrounds, too. As level designer, I had about 90% of the game’s mechanics or whatever. Nearly everything in Hundreds is procedurally and levels designed by March 2012, roughly nine months before we generated, from the circles to the icons, and even the texture shipped the game. At the time I remember being frustrated that we atlases for the fonts. We didn’t even have an art pipeline; no retina- were still working on menus and technology. But those “delays” resolution assets required. ended up making the level designs much, much better. On past projects, I was perfectly happy just sending game content 3/ LEGACY HARDWARE SUPPORT Another not-terribly-romantic out the door as long as it felt pretty fun to me. This isn’t necessarily a aspect of Hundreds that I’m pretty proud of is our robust support horrible idea, but our goal was to build a game that would be able to for older iOS hardware. While there are some devices out there that teach itself to a very wide audience. We needed more than a few days Hundreds can’t realistically support, we did push hard to get really to put the game in front of strangers and see if the game worked for good performance out of devices as old as the iPhone 3GS and them. I can’t remember if it was Kellee Santiago or Robin Hunicke especially the iPad 1. Even though the numbers indicate that these who originally told me about the idea of the Silver Rule. The Golden are not the most popular devices by a long shot, it was enormously Rule, as we all know, says something like “Do unto others as you satisfying to run at 60 frames per second even on these grouchy old would like them to do to you.” The Silver Rule says “Do unto others gadgets. It also meant that our performance on newer devices was as they would do unto themselves.” This tiny change makes a crucial exceptional. Ironically, I’m not 100% sure I would recommend this and enormous difference in all manner of disciplines, but I really like to other developers, but more on that later. the way it applies to game design and playtesting. I want to reiterate that when I write “playtesting,” this is not at all the same as “focus testing.” When we playtest our games, we’re not making sure players never get stuck. We’re making sure that most players only get stuck on what we want them to get stuck on. Maybe other folks have different approaches, but for us, for our goal of building what we hope are intelligent games for a wide audience, we want people to get stuck sometimes. We want people to have little epiphanies and victories. What we don’t want is for them to get stuck on a confusing menu item or grossly misunderstand a critical part of the game’s basic controls or something. Over the course of the game’s longer-than- expected development time, we were able to put it in front of a lot of different players in a lot of different settings, and we greatly benefitted from these playtesting experiences. The other thing the long dev time allowed us to do was to mercilessly edit our designs. A lot of designers are familiar with the idea of “killing your darlings”—the necessity of editing to create a good, cohesive work. Sometimes there are elements of a design that we love but that don’t fit in the design, game developer magazine 0037 038 pm postmortem_May 2013

or don’t make sense to our playtesters. For this project, it was very improved concepts even during the last month of development. important to us that we strip out anything that wasn’t functioning This makes me even more certain that this long development properly. period was crucial for achieving the necessary editorial distance. The hardest darling to kill in Hundreds was one of the very first ideas I contributed to the game: holes. This was a game about WHAT WENT WRONG circles, and holes seemed like a really interesting obstacle to put in the mix. They would be circular, of course, but they could remove 1/ HARDWARE-NATIVE DESIGN (Oh ho, see what I did there? This is objects from the level, which was interesting, and had a kind of a thing I’m doing in this postmortem about double-edged swords! pinball vibe that I loved. In practice, though, holes were extremely So now you’re in on it too.) problematic. They introduced some interesting dynamics, but they As I said before, hardware-native design was one of the best were shallow, and there was a huge downside: Puzzles could reach things about the design of Hundreds. Unfortunately, from a unwinnable states, and we were adamantly opposed to having a reset business perspective, it’s also been one of the most difficult or retry button in the game. So, we killed the holes. Eventually. aspects. If you look at the most successful independent games of The thing is, at least for me, it was (and is) really hard to muster the last few years, there is a bit of a pattern: Release game on the discipline required to really kill off some darlings if they’re fresh some interesting native hardware or platform, then sell it on PC/ out of the oven. “Who knows, right? Maybe people just aren’t used Mac both directly and through Steam, then buy Teslas. The thing to this new design yet. Maybe people just don’t get it yet. They’ll is, we are absolutely, completely, and intentionally tethered to come around, they just need to get used to the way it—hang on. touchscreens by the design of Hundreds. This is still a big market, They’re right! This idea sucks!” which is great, but it’s also a market where games have very, very This is how it goes in my head most of the time. I need some low prices. Even at over 100,000 copies sold in the first month, we time, some editorial distance, before I can objectively judge an idea. barely broke even, if that, on our year-plus development cycle. On There is some span of time, usually somewhere in between a week Steam, well, we wouldn’t have been buying Teslas, but we would and a month, where an idea seems to cease to be my own, and have at least joked about buying Teslas. starts to feel like someone else’s idea, even if that someone else is just a past me that didn’t know any better. And as soon as that 2/ MINIMALIST DESIGN Minimalist game design is a passion of idea isn’t “mine” anymore, I find it very easy to judge its worth, mine, but it can put enormous pressure on weird or unexpected especially when I’m trying to figure out why playtesters got stuck parts of the design when you are trying to produce work that is so long on a level that used that idea. competitive with less minimalist offerings. A lot of the game- While developing Hundreds, we threw out a lot of stuff—at buying audience has a sensitivity to polish. It’s not a requirement, least half a dozen core mechanics or game objects, and dozens by any means, but it is part of a promise that we make as game of puzzle designs that were fundamentally flawed in some way or designers, to our audience. To me, polish says, “Look at this game; game developer magazine other. We were throwing out level designs and replacing them with look how much effort we put into it. Look how much we believed in 038 pm 039 postmortem_May 2013

it! It’s worth taking a second look at this game.” It doesn’t mean the Why did it take so long to make a game about bouncing game is good, of course, but it is one way of conveying a creator’s circles? Legacy hardware support was part of it, as was, I think, confidence in the work. As an indie game studio with no marketing our distributed development arrangement. I think our skills were budget, there aren’t a lot of ways for us to tell people this. So, we’re not spread optimally; we ended up having maybe five times more pro-polish, as it were. programming work than art or level design, which put a huge When your game is just circles, though, part of making the work strain on Eric. We also had a lot of feature creep, though I still don’t really shine means drawing really, really good circles. I don’t have view that as a mistake in the case of Hundreds specifically. Our room to go into detail here about how we did it, but I can tell you goal was to produce something that was competitive on the App that drawing perfectly anti-aliased circles of any imaginable size, Store, and we only added what we felt was necessary to create a under a full-screen vignette effect, at 60 frames per second, on full experience. We spent so long in development that our ideas an iPad 1 or iPhone 4, is… difficult. The tech behind Hundreds about what a “full experience” was ended up changing along with was rebuilt from scratch at least three times during development. the rising quality bar of other games and apps. It wasn’t a Duke Which leads me to the next problem... Nukem Forever arms race, but it is important to recognize this tendency of markets to be moving targets, especially at the start 3/ LEGACY HARDWARE SUPPORT As almost any iOS developer will of a project. It’s not enough to have a thorough understanding of tell you, one of the great advantages of the platform is not having what the market is like right now for our next game. What will the to deal with the intimidating degree of fragmentation of PC or market be like when we finish our next game? That’s the mark we Android. However, there is still a big difference between the low- have to aim for. end and high-end hardware that’s out there. There are multiple Looking back, I see our long development time as a catch-22 screen resolutions, huge differences in CPU power, and large that I just didn’t understand at the time. We couldn’t afford not to disparities in available memory to deal with. If we’d only targeted spend that much time on Hundreds. I don’t think people would the most powerful iOS hardware, I think it we could have saved have enjoyed it if we shipped it with fewer features or less polish. At months of development time. For us, in retrospect, this was a the same time, we literally couldn’t afford to spend that much time much less trivial decision than I thought it was. making it. We didn’t have the runway, and we didn’t seek outside investment in order to fix that. I think that was a big mistake. 4/ DISTRIBUTED DEVELOPMENT Issues like technological delays were exacerbated by our physical distance from each other. Email LAUNCHING HUNDREDS can be a disastrous way of communicating about important issues, and as development time runs over the targeted deadlines, it is Hundreds launched January 2013 to a dozen or more perfect harder to stay focused and energized when you’re half a country scores from reviewers all over the world. The design appeals to apart (or farther). Distance can hamper your ability to (I’m gonna fans of all ages, genders, and ethnicities, and we sold over 100,000 say it!) synergize, too. There is undeniably something really copies in our first month on the App Store, with a modest (read: powerful about being in a shared space with other creative people nonexistent) marketing budget. with a shared goal, where your voice, and body language, and That’s not to say we didn’t do any marketing; we started talking outside interests create a kind of intoxicating creative soup that is to Apple about Hundreds over a year before it launched. We were a very fertile environment for lateral thinking and solving problems profiled on major mobile gaming websites as far back as March in counterintuitive ways. 2012. We took Hundreds to IndieCade in September 2013, and did But as someone more experienced and more intelligent than a two-hour keynote talk about it at GameCity in October 2013. Greg me once said, I’d much rather clarify confusing emails to the designed an achingly gorgeous website for the game, as well as a perfect person than have a crystal-clear face-to-face meeting teaser trailer, and we collaborated with indie game trailer guru Kert with the wrong person. In an ideal world, you get to work with the Gartner to create our beautiful and mysterious launch trailer. All 50 perfect people in perfect physical proximity, but I don’t know of any of our App Store promo codes had been sent out to journalists weeks bootstrapped indie studios that can afford this luxury. We simply do before the game actually launched. Polygon was very generous in the best we can with what we have! their coverage. Kotaku (admittedly somewhat tongue-in-cheek) named Hundreds their best game of 2013. 5/ SLOW DEVELOPMENT This was brutal and almost destroyed the Looking back, I’m very glad that we took our marketing company. One of the reasons that we decided to work on Hundreds very seriously. Marketing, for me, is just the way you choose was because we thought we could get it to market in six months to communicate with the public. Thinking about how to talk to or less, which was only slighter longer than our financial runway at your audience about your game can be an enormous challenge, that moment. I thought we could do it in three months, so I doubled but forgetting to do it can be catastrophic. There is too much it and thought we had a great schedule. I see now that I should have competition. Not in the classical sense of industry titans vying for quadrupled my estimate. Man, that was a bad estimate. the same wallet contents, but as we said earlier, the bar for indie If Canabalt hadn’t been included in a Humble Android Bundle games is rising steadily. This is both inspiring and frustrating; it back in early 2012, we would have had to face a very difficult choice: gets harder and harder to get noticed, and when your game sells Release Hundreds in an unstable and unfinished state, or put it for $4.99 or less, and takes over a year for a handful of people to on hiatus until we could afford to finish it, by taking on other work make, well, you need a lot of people to notice you if you are going to individually, or aiming the studio at contract jobs. be able to afford to make another game. Development actually ran long enough that we faced exactly “Postmortem” is almost a misnomer. Hundreds is a mobile that decision anyway, about six months later. I am very glad that we game, which means it may never be truly done. We’ve been working were able to persevere and release it, and obviously I am thankful, on updates and an Android port of the game since launch, which in hindsight, that we had this extra time, so that we could reflect on will hopefully have been announced by the time this article goes and edit the game and get it into its current state. Time to reflect to print. But, by and large, the game is “out.” I’m more proud of has its own downsides: You end up with a lot of time to indulge in Hundreds than anything else I’ve ever worked on. We all learned crippling self-doubt about your design. Near the end of the project, a lot, and I hope that I’ve been able to share at least some of that Greg and I panicked and started seriously considering reskinning with you here. pm the game to prominently feature cartoon blowfish characters. FishPop would save us all! We ended up staying the course, but *** given enough time to overanalyze my work, I am often prone to Adam “Atomic” Saltsman makes games in Austin, Texas, where he lives with these sorts of concerns. his family, and is best known for making Canabalt. game developer magazine 039 040 t toolbox_Nate Ralph

The Tools of GDC 2013 Tools and middleware, straight from the show floor The Game Developers Conference is a great opportunity for tools and middleware developers to show off their latest and greatest to dev studios large and small. Here’s a taste of some of this year’s offerings.

developers a taste of the tool’s 2014” and promises devs full to key elements of the face— Project Anarchy capabilities, and tips on how to source code access and some spots like the eyes, eyebrows, get started. neat visual debugging tools, and mouth—and Analyzer Havok // www.havok.com Project Anarchy has a few UI middleware Scaleform 4.3 will create a file with motion- Havok’s middleware features meant to ease the has extended its ActionScript capture data that you can use technologies, particularly pain of cross-platform mobile 3 API classes to help its in Retargeter to tweak your Havok Physics, have been game development, including compatibility with Adobe AIR, character rig. a mainstay in video games viewports that mimic the size lighting middleware Beast 2014 New to Retargeter 4.0 for years. The company and resolutions of a number of adds support for physics- are the Expression Sets and is determined to take its different kinds of hardware, and based rendering and support Autosolve features. Expression technology further still, by remote input so devs can push for Open Shading Language, Sets are “default” facial giving it away to smaller teams their project to a mobile device and animation middleware animation poses—looking interested in developing for and test it with a real-time HumanIK 2014 offers a few new left and right, or frowning, for mobile platforms. debugger. Havok also plans mobile-specific features. example. You’ll need to mimic Havok’s calling its new to launch a Project Anarchy these default expressions initiative “Project Anarchy”; It’s community site, complete with on the character rig you’ve a full-fledged Anarchy’s source code, and will Retargeter 4.0 assembled in an animation game engine encourage the community to studio like Maya. Here’s Faceware // www.facewaretech.com that will be develop extensions and share where the magic happens: available for their customizations with Great facial motion capture The new Autosolve feature download in other developers. can add life to a game, but combines that data collected the spring. It’s the added time and expense from Analyzer and the capable of deploying games involved can be daunting. Expression Set you create, to iOS and Android devices, Gameware Faceware’s latest update to its and automatically creates an completely free of any cost Retargeter application adds a animation that matches your Autodesk // autodesk.com or commercial restrictions. few features aimed at speeding actor’s performance. From The tool offers access to Autodesk’s Gameware up an animator’s workflow. this new “starting point,” Havok’s litany of middleware division (the middleware side The Faceware facial-capture animators can make tweaks applications, including physics, of the business) had a few process starts with Analyzer, or determine what needs to be animation, and AI tools. upgrades to announce at the company’s tracking and redone with minimal fuss and Complete game samples GDC: AI middleware package analyzing software. Load a loads of time saved—the entire (and their source code) will Kynapse has been rebranded video into the application, process should only take a game developer magazine be included to give budding as “Gameware Navigation assign virtual tracking points few minutes. 0040 t 041 toolbox_Nate Ralph

pop-up menus that allow you polygon reduction, which aims to to collapse most of the UI for maintain symmetry in a model increased viewport space, and across a user-defined axis. a few customizable workspace Simplygon’s LOD tools have options borrowed from also been updated to offer applications like Photoshop. skinning support, preserving animation and skinning data from applications like Maya Simplygon 5.0 and 3DS Studio Max when creating low-poly LODs. Donya Labs // www.simplygon.com Donya Labs believes this Donya Labs’s Simplygon aims to will be especially useful for take some of the grunt work out maintaining an animated of building level-of-detail (LOD) asset’s fidelity when optimizing models out of textured, detailed models for mobile devices, or assets. Its automated LOD- rendering large crowds. building tools cut and simplify polygons, creating entirely new textured, low-resolution Hansoft 7.0 meshes without requiring hours Hansoft AB // www.hansoft.se of an artist’s valuable time. And Faceware believes that its direct particles at will, creating Simplygon 5.0 is all about speed Hansoft has gone social. tech will ease some of the pain some rather impressive effects and accuracy, introducing new The project management and expense of implementing with little effort. tools that improve Simplygon’s system’s 7.0 update (released facial motion capture, by Performance has been automation processes. For in November 2012) is the requiring less effort than typical improved dramatically over example, the new Vertex company’s biggest yet, rigging situations and allowing modo 601, from the selection Reposition function adjusts an revamping the user interface for much faster iteration should tools and animation playback LOD model’s vertices to get a and adding a slew of features you need to make corrections. down to interacting with tighter silhouette and improved that will seem familiar to The company also claims that schematics or firing up the texture reproduction, resulting in anyone who’s spent time on a its software will work with preview renderer window. It’s less jarring differences between social networking site. These footage from any video capture all aimed at saving time; all of LOD models and the original social features are designed source, though it does sell those seconds spent waiting assets. The new Smart Improve to improve efficiency: As head-mounted cameras. It will for objects and scenes to load feature compares original teams grow, they lose the also work within your workflow: add up, after all. Modo 701 also assets to the LOD Simplygon ability to “get together” in a Faceware’s Analyzer and serves up a revamped interface creates, and automatically single shared space. A lack Retargeter can be downloaded focused on click reduction: The tweaks the geometry to reduce of effective communication for free from the company’s hundreds of potential keybinds visible differences between can lead to headaches, and site, so you can take it for a users are already familiar the two. LOD models created Hansoft hopes the new update spin yourself. with have been bolstered with in Simplygon 5.0 can also take will make coordinating and new layout-selection tools, advantage of symmetry-aware communicating more efficient, modo 701 Luxoy // log www.luxology.com Luxology’s latest update to modo 3D modeling and animation suite is all about speed. There’s less in the way of raw new tools, but Luxology is convinced that modo fans and neophytes alike will be smitten by performance bumps, new, cleaner layouts, and refined workflows. Modo 701 does offer a few new tricks. The revamped dynamics simulation layer allows animators to create realistic animations with accurate physics modeling. At the show, an artist emulated rubble masonry by creating individual stones, and “pouring” them into a door frame by starting the animation and letting gravity do the work. Modo now also offers the ability to sculpt and game developer magazine 0041 0042042 game developer magazine leads andthelike. Dashboards a bird’s-eye view for project Dashboards, whichwilloffer you work inotherapplications. feed visible atalltimeswhile conversations orjust thenews should you prefer to have chat anywhere onyour PC’s desktop main interface andplaced can alsobepoppedoutofthe All oftheapplication’s modules optional conversation logging). added chatfunctionality(with in. Theapplication hasalso their teams are embroiled with updates onevery project necessarily beinginundated on theirprogress without a glance atandcommenting of herteam leaders, getting subscribe to updates from all An executive producer might updates. Here’s anexample: in, whichessentially filters and groups they’re interested by “subscribing”to theusers of projects andoneanother using Hansoftcan keep track unlike Facebook’s). Teams now features anews feed (not Hansoft 7.0,andtheapplication rely onamultitudeoftools. without forcing large teams to toolbox_ 042 Up next for Hansoftare Collaboration iscentral to

Nate Ralph t Sony PlayStation 4,Windows, sun, includingtheupcoming about everything underthe runtime supportto includejust update, Geomericshasextended 4. Asofthelatest Enlighten Battlefield 4)andUnreal Engine the Frostbite 3engine(for would beintegrated into both announced thatEnlighten Conference, Geomerics this year’s GameDevelopers in EADICE’s Battlefield 3.At dubbed Enlighten, wasused dynamic lightingtechnology, with itswork; thecompany’s a chance you’re familiar household name,butthere’s Geomerics mightnotbea Geomerics // Enlighten systems can alsogetonboard. who’d rather notuseWindows the software, sodevelopers are MacandLinuxversions of Also coming down thepipe simple, digestible chunks. progress andmilestones in an ideaofaproject’s total into Hansoft,andshouldoffer all thedata that’s entered will becapable ofmonitoring [website?] designers can experiment and tools into Maya’s viewport, so previews ofEnlighten’s lighting plug-in for Maya addsreal-time production sideofthings,anew time onmobile devices. On the it’s beenable to achieve inreal process thatGeomericsclaims computationally expensive dynamic speculareffects, a as acase study for thenew cavern walls.Thisserved light, bouncingindirectly off glowed from thereflected about, andcobblestones without purpose;knockthem torches burnedseemingly inspired ruin,brightly lit As befittingavideogame- dynamically litenvironments. Enlighten tackles static and ample demonstration ofhow shadows allthewhile—an and crept backoutcasting the sunrolled across thesky, into rooms andcaverns as effects firsthand: Lightspilled of anancientruinto seethe through anartist’s rendition models. We were given atour a broader range oflighting iOS andAndroid mobile devices. generation consoles, andboth Mac, andLinuxPCs,current- Also new issupportfor with thetools. since they’re already familiar content for consoles andPCs, developers already creating for mobile devices are actually first licensees creating content chain. We were told thatthe into agamedeveloper’s tool require to implement Enlighten quite yet, assometraining is smaller independentdevelopers and supportstaff available to ready to make itstechnology but remarked thatitisn’t lighting effects to small screens, to bringEnlighten-powered with more mobile developers expressed interest inworking making anycommitments. will appearin-gamebefore get afeel for how theirmodels close-range handandfinger made useofvoice recognition, applications andgamesthat called ondevelopers to create 2012, withanSDKrelease that initiative went into beta infall Intel’s Perceptual Computing I SDK Perceptual Computing ntel // Geomerics has also Geomerics hasalso

www .intel.com the standalone camera into implement thetechnology from later thisyear, andIntel plansto available to consumers instores The standalone camera willbe can bedownloaded for free. faces andhandgestures, and monitoring speech,ortracking applications thatare capable of scenarios andtools to develop provides afew sample-use case could prove promising. TheSDK the SDKfor commercial use to develop applications using separately). Thatsaid,theability gesture-tracking camera (sold only supported bya$150 tracking controls are currently 8 PCs,andthegesture- on Windows 7andWindows only works withIntel CPUs roadblocks abound:TheSDK we interact withourPCs,but SDK intends to changetheway commercial purposes. can now bedeveloped for longer abeta tag, andsoftware of theupdate isthatthere’s no Development 2013.Thecrux Perceptual Computing Software announced therelease ofthe Developers Conference, Intel During thisyear’s Game tracking, andfacial analysis. The Perceptual Computing and assume aneutral pose, Actors strap ontheirmarkers workflow. Setupissimple: streamline your mocap software could potentially powerful hardware and take the plunge,OptiTrack’s Motive:Body software. if you optto useOptiTrack’s motion data in3Dspaces, or cameras for capturing useful to climbasyou addmore the costs willonly continue $3,700. That’s aheftysum,and megapixel resolution, butcosts 360 frames persecond ata1.7 marker range. Itcan capture generous 50-foot camera-to- 51-degree fieldofview, witha camera, offers a70-by Prime 17Wmotion-capture OptiTrack’s latest offering, the Motion-capture specialist Opti Prime 17W friendly future ofcomputing. vision ofafinger-and face- be quickto embrace Intel’s investment, shouldconsumers $150 could prove to beasound Ultrabooks atalater date. That Should you chooseto T rack // www.naturalpoint.com/optitrack/ gestures andthelike. markers to approximate hand that usesaminimalnumberof footwork andfingertracking the cameras, capturing precise stream ofactors dancingfor 17W’s precision withasteady demonstrated thePrime GDC show floor,the company trackable skeleton. Onthe will create andcalibrate a and theOptiTrack system hardware. Thecompany’s most expensive components: games byeliminatingoneofthe releasing motion-friendly the cost ofdeveloping and Extreme Realityaimsto slash Extr Extreme Motion e m e

Re ality //xtr3d.com toolbox_ will becoming later thisyear. iOS devices; Android support currently supportsWindows and Unity3D oniOS.Thesoftware iPad, withplug-insupportfor front-facing camera ofApple’s software alsoworks withthe interfaces. Extreme Reality’s simple gesture controls to user fit—from games to adding to whatever developers see and mapyour movement data quickly recognize your skeleton the air,andsoftware will pose withyour armsraised in webcams. Assume aneutral lighting—on meagerlaptop even inasettingwithsubpar software’s speed and accuracy— gave demonstrations ofthe tech. AtGDC,thecompany that utilizeExtreme Reality’s and inserttheminto games skeletal modelsofplayers, counts to create accurate as 0.3-megapixel resolution uses 2Dcameras withaslow Extreme Motionsoftware 140-character chunksat140-character @nateralph. You can findmore of hismusingsin inbetween. and mosteverything fascinated by games,hardware, Nate Ralph isanaspiringwordsmith *** t 043 Nate Ralph

0043043 game developer magazine

install project templates for alleditionsof VisualStudio2010and MonoDevelop/Xamarin Studio. release. Atthemoment,MonoGame supportsVisualStudioand www.monogame.net/downloads andgrab thelatest stable GETTING STARTED WITHMONOGAME First off,headover to MonoGame for a few years now, thisisalong-term project. most oftheteam involved, someof whom have beenworking on and extend theAPIto make iteven easierto docertain tasks. For with new features thatpeople would have liked to seeinXNA, matter ofdays. Android, we were able to addOuya supportto MonoGameina they appear. For example, because MonoGamealready supported cross-platform API,whichcan beextended to new platforms as Now, MonoGame’s goalisfirst to produce anXNA-compatible code iscovered bytheMS-PL(Microsoft Permissive License). the XamariniOSandAndroid frameworks) andmodify,as allthe part, itisfree to use(thoughyou’ll needto payfor alicense for Windows 8,Windows Phone8,Android, andiOS.For themost now supportsanumberofplatforms includingMacOSX,Linux, the project hasgrown alot since thosehumble beginnings.It to allow XNAdevelopers to publishtheirgamesoniPhone,but WHAT ISMONOGAME? MonoGame’s project goal wasinitially TO MONOGAME TIPS FOR MIGRATING YOUR XNASKILLSET FROM XNATO MONOGAME If you want to useVisualStudio:The Windows installer will Once theXNAAPIisstable, we’re planningto extend theAPI open-source implementationoftheXNA4API. those devsdon’thavetostartoverfrom scratch. EnterMonoGame,an more activedevelopmentnorbesupported in Microsoft’sMetrointerface, even thoughMicrosoftrecentlyannounced that XNAwillneitherseeany use XNAinordertogettheirgamesonthe Xbox360andWindowsPCs, development languageorscriptingengine. Manynewgamedevslearnedto in largeparttoXNAandUnity3D,withboth usingC#astheirmain languages arenowprovingtobequiteviable formakinggames,thanks such asC#wasconsideredlunacy.Butthings havechanged,andmanaged For alongtime,theideaofmaking“real” gamesusingmanagedlanguages github.com/mono/MonoGame/wiki/Required-SDKs the prerequisites and download links can befound here: https:// need to have theWindows Games Live clientfirst. Afulllist of completed. To install eitheroftheseSDKson Windows 8,you temporary measure until ourcontent pipelinereplacement is Studio 4.0ortheWindows Phone7.11SDKinstalled. Thisis a To buildcontent to xnbformat, you willalsoneedXNAGame For Android and/oriOS,you willneedVS2010 or 2012 • For Windows Phone8,you willneedWindows 864-bitandthe • For Windows Store, you will need VS 2012 Express for Windows • For Windows desktop, you can useVS2010Express orhigher, • as follows: 2012. Particular requirements for your target platform are Windows 7or8. Professional orhigherandXamarinBusiness orhigheron details. microsoft.com/en-GB/download/details.aspx?id=35471 for needs to meetspecific hardware requirements; seewww. or higher. To usetheWindows Phone8emulator, your PC Windows Phone,andcan alsowork withVS2012Professional Windows Phone8SDK.This will install VS2012Express for 8 orhigheronWindows 8. or VS2012Express for Desktop orhigheronWindows 7or8. INNER PRODUCT_ ip 045 Dean Ellis

045 game developer magazine 046 game developer magazine like XNA,can make useof.xnb compiled Content and MonoGame/wiki/GIT’ing-Started-With-Git be found here: https://github.com/mono/ will needto fork therepository. Details can to make changesandcontribute back,you party library to get you started. Ifyou want copy ofMonoGameandtherequired third- These commands willcheckout aread-only init ThirdParty git submoduleupdate cd MonoGame mono/MonoGame.git MonoGame git clonegit://github.com/ you needto getupandrunning: line. Sohere are alist ofthecommands but most oftheteam usethecommand git. There are nice userinterfaces for git, code for MonoGame,you willneedto install Gettin team isworking ongettingthisfixed.) projects for MacOS,iOS,andAndroid. (The add references to therequired MonoGame download theMonoGamesource code and and XamarinStudio,you willneedto issues withtheAddInfor MonoDevelop need to grab MonoMac.Also,dueto some install Xamarin.iOS,andfor Macyou’ll requirements. For iOS,you’ll needto because oftheunderlying development will currently work only onanApple Mac templates for MacOSXandiOS,butthese MonoDevelop/Xamarin Studiodoesinclude Xamarin.Android from Xamarininstalled. on anAndroid project, you willneed out ofthebox, butifyou wantto work Windows, allofthetemplates willwork few thingsyou shouldwatch outfor. For customary CornflowerBlue screen. familiar Gameclass thatrenders the you have anew project you willseethe “MonoGame for MacOS,”andsoon.Once GL” application; for MacOSX,create a create anew “MonoGamefor Windows is native to your platform—for Windows, get started, you shouldpicktheonethat There are anumberto choosefrom, butto able to create anew MonoGameproject. package into your chosenIDE,you willbe .mpack file available for that version. wanting to usethisIDE.There isalsoa updated version ofMonoDevelop for people released XamarinStudio,whichisan MonoDevelop. Recently, Xamarinhas install itviatheAddInManagerwithin from Codeplex asan.mpackfile, and for eachplatform. You can download this as apackage,whichincludestheruntime monodevelop.org). MonoGameisavailable Windows, Linux,andMacOSX(www. open-source IDEthatisavailable for Xamarin Studio:MonoDevelop isafree inner product_ 046 If you wantto useMonoDevelop/ Before you start coding, there are a Once you have installed therequired g theCodeIfyou wantto getthe

A ssets MonoGame, f Dean Ellis (“character”); Load texture =Content. the samecode asyou would normally: file you want to load directly you can use the ContentManager, soif you have a.png possible to load somenative assets through to usetheXNAContent Pipeline.Alsoitis Mac OSX,andLinux,butfor now we’ll need implementation thatwillwork onWindows, team isworking onacross-platform pipeline; asofthiswriting,theMonoGame currently created bytheXNAcontent content files. These.xnbfiles are Figure 1: } } PixelShader =compileps_2_0PixelShaderFunction(); { pass Pass1 { technique BloomExtract } BloomThreshold)); return saturate((c-BloomThreshold)/(1 specified threshold. // Adjustittokeeponlyvaluesbrighterthanthe float4 c=tex2D(TextureSampler,texCoord); // Lookuptheoriginalimagecolor. { ) :COLOR0 float2 texCoord:TEXCOORD0 float4 PixelShaderFunction( float BloomThreshold; sampler TextureSampler:register(s0); postprocess. // Thisisthefirststepinapplyingabloom // Pixelshaderextractsthebrighterareasofanimage. Listing 1:Bloom extract. pieot.n xb.n xb*.n .xnb .xnb .xnb** .xnb .xnb .xnb SpriteFont Effect Model Song onEfc xb.a xb.a xb.xnb .xnb .xnb.wav .xnb.wav SoundEffect Texture2D C l ass A v ailable formats for class types. xb*..n* xb*.n* xb*.xnb** .xnb** .xnb** .xnb** .xnb** .xnb** . xb.n xb.n xb.xnb .xnb .xnb .xnb .xnb .xnb xb.a xb.a xb xb.p .xnb .mp3 .xnb .xnb .xnb.wav .xnb .wav Windo .jpg .tiff .xnb .png w iu Ma Linux s .jpg .tiff .xnb .png .jpg .tiff .xnb .png MediaPlayer classes onAndroid. (Someof due to the limitations oftheSoundPool and the native typefor thatplatform. Thisis SoundEffect orSongtypes;you must use you cannot make useofthe.xnbfiles for class types.) 1 for atable ofavailable formats for machine to buildtheircontent. (SeeFigure who mightnothave access to aWindows to helppeople developing for iOSandMac of object.Thisfeature wasoriginally added back onto known native typesfor thattype first, butifonedoesnot exist, itwill fall MonoGame willattempt to load an .xnb file ** -Mustbegeneratedby theMonoGameContent Processor cOS As you can see from .jpg .tiff .xnb* .png i OS .ogg .wav .mp3 .jpg .tiff .xnb .png A dodWindo ndroid Figure 1, on Android * -PVRTC compressed only .xnb .png, .jpg” “.xnb, w s 8 resulting outputfiles willbeplaced in choose theWindows 8configuration. The you are building for theWindows Store can choose theiOSconfiguration. If so ifyou are buildingfor iPhoneyou of buildconfigurations for each platform, targeting (seeFigure 2). to optimizeitfor theplatform you are do somecustom processing ontheasset Texture,” andsoon.These processors will “MonoGame –Effect,” “MonoGame– number ofMonoGame-related processors: Processor you wantto use,you willseea the content project andselect thetypeof the MonoGameProcessors. MSBuild target importsto allow itto use Both have alltherequired references and that willinturnbuildthecontent project. XNA Content project andanXNAproject Studio 2010,whichwillcreate anormal “MonoGame Content Project” withinVisual will only work inWindows. You can create a since itrelies ontheXNAframework, this to produce thecontent we need—though extend theexisting XNAcontent pipeline comes withsometooling thatwe useto on amobile device. to load an.fbxfile atruntimeanddecode it build timeinto anoptimizedformat thanitis more efficient to pre-process aModelat content for thosetypes.For example, it’s efficient to usethe compiled andoptimized for certain types;thisisbecause itismore some oftheplatforms only support.xnbfiles goes onandtheframework matures.) Also, these restrictions willberemoved astime S of thegame. M kulls The new Builderproject hasanumber Now, whenyou addanew asset to Fortunately, theMonoGameframework ono G ame to buildaWindows 8version

of

the S hogun dev 17-B IT used the OpenGL-based platforms, the Effect a shaderoptimized for thatplatform. For 11 tool chain to compile your Effect into platforms, MonoGameusestheDirectX target platform. For theDirectX-based appropriate shaderlanguagefor the convert theHLSLinEffect file to the installs sometooling to automatically their shaders to GLSL, MonoGame shader languagefor itto work. will needto beconverted to OpenGL graphics API,sotheEffect file from XNA use OpenGLrather thanDirectX astheir that specificplatform. Someofthese Effect processor to compile themfor to process themwiththeMonoGame project oranXNAsample, you’ll need to useEffect files from aprevious XNA Using C in thefinalapplication package. correctly for your assets file to beincluded targeting you needto settheBuildAction that dependingontheplatform you are time you compile your application. Note will beautomatically picked upthenext compile itusingtheContent Builder,it because ifyou changeyour content and it to theproject directory, whichisgreat can just linkto thefile without copying Studio andMonoDevelop. Thisway,you using the“Add asLink”feature inVisual your project—you can dothiseasily by these files to theContent directory of you are targeting. Thelast step isto add end upwithadirectory for eachplatform building for multiple platforms, you will bin\ Rather thanhave developers rewrite u stom E ffec \Release, soifyou are ts If you want inner product_ are still valid whenusingtheMonoGame to handle thatspecial case. Thesedefines #endif // code #if SM4 use this: are targeting shadermodel4,you can shader modelyou are targeting. Ifyou to changethebehaviordepending onthe use conditional defineswithineffect files changes, itisworth notingthat you can to change.Before we getinto thecode but for OpenGLandDirectX 11thisneeds 2.0 (ps_2_0).Thisisfine for DirectX 9, is thatthiseffect isusingpixel shader Listing 1,oneofthefirst things to note we needto look at. give you agoodideaofwhatkindthings Although itisonly apixel shader,it will education/catalog/sample/bloom). (http://xbox.create.msdn.com/en-US/ Bloom Extract Effect isagoodexample on theXbox Creators Clubwebsite—the from one oftheXNAsamples available won’t work. Let’s take asample effect if your Effect usesthatfeature itprobably do atexture lookup inaVertex Shader,so with OpenGLShaderModel3.0,you cannot platform doesnotsupport.For example, unsupported features thatthetarget can occasionally introduce errors or work onthatplatform. HLSL to GLSLthatallows theEffect to which doesalow-level conversion from is processed byatool called MojoShader, If you look atthecode for theeffect in Of course, thisconversion process f 047 Dean Ellis

047 game developer magazine 048 game developer magazine linking to thosefiles for your project. platform you are targeting, and then Builder to produce the.xnbfiles for each becomes amatter ofusingtheContent to Windows 8,Android, andiOSsimply Bloom sample, portingthatproject over of theeffects that are included inthe call themanythingyou like. PixelShaderFunction. Ofcourse, you can functions to VertexShaderFunction and we renamed thevertex andpixel shader MonoGame, whichiswhyinListing 1 This isnolonger valid inXNA4.0or called PixelShader andVertexShader. and VertexShader functionswere Watch out:InXNA3.1,thePixelShader TEXCOORD0) float2 texCoord: float4 color:COLOR0, float3 position:POSITION0, void PixelShaderFunction( add themissing parameters like so: normal XNA,sointhiscase, we can just parameters doesnotbreak theeffect in good news isthataddingtheseextra probably beresolved inthefuture.) The with MonoGameatthemomentthatwill additional parameters. (This is a limitation within MonoGame,we’ll needto addthe work correctly withtheSpriteBatch Effect parameter—but inorder for thiseffect to the sample effect, itonly takes one passed into PixelShaderFunction. In and vs_4_0_level_9_1 for SM4. of vs_2_0 would become vs_3_0 for SM3 this withVertex Shaders, soadeclaration a different Pixel Shader;you can alsodo For eachtypeofShaderModel,we define } #endif PixelShaderFunction(); compile ps_2_0 PixelShader = #else PixelShaderFunction(); compile ps_3_0 PixelShader = #elif SM3 PixelShaderFunction(); ps_4_0_level_9_1 PixelShader =compile #if SM4 { pass Pass1 With thatinmind,thePass becomes: and ShaderModel3for OpenGL/GLES. to supportShaderModel4for DirectX 11 want to support.Inthiscase, we need section to handle alltheplatforms you want, we needto update thetechnique this shadersupportalltheplatforms we Content processor, soinorder to make inner product_ 048 If you apply thistechnique to all Next, let’s look attheparameters

ip Dean Ellis

Screen handle thosefactors withMonoGame. size, input,andperformance. Here’s how to ones thatwillcome to mindfirst: screen to worry about?There are someobvious platform. Whatkindofthingsdoyou need game thatyou wantto portover to amobile So you have agreat Xbox 360orWindows Tweaking Mono matrix; inthiscase ourvirtualresolution is some sample code for calculating the scale graphics. Inthefollowing code, we can see to theSpriteBatch, which will scale your running on.Thismatrixcan thenbepassed actual screen sizeofthedevice you are that willresize your gameto match the then atruntimefigure outascale matrix your gameto run at aparticularresolution, scaling. Withthismethod,you can design quite well inthepast isto useSpriteBatch way upto fullHD. resolutions ranging from 320x200allthe yourself navigatingaminefieldofscreen come upagainst. Sometimesyou’ll find account thevarious resolutions they might MonoGame developers needto take into and theRetinadisplaysoniPad andMac, scaling, butwithAndroid, Ouya, Windows 8, easy. Windows Phone7/8supporthardware with somedevices andplatforms it’s notso devices you are goingto beworking on,but almost guarantee thescreen sizesofthe like Windows Phone7andiOS,you can } publicvoidDraw(GameTimegameTime){} } CreateScale(Scale); public Vector2Scale{ } } publicVector2Position{ Matrixmatrix; Vector2scale; Vector2position; { public classPlayer Listing 2: publicvoidUpdateMatrix(){ } }

public voidUpdate(GameTimegameTime){} One technique thathasbeenused matrix =Matrix.CreateTransform(Position)*Matrix. set { get {returnscale;} set { get {returnposition;} R O esolution Withcertain platforms,

ptimizing update calls for mobile devices. if (scale!=value){ } if (position!=value){ }

UpdateMatrix(); scale =value; UpdateMatrix(); position =value; G a m e for m obi l e com/2010/03/xna-2d-independent- this topic, read this:www.david-amador. applied to new platforms. (For more on XNA thatcan bereused inMonoGameand out there, whichwere originally written for account, but there are plenty ofresources and letterboxing thatyou needto take into are otherconsiderations like aspectratio items beingdrawn inthatbatch. There This willapply the scale matrixto the spriteBatch.End(); // drawstuff null, scale); Immediate, null, Begin(SpriteSortMode. spriteBatch. parameter like so: call spriteBatch withtheextra matrix With thatmatrixcalculated, we can now 1f); virtualHeight, Viewport.Height / (float)GraphicsDevice. virtualWidth, Viewport.Width / (float)GraphicsDevice. CreateScale( var scale=Matrix. var virtualHeight=600; var virtualWidth=800; 800x600. garbage collector, buteven thoughthere is notneeded.It also hasareally good your application byremoving code that is usedto reduce thepackagesizeof platforms alsoinclude alinker, which a great compiler, andthesetwo mobile on top ofthemonoplatform. Monohas and Android versions of MonoGamerun Pus your existing mousecode willnotbeused. need to addsupportfor touchscreens as porting to aWindows Store App,you will if you have aWindows gamethatyou are to usetheseseparately. Withthisinmind, it ispossible thatgamedevices willwant can have amouse andatouch screen, and of Windows 8,you now have devices which platforms. However, withtheintroduction over from Windows andXbox 360to those This can make itvery easyto portgames be routed through to themouseaswell. by Microsoft, allofyour touch events will you usetheXNAimplementation provided normal XNA.OnWindows Phone 7and8,if where MonoGamehasdiverged from the apply thecorrect configuration. 360 controllers, soonoccasion itwillfail to the USBdescriptionofsomeXbox SDL doesseemto have aproblem reading are routed through theGamePad class. available. Theinputsfrom thesedevices joysticks andgamepadsthatmightbe Library (SDL)to interface withthevarious MonoGame usestheSimple Direct Media platforms (Windows, Linux,andMac), various inputdevices. Onthedesktop platforms meansyou needto support Handling InputDevices Moving between or thesmaller normalone. downloading alarger high-definitiongame This way,people have thechoice of HD, eachwithdifferent scales ofassets. of thegame,onefor normalandonefor unfortunately.) (This doesmake your apppackagelarger, it includethoseassets intheapplication. get loaded. Allthedeveloper needsto do device, thathigher-resolution asset will and you are runningonaRetinadisplay asset or.xnbfile whichhasa@2x version use ofthistrickoniOS,soifyou have araw content pipelinehasbeencoded to make in your gamepackage.TheMonoGame the larger asset andincludingthatasset by addinga@2xsuffix to thenameof one for Retinadisplays.You can dothis assets—one for normaldisplays,and you can useoniOSishave two setsof start looking attheassets. Onetechnique become blurry. Atthispoint,you needto pixelated; scale uptoo muchandthey too muchandyour graphics willbecome won’t solve your problems. Scale down resolution-rendering/ ) Mouse andtouchpad inputisonearea The otheroptionisto have two versions At acertain point,however, scaling hi ng Performance BoththeiOS publicVector2Scale; publicVector2Position; { public classPlayer following class definition: that doesn’tgetexecuted. Considerthe after all,thefastest code isthecode particular calculation inacertain way— about whetheryou actually needto doa be disposedof. You shouldalsothink lots oftemporary objectsthatwilljust be makingwork for theGCbycreating look atyour Update methods;you might comes to Android devices). Make sure to in terms ofpower (especially whenit mobile devices whichvary dramatically have to remember you are runningon mono GCinthelast few years, you still have beensomemajoradvances inthe only whenthePosition orScale properties better, you could just update theMatrix update itintheUpdate method.Or,even could declare afield for theMatrixandjust you mightnothave hadto do.Instead, you that alone ismanymatrixcalculations that game isrunningat30frames persecond, calculation every call to Update. Ifyour cheap to create, we are still makingthis though theMatrixclass isastruct, and mobile devices itcould beaproblem. Even work just fine,buton lower-powered On desktop machines,thiswould probably Matrix.CreateScale(Scale); CreateTransform(Position) * var matrix=Matrix. is to doitintheupdate methodlike so: detection. Oneeasywayto create thematrix we are usingthatinformation for collision using thepositionandscale data, andalso of thesprite batch to render thisplayer suppose we are usingtheMatrixproperty that hasapositionandscale. Now In thissegment,we are definingaplayer } gameTime) {} publicvoidDraw(GameTime { } Update(GameTime gameTime) onEfc C C C C / PCM N/A PCM PCM PCM PCM SoundEffect Song SpriteFont Texture2D Ty

p public void public void e P P P P / MP3 N/A MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3 X X DXT DXT DXT W X X DXT DXT DXT i n d o w L s i nux F igure 2: M ac inner product_ or lagto your game. otherwise itwillintroduce adefinite pause to GC.Collect duringactualgameplay, so you willwantto avoid makingcalls 100-200 milliseconds (several frames) your application’s heap.Itcan take upto does afullgarbagecollection across Note thatunlike GC.Collect(0), GC.Collect() milliseconds, butitwillbenoticeable. in your game.Itmightonly befor afew loop you willnodoubtseeadefinite pause do amajorcollection duringanupdate during gameplay;iftheGCdoeshave to to tryto avoid calling anykindofcollection automatic collection. Also, you willwant possible, rather thanwaitingfor thenext collects thosetemporary items assoon will ensure thattheGarbageCollector GC.Collect(0) asoften asyou can. This major processing, you can tryto call levels ordoingsomeothersortof temporary variables while loading is notexpanding duringgameplay. active bullets list inadvance sothatthelist memory, andyou can setacapacity onthe cache smallsoasnotto useuptoo much you can fire. Inthat case, you can keep your to limitthenumberofbullets ormissiles infinite amountofbullets; most games tend put thembackinthecache. in use.Asbullets gooutofplay,we can just populate an“active” list ofbullets thatare of Bullet instances thatwe can useto efficient system would be to have a cache new instances ofBullet eachtime.Amore to expand itscapacity, you are creating you additems to alist thatcause thelist offscreen oroutoftheplayingarea. When them, andremove themasthey go where we addnew bullets aswe need doing thiswould beto have aList bullets from agunorship.Onewayof this class, andjust store thematrix. remove thescale andpositionfieldsfrom math willknow thatyou can probably done itsjob.Thoseofyou whoknow your improvements you can make, thenithas if itgetsyou thinkingaboutwhattiny are changed(seeListing 2). OS If you are havingto create lots of Of course, you probably don’tneedan Another example ishandlingfiring I know thisisasimple example, but E xample ofoptimizedinternal .xnbformats PVRTC PVRTC iOS ip X DXT DXT X DXT DXT A n d ro 049 id Dean Ellis W i n d o w s 8

049 game developer magazine

the linker doesn’tknow you needthe sometimes getinto thesituationwhere through thecontent pipeline,you’ll as well. code inyour gamewillhave beenremoved the entire framework, and anyunused optimized monoframework, rather than result isyour finalpackagewill contain an depending onthelinker settings.The in bothyour code andtheframework packages byremoving unusedcode linker reduces thecode sizeofyour your code during thebuildprocess. This aware ofthelinker thatisrunagainst Xamarin tool chain,you willneedto be targeting Android andiOSusingthe Android system memoryyou willhave to playwith. so themore instances you have theless By default, we create 1000items inthecache, number ofobjectallocations to aminimum. SpriteBatchItems thatwe recycle to keep the implementation hasaninternal cache of true for MonoGameaswell. MonoGame’s SpriteBatch instances to aminimum;thisis games you willwantto keep thenumberof SpriteBatch. Generally speaking, inXNA Supergiant Gamesusedafork ofMonoGame code to port If you are dynamically loading objects Lastly, don’tusetoo manyinstances of a nd i O S linkerWhen #if ANDROID which isprovided inbothiOSandAndroid: One methodisto usePreserveAttribute, objects asthey are andnotremove them. linker thatyou wishto preserve certain are waysinwhichyou can inform the away types.Thegoodnews isthatthere construct orcall methodsontheselinked MissingMethodException whentryingto that code. Thiswillusually result ina types you are using,anditremoves learning more thedocumentation for both linker behavior;ifyou are interested in away. and iOSthisentire class isnotlinked This willmake sure thatonbothAndroid } public classExample{ #endif Preserve(AllMembers=true)] #elif IOS Preserve(AllMembers=true)]

} { public Example() [MonoTouch.Foundation. [Android.Runtime. There are otherwaysto control the

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inner product_ monogame.net andjoinin. if you wantto helpout,headover to www. and extending theXNAAPIeven further. So Raspberry Pi,makinguseofDirectX 11, new platforms like Windows Phone8and cross-platform content pipeline,adding people to helpoutwith,like buildingafully a few thingson thehorizonthatwe want and perhapseven make itbetter! We’ve got hopefully itwillmotivate you to tryitout— touched onthesurface ofMonoGame,but Help u • • docs site. iOS andAndroid isavailable onXamarin’s to MonoGame. project coordinators andacontributor and Moonlight. Inhisspare time.heisoneof the recognition technologies using.Net/Mono WPF oncross-platformworking C#-basedface- on theirAndroid platform. Priorto that, hewas Hecurrentlylast 16years. for Xamarin works Dean Ellishasbeenasoftware engineerfor the ***

android/advanced_topics/linking http://docs.xamarin.c advanced_topics/linker http://docs.xamarin.c s out!Thisarticle has only ip om/guides/ om/guides/ios/ 051 ip Dean Ellis

051 game developer magazine 0052052 game developer magazine modeling, andanimating usingmobile at someofthenew crop ofappsfor painting, Game Developer , we’re goingto take alook in honorofthemobile focus ofthismonth’s good for watching content isoutdated. So, the ideathattablets, inparticular,are only recent arrivals intheAppStore suggest that of tomorrow? time growing upto hatch the that today’s iPad kidswillhave aharder information, notcreating it.Doesthatmean that mobile devices are for consuming There’s amarketing truismto theeffect and more ofpeople’s timeandattention. mobile andhandheld devices take upmore with thecuttingedgeofPCtechnology as nowadays, manyhouseholds don’t keep up beefy computer andabigmonitor—and outsider. Even free software needsafairly hurdles to overcome ifyou’re anaspiring Of course, there are still fairly significant today are tomorrow’s great gameartists. for ourartform—the YouTube stars of for ourpaychecks, butitiscertainly great hobbyist generation. Thishasn’tbeengreat have become thefoundation ofavibrant tools like Source Filmmaker andBlender last decade ispretty remarkable: Free The democratization of3Dartover the high-tech mystery. There were few schools teaching skillslike 3Dmodelingandanimation.To muchoftheworld, whatwe dofor alivingwas decade ago,itwashard to scare upalicense for aprofessional 3Dapplication plusthehardware neededto runitefficiently. artists have beentreading water economically isthatthebarriers to entryto ourfield have fallen pretty dramatically. A When we talked aboutstagnation inartist salariesinlast month’s Pixel Pusher,we noted thatoneofthereasons thatgame TABLET APPSFOR GAME ART Maybe not.Someofthemost interesting A NGRY B IRDS

traditional bristles. Theseprovide pleasant with conductive wires mixed inamong the SensuBrush (www.sensubrush.com) are even paintbrushstyluses such as a real penandcosts around $25.There Wacom Bamboostylus thatdoubles as you won’t worry about losing to afancy can find anythingfrom a$2plastic jobthat the stylus market hasgrown very fast—you notoriously finicky abouttheirbrushes,but marker-like grip.Artists are ofcourse conductive stylus thatprovides apen-or you’re still inkindergarten. clumsy tool for seriousartwork, unless graceful strokes. Worse, thefinger isabig, curves where they shouldhave delivered that laggedordrew obviously segmented screen atthesametime,leading to apps to track subtle gestures andupdate the power ofearlierdevices madeithard casual sketching. Thelimited processing however, were usefulfor muchbeyond earliest daysoftheiPhone.Few ofthem, painting appsfor touch devices since the 2D TOOLS There have beenavariety of meaning ofthenew mobile artenvironment. our survey withsomepontifications onthe devices—and ofcourse, we’ll round out Nowadays, though,it’s easyto find a up leaving lots ofrandom splotches onyour Instead ofgettingyour hand dirty,you end of artstudents since theRenaissance: pinkie thathasbeen thetraditional hallmark It’s theinverse ofthecharcoal-smudged accidental brushwiththeheelofyour hand. a deliberate stroke ofafi nger andan a tablet can’t tell thedifference between attempt to sketch ona tablet isthefact that using astylus still beatsfinger-painting. tablet. Despite thesedrawbacks, though, you’re accustomed to from usingaWacom up to thesoftware to simulate thefine control touch screens are notpressure sensitive—it’s lot ofclose zooming.Most importantly, tablet fine work somewhat tedious andresults ina nibs—no needle pointshere—which makes canvas. Most styli alsohave pretty large much less tactile feedback thanpaperor The smoothglass ofatablet screen provides marker, orbrush, you’ll bedisappointed. completely recreate theexperience ofapen, between tablet sessions.) to tryusingthemwithtraditional paintsin hybrid pen-styluses, you really don’twant of tablet painting.(Note thatunlike the kind ofnatural interface to theimprecision feedback to thedigital painter andoffer a The biggest irritant for manyartists who If you’re expecting thestylus to TABLET APPSFOR GAME ART Sketchbook isoneofthe oldest artapps, is available onbothiOS andAndroid. Sketchbook Pro from Autodesk, which a Cintiqtablet atafraction ofthe price. offer theintuitive immediacyofpaintingon blending modesorlayer masks—butthey offer anythinglike Photoshop’s complex versions—for example, few tablet programs features are somewhat simpler thanthePC and undo,to nameafew. Generally these PC cousins: layers, adjustable brushes, many ofthecommon features oftheir programs. Tablet paintingappsinclude growth ofanumbersuccessful painting tablet userbasehasencouraged the software. Theenormousgrowth inthe more powerful processors, andbetter tablet artare driven bygrowing screens, mobile sketchers. promise anupcoming modeldedicated to any case, themakers oftheSmudgeguard to stop thetouch screen from reacting. In tablets, butothers find thematerial too thin accidental touches oniPads andAndroid the regular Smudgeguard glove can block on theirbigtablets. Someusers swear wear to prevent mis-touches orfriction smudgeguard.com) thatmany Cintiqusers It’s very similarto theSmudgeguard (www. glove maylook familiar to Wacom veterans: Handglider (www.thehandglider.com). The touches can behadfor about$25from rejection gloves” thatprevent accidental pristine digital canvas. The most venerable paintingappis Of course, the biggest developments in Human ingenuitymarches on.“Palm Interactive. Procreate offers asimilar Sketchbook isProcreate from Savage exactly whatyou wantonasmallscreen. the timeit’s just outoftheway—whichis professional artist to pickup,andmost of The interface willbefairly easyfor any layers isreduced astheimagesscale up. although thenumberofavailable drawing allows imagesupto 2500bypixels, as thetablet screen; thecurrent version could only create imagesofthesamesize rendering. Earlierversions oftheprogram and roughouts, rather thaninpainterly is inindustrial design,concept sketches, media feel, butthestrength ofthepackage splatter brushesoffer somebasicnatural style filters oradjustments. Itspaintand editing, soitdoesn’toffer Photoshop- digital marker comps, rather thanphoto undo. Theappisfocused onsketching and PC: layers, multiple brushes,andmultistep you’d expect from apaintingapponthe of 2009.Sketchbook offers muchofwhat dating allthewaybackto thehoarydays The hot(iOS-only) alternative to PIXEL PUSHER_ do alittle bitofusefulwork onthebus. file and—viaAdobe’s cloud service—even it can beausefulwayto review anexisting too crude for really detailed pixel work, but tablet, since fingers andstyluses are still substitute for abigmonitor andaWacom Photoshop to the tablet. It’s notareal which doesafairly goodjobofporting port ofPhotoshop called Photoshop Touch, applications ontablets aswell. There’s a appeal to concept artists andsketchers. yet, butit’s avery capable appwithalot of Procreate isnotavailable onAndroid tablets on high-res Retinadisplays.Unfortunately, 4k, althoughthat’s not very practical except Procreate can produce canvases aslarge as brushing actionsilkysmooth.To top itoff, of theiPad’s graphics hardware to keep the brushing engine,whichmakes effective use appealing aspectofProcreate isitspowerful the stylus intheother. However, themost sketching withthetablet inonehandand physically rotated, butisquite handywhen seem unnecessary onadevice thatcan be users to rotate thecanvas—which might modes, andtheprogram alsoallows offer somePhotoshop-style blending Corel Painter onthePC.Procreate layers highly tweaked-out specialty brushesof they are still fairly simple compared to the their equivalents inSketchbook—though are more complex andcontrollable than effects like smudgingorwatercolor overlays style brushes iswider,andthesoftening painterly rendering. Theselection ofpaint- feature set,butwithastronger emphasison There are awidevariety ofother2D Steve Theodore pp 053 Caption

0053053 game developer magazine 054 game developer magazine less precise medium like sculpting. ZBrush are abetter match for a more expressive, platform inacouple ofyears. stylus beingareal portable modeling imagine alarger tablet withamore precise of thingsto come. After all,it’s nothard to impressive achievement, andaharbinger convenience andcontrol. It’s still apretty traditional tools when itcomes to modeling it’s notaviable replacement for more a type-inwindow for precise control, but on asmallishscreen. Theappincludes are just too clumsyfor really fi ne work drawing applications, however, fingers orbit operations thanamouse.Aswith natural match for typical pan,zoom,and displaying models—multitouch isamore accessible package. as muchpower inafar more elegant and to admitthatVerto Studiooffers atleast the early daysofStrataVision, you’ll have in thetooth to remember 3DStudioR4or little much.However, ifyou’re long enough buttons to compete withMaxandMaya isa missing—asking anappwithonly 15 find alot ofmore advanced functionality and start modeling.It’s truethatyou’ll a cubeinto the3Dview, grab someverts, tropes of3Dmodelingrightaway;just drop professional artist willspotthefamiliar with primitives andbasicmeshediting.Any a fairly complete 3Dmodelingprogram, ipad) shows bothsidesoftheequation.It’s CRT display. instead ofrequiring a50-pound,24-inch Moreover, they can becarried inonehand 2—and, amazingly, itpushesmore pixels. created Jurassic Park andTerminator as theSilicon Graphics workstations that overcome. After all,aniPad 3isaspowerful tablet. Thesedifficulties, however, can be challenges for creating 3Dcontent ona of screen real estate are very significant at least, that’s whatyou mightthink. artists to create fully realized 3Dmodels. Or seems abitmuch,though,to expect tablet all seensomethingsimilarontheCintiq.It immediate anddirect, andofcourse we’ve on atablet seemssortofobvious;it’s so 3D ARTONTHEGOInaway,drawing into thestart ofastriking concept drawing. papercamera/) can turnachance photo op like Paper Camera (www.jfdplabs.com/ of optionsfor thewanderingartist: Anapp with cameras makes for aninteresting set course, thefact thatmost tablets come we’d ordinarily call “content creation.” Of on thego,butnotreally suited to what an inspiration orrecording animpression painting feature set—handyfor capturing quick sketching accessibility over thefull as Paper ByFiftyThree, whichemphasize the large group ofsketching apps,such Better suited to thetablet form factor is PIXEL PUSHER_ 054 The looseness and informality oftablets The tablet works remarkably well for Verto Studio(http://VertoStudio.com/ Limited processing power andlack

pp Steve Theodore 3D modelthatcan bebeamedbackto snapping views, andendupwithadecent out amobile device, spendafew minutes a few years, it should bepossible to whip indicator ofwhatthefuture willbring.In lighting. can easily befooled bystrong colors orodd models are basedonimageanalysis and have adepthsensor,after all,sothe3D shippable art.AniPhonecamera doesn’t the results are notwhatwe’d consider lots ofphotographs. Asyou can seefrom, create 3Dmodelsbystitching together an appthatusestheiPhonecamera to 123D family, however, is123DCatch, who wantto create designsfor 3Dprinting. SketchUp-like modeler intended for people say sculpt?]There’s also 123DDesign,a creatures, followed byasculp.[shouldthat for thequickroughout ofarticulated ZBrush’s ZSphere skeletons. Thisallows functionality withaskeleton reminiscent of Creature, whichextends 123DSculpt’s mainstream. Thefamily alsoincludes123D to push3Dmodelinginto thehobbyist Autodesk appsthatseemto bedesigned run for free while ridingthebus. it’s still adecent 3Dsculptingtool you can able to save thesculptsasOBJ files, but do have to ponyup$10ifyou wantto be Here’s thereal kicker, though:It’s free. You they would have beenpretty cuttingedge. deviantART today, buteven five years ago They mightnotwinmanycontests on is less precise; nonetheless itflows nicely. pressure sensitivitymeanstheexperience As withpaintingapps,thelackoftrue but theresults are still quite respectable. on beefier machineswithmore memory, detail can’t compare withwhatyou’d get achievement. Performance andlevel of of 123DSculpt,whichisanimpressive and frustration thanafirst-time user suffer through alot more confusion tasks. AnybeginningZBrushartist will Sculpt isthatUIflows naturally for the airbrushing andeven texture projection. integrated 3Dpaint,allowing for simple 3D or study quickly. Theappeven includes stylus, to bangoutadecent concept sculpt particularly whenworking withabrush instant rock texture. However, itispossible, achieve effects like theclassic rake-pull or missing are alphabrushes,soit’s hard to adjustable sizeandstrength. Notably infl ate, pinch,andsmoothbrusheswith to since theZBrushrevolution: push,pull, sculpt withthetools we’ve allgotten used primitives to acomplete human,andthen templates, ranging from geometric sculpting for iOS.You start withcommon simple, implementation ofbrush-based is aremarkably competent, ifsomewhat the workfl ow ofAutodesk 123DSculpt,which and Mudbox users willinstantly recognize Nonetheless, 123DCatch isareal The most intriguingmemberofthe 123D Sculptispartofaraft ofnew The most pleasant aspectofusing Undead Labs. currently thetechnical director art at Seattle’s a frequent speaker conferences. at industry He’s modeler, animator, as andtechnical aswell artist, Dang kids. from 123DCreatures onmyiPad. draw from tryingto keep mykidsaway learning on.At least, that’s thelesson I the tools thattomorrow’s artists willbe masters. Onewayoranother,theseare to prove ourselves indispensable to our face even more pressure to find ways to thesamekindsoftools we use,we’ll or even millionsofnew users getaccess further eroded. Ashundreds ofthousands already-fragile technical mystique is approaches to oldproblems. to seesomereal innovations andfresh the community ofusers, we can expect tablet tools expand anddemocratize who madeToy andTheAbyss Story . As the samewaythey didfor thepioneers powerful, butthey work inmore orless 20 years; thetools are more polishedand take for granted have hardly changedin interface conventions andtoolsets we all get amuch-neededkickinthepants.The somewhat shopworn arttools market will than single copy ofPhotoshop. article, plusabrand-new iPad, costs less used to: Every appmentionedinthis unbelievably cheapbythestandards we’re semipro tools—and they’re incredibly, there are anumberofvery useful,flexible years after therelease ofthefirst iPad of tablet appsispretty startling: Three screens andfat fingers. However therise that isstill beyond theabilitiesofsmall demands alevel ofprecision andcontrol any timesoon;thereal nitty-grittywork going to ditch ourworkstations for tablets a few globe-trotting concept artists—are desktops. Noneofus—except, maybe,for evolved tools we useonourbigpowerful far—serious competition for thehighly you can see,tablet arttools are not—so promised inthefirst few paragraphs. As pontifications andprognostications 3D modelers: You’re fired!” Donald Trump announcing“Professional Catch underanimageofa(3D-captured) 3D printingwebsite, ran apiece on123D scanners. Theblog atMakerbot, apopular capture device, from motioncapture to 3D feeling thataccompanies every new will have anotherround ofthatsinking have anincredible new tool—and modelers environment modelers everywhere will into areal gameasset. Artdirectors and the office through thecloud andturned M more Hiscredits thanadozenyears. include Steve Theodore hasbeenpushingpixels for *** C OUNTER ECH Of course, the downside isthatour On theplusside,thismeansthat Which bringsusaround to those C OMMANDER -S TRIKE pp , AND , H ALF H ALO -L IFE 3. , T He’s beena EAM F ORTRESS , MULTIPLATFORM WORLD CHALLENGING THEGOSPELOFSIM-SHIPINA BREAKING THERULES all SKUs. marketing blitzacross amortize the cost of the about thegame, and to to maximizethebuzz the game;thisisdone launch allSKUsof was to simultaneously optimal launchstrategy assumption thatthe Arts, itwasadefault his timeatElectronic discussed how, during thinking whenhe watch?v=NMlMIlX5-pc.) www.youtube.com/ on YouTube: http:// see thetalk yourself doing so.(You can their experience of platforms and across awiderange developer of of Supergiant Games, developer: AmirRao “new” category of came from this my favorite talks and speak.Oneof developers to attend smaller independent social, invitingsome markets ofmobile and encompass thebroader speakers to beginto adapt content and it hasbeentryingto and PCspace, but the triple-A console and publishers in to thebigdevelopers is seenascatering Normally, theshow interesting one. conference wasan The 2013DICE to shipping Supergiant’s approach specifically, “multiplatformism”— He spoke about Rao really gotme B B ASTION ASTION

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situations. First, Supergiant’s respective between EAand a few key differences that call dependson at launch? with onebigbang impact ofthateffort also wantto maximize games. Shouldn’tthey a buzzabouttheir and work onbuilding have marketing costs Even smalldevelopers they have preferred to? versions, butshouldn’t to sim-shipallthose Supergiant wasn’t able were doingtheportsof strategy. Because they as anassumed optimal idea ofsim-shipping some thoughtaboutthe last item thatprovoked STRATEGY Itwasthis SIM-SHIPPING helped sales. which inturn assistance witheach, and promotional get better marketing shipped. Thislet them platform onwhichthey the attention ofeach in doingso,capture the gameshine,and each platform to make do custom tuningfor also allowed themto less aboutthetitle. It studio thatmaycare than outsource itto a port themselves rather allowed themto dothe of thegames.This of different versions serialized launches B B ASTION ASTION Not necessarily— Rao saidthatwith , Supergiant

themselves, discussion abouthow an entirely separate that there’s room for far more sense.(Note serialization makes your marketing, then the billfor aportion of for someoneelse to foot a platform alsoallows to tunegamesbetter to marketing. Ifserializing for thatportionofthe is pickingupthebill effectively someoneelse digital storefront, then platform orservice’s opportunities onthe on promotional small title iscounting the marketing. Ifa footing thebillfor though, isinwho important difference limited manpower. the team has may needto anyway,as may serializewell, and community, thateffort a particularplatform and grassroots PRfor working relationships title, ifit’s amatter of However, for asmall the P&Lfor thatSKU. negative impacton blitz willhave amaterial port itselfdid,thenthat costs more thanthe for asecond platform serialized, launchblitz spinning upasecond, a large console title, if the overall game.For especially inrelation to an indiedeveloper) more relevant to latter beingperhaps and effort/attention—the “budget” (inbothdollars the overall marketing consider thesizeof An even more other factors that play There are, ofcourse, SIMSHIPPER 2000 sim-ship rule applies. determine whetherthe spectra willhelpyou game falls along these Determining where your “very large portion.” development cost” to small portionoftotal ranging from “very of marketing budget and anotherspectrum for byplatform owner,” self-funded” to “paid ranging from “entirely marketing-cost sources imagine aspectrumof their console. select to theSKUfor fans, whothencan self- a football title to NFL than, say,marketing may make less sense consoles, andPCs,this across phones,tablets, of gamers we see the broad spectrum choice ofplatform. With the gameacross any may chooseto access a single audience that you are marketing to the most sensewhen marketing costs makes amortization ofthose ship “rule” isthatthe to question thesim- DEVICE Athird reason DEVELOPING TO AUDIENCE VS. DEVELOPING TO I digress.) risky strategy, but whose eggshesellsisa who really doesn’tcare a basket ofsomeone putting allyour eggsin So onecould BUSINESS_ them. With should question allof demographics—and we business models, shipping, price points, “rules baggage”—sim- things needto getdone. assumptions abouthow pays to question all market emerge, it new waysofreaching around us,andas market changesrapidly The pointisthatasthe sequels, for example. from other titles or without distracting handle anotherport time andbandwidthto the dev team hasthe sim-ship—whether into thedecisionto with them? your approach along you prepared to change changed, andhow have rules ofthegame have manner. Whichother effective andprofitable to market inamore for taking theirgame to define anapproach applied, they were able old rules nolonger deciding thatthe one assumption and how byquestioning Supergiant showed *** his employer. do not reflect thoseof in thiscolumn are hisand kimpallister.com. Hisviews hardware, heblogs at www. for super-coolworld When not prepping the requirements planning. forecastingindustry and at Intel doinggame Kim Pallister works b We allhave lots of Kim Pallister 055 B b ASTION ,

055 game developer magazine 000056 d f COLUMNDESIGN OF_January THE TIMES 2013_Soren Johnson

WHEN CHOICE IS BAD FINDING THE SWEET SPOT FOR PLAYER AGENCY

Nothing defi nes video games more than player choice. Interactivity is what separates games from static entertainment forms like fi lm and literature, and when critics accuse a digital experience like DEAR ESTHER of being “not really a game,” it’s usually due to its lack of meaningful player choice.

However, because game designers hold choice as such an ideal—with phrases like “enabling player agency” and “abdicating authorship”—its downside is often ignored V during development, hiding in a designer’s blind spot. In fact, every time a designer adds more choices to a game, they make a tradeoff. With every new option added, your game will gain a degree of player engagement, but at the cost of something else. These costs—too much time, too much complexity, or too much repetition— Which design is right? While the complexity that must be weighed. More all can far outweigh the positive qualities answer is subjective, the relevant question options mean more indecision; deciding of the extra choice. to ask is whether the combat decisions between researching fi ve different become more meaningful if the player technologies feels much different than TOO TIME-CONSUMING If games can takes the time to arrange their new choosing from 50. Players worry not just be reduced to a simple equation, a armies—or, as is likely, how much more about what they are choosing but also possible formula would be (total fun) = meaningful they become. After all, the about what they are not choosing, and the (meaningful decisions) / (time played). In player can pursue a more intentional more options they decline, the more they other words, for two games with similar strategy in Risk, but is that aspect worth have to worry about. levels of player choice, the one that takes the not-insignifi cant extra time taken by Each type of game has a sweet spot less time to play will be more fun. Of the army-placement phase? for the number of options that keep play course, usually the comparison will not The answer may depend on the manageable—you need enough options to be so obvious; a new feature will add a audience (DICE WARS is a casual Flash make each decision interesting, but not meaningful decision, but is it worth the game, while Risk is a traditional board so many that they overwhelm the player. extra time added to the game), but designers should understand Blizzard RTS games have maintained a play session? the ramifi cations of their decisions. constant number of units per race for As an example, DICE WARS and Risk Sometimes, army placement in Risk decades; STARCRAFT, WARCRAFT 3, and are similar games of territorial conquest can be a rote decision, and sometimes, STARCRAFT II all average 12 units per that answer this question differently. In reacting to an unexpected arrangement faction. For the third game, the designers both games, players attack each other in DICE WARS can lead to a new, more explicitly stated that they removed old by rolling dice, and victors are rewarded dynamic type of fun. Ultimately, the units to make room for new ones. with extra armies at the start of their next aspects of Risk that lengthen the play Indeed, RTS games as a genre are turn. In RISK, the player decides where session must justify the time they cost to under assault from their more popular to place these armies, which can be a the audience. upstart progeny, the MOBA genre, best meaningful decision depending on the exemplifi ed by LEAGUE OF LEGENDS situation. In DICE WARS, however, the TOO COMPLICATED Besides its cost in and DOTA 2. The original MOBA was a armies are placed randomly by the game, time, each choice presented to the player WARCRAFT 3 mod called Defense of the game developer magazine and the result is a much faster game. also carries a cognitive load in added Ancients, which played out like an RTS 0056 056 except that the player controlled a single “Indeed, would DIABLO be hero instead of an entire army. more or less fun if players This twist broadened the potential couldn’t actually choose audience by radically reducing the their skills?” complexity and, thus, the cognitive demands placed on the player. Instead civilians from a city overrun by zombies. of needing to manage a vast collection However, these three weapons are of mines and barracks and peons and randomly chosen before each mission soldiers as in a typical RTS, the player from a set of eight, which means the needed to only worry about a single player reacts as much to the current character. Consider the UI simplifi cations selection of weapons as to the city layout made possible by allowing the camera or zombie behavior. Instead of relying to lock onto the player’s hero instead of on a particular favorite combination, roaming freely across the map, which the player must learn to make unusual forced the player to make stressful combinations work, which means the decisions about managing their attention. gameplay is constantly shifting. Of course, this change did take away Similarly, in FTL, the crew members many of the meaningful choices found in and weapons and upgrades available an RTS. Players no longer decide where change from game to game, depending to place buildings or what technologies on what the randomly generated shops to research or what units to train or even provide. Thus, the game is not about where to send them; all these choices discovering and perfecting a single were either abstracted away or managed strategy but about fi nding the best path UNCERTAINTY IN GAMES by the game instead. Again, the relevant based on the tools available. Put simply, Greg Costikyan question is whether these lost decisions the variety of gameplay in ATOM ZOMBIE How uncertainty in games—from were worth the massive amount of SMASHER and FTL emerges because the Super Mario Bros. to Rock/Paper/Scissors complexity they added to a typical RTS. designers limited player choice. —engages players and shapes play The success of MOBAs demonstrate At the opposite end of the spectrum, experiences. that although players enjoy the thrill and games with hefty customization systems Playful Thinking series • 136 pp., $19.95 cloth spectacle of the large-scale real-time usually devolve into a few ideal choices, battles pioneered by RTS games, they do robbing the fl exible systems of their not necessarily enjoy the intense demands relevance. In ALPHA CENTAURI, players PLAYING WITH SOUND of trying to control every aspect of the used the Unit Workshop to create units A Theory of Interacting with Sound game. Designer Cliff Harris discussed a with different values and abilities. and Music in Video Games similar point for his successful alt-RTS However, the most effective combinations Karen Collins GRATUITOUS SPACE BATTLES, which does soon became obvious, marginalizing An examination of the player’s experi- not allow the player any control of units this feature. ence of sound in video games and the during combat: “GSB does not pretend Thus, giving the player too much many ways that players interact with you can control 300 starships in a complex control—by offering too many options the sonic elements in games. battle. It admits you can’t, and thus and too much agency—can reduce a 200 pp., 27 illus., $30 cloth doesn’t make it an option. Some people game’s replayability. The game would hate it. Over 100,000 enjoyed it enough to certainly feel different as the loss of buy it, so I can’t be the only person with intentional progression would turn off THE ART OF FAILURE this point of view.” many veterans, but the new variety might An Essay on the Pain of Playing attract others looking for a more dynamic Video Games TOO REPETITIVE The fi nal way that too experience. Randomly distributed skills Jesper Juul much player choice can negatively affect might force players to explore sections “I can think of no other medium that the game experience is perhaps a bit of the tree they would have never so constantly forces its participant to surprising: Games with too much freedom experienced otherwise. The important contemplate their own demise. The can suffer from becoming repetitive. A fact is that this loss of meaningful act of playing games is one dotted typical example is when a game presents player choice would not necessarily hurt with near-endless failure. Yet we plow the player with an extensive but ultimately the game. on. Jesper Juul’s new book is exactly static menu of choices session after Ultimately, game design is a series the sharp examination of failure I need session; players often develop a set of of tradeoffs, and designers should to keep myself from stabbing my eyes favorite choices and get stuck in that recognize that choice itself is just one out when I get frustrated.” small corner of the game space. more factor that must be balanced with — Jamin Warren, Founder, Kill Screen Sometimes, a fi xed set of options everything else. Even though player Playful Thinking series • 168 pp., 54 illus., $19.95 cloth can work if the player needs to react to a control is core to the power of games, it variety of environments; the random maps does not necessarily trump all the other in a CIVILIZATION game can prod the player factors, such as brevity, elegance, down different parts of the technology and variety. d tree. However, almost all games could probably benefi t from reducing some *** player choice to increase overall variety. Soren Johnson was the co-designer of Consider ATOM ZOMBIE SMASHER, a CIVILIZATION III and the lead designer of game in which players use up to three CIVILIZATION IV. He is a member of the GDC The MIT Press mitpress.mit.edu special weapons (such as snipers or Advisory Board, and his thoughts on game design mortars or blockades) to help rescue can be found at www.designer-notes.com. game developer magazine 057 058 af Aural Fixation_David Kanaga game developer magazine Illustration by Brent Porter by Brent Illustration 0058 Illustration by Brent Porter might be? the possibility thatthey are, or How dowe beginto explore true thatgamesare music?” Naturally, we ask:“Isitreally becomes musical. in thispresence thatgameplay presence sensuously felt. It is of play,we can make their space andthetime-structures manipulated in ways true to the sound materials variably structures withcomposed “hugging”/”skinning” these unit operations—and by harmonics) inthesystem/ relationships (isomorphisms, tap into existing structural designing” anygame),we can as musicspaces (“music in games.Designinggames a new kindofplayed meaning meaning” isrelevant to finding vague concept of“musical musics are games. is to say:gamesare musics, described isomorphically. That and gamestructures can be time, musical structures As events andprocesses in meaningful. to make gamesmore in whatitmightmean recent interest, of course, There hasbeenloads of (see Gödel,Escher,Bach). experience ofmeaning isomorphisms andour between perception of hypothesized a relationship Hofstadter famously solutions, x=y. Douglas a variable withequivalent because they bothdefine “3y -3=0”are isomorphic, equations “2x-2=0”and we could saythatthe As asimple example, between different forms. structural relationship An “isomorphism”isa1:1 I have atheorythatthe S 1/ Reading music—in two parts,looped: test theideathatgamesare been experimenting withto method/game/process I’ve sound, only movement. is music.Musicdoesn’t need It doesn’tmatter, everything caught upinhow thingssound. it! Improvise themusic,don’tget To make thistolerable, play allof of thesemightbealot ofwork. visual design,andproducing all sprites or3Dmodelsinthe perhaps asmanythere are modules could berequired, Depending onthegame,many as opposedto full“pieces.” built ofmodules andprocesses (because they’re being played), toward fluidityanddisorder compose spaces thattend method, you willhave to design builds. improvisation plays,andmusic and musicdesign— composition, only improvisation There isnosounddesignor textures, rhythms,andforms. events, states, processes, and soundeffects, butrather in terms ofbackground music its soundtrack. So,don’tthink process orchangeofstate in should beacorresponding of state inagame,there variation. variation. Thisismusical are dense withmechanical time-structures. Videogames its motion.Betrueto these structure, itsrhythms,allof ready-made inthegame’s musical movement exists a compositional map.The score to berealized sonically, and structures andfeels asa “read” thegamemechanics games—any game—tryto (composing) musicfor co The following isapractice/ Now, ifyou embrace this For every process orchange r es Whendesigning G ames as

Music >Ga music “shouldbe.” Ifwe are value-qualifiers as to what accustomed to allsortsof essential research. finding new spaces inplayis play spaces are possible, so We don’tknow whatkindsof Music), findmusicinallthings. music space theory,Infinite Harper’s excellent bookof variables describedinAdam tactic ofturningconstants into quantize” (anaesthetic-ethical spaces): Improvise, “de- explore new territories (play of videogames.Continueto that you love independently video games,tryto findspaces you’re playingmusicoutsideof 2/ Playing music surrounds us. only seeninfront ofuswhile sensualizers—but graphics are this too; they are information Graphics (lights,images)do virtual compositions/scores). architectures (musicspaces as experience) to informational effects (real perceptual process asaddingvibrational produce sound. instrument suchthatitcan process ofdesigningamusical Mousing ingamesasthe words, we can thinkofMickey musical instruments. Inother music, they are effectively are music, andasplayed movies, thefact isthatgames it’s perceived humorously in motion-image events); while events to coincide with process ofscoring music Mousing” technique (the For example, take the“Mickey techniques onvideofootage. to practice compositional section). Itmightbehelpful (we’ll touch onthisinthenext of thetouch ofmusical play useful, butdon’tlose track We can too easily grow Think ofyour music-design Algorithmic techniques are findin M usic When g

Aur m usic in a l Fix m g a m es >Music a space ofmusical playing. qualities thatdescribethelived harmonies, textures—these differences, repetitions, qualitative timeflows of experience thenonrational, material presence thatwe playable. Itisintransforming intuitively knowable, tangible, making raw quantitative data data visualization’s leads in to following musicnotation or design asasimilarprocess with quantity. disciplined initsengagement while atthesametimehighly of real subjective experience, totally irrational initspursuit music designwillneedto be irrationality. Onthecontrary, opposed to sensuousness or systemic designshouldnotbe vibrations. Ourconception of Numbers, harmonics, variable, becoming experience. numerical value, becoming affect—experience becoming manipulation ofqualitative /\/ Musicdesignisquantitative from music. consider motionto beseparate new movements—we cannot instance). Findnew music, (it mightbearrhythmic,for game structure asmusical will behesitant to read a of JohnCage’s 4’33”),we music inallsituations(project potential andpresence of boundaries, to feel theinfinite unable to pushpast these Panoramical. designs for morphinglandscapes in Ilinx Group on music andworking improvised musicspaces with dimensionalityin and shifting He iscurrently researching smooth the indietitles award-winning dynamicscores for music designer. Hehasproduced David Kanagaisanimproviser and *** es and tion Imagine gamemusic af _ g David Kanaga a D 059 yad m es in and P roteus m

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059 game developer magazine 0060060 game developer magazine a fair amountto teach usaboutintuitive UIandgamedesignontouch devices. play onmyiPad since release. Thissuccess iswarranted—on top ofbeingafun,competitive word game,ithas day alone. Itwasoneofthose gamesthateverybody suddenly seemedto beplaying,andit’s beeninconstant Atebits’s and g L Simple beauty games are ontop, and“new Importantly, your current are playing)are stored here. games you’ve ever played (or your gamescreen—all the This initialarea becomes made it.That’s allthere is. about how to playandwho “about,” whichhasinformation “new game,”andonefor game, you seeanoptionfor game. Whenyou start the Start thegame=play Letterpress Learning from and designlessons abitmore. wait. Now let’s getinto theseUI unless strategy suggests you and notberewarded for its use, you findanimpressive word at anygiven time.Rarely can largest, most impressive word encourages you to make the games inthepast, because it problems I’ve hadwithword if you don’tsave themagain. available for capture next round, though, andthereby make them surrounding your “saved” letters them. They can usetheletters but they won’t getapointfor can still usetheseletters, become “saved.” Your opponent other letters you’ve captured letters you’ve surrounded with points back(andvice versa). Any in theirwords, they steal the your opponentusesyour letters each letter you use.Butwhen the grid,andgainapointfor connect—you can useanyon with them.Theletters needn’t make thelongest words you can letters, andyou’re supposedto territory. You have agridof word gameaboutclaiming L For thosewhohaven’t played, e insert credits_ 060 etterpress ss The gamefixes oneofthe on ame de L s etterpress from isaturn-based

s ign ic L etterpre wasoneofthemore populariOSappsoflate 2012,with60,000downloads onitsfirst Brandon Sheffield ss utilitarian, andnothingleaves design, buteverything is board isquite spare inits Show, don’ttell. games, andisnever useless. the starting screen launches only needto usethatonce. screen, whenyou really have a“start game”splash makes alot ofsense! screen. It’s very cohesive, and rematch from thewinorlose bottom, because you often game” isrelegated to thevery L etterpress ’ s Many console gamesstill intuitive ismore efficient; The game The game UI

“zoomed out,” in the main game “zoomed out,”inthe maingame represented bychunky pixels, if you don’t look atthescore. looking at the game board, even know how well you’re doingby a different color). You instantly color (andyour opponenthas a darker shadeofthatsame colored shade,saved letters are is. Captured letters are alight the icon shows whoseturnit opponent’s. Anarrow under Center ID,onerepresents your represents you andyour Game letters, andtwo icons. Oneicon you guessing. There’s agridof Even better, thisis thought would benice to do, I your list. ItwassomethingI to remove thegamefrom to theright reveals aprompt indeed, moving italltheway would dosomething,and game from mygamelist touching anddragging one made mewonder whether moves whenyou touch it.This to, because nearly everything screen around ifyou choose you can move thewhole On themaingamescreen, Teach through interactivity. integrated into theUIdesign. do hasbeenanticipated and turn. Anythingyou mighttryto spelled, even ifit’s notyour save thecurrent word you’ve the “clear” button, you can it’s notyour turn.Ifyou hold hit thesubmitbutton when would beacceptable ifyou if aword you’re tryingto play the playfield.It even tells you easily rearrange your letters in strategizing), andyou can (which ishelpfulwhen current word you’re spelling where thatletter isinthe in thegameboard, andsee last. Touch anemptyspace you oryour opponentplayed icon, andseetheword that is rewarded. Touch anavatar something, andtrialerror everything inthegamedoes Spare thoughitmaybe, and clearly laidout,andobvious. enter them.Everything issubtly you’re playingbefore you even of what’s happeningingames there, whichgives you anidea of your board isdisplayed your games.Amicro version screen, where you can seeall M eet logical expectations.

000 f ic 061 COLUMN_January 2013 insert credit_Brandon Sheffield

Details matter. Letterpress Letterpress basically asks you can instantly get a grip is very simple, but it has a few you “How much do you want to on how your game is going, excellent little design flourishes. play this game?” If the answer and the seamless integration If you pick up a letter, it jiggles is “a lot,” you’ll spend those 99 of everything into the core with life, and tends to tilt in the cents. Nothing forces you to experience all show that the UI direction you’re swiping. As buy anything, nothing compels is an actual part of the game— you bring it up to the live area you to tweet—the game’s it’s not a skin, it’s not a barrier, Venison filetwhere you mignon build words, the cornedsuccess was natural, simply beef it is the game. player avatars jump pleasantly because it was good. And the UI should not be a Tongue tail beef ribs meatballout of the turkeyway, using a classic social networking elements of gatekeeper of content or an animation bounce. 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Brisket ribeye tenderloin pork belly fatback beef sausage corned beef cow shankle shoulder kielbasa hamburger drumstick spare ribs leberkas frankfurter shoulder turducken rump filet mignon short loin turducken jowl frankfurter. Beef ribs boudin sausage. venison chicken, rump sirloin doner ham jowl. Doner pancetta Capicola prosciutto venison ham, meatball brisket ham hock capicola meatball strip steak. Bresaola sirloin turducken turducken chicken spare ribs turkey. Meatball ham hock flank beef frankfurter ham hock. Pancetta ham chuck spare ribs cow turkey ribs. Meatball drumstick corned beef pastrami pork loin venison. sausage ball tip. Meatloaf capicola ball tip hamburger strip steak, Swine rump flank hamburger jowl andouille chuck ribeye filet turducken pork bresaola. mignon. Tail ball tip ribeye, salami hamburger chuck tongue bacon Venison cow bacon meatloaf kielbasa. Meatloaf doner pancetta capicola. Leberkas pig hamburger chicken. corned beef pastrami filet mignon flank. Bresaola doner tri-tip, Prosciutto pork flank kielbasa meatloaf short ribs doner pig tenderloin rump tail boudin ground round. Andouille shankle biltong. Hamburger chuck pig kielbasa. Capicola boudin flank turkey boudin. Brisket ribeye tenderloin pork belly fatback beef ball tip short ribs, ground round hamburger pig pancetta pork drumstick spare ribs leberkas frankfurter shoulder turducken chop pork shoulder chicken short loin. Pig kielbasa tail, ham hock boudin sausage. tenderloin ball tip beef drumstick strip steak meatloaf spare ribs Capicola prosciutto venison ham, meatball brisket ham hock sirloin flank. Brisket jowl meatball ham, kielbasa venison strip turducken chicken spare ribs turkey. Meatball ham hock flank beef steak hamburger shoulder swine pork chop bacon tail biltong. ribs. Meatball drumstick corned beef pastrami pork loin venison. Pastrami bacon jowl frankfurter meatball salami, ribeye Swine rump flank hamburger jowl andouille chuck ribeye filet shoulder pork loin doner pig chicken. Kielbasa turkey doner ball mignon. Tail ball tip ribeye, salami hamburger chuck tongue bacon tip boudin strip steak fatback pork meatloaf ham hock flank. Ball capicola. Leberkas pig hamburger chicken. tip pork loin doner, bresaola short loin turducken boudin swine Prosciutto pork flank kielbasa meatloaf short ribs doner cow leberkas chicken. Cow drumstick sirloin, ball tip salami biltong. Hamburger chuck pig kielbasa. Capicola boudin flank boudin leberkas ham filet mignon beef ribs. Turducken pancetta ball tip short ribs, ground round hamburger pig pancetta pork tail pastrami. Sirloin shoulder turkey chicken corned beef meatball chop pork shoulder chicken short loin. Pig kielbasa tail, ham hock strip steak. Bresaola sirloin turducken. tenderloin ball tip beef drumstick strip steak meatloaf spare ribs Pork brisket cow pork chop. 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Developer on any correspondence. All content, copyright gd Game Developer magazine/UBM LLC, unless otherwise indicated. Don’t steal any of it. Or else. game developer magazine 063 064 game developer magazine * * * * experiencing: issuesvolume thatbeen playershave okay, thisshouldaddress mostof the launch error * emergency fix to address “Unable to Join” * * * ed pollingping-timebuginmatching * ed localization text-wrap bug (nice try, * *

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(whoops, that’s mine,haha) number ofservers we have available query thespelldatabase, ANDquery database, querytheplayer database, to query the player authentication to cast aspellinourgame you have HEY, didy Jeff isasmell I w f I didsomethingelsewithspellsthat spells mad thatwe took awaythehigh-level add fr the place ofthespellswe just removed boos side particles”...JEFF!!!!) believe Ijust usedthephrase “server- too manyserver-side particles (can’t disabl r ESRB? whatever r to decrease server syncload r orgot emoved rendering trees instead ould really like to gohome t power oflow-level spellsto take ee spellsfor players sothey aren’t ou know thatAPPARENTLY, y doofus * * * * gmail.com. above49.ca. Emailhimat magnus.underland@ writes aboutgamesand other topics at www. [email protected]. Magnus Underland (www.magicalwasteland.com). Emailhimat development onhisblog, Magical Wasteland Matthew Wasteland writes aboutgamesandgame *** * * * * * e queues,less syncs,godIdon’t * * * educed queuesizeandaddedghost * ad

I’m actuall I don’tkno I amlaughingandcryingrightno the attack button? it doesallthoseEVERYTIMEyou press and didy the player actiontable? not sur it appear the rest oftheirlives? terrible memorythathauntsthemfor childhoods? like, isthisgoingto bea that people would enjoy… didIruin kids’ I jus black space drifting, I’mjus my professor’s face rightnow and amimaginingtheutter shameon I hav fun, they said c even know mor thing now I’m notsur entries to buffer queuingmore r ome make games, they said.lots of t wanted to make somethingfun e two degrees incomputer science e whatthiscommit is s thatIamoutofwhisky ou know thatifyou’re amage, w how to fixthis y just crying e that’s athing.well, it’s a t driftingthrough infinite w

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