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November 2007 >> PRODUCT REVIEWS SIDE EFFECTS’ HOUDINI 9 NOVEMBER 2007 THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE >>PORTING WITH POWER >>AURAL FIXATION >>Q/A’S 10 COMMANDMENTS BRINGING A GAME ENGINE AUDIO LOCALIZATION HOW TO BEST UTILIZE FROM PC TO NINTENDO DS AROUND THE GLOBE YOUR TESTING FRIENDS 2KPOSTMORTEM: GAMES’ BIOSHOCK $5.95US $6.95CAN 11 0 71486 02133 9 DISPLAY UNTIL DECEMBER 18, 2007 Using Autodeskodesk® HumanIK® middle-middle- Autodesk® ware, Ubisoftoft MotionBuilder™ grounded ththee software enabled assassin inn his In Assassin’s Creed, th the assassin to 12 centuryy boots Ubisoft used and his run-time-time ® ® fl uidly jump Autodesk 3ds Max environment.nt. software to create from rooftops to a hero character so cobblestone real you can almost streets with ease. feel the coarseness of his tunic. HOW UBISOFT GAVE AN ASSASSIN HIS SOUL. autodesk.com/Games IImmagge cocouru tteesyy of Ubiisofft Autodesk, MotionBuilder, HumanIK and 3ds Max are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. © 2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. []CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2007 VOLUME 14, NUMBER 10 FEATURES 7 SCALING SMALL What do you get when you take a PC engine and move it to the Nintendo DS? A mess of memory problems, that’s what. Austrian developer Sproing went through the laborious process of porting its adventure game engine from PC to DS, and learned a lot of workarounds and techniques along the way, which could very well help your company if it decides to undertake a similar endeavor. By Stefan Reinalter 7 13 TEN COMMANDMENTS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE As an industry, we’re not traditionally good at determining universal best practices. This could be due to the frequent changes our ✔ medium goes through, or the fact that 20 everyone’s just too busy working to take an 13 overview. But luckily for us, the IGDA quality assurance special interest group has come up a list of ten equally important commandments for Q/A which should help POSTMORTEM you better utilize that mysterious group of people on the other side of the office. 20 2K GAMES’ BIOSHOCK By Chuck McFadden Iterate, iterate, iterate. That’s the message from 2K Games’ BIOSHOCK postmortem—from the game’s humbling early user tests to the last- minute spit and polish, iteration saved the day for this artistically excellent title. That, and an Australian team that could work while the main team in Boston was sleeping. By Alyssa Finley DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS 2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield 31 THE INNER PRODUCT By Mick West [PROGRAMMING] Japan’s Slipped Grip Embedded Scripting 4 HEADS UP DISPLAY 35 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART] Tokyo Game Show quotes, EA buys Pandemic and BioWare, IGF Mobile Every Picture Tells a Story announced, and more. 38 GAME SHUI By Noah Falstein [DESIGN] 28 TOOL BOX By David March Fishy Rules Side Effects’ Houdini 9 and product reviews. 40 AURAL FIXATION By Jesse Harlin [SOUND] Speaking in Tongues 48 BUSINESS LEVEL By Russell Carroll [BUSINESS] Where Credit is Due COVER ART: 2K Games WWW.GDMAG.COM 1 GAME PLAN [] www.gdmag.com CMP Media, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94107 t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090 CMP Media, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl., SanSUBSCRIPTION Francisco, SERVICES CA 94107 t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090 t:FOR415.947.6000 INFORMATION, f: ORDER415.947.6090 QUESTIONS, AND ADDRESS CHANGES t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606 e: [email protected] SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESSERVICES EDITORIAL FOREDITORIAL INFORMATION, ORDER ORDER QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, AND AND ADDRESS ADDRESS CHANGES CHANGES EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITOR-IN-CHIEFt: 800.250.2429 f: f:847.763.9606847.763.9606e:e:[email protected]@halldata.com Simon Carless [email protected] EDITORIAL JAPAN’S EDITORIALMANAGING EDITOR PUBLISHERJill Duffy [email protected] Simon Carless [email protected] FEATURESSimon Carless [email protected]@gdmag.com SENIORMANAGINGBrandon EDITOR Sheffield EDITOR [email protected] Jill Duffy [email protected]@gdmag.com SLIPPED GRIP ARTBrandonJill DIRECTOR Duffy Sheffield [email protected] [email protected] SENIORCliff Scorso CONTRIBUTINGEDITOR [email protected] EDITOR Brandon Sheffield [email protected]@gdmag.com CONTRIBUTINGJillBrandon Duffy Sheffield [email protected] EDITORS [email protected] ARTJesse DIRECTOR Harlin [email protected] THE OVERARCHING STATEMENT I HEARD FROM With that in mind, companies like Capcom are CliffNoah Scorso Falstein [email protected]@gdmag.com [email protected] Japanese game developers at the recent Tokyo making games like DEAD RISING and LOST PLANET ASSISTANTCONTRIBUTINGSteve Theodore PRODUCTION EDITORSEDITORS [email protected] EDITOR JeffreyMickJesse West Harlin Fleming [email protected] [email protected]@gdmag.com Game Show was this: The market is changing and specifically for the West. Most other large Noah Falstein [email protected] CONTRIBUTINGADVISORYNoah Falstein BOARD EDITORS [email protected] shrinking, and nobody knows what to do about it. companies are looking to do the same. JesseSteve HarlinTheodore [email protected] [email protected]@gdmag.com MickHal Barwood West [email protected] Designer-at-Large When I was a kid, all the best console games Developers in Tokyo told me over and over that NoahEllenMick Guon WestFalstein Beeman [email protected] [email protected] Microsoft ADVISORYSteveBrad Bulkley Theodore BOARD Neversoft [email protected] came from Japan. That’s just how it was. While their native market was stagnating. Consumers MickHalClinton Barwood West Keith [email protected] High Designer-at-LargeDesigner-at-Large Moon Studios ADVISORYEllenRyan LesserGuon BOARD Beeman Harmonix MicrosoftMicrosoft Atari was fiddling around with the 7800, Konami bought Wiis and DS systems, but as NanaOn-Sha’s BradRyan BulkleyLesser Harmonix Neversoft HalMarkBrad Barwood DeLouraBulkley Designer-at-LargeNeversoftUbisoft was releasing CONTRA, and Capcom was bringing Masaya Matsuura indicates in an accompanying EllenClinton Guon Keith Beeman HighHigh MoonMoon Microsoft Studios Studios EGAMAN ADVERTISINGBradRyan Bulkley Lesser SALES HarmonixNeversoftHarmonix out M . Based on this, my Japanese video news story (see pg. 4), many feel the DS software ADVERTISINGMark DeLoura SALES Ubisoft game snobbery continued through the Saturn and bubble has burst. It used to be that anything on DIRECTORClintonMark DeLoura Keith OF SALES High Ubisoft Moon Studios RyanSteve LesserMcGill e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 ADVERTISING SALES PlayStation eras, on through the Dreamcast days the console would sell; now in a glut of low-quality GLOBALADVERTISINGMark DeLoura SALES SALESMANAGER, Ubisoft RECRUITMENT & EDUCATION DIRECTORAaron Murawski OF SALESSALES e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6227 and into the beginning of the PlayStation 2 reign. games, only Nintendo products are selling well, DIRECTORSteve McGill OF SALESe: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 Then, something happened. once again. ADVERTISINGSR.Steve EVENTS McGill ACCOUNT SALES e: [email protected] MANAGER, SOUTHWESTt: 415.947.6217 MEDIAGLOBALJasmin ACCOUNT SALESDavé e: MANAGER,MANAGER,[email protected] MANAGER RECRUITMENT RECRUITMENTt: 415.947.6226 & & EDUCATION EDUCATION GLOBALAaron Murawski SALES MANAGER, e: [email protected] RECRUITMENT & t:EDUCATION415.947.6227 Japan’s game market has simply not kept up SR.JohnAaron ACCOUNT Watson Murawski MANAGER,e: [email protected] e: [email protected] EAST COAST, EUROPEt: 415.947.6224 &t: EASTERN415.947.6227 CANADA GLOBALSR.Cecily EVENTS Herbst SALES ACCOUNT e:MANAGER,[email protected] MANAGER, RECRUITMENT SOUTHWEST t: 415.947.6215 & EDUCATION WHAT RISES IN THE EAST from a technology standpoint. Companies were SR.Jasmin EVENTS Davé ACCOUNT e: [email protected] MANAGER, SOUTHWESTt: 415.947.6226 MEDIAAaronJasmin ACCOUNT Murawski Davé e: [email protected] e: [email protected]: 415.947.6226t: 415.947.6227 These days, for every KATAMARI DAMACY or KILLER7 incredibly late to adopt middleware or engine SR. ACCOUNT MANAGER, EAST COAST, EUROPE & EASTERN CANADA SALESSR.John ACCOUNT WatsonREPRESENTATIVE, MANAGER,e: [email protected] EASTEDUCATION COAST, &t: EUROPE 415.947.224RECRUITMENT & EASTERN CANADA you get five cookie cutter dating sims, or bare- technologies for fear of losing a competitive edge. GinaCecily Gross Herbst e: [email protected]: [email protected]: 415.947.6241 t: 415.947.6215 ADVERTISINGCecily Herbst PRODUCTIONe: [email protected] t: 415.947.6215 DIRECTORACCOUNTADVERTISING MANAGER, OF PRODUCTION SALES WESTERN CANADA, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, & ASIA bones fighting game upgrades, or any number of A lack of communication with other developers ADVERTISINGMEDIAAmanda ACCOUNT Mae PRODUCTION Miller MANAGER e: [email protected] MANAGER Kevin Chanelt: 785.838.7523 generic action adventure games with plodding (the kind Game Developer magazine strives for or SteveJohn WatsonMcGill e: [email protected] t: 415.947.224 SR.REPRINTSSALES EVENTS REPRESENTATIVE, ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION SOUTHWEST & RECRUITMENT ADVERTISINGGina Gross e: PRODUCTION [email protected] t: 415.947.6241 stories about saving the world (a world which the kind found at the Game Developers REPRINTSADVERTISINGJasmin Davé ACCOUNT PRODUCTION MANAGER exists pretty much exclusively in Tokyo, I might Conference) means Japanese developers are all SR.MEDIAADVERTISINGCindy ACCOUNT ACCOUNTZauss MANAGER, t:PRODUCTION951.698.1780 MANAGER EAST MANAGER e:COAST,[email protected] EUROPE Kevin Chanel & EASTERN CANADA CecilyJohn Watson Herbst e:
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