Game Developer Store Shelves? You Might Be Able to Consider —Brandon Sheffield Is BPA Approved
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
>> POSTMORTEM MIDWAY'S JOHN WOO PRESENTS STRANGLEHOLD JANUARY 2008 THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE >> 2007 FRONT LINE AWARDS >> GDC '08 PREVIEW THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST WE WILL TELL YOU TOOLS OF THE YEAR WHAT'S IMPORTANT! THINKING WITHPORTALS DEVELOPING VALVE'S NEW IP Display Until February 15, 2008 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 JANUARY 2008 VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 FEATURES 7 THINKING WITH PORTALS From the game's university-created roots through to its ORANGE BOX-ed release, PORTAL was an exercise in creativity. Here, three members of the eight-person team come together to discuss Valve's iterative playtesting process, the power of simple storytelling, and clever ways to present new ideas to a mass-market audience. By Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw, and Jeep Barnett 15 GDC 2008 EDITORS' PREVIEW 7 Want to know what we really think about this year's GDC? Of course you do! This is your chance to scoop up our hot knowledge and insights into the rapidly-approaching conference. Editors from our multiple publications come together to weigh in on 32 what's hot and what's not. 15 By Brandon Sheffield, Jeffrey Fleming, Christian Nutt, Jill Duffy, and Leigh Alexander POSTMORTEM 23 2007 FRONT LINE AWARDS It's been a year of consolidation for some, and 32 MIDWAY GAMES' STRANGLEHOLD growth for others, but nothing changes the STRANGLEHLOLD was an attempt to take the best elements of John Woo's importance of tools in game development. 23 famous films, and translate them into the video game world. Between Here, we honor the best and brightest tools project scope changes and difficulties with unfinished tools, the team of 2007, and enter one indispensible tool into managed to create a title that's nothing if not an interactive John Woo the Hall of Fame. movie—here's how. By Jeffrey Fleming By Brian Eddy DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS 2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield 44 THE INNER PRODUCT By Mick West [PROGRAMMING] New Year's Fears Relational Databases 4 HEADS UP DISPLAY 72 BUSINESS LEVEL By Scott D. Nelson [BUSINESS] Activision/Vivendi merger, new ESA appointment, and ESRB rating Going Independent statistics by console 48 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART] 40 TOOL BOX By Tom Carroll, Thomas Grové, and Amir Ebrahimi Custom Tools Unity Technologies' Unity 2.1 52 AURAL FIXATION By Rob Bridgett [SOUND] Post-Production Audio 51 GAME SHUI By Noah Falstein [DESIGN] Orange Box, Gold Star COVER ART: MOBY FRANCKE AND THE PORTAL TEAM 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:FOR 415.947.6000 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: 847.763.9606 847.763.9606 e: e:[email protected]@halldata.com Simon Carless [email protected] EDITORIALMANAGING EDITOR NEW YEAR'S PUBLISHERJill Duffy [email protected] Simon Carless [email protected] FEATURESSimon Carless EDITOR [email protected]@gdmag.com SENIORMANAGINGBrandon EDITOR Sheffield EDITOR [email protected] Jill Duffy [email protected]@gdmag.com ARTBrandonJill DIRECTOR Duffy Sheffield [email protected] [email protected] FEARS 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] CliffNoah Scorso Falstein [email protected]@gdmag.com [email protected] ASSISTANTCONTRIBUTINGSteve Theodore PRODUCTION EDITORSEDITORS [email protected] EDITOR JeffreyJesseMick West Harlin Fleming [email protected] [email protected]@gdmag.com CONSOLIDATION SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF ME, downloadable games as a corollary to direct-to- Noah Falstein [email protected] CONTRIBUTINGADVISORYNoah Falstein BOARD EDITORS [email protected] but it’s running rampant through our industry. DVD movies. With movies of lower-budget, it's JesseSteve TheodoreHarlin [email protected] [email protected]@gdmag.com MickHal Barwood West [email protected] Designer-at-Large Some of these companies seem to be getting so the luck of the draw and who you know that gets NoahEllenMick Guon WestFalstein Beeman [email protected] [email protected] Microsoft ADVISORY BOARD bloated that I wonder how they even operate. It’s you in theatres or simply on a disc. But in games, ADVISORYSteveBrad Bulkley Theodore BOARD Neversoft [email protected] MickHalClinton Barwood West Keith [email protected] High Designer-at-LargeDesigner-at-Large Moon Studios funny how it’s often the execs at large publishers if you've got a small budget it's pretty unlikely ADVISORYRyanEllen LesserGuon BOARD Beeman Harmonix MicrosoftMicrosoft Brad Bulkley Neversoft who talk the most about making games more that you're going to get any kind of traditional HalMarkBrad Barwood DeLouraBulkley Designer-at-LargeNeversoftUbisoft EllenClinton Guon Keith Beeman HighHigh MoonMoon Microsoft Studios Studios like movies, or at least more successful than marketing or retail treatment. But DVD sales ADVERTISINGBradRyan Bulkley Lesser SALES HarmonixNeversoftHarmonix ADVERTISINGMark DeLoura SALES Ubisoft them—and yet these are the very entities that have overtaken box office sales, and so too will DIRECTORClintonMark DeLoura Keith OF SALES High Ubisoft Moon Studios RyanSteve LesserMcGill e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 are moving further and further away from the downloadable sales overtake retail. So perhaps ADVERTISING SALES GLOBALADVERTISINGMark DeLoura SALES SALESMANAGER, Ubisoft RECRUITMENT & EDUCATION Hollywood studio system, which is composed the era of the indie is at hand? DIRECTOR-Aaron Murawski OF SALESSALES e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6227 DIRECTORSteve McGill OF SALESe: [email protected] t: 415.947.6217 mostly of freelance agents, production houses, ADVERTISINGSR.Steve EVENTS McGill ACCOUNT SALES e: [email protected] MANAGER, SOUTHWEST t: 415.947.6217 MEDIAGLOBALJasmin ACCOUNT SALESDavé e: MANAGER,MANAGER,[email protected] MANAGER RECRUITMENT RECRUITMENTt: 415.947.6226 & & EDUCATION EDUCATION and funding groups, and moving more toward a POSTMORTEMS: THE BEST POLICY GLOBALAaron Murawski SALES MANAGER, e: [email protected] RECRUITMENT & t:EDUCATION 415.947.6227 SR.JohnAaron ACCOUNT Watson Murawski MANAGER, e: [email protected] e: [email protected] EAST COAST, EUROPEt: 415.947.6224 &t: EASTERN 415.947.6227 CANADA factory-style production model. It’s a wonder to And I've also been thinking—can there ever GLOBALSR.Cecily EVENTS Herbst SALES ACCOUNT e:MANAGER,[email protected] MANAGER, RECRUITMENT SOUTHWEST t: 415.947.6215 & EDUCATION SR.Jasmin EVENTS Davé ACCOUNT e: [email protected] MANAGER, SOUTHWESTt: 415.947.6226 be such a thing as a truly honest public MEDIAAaronJasmin ACCOUNT Murawski Davé e: [email protected] e: [email protected]: 415.947.6226t: 415.947.6227 me that original or innovative games ever get 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 through this system—at times it seems like it postmortem? I had a conversation with a designer GinaCecily Gross Herbst e: [email protected] e: [email protected]: 415.947.6241 t: 415.947.6215 ADVERTISINGCecily Herbst PRODUCTION e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6215 must have been some sort of grievous error of friend recently, and we came to the conclusion SR.ACCOUNTADVERTISING EVENTS MANAGER, ACCOUNT PRODUCTION WESTERN MANAGER, CANADA, SOUTHWEST INDIA, AUSTRALIA, & ASIA ADVERTISINGMEDIAAmanda ACCOUNT Mae PRODUCTION Miller MANAGER e: [email protected] MANAGER Kevin Chanelt: 785.838.7523 judgement on the part of somebody in the upper that unless the game was made entirely by one JasminJohn Watson Davé e: [email protected] t: 415.947.224 SR.REPRINTSSALES ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVE, MANAGER, EAST EDUCATION COAST, &EUROPE RECRUITMENT & EASTERN CANADA echelons, allowing a team to get paid to make person, probably not. While you can say “we Gina Gross e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6241 REPRINTSADVERTISINGCecily Herbst ACCOUNT PRODUCTION MANAGER what they want. After all, that’s how Ralph Baer changed scope too quickly,” you can’t say “So- ACCOUNTMEDIAADVERTISINGCindy ACCOUNTZauss MANAGER, t:PRODUCTION 951.698.1780 MANAGER WESTERN MANAGER e: CANADA,[email protected] Kevin INDIA, Chanel AUSTRALIA, & ASIA AmandaJohn Watson Mae Miller e: [email protected] t: 415.947.224 wound