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Game Developer - August 2009
VOL16NO7 AUGUST2009
THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
CINEMATIC CAMERAS
DAMAGE ARBITRATION
the quick and the dead
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CONTENTS.0809
VOLUME 16 NUMBER 7
POSTMORTEM
DEPARTMENTS
30 HIGH VOLTAGE'S THE CONDUIT
T HE C ONDUIT represents High Voltage's first major foray into the world of
original IP, after years of making licensed product. The lack of an external
license to guide their choices and a publisher to keep them on track
proved difficult—this postmortem provides good information for any
company looking to make that leap. By Josh Olson and Eric Nofsinger
2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield
[EDITORIAL]
First-Person
4 HEADS UP DISPLAY [NEWS]
The best game mods of 2009, Amiga Forever updates,
the 2010 IGF submission timeline, and more.
FEATURES
36 TOOL BOX By Andrew Jones, Tom Carroll
[REVIEW]
Corel Painter 11, Art DVD reviews
7 MIDDLEWARE SHOWDOWN
More and more companies are using middleware to alleviate the pain
of rising development costs. But there's not a whole lot of information
out there. Our survey shows what developers want from middleware,
and which packages are most popular in each field. By Mark DeLoura
41 THE INNER PRODUCT By Noel Llopis
[PROGRAMMING]
Procedural Content Creation
45 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore
[ART]
Check Out That Asset!
18 BANG! ARE YOU DEAD?
Determining damage in online player-versus-player games requires
an arbiter, not only to make sure that hits are correctly scored, but
also to circumvent cheaters. Sony's Ronald Roy shares some tips.
By Ronald Roy
49 DESIGN OF THE TIMES By Soren Johnson
[DESIGN]
Turn-Based Vs. Real Time
51 AURAL FIXATION By Jesse Harlin
[SOUND]
Retro Fitting In
23 THE FEARFUL EYE: CINEMATIC CAMERAS
Most games don't really aim for cinematic excellence, preferring
instead to show as much of the game as possible. But it's possible
to do both as this article proves through a careful dissection of the
design considerations involved. By Chris Pruett
56 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT By Matthew Wasteland
[HUMOR]
Staying Sane
COVER SOURCE ART: THE CONDUIT ART TEAM
GAME DEVELOPER | XXXXX XXXX
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GAME PLAN // BRANDON SHEFFIELD
Think Services, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl.,
San Francisco, CA 94107
t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090
FIRST-PERSON
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND
ADDRESS CHANGES
t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606
EDITORIAL
PUBLISHER
Simon Carless l scarless@gdmag.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Brandon Sheffield l bsheffield@gdmag.com
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Jeffrey Fleming l jfleming@gdmag.com
ART DIRECTOR
Joseph Mitch l jmitch@gdmag.com
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Jill Duffy l jduffy@gdmag.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jesse Harlin l jharlin@gdmag.com
Steve Theodore l stheodore@gdmag.com
Noel Llopis l nllopis@gdmag.com
Soren Johnson l sjohnson@gdmag.com
Damion Schubert l dschubert@gdmag.com
ADVISORY BOARD
Hal Barwood Designer-at-Large
Mick West Independent
Brad Bulkley Neversoft
Clinton Keith High Moon Studios
Ryan Lesser Harmonix
Mark DeLoura Independent
ADVERTISING SALES
GLOBAL SALES DIRECTOR
t: 415.947.6227
MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER
John Malik Watson e : jmwatson@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6224
GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION
AND RECRUITMENT
t: 415.947.6241
COORDINATOR, EDUCATION AND RECRUITMENT
t: 415.947.6223
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Robert Steigleider e : rsteigleider@ubm-us.com
REPRINTS
WRIGHT'S REPRINTS
t: 877.652.5295
THINK SERVICES
CEO THINK SERVICES Philip Chapnick
GROUP DIRECTOR Kathy Schoback
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Cliff Scorso
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
GROUP DIRECTOR Kathy Henry
DIRECTOR Kristi Cunningham
LIST RENTAL Merit Direct LLC t: 914.368.1000
MARKETING
SERVICES MARKETING COORDINATOR Laura Robison
UBM TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER David Levin
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Scott Mozarsky
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER David Wein
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Kevin Prinz
CORPORATE SENIOR VP SALES Anne Marie Miller
SENIOR VP, STRATEGIC DEV. AND BUSINESS ADMIN. Pat Nohilly
SENIOR VP, MANUFACTURING Marie Myers
TALKING WITH OUR PREVIOUS ART DIRECTOR
recently, I recalled something I’d forgotten: First-
person games can be quite intimidating. We tend to
accept it as a de facto viewpoint for several popular
genres today, and it also saves developers from
having to develop a camera system independent of
the player’s control. But it is rather daunting, and has
a high learning curve for those who haven’t already
experienced many first-person games.
The art director in question is a more casual
player, and to her, first-person games seem
disorienting and conceptually difficult. Talking about
this reminded me of my first FPS experience, in
W OLFENSTEIN 3 D for the Atari Jaguar. This was my first
interaction (in perhaps '97 or '98) with a “real” FPS. I
tried playing the game for about an hour, and came
away dizzy and unable to read, because my eyes
were jumping around on the page.
This experience had me pretty convinced that
first-person games weren’t for me, all the way until
H ALO 2 hit consoles and someone convinced me to give
it another shot. Perhaps that’s not a good thing for an
editor of Game Developer to admit, but it’s true. I have
since learned the power of the fir st-person viewpoint,
in terms of what you can show on screen, and the
interactions that become possible. But I spoke with a
few of my fellow editors, and several had recollections
of difficulty penetrating that first-person wall.
The reason is likely that we are used to seeing
games and movies play out before us in a third-person
view. Having an avatar gives us a strong frame of
reference, and allows us to better navigate the world. If
I see a little running guy, and I try to make him jump, I
can gauge that distance. If I have to jump in first-person
mode, where are my feet? Are they below the camera
directly? How far can I jump, when everything feels
like it’s based on my perspective? If I look up a bit, the
platform in front of me looks different than it did before.
A 14-year-old boy will take the time to figure this
out, and will wind up having an excellent experience.
An older or more casual user will likely be much more
daunted, and less inclined to even pick up such a title.
horrible things going on around him? This goes back
to the “silent hero” dilemma that has existed ever
since role-playing made its way into the electronic
world, notoriously perpetuated by the Japanese
console RPG.
Almost all first-person games have this sort of
silent character—one whose only interaction with
others is usually taking orders until they turn their
backs, and then just shooting and collecting things.
That doesn’t seem inherently immersive to me. It
can be, but it isn’t necessarily, as is often assumed.
Western RPGs like F ALLOUT 3 (or earlier games like
U LT I M A IV) do a somewhat better job by at least allowing
the player to make some dialog choices, but still, the
character isn’t you.
What makes a game immersive or otherwise is not
the viewpoint, of course; it’s the situations, external
characters, and tasks that get you involved. One of the
characters I’ve identified most with is the boy from
I CO , and he doesn’t even speak a real language. The
oppressive environments and his seeming innocence
simply made him a sympathetic character. It’s difficult
to empathize or identify with a camera or floating gun. I
can empathize with De Niro’s character in Once Upon a
Time in America , even though I don’t agree with what he
does, simply because his world is so well-realized, and I
can see how he reacts to events. In first-person games,
there is no reaction on the part of the character, and it
becomes difficult to feel anything about him or her.
First-person games are incredibly important to
the industry, and have moved many genres forward
in significant ways. The viewpoint is doubtlessly here
to stay, and I want to emphasize that I am actually a
fan of the concept. But I do think it’s worth taking a
step back. I feel that as an industry we’ve come to our
own conclusion that first-person games are inherently
intuitive and more immersive, simply by virtue of
their camera position, and in spite of the problems
they bring up. I would submit that just because we’ve
gotten used to this style of game doesn’t mean
everyone has. It’s important to realize that making a
first-person game almost necessarily means making
a game for the dedicated gamer.
THE IMMERSION QUESTION
» Are first-person games inherently more
immersive? A lot of developers seem to think so,
but let’s take a second look. Consider the last time
you felt like you actually were the character in a
game you played. I’d be willing to guess that most
people will say “never.” We don’t generally take on
the role of the character we’re playing, except as
children in imaginary play. What we do is identify
with the character—and how can you identify with
a character you can’t see? A character that usually
doesn’t even talk, or have any opinions about the
BREAK DOWN THE WALL
» Innovations on the interface side could help
lower the casual block, perhaps through the Wii,
Project Natal, or the PS3’s new motion controller (T HE
C ONDUIT does some work in this direction—see the
postmortem on page 30) . Regardless, it will take a lot
of work and concerted effort to penetrate the casual
audience with a first-person camera. The question is
whether we even need to, when there are so many
camera systems that games have yet to fully explore.
—Brandon Sheffield
2
GAME DEVELOPER | AUGUST 2009
HEADLINE
IS IT REALLY MORE IMMERSIVE?
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