Game Development in Networks of the Future Craig Lindley craig.lindley@hgo.se Game Design, Cognition and Artificial Intelligence Research Group Department of Game Design, Narrative and Time-Based Media Gotland University College and Blekinge Technical College, Sweden 1. Scope of Games and Game Systems 2. Evolution of Current Game Designs 3. New Game Forms Utilising New and Emerging Technical Media 4. Future of the Game Development, Distribution and Play Infrastructure 1
1. Scope of Games and Game Systems Simulation - time of a frame - abstraction and replication of system functions - modelling generative principles - outcomes are unpredictable - functionally oriented: system analysis and behavioural understanding Pure Game - time of a move - abstract board/puzzle games - competitive - search and combinatorics - goal oriented: problem solving and optimisation (IPD, maximisation) Narrative - time of a total experience - myth, literature, cinema - structural analysis - semiotically oriented: meaning and function 2
Computer Game Classification Space Simulation Avatar Worlds Simulation Games Strategy Games Role-Playing Games Action Games Pure Game Pac Man Tetris Computer Chess Hypertext Adventures Multipath Movies DVD Movies Narrative Virtuality vs physicality = The degree to which the game space and game objects are represented by and interacted via computational media. 3
model model virtual physical game game narrative narrative model military vehicle simulators model computer games location-based technology assisted games LARPs team sports virtual physical game game shows game adventure sports narrative narrative 4
Fiction vs non-fiction = The degree to which the game space, game objects and game mechanics correspond to imaginary versus physical phenomena. model model fiction non-fiction game game narrative narrative 5
model fabrications military vehicle simulators simulations model fiction game LARPs location-based technology team assisted games sports non-fiction game game shows adventure sports narrative narrative Game design research: - understanding and mapping out game space - defining languages for design : - greater selfconsiousness - critical design practices - design patterns, ontologies, taxonomies, principles - scientific design foundations - deriving new designs from technical innovations 6
GOAL: Develop a Nomological Network for Game Research = laws correlating player features, processes and effects with game play patterns in relation to game design features Validated mappings from observations to the theoretical distinctions of an explanatory feature space Feature Spaces of Game Research = nomology for game research Descriptive and Explanatory Languages / Constructs Feature Space of Game Design Feature Space of Gameplay/Interaction Feature Space of The Player Feature Space of The Context Observation Methods Specific Game Design Interaction Pattern Specific Player Specific Context Observable Phenomena 7
Game design research = a new and (rapidly) developing field => Credibility with industry will emerge as an increasing body of strong empirical results is gathered Game design researchers must not be frustrated Game designers! Side note re games as education: - students are losing interest in reading - computer games attract large amounts of voluntary and intensive time - games are the original learning system how to reinvent pedagogy within game media? This is not about how to use games for education, but about how to reinvent education in the age of a radically different (non-textual) medium. 8
2. Evolution of Current Game Designs => existing media infrastructure E.g. Areas of high innovation potential within current game designs: - deeper game characters - new methods for emergent story construction - better dialog and conversation by NPCs - generative media and player-created content - deeper scientific understanding of the nature of game play and its effects (e.g. cognitive sciences of game play, FUGA) 9
Relevance to existing game industries is obvious BUT Progress may be slow due to difficulty of required innovations and no established market credibility. => Industry wait and see approach 3. New Game Forms Utilising New and Emerging Technical Media 10
? mobile ubiquitous? transreality locationbased ambient? pervasive? augmented reality new game media forms? virtual reality? mixed reality? Augmented and Mixed Reality Games Mixed Reality VR Games physically augmented virtuality virtually augmented physicality Physical Games 11
Mobile Games - mobile delivery of games (not really mobile games) - games of relative location - games of absolute location Location-Based Games Games of relative location: - setting is not important - relative positions of players matter - relative position may be static or dynamic 12
Location-Based Games Games of relative location: E.g. - Traditional sports and board games - Botfighters by the Swedish company It s Alive! Location-Based Games Botfighters - action game - objective: track down and defeat other players - battles staged in the real world - position yourself close to opponent to score a hit. - your mobile phone is given a set of weapons + radar system to locate opponents - opponents can choose to attack you at any time! - play by text message commands from mobile phone. 13
Location-Based Games Games of absolute location: - setting is crucial - absolute positions of players matter - absolute position may be static or dynamic => may involve mobility or not Location-Based Games Games of absolute location: E.g. - I Spy - hide-and-seek and treasure hunts - Uncle Roy All Around You, Nottingham University and Blast Theory - Visby Under Game studio of the Interactive Institute in Sweden 14
Ubiquitous, Pervasive and Ambient Games Ubiquitous => anywhere, any time Pervasive => pervade everyday experience (weak in game/out of game boundary) Ambient => intelligent interfaces and background/ peripheral technology - related but not dependent concepts VR Games = escape physical reality Pervasive Games = staged in physical reality = 1980 s cyberspace = 1990 s pervasive computing 15
VR Games Mixed Reality Games Pervasive Games VR Games Mixed Reality Games Pervasive Games = games based upon a single game world 16
Trans-Reality Games Trans-reality games - games that may simultaneously include physical, virtual and mixed reality game staging spaces Trans-Reality Games A trans-reality game may be: Diegetically monolithic = > game space is a single world, game play is staged in multiple worlds VR Mode Mixed Reality Mode Pervasive Mode 17
Trans-Reality Games A trans-reality game may be: Diegetically polymorphous = > game space contains multiple worlds VR Mode Trans-Reality Games Pervasive Mode Trans-World Game Interaction E.g. Areas of high innovation potential based upon new and emerging game media: - completely new game experiences (e.g. Trans-reality interaction) - integration of sensors, actuators, robotics, displays, audio, etc. - needs deeper scientific and sociological understanding of the nature of game play and its effects (motivating new design principles) 18
Relevance to existing game industries is mostly apparent for mobile/location-based game developers, and extension of interface technologies from existing games/consoles (e.g. Nintendo Revolution) BUT - mostly a new, currently niche market area - mass market currently reached via Mobile telecomms infrastructure - bootstrapping problem (e.g. use of GPS in IPerG) => High potential / high risk 4. Future of the Game Development, Distribution and Play Infrastructure 19
Current computer game industry - engine and middleware developers (rendering, physics, AI, network comms.) - still a lot of DIY engine development - ongoing rapid increase in graphics, CPU, memory, network bandwidth capacities => increasing demand on media asset production Current computer game industry some Negative Aspects - very limited reuse of software and media - increasing project size (300+ pp) => increasing budgets => larger publisher (mostly USA) investment => large publisher domination => conservatism in: - game form and media - cultural content - consolidation of business AND blocked opportunities for new companies - no European console manufacturers 20
Implied needs from European Perspective: - reduced production costs - deeper and more diverse themes and cultural level => more niche products => technologies to counter publisher dominance of economics E.g. Collada versus EA s EAGL - standardisation and open source methods to promote reuse, broader dissemination and niche companiew - incremental, industry-focussed evolution Overview of Some R&D Themes -S- standardisation of game elements / interfaces for interoperability and reuse - distributed game processing infrastructure - localised/adaptive game logic - transferable game characters and items - abstraction of characterisation, dramatic and narrative structures - standardised metadata for dynamic reuse of game assets (meshes, motion sequences, AI, game systems, procedural graphics) 21
Standardised / reference production process model??? (analogy with relational database systems). Eg. ip-1 A ip-2 S/W Specification: Generation std. Graphical Specification Standard ip-7 B D ip-3 ip-6 C E ip-4 ip-5 generate std. state transition rules Design: Design Rule Representation Standard Compilation std. If A & ip-1 then op(_attack) assert B If A & ip-2 then op(_flee) assert C If B & ip-3 then op(_patrol) assert A... Etc. generate std. optimised virtual machine code Implementation: Portable Implementation Machine Code Standard 0101 0101 0001 1001 0001 0110 0101 0101 0010 1010 1001 0111 0101 0110 0011 1011 0010 0101... Etc. VE Engines Standardised/Reference Game Architecture Models??? Multi-Agent VE/Game Engine User interface Initialisation and agent instantiation Agent 1 Multi-user server user/game database Client Message router Event Trigger system Agent 2 controller Narrative manager Agent n Animation and Player API animation system 22
Dynamic, Distributed Game Networks Experience delivery layer: PCs, consoled, mobile devices, ITV, interaction technologies, etc.: Client software components and hardware platforms streaming media specification and protocols Distributed interactive media production layer: templates, game/story logic, dynamic media engine components, ontologies media asset metadata, object specifications and protocols Dynamic distributed media content repositories and generative components Relevance to existing game industries : - relevant now, relevance will increase - European strategic issue BUT requires : - strategic view - industry + public investment - close industry / research collaboration 23
fin! 24