Graduating Games: 2008 Edition

“ Most Games Courses Suck” “ We’re a Hit-Driven Industry” “ Most Games Suck”

“ We’re a Hit-Driven Industry”

The Two Big Videogame Crashes 1977 “ The Hardware Plague” 1983 “ The Software Plague” Source: JC Herz, Joystick Nation , p.15 “ 1985 – The US home videogame industry is virtually non-existent”

1977

“ The Hardware Plague”

1983

“ The Software Plague”

Missed the ‘gold rush’ Design / direction focus Part-Scripted

Missed the ‘gold rush’

Design / direction focus

Part-Scripted

Contents Truly Mainstream Games The ‘Illusion of Progress’ Damnation of Games Extended Comparison to Movies The Dangers of That Approach Real World Pre-Production Casual Games Demonstration Summary

Truly Mainstream Games

The ‘Illusion of Progress’

Damnation of Games

Extended Comparison to Movies

The Dangers of That Approach

Real World Pre-Production

Casual Games

Demonstration

Summary

Only 1 Truly Mainstream Game “ Halo 3 holds the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, bringing in US$170 million in its first 24 hours, going on to gross US$300 million in its first week” Even if Halo 3 manages to reach the $400 million mark (worldwide) that would only be good enough for 92nd on the all-time list. You have to make more than $516 million to hit the top 50, and $914+ million to break into the top 10. www.mediapundit.net

“ Halo 3 holds the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, bringing in US$170 million in its first 24 hours, going on to gross US$300 million in its first week”

Even if Halo 3 manages to reach the $400 million mark (worldwide) that would only be good enough for 92nd on the all-time list. You have to make more than $516 million to hit the top 50, and $914+ million to break into the top 10.

www.mediapundit.net

4 Million X100

The Illusion of Progress Technological Progress Cultural Progress “ the same thing, only prettier” Slow, not static

Technological Progress

Cultural Progress

30 Years = Cultural Infancy Shakespeare Joyce DH Lawrence The Beatles Television Comics Media / Cultural Studies Cinema Formation Damnation Acceptance Celebration

Shakespeare

Joyce

DH Lawrence

The Beatles

Television

Comics

Media / Cultural Studies

Cinema

Formation

Damnation

Acceptance

Celebration

Emerging as the ‘Killer App’ “ In 1896…the machines – rather than the material which passed through them – were clearly the main attraction”. P. 3 "Our invention can be exploited for a certain time as a scientific curiosity, but apart from that, it has no commercial future whatsoever." Auguste Lumière

“ In 1896…the machines – rather than the material which passed through them – were clearly the main attraction”. P. 3

"Our invention can be exploited for a certain time as a scientific curiosity, but apart from that, it has no commercial future whatsoever."

Auguste Lumière

Nascent Industrialisation “… films were sold…as ‘semi-finished products’ that could be ‘finished’ in exhibition in different ways”. P. 94/95 variable projection speeds re-editing colours accompanying audio lecturer explanations

“… films were sold…as ‘semi-finished products’ that could be ‘finished’ in exhibition in different ways”. P. 94/95

variable projection speeds

re-editing

colours

accompanying audio

lecturer explanations

The Cinema of Attractions “ ...visual curiosity was aroused and satisfied by novelty, surprise, even shock…it tended to show…either the technical possibilities of the new medium…or the spectacle of human figures”. P. 94

“ ...visual curiosity was aroused and satisfied by novelty, surprise, even shock…it tended to show…either the technical possibilities of the new medium…or the spectacle of human figures”. P. 94

Censorship and Control “ a variety of pressure groups, including churches, reform groups, police and press , began attempting to exert influence on the new medium of cinema” 1895 - The Dolorita Passion Dance 1897 - Orange Blossoms

“ a variety of pressure groups, including churches, reform groups, police and press , began attempting to exert influence on the new medium of cinema”

1895 - The Dolorita Passion Dance

1897 - Orange Blossoms

‘ A Business Pure And Simple’ "[There is] no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech. The court finds that video games have more in common with board games and sports than they do with motion pictures." U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. 2002

"[There is] no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech. The court finds that video games have more in common with board games and sports than they do with motion pictures."

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. 2002

“… falling attendances at film theatres between 1932 and 1933 led to the deployment of more ‘daring’ material, and the very adverse publicity such films received increased their box-office earnings…Meanwhile…Paramount grossed $2 million during the first three months of the films release”. P. 8

“… falling attendances at film theatres between 1932 and 1933 led to the deployment of more ‘daring’ material, and the very adverse publicity such films received increased their box-office earnings…Meanwhile…Paramount grossed $2 million during the first three months of the films release”. P. 8

‘ My ears have rung with their foolish cry: “It is not fit for children!” Children! Children! I did not make that picture for children.’ Erich Von Stroheim, 1921

‘ My ears have rung with their foolish cry: “It is not fit for children!” Children! Children! I did not make that picture for children.’

Erich Von Stroheim, 1921

Growth Industrial growth Maturity of Mode of Production Effectively fending off censorship Being more clearly and acceptably ‘adult’

Industrial growth

Maturity of Mode of Production

Effectively fending off censorship

Being more clearly and acceptably ‘adult’

‘ what’s the point of destroying an empire if you are going to replace it with another?’

‘ what’s the point of destroying an empire if you are going to replace it with another?’

"You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues..." George Lucas

Popular Does Not Mean Dumb New Hollywood…refers to the brief time between roughly the mid-1960s...and 1982…when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, drastically changing not only the way Hollywood films were produced and marketed, but also the kinds of films that were made. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movie_brats

New Hollywood…refers to the brief time between roughly the mid-1960s...and 1982…when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, drastically changing not only the way Hollywood films were produced and marketed, but also the kinds of films that were made. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movie_brats

Theoretical / Practical Tools

Pre-Production Concept Generation X Concept Art Ripomatics Gameplay Storyboarding / animatics Target Renders / X Movies

Concept Generation

X

Concept Art

Ripomatics

Gameplay Storyboarding / animatics

Target Renders / X Movies

Lateral Thinking Philosophy Focus Alternatives Challenge Random Entry Provocation and Movement Harvest Treatment

Philosophy

Focus

Alternatives

Challenge

Random Entry

Provocation and Movement

Harvest

Treatment

Brainstorming Design by committee

Lateral Thinking General Area Focus “ An area to think about that does not seem to need attention” “ New ideas for communicating with admin” Problem Focus “ A problem or issue that needs improving or fixing…using a verb” “ How do we improve our team morale?”

General Area Focus

“ An area to think about that does not seem to need attention”

“ New ideas for communicating with admin”

Problem Focus

“ A problem or issue that needs improving or fixing…using a verb”

“ How do we improve our team morale?”

Restricted Creativity Pascal Jarry – Solidgame “ Brainstorm new products for use in the kitchen” “ Brainstorm new products for use with eggs in the kitchen”

Pascal Jarry – Solidgame

“ Brainstorm new products for use in the kitchen”

“ Brainstorm new products for use with eggs in the kitchen”

Constraints are Good Genre Briefings Licenses Team V Individual

Genre

Briefings

Licenses

Team V Individual

Succinct Product Statements “ X Statements” “ Brutal Off-Road Racing in a Chaotic Environment”

“ X Statements”

“ Brutal Off-Road Racing in a Chaotic Environment”

Concept Art www.deviantart.com www.cgsociety.org www.zburshcentral.com/zbc/featured2col.php www.gfxartist.com www.mattepainting.org www.conceptart.org

www.deviantart.com

www.cgsociety.org

www.zburshcentral.com/zbc/featured2col.php

www.gfxartist.com

www.mattepainting.org

www.conceptart.org

Gameplay Storyboarding Same talent / Different aims Animatics

Same talent / Different aims

Animatics

Ripomatics ‘ Steal-o-matics’

‘ Steal-o-matics’

Target Renders [X Movies]

Movie Envy I think they look at our movies and they see how we set up shots, how we deal with characters, how we do things. And I think they mimic that. A film like "The Matrix" is something that's very visual. All of these very visual films, you'll see the actual shots and angles repeated in video games, and they'll do the same thing with "Black Hawk Down." I've seen a lot of games that have taken off of what we did in "Black Hawk Down." Jerry Bruckheimer

I think they look at our movies and they see how we set up shots, how we deal with characters, how we do things. And I think they mimic that. A film like "The Matrix" is something that's very visual. All of these very visual films, you'll see the actual shots and angles repeated in video games, and they'll do the same thing with "Black Hawk Down." I've seen a lot of games that have taken off of what we did in "Black Hawk Down."

Jerry Bruckheimer

Narrative Fundamentalism Movies and videogames - are fundamentally about storytelling Movies are fundamentally a storytelling medium but videogames aren’t Neither movies or games are fundamentally a storytelling medium

Movies and videogames - are fundamentally about storytelling

Movies are fundamentally a storytelling medium but videogames aren’t

Neither movies or games are fundamentally a storytelling medium

Meta-Genre “ French film theorist Christian Metz wrote in the 1970’s that “most films shot today, good or bad, original or not, ‘commercial’ or not, have as a common characteristic that they all tell a story; in this measure they all belong to one and the same genre, which is, rather, a sort of ‘super genre’” (Metz, ‘The Fiction Film and It’s Spectator’, p.402. Quoted in Manovich, p.294)

“ French film theorist Christian Metz wrote in the 1970’s that “most films shot today, good or bad, original or not, ‘commercial’ or not, have as a common characteristic that they all tell a story; in this measure they all belong to one and the same genre, which is, rather, a sort of ‘super genre’”

(Metz, ‘The Fiction Film and It’s Spectator’,

p.402. Quoted in Manovich, p.294)

Fundamentally… Games A Form of Play Movies A Form of Movement on Light “ By 1908 or 1909, in many French and American films, everything having to do with mise-en-scene, framing, and editing was being ‘remotivated’, subordinated to a causal narrative chain dependant on such devices as repetition, delay, surprise, suspense and, above all, closure”. P.95

Games

A Form of Play

Movies

A Form of Movement on Light

“ Videogames are another way for a studio to cover their costs and make a little profit. Sometimes movies aren't successful, but the video game can be successful...So any way you can get something you're creating out there, whether it's a video game or an album, or a book, you certainly want to do that” Jerry Bruckheimer

“ Videogames are another way for a studio to cover their costs and make a little profit. Sometimes movies aren't successful, but the video game can be successful...So any way you can get something you're creating out there, whether it's a video game or an album, or a book, you certainly want to do that” Jerry Bruckheimer

End of Part One

Part Two

Casual Browser Games

Consoles The Right Home Peripheral Emphasis Accessibility Haptic Learning Curve Setup options etc Whimsical The abuse of ‘easy’

The Right Home

Peripheral Emphasis

Accessibility

Haptic

Learning Curve

Setup options etc

Whimsical

The abuse of ‘easy’

Consoles

The Real World Living room multiplayer Collaboration Help!

The Real World

Living room multiplayer

Collaboration

Help!

MMO Extremely hardcore “ The player pool is mostly boys and young men. And the medium has genre limitations: Don't look for MMOGs based on Brokeback Mountain or Walk the Line anytime soon” http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_07/b3971073.htm?chan=tc ”

Extremely hardcore

MMO Extremely hardcore "I didn't want to be a totally slavish Tolkien interpreter and I didn't feel that was my primary job. I mean there was a lot of money at stake, and I wanted very much to make a film that you could walk in off the street where you knew nothing about Tolkien, having never read the Lord of the Rings, and still enjoy the film” Peter Jackson

Extremely hardcore

"I didn't want to be a totally slavish Tolkien interpreter and I didn't feel that was my primary job. I mean there was a lot of money at stake, and I wanted very much to make a film that you could walk in off the street where you knew nothing about Tolkien, having never read the Lord of the Rings, and still enjoy the film”

Peter Jackson

iTV “ Press Red” Teething Trouble

“ Press Red”

Teething Trouble

iTV Going Forward… MMO meets ‘Facebook’

MMO meets ‘Facebook’

New Design Talent “ You can’t teach game design” “ You can’t provide us with game designers, especially on day one” Nascent discipline Like, whatever.

“ You can’t teach game design”

“ You can’t provide us with game designers, especially on day one”

Nascent discipline

Like, whatever.

They’re Interactive! “ Games are interactive entertainment” “ Not like movies or TV, where you just sit back and it washes over you” “ it’s all about the gameplay” “ I’m an old skool gamer who hates cut scenes and loves playability”

“ Games are interactive entertainment”

“ Not like movies or TV, where you just sit back and it washes over you”

“ it’s all about the gameplay”

“ I’m an old skool gamer who hates cut scenes and loves playability”

A Game is... “ An exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome” Elliott Avedon and Brian Sutton Smith – The Study of Games control

“ An exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome”

Elliott Avedon and Brian Sutton Smith – The Study of Games

control

Peggle

From Casual to Mainstream Apathetic Non-commital Quirky

Apathetic

Non-commital

Quirky

Summary Our epoch feels near…. Mimicry on the wane Positive new trends We’re friends Game School is on the way So are incredible new developments

Our epoch feels near….

Mimicry on the wane

Positive new trends

We’re friends

Game School is on the way

So are incredible new developments

Summary

Thanks