MTA Game Development

1. Identifying and Managing Game
Requirements
Lesson 2

2. Exam Objective Matrix
Skills/Concepts MTA Exam Objectives
Identifying Basic Game
Requirements
Choose an input device (2.1)
Choose an output device (2.2)
Identifying Game
Performance Requirements
Work with the network (2.3)
Understand the different game platforms (2.5)
Manage game performance (2.4)

3. Identifying Basic Game Requirements
• One of the fundamental elements required
to be identified for a game development is
the suitable input/output device for the
selected platform
– The type of input devices the gamer uses
to interact with the characters of the game
– The type of output devices the gamer uses
to see the visual output of the gameplay

4. Identifying the Input Device
• Some of the commonly used game
controllers are:
– Control pad or Joypad or Gamepad
– Mouse
– Keyboard
– Kinect
– Mobile devices
– Steering wheel
– Joystick

5. Gamepads and Mice
• Gamepad
– Can be held in a player’s hands
– Allows for fewer fingers to be used to play
• Mouse
– Useful when the game requires precision,
such as aiming in shooters
– Not all actions in a game can be mapped
to a mouse however

6. Input Device Examples
Xbox 360 gamepad Sidewinder gaming mouse

7. Keyboards and Kinect
• Keyboard
– Standard input method for PC games
– Large number of keys allows for large
number of commands available to player
• Kinect
– Motion sensing device that can immerse
the player into the game
– Limited to Microsoft consoles and
operating systems

8. Input Device Examples
Sidewinder gaming
keyboard Xbox 360 with Kinect

9. Mobile Devices and Steering Wheels
• Mobile Devices
– Can gaming platform or an input device for
another gaming platform
• Steering Wheels
– Provides superior experience when playing
any type of racing game
– Allows greater player immersion into the
racing game
– Not used by other genres of games

10. Input Device Examples
Windows Phone 8 Steering wheel

11. Other Input Devices
• Light gun: uses light to detect the targeted location on
the game screen
• Dance pad or dance mat: players step on the mat and
press the action buttons to control the game
• Wii balance board: players stand on this unique
platform and perform various physical exercise activities.
• Musical game controller: resembles musical
instruments, such as guitars, drums, and keyboards.
• Other motion sensing device: Wii remote, PlayStation
Move.

12. Identifying the Output Device
• Output devices fall into two broad
categories: display devices and sound
devices.
• Display devices display the visual element
of the game.
• Sound devices, such as speakers or
headphones, provide the audio output of
the game.

13. Choosing a Display Device
• A wide variety of display devices is available to
display the visual output of games. The choice
depends on the following criteria:
– Genre
– Game platform
– Game graphics
– Target audience
• Commonly used devices include: TVs, monitors,
handheld devices and touchscreen devices.

14. Televisions and Monitors
• Liquid crystal display (LCD):
– Thinner and lighter than the standard television. Uses LCD
display technology and are available in larger sizes.
• Light emitting diode (LED):
– Thinner and lighter than the standard television. Uses
LED display technology as a video display.
• Plasma display panel (PDP):
– Displays bright images and uses a wide color range.
The panels are available in 30 inches or larger sizes.
• 3D:
– Display and with 3D glasses to view the images in three-
dimension.

15. High-definition LCD Display

16. Handheld and Touchscreen Devices
• Handheld:
– Smart phones, tablets, handheld consoles
– Plus: portable, simple, widely available
– Minus: small display, low end graphics by
comparison
• Touchscreen:
– Allow interaction with game via touch
– Plus: ease of play, increase in game appeal
– Minus: not supported by all games or devices

17. Touchscreen

18. Sound Devices
Sound Device Advantages Disadvantages
Headphones • Privacy
• Prevents disturbing
others
Increases the chances
of hearing impairment
5.1 speakers • Optimum sound
quality
• Life-like reproduction
of sound
• Provides better
gaming experience
Expensive
2.1 speakers • Most commonly used
• Affordable
• Available in a wide
range of products
Lower quality of sound
Standard speakers • Affordable Lower quality of sound

19. Identifying Game Performance Requirements
• To create a player-friendly game, you
must identify the hardware, memory, and
networking requirements for an optimal
game performance.
– Judge the game performance by analyzing
how well the game can run on a chosen
device with specific graphics.
– Analyze whether the game can adapt to
the network setup when players want to
play the game online.

20. Managing Game Performance
• To effectively manage the game
performance, you must manage three
components:
– Platform-specific memory requirements
– Graphics performance requirements
– Networking requirements

21. Platform Specific Game Requirements
• Console:
– Have more features that accommodate great
games when compared to other platforms.
– Typically offer internal and external storage.
• Mobile:
– Typically have small volatile memory space.
– Need to understand storage memory vs.
memory available to run game in.
– Graphics may be limited and vary from model
to model.

22. Comparing Gaming Platforms
Gaming Platform Advantages Disadvantages
Console • Most preferred
platform
• Most suited with
adequate memory
• The built-in storage
memory is not easy
to upgrade
Mobile • Rapidly gaining
popularity
• Games with low
graphics can be
played easily
• Games that can be
played are limited
because of limited
memory
• Memory upgrade is
not possible
PC • Memory
requirements can be
easily met by
enhancements.
• May require a heavy
investment for the
high-end memory
and graphics card

23. Managing the Impact of Graphic Performance
• These elements influence the performance
of the graphics used in your game:
– Central processing unit (CPU)
– Graphics processing unit (GPU)
– Reach
– HiDef
– Network impact

24. Understanding Output Resolution
• A graphic displayed on the screen is made
up of pixels or dots.
– The number of such pixels or dots that make up an
image is called the output resolution.
– The larger the resolution, the sharper the picture will
be.
– The display resolution plays a key role in the game’s
performance.
– If the correct resolution is not used, the graphics
might not be displayed properly, which will affect the
game’s performance.

25. CPU vs. GPU
• Central processing unit (CPU): the
component that performs all the
processing activities of the system.
• Graphics processing unit (GPU): the
specialized process that performs graphics
processing rapidly.
– Exclusively designed to depict 3D graphics
and drawing of 2D images.

26. Output Profiles
• A profile is a set of features employed in
the hardware and is platform-independent.
– Allows the game code written for one
platform to run on a different platform with
little or no change in the code.
– This is possible because the application
programming interfaces (APIs) that access
the profile in the hardware are consistent
across platforms.

27. Reach vs. HiDef Profiles
Reach Profile
• Limited set of graphics
features.
• Integrated in hardware of
most platforms.
– Windows PCs using a
DirectX 9 GPU
– Xbox 360 consoles
– Windows Phone
HiDef Profile
• Highest level of graphics.
• Suitable for use on
platforms with higher
power hardware and
better capabilities.
– Windows PCs using a
DirectX 10 GPU
– Xbox 360 consoles

28. Network Impact
Online Games
Requirements
• Use light graphics and
code
• Use a dedicated server
• Ensure that the game is
able to perform well on
low bandwidth
• Ensure that the game is
able to handle a large
number of users
Offline Games
Requirements
• Can use high-end
graphics and game code
• Do not require a
dedicated server
• Ensure that the game is
able to perform well on
low bandwidth
• Ensure that the game is
able to handle a large
number of users

29. Understanding Network Architecture
• Virtual Environment (VE): a computer-
generated simulation in which the system
simulates a 3D virtual world.
• Multiplayer online games use Distributed
Virtual Environment (DVE), where gamers
share the VE.

30. Multiplayer Architecture Types
• Centralized-server architecture:
– A single server with multiple connected clients.
– When the number of clients increases, the server
becomes a potential bottleneck.
• Networked-server architecture:
– Multiple servers where each client connects
exclusively to one of these server.
– Requires efficient distribution of the workload across
the servers to avoid overload and ensure best
performance.
• Peer-to-peer architecture:
– Client computer is the server.

31. Network Management Tasks
• Basic network management with respect
to online games involves the following
tasks:
– Managing the network operations
– Administering the network
– Maintaining the network
– Provisioning the network
– Monitoring network traffic
– Monitoring network latency

32. IP, TCP and UDP
• Internet Protocol (IP): a protocol that
sends packets of data, called datagrams
or network packets, from one computer to
another.
• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP):
built on top of IP and commonly referred to
as TCP/IP. It defines or controls how data
is transmitted from one compute to
another, adding the ability to validate
delivery and request a retransmission for

33. IP, TCP and UDP
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP): depends
on IP, but does not add to it the way TCP
does. Does not provide guarantee of
delivery or the ability to request a packet
be retransmitted.

34. TCP vs. UDP
TCP
• Adds overhead to data
transmission on a
network.
• Guarantees delivery of
data that is sent.
• Allows data to be resent if
it did not arrive the first
time.
• Most commonly used
protocol across all
network transmission
applications.
UDP
• Adds almost no overhead
to transmission of data.
• Provides no guarantees
that the data will arrive in
the correct order, or at all.
• Does guarantee that data
that does arrive will either
be whole, or be rejected.
• Provides faster transfers
due to less overheard.

35. Web Services
• A Web service is a software application
that exchanges information using standard
protocols.
• It helps computers on any platform to
exchange information over intranets,
extranets, and across the Internet by
providing secured and reliable messaging.
• You can create and set up Web services for
your game using Microsoft Visual Studio.

36. Web Services Components
• A Web service uses:
– XML for representing data
– Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) for
data exchange
– Web Services Description Language
(WSDL) for describing the service’s
functionality

37. Recap
• Identifying Basic Game Requirements
• Identifying the Input Device
• Input device review
• Identifying the Output Device
• Display display review
• Sound device review
• Identifying Game Performance Requirements
• Managing Platform-Specific Game Requirements
• Comparing platforms
• Managing the Impact of Graphic Performance
• Managing Network Requirements
• Managing the Network
• Introduction to IP, TCP, UDP and Web Services