Here are the slides from a presentation I gave at a school in Coppell, TX for Middle School students in the summer of 2018. Keep in mind that my target audience here was middle school kids, the last few slides are a little text and game development heavy, but came in handy for the game development activities we did afterwards.
I would love to give more talks like this so if you are interested, let me know! Also, feedback is always appreciated!
This document discusses various video editing programs and provides instructions for making movies using Microsoft Movie Maker. It lists popular paid and free video editing software programs. It then outlines the system requirements for using Movie Maker and walks through the basic process of importing photos and videos, adding transitions, titles and credits to create a photo movie. It also discusses using AutoMovie to automatically generate videos and describes common editing tools in Movie Maker like trimming clips, changing speed and audio editing. Finally, it covers saving projects and movies and recommends some additional free photo, audio and file conversion tools.
The document provides step-by-step instructions for creating a photo story using Photo Story 3, a free application from Microsoft. It describes how to import and arrange pictures, add titles, narrate each photo, customize transitions and motion, add music, and save the completed photostory. The instructions aim to guide users through the entire process of bringing photos to life and sharing their stories in a fun, creative way using this simple software.
Supersize your production pipe enjmin 2013 v1.1 hdslantsixgames
The document discusses a presentation on optimizing a game studio's production pipeline. It introduces the speaker, Paul Simon Martin from Slant Six Games, and discusses how production pipelines have evolved over time. Key aspects of optimizing the pipeline that are covered include infrastructure for asset storage, automated building and testing, content authoring tools, data conversion processes, and metrics tracking. The goal is to minimize iteration times and latency throughout the entire process.
SF Game Dev Meetup (Oct 2019): To Self-Publish Or Not To Self-Publish, David ...David Piao Chiu
To self-publish or not to self-publish, that is the question. The mobile F2P space is more competitive than ever. Millions of existing apps already in the app stores, thousands of new games launching each week and the costs of user acquisition keeps increasing. Should developers partner with a publisher or launch the game on their own?
This presentation will explore the case of self-publishing versus working with a publisher. We will explore the pros and cons for each one, questions the developer should be asking themselves and their potential publishing partner. Moreover, it will cover best practices for self-publishing, common mistakes to avoid to maximize your success. This will include best practices for improving retention, IAP monetization, ad monetization and virality.
Developing for Consoles as an Indie in 2018Sarah Sexton
Gaming consoles are closed platforms. They demand quality over quantity. To prove you are serious as a video game developer, what should you do? What can you do to help promote yourself in the community as an indie dev? Xbox Development is improving its Dev Mode, releasing a new Creator's Program, and launching the upcoming Xbox One X. Learn what goes into the process of publishing video games to Microsoft's major gaming consoles in 2018.
Igniting the Spark: Building Online Services for Borderlands 2Jimmy Sieben
Gearbox built an online services platform named Spark for Borderlands 2. As this was an entirely new effort for Gearbox, we learned that building a service is quite different from building a game. Along the way, we shipped two beta releases in the original Borderlands to help us succeed. The genesis of Spark, key milestones and challenges in its creation, and post-mortem from launch are discussed. This talk will help others understand why we created Spark and also what it takes to launch an online service.
Moving from boxed title Game Development to F2P | Ralf C. AdamRalf C. Adam
This lecture was held at the Game Developer's Conference GDC Europe in Cologne in 2010. Target Audience: Studios working in the traditional games industry, thinking about switching to development of online F2P titles.
This document discusses various video editing programs and provides instructions for making movies using Microsoft Movie Maker. It lists popular paid and free video editing software programs. It then outlines the system requirements for using Movie Maker and walks through the basic process of importing photos and videos, adding transitions, titles and credits to create a photo movie. It also discusses using AutoMovie to automatically generate videos and describes common editing tools in Movie Maker like trimming clips, changing speed and audio editing. Finally, it covers saving projects and movies and recommends some additional free photo, audio and file conversion tools.
The document provides step-by-step instructions for creating a photo story using Photo Story 3, a free application from Microsoft. It describes how to import and arrange pictures, add titles, narrate each photo, customize transitions and motion, add music, and save the completed photostory. The instructions aim to guide users through the entire process of bringing photos to life and sharing their stories in a fun, creative way using this simple software.
Supersize your production pipe enjmin 2013 v1.1 hdslantsixgames
The document discusses a presentation on optimizing a game studio's production pipeline. It introduces the speaker, Paul Simon Martin from Slant Six Games, and discusses how production pipelines have evolved over time. Key aspects of optimizing the pipeline that are covered include infrastructure for asset storage, automated building and testing, content authoring tools, data conversion processes, and metrics tracking. The goal is to minimize iteration times and latency throughout the entire process.
SF Game Dev Meetup (Oct 2019): To Self-Publish Or Not To Self-Publish, David ...David Piao Chiu
To self-publish or not to self-publish, that is the question. The mobile F2P space is more competitive than ever. Millions of existing apps already in the app stores, thousands of new games launching each week and the costs of user acquisition keeps increasing. Should developers partner with a publisher or launch the game on their own?
This presentation will explore the case of self-publishing versus working with a publisher. We will explore the pros and cons for each one, questions the developer should be asking themselves and their potential publishing partner. Moreover, it will cover best practices for self-publishing, common mistakes to avoid to maximize your success. This will include best practices for improving retention, IAP monetization, ad monetization and virality.
Developing for Consoles as an Indie in 2018Sarah Sexton
Gaming consoles are closed platforms. They demand quality over quantity. To prove you are serious as a video game developer, what should you do? What can you do to help promote yourself in the community as an indie dev? Xbox Development is improving its Dev Mode, releasing a new Creator's Program, and launching the upcoming Xbox One X. Learn what goes into the process of publishing video games to Microsoft's major gaming consoles in 2018.
Igniting the Spark: Building Online Services for Borderlands 2Jimmy Sieben
Gearbox built an online services platform named Spark for Borderlands 2. As this was an entirely new effort for Gearbox, we learned that building a service is quite different from building a game. Along the way, we shipped two beta releases in the original Borderlands to help us succeed. The genesis of Spark, key milestones and challenges in its creation, and post-mortem from launch are discussed. This talk will help others understand why we created Spark and also what it takes to launch an online service.
Moving from boxed title Game Development to F2P | Ralf C. AdamRalf C. Adam
This lecture was held at the Game Developer's Conference GDC Europe in Cologne in 2010. Target Audience: Studios working in the traditional games industry, thinking about switching to development of online F2P titles.
The document outlines the typical stages involved in planning and developing a video game: 1) Planning covers defining the game type, features, characters, and target audience. 2) Pre-production develops the narrative, visuals, and art style. 3) Production builds character models, code, sounds, and other in-game content. 4) Testing checks for bugs and exploits. 5) Pre-launch involves marketing. 6) Launch releases the game for purchase/download. 7) Post-production fixes minor bugs and issues patches and additional content.
The document outlines the typical stages involved in planning and developing a video game: 1) Planning covers defining the game type, features, characters, and target audience. 2) Pre-production develops the narrative, visuals, and art style. 3) Production builds character models, code, sounds, and other in-game content. 4) Testing identifies bugs and exploits. 5) Pre-launch involves marketing. 6) Launch releases the game for purchase/download. 7) Post-production fixes minor bugs and issues patches and additional content.
Digital distribution allows games to be published, marketed, and distributed electronically rather than through physical media like discs. It provides benefits like reducing the time for players to start playing and minimizing download sizes and disk space requirements. Game streaming renders the game on remote servers and streams video and input to the user's device, while assets streaming downloads game assets to the local device for rendering. While streaming is still developing, digital distribution can currently efficiently distribute games by splitting installs into parts, keeping package file orders consistent for small updates, limiting the number of files, and testing with long paths and Unicode characters.
Game marketing has changed over the years and this presentation from OrlandoiX15 should give independent game studios and indie game devs a roadmap for launching titles into the current market. Always happy to give advice to studios - sean@ide-agency.com
Developing games for consoles as an indie in 2019David Voyles
I've given this talk several times across the world, and it's largely about the intricate parts of releasing a title in 2019. It covers everything from engines/tools, ESRB & PEGI certifications, and how to build a brand.
Maximize Your Production Effort (English)slantsixgames
This document discusses how to maximize production efficiency through efficient content authoring tools and pipelines for inter-studio asset development. It covers topics like infrastructure, content authoring, data conversion, game runtime considerations, and asset sharing. The key recommendations are to identify and reduce latency throughout the production pipeline, automate processes as much as possible, prioritize tool and workflow improvements, and treat outsourcing partners like internal team members to maximize output.
Updated High-Level guide to marketing games in 2018. The intended audience is game studios with a small budget, but much of this applies regardless of studio size. The focus is on marketing, community and social media versus advertising.
Developing for Xbox as an Indie in 2018Nick Landry
This session presents an overview of what it means for a game studio to be ready to publish for consoles under managed programs like ID@XBOX. I also cover UWP games for Xbox One and Windows 10, and the new Xbox Live Creators Program which opens up open self-publishing on Xbox One with Xbox Live support.
BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 - Gaming on BlackBerrySegitiga.Net
Slide presentation by Sujoy Ghosh (Marketing Manager, App World & Content Marketing - APAC, BlackBerry) & Pratik Sapra (Application Development Consultant, BlackBerry) on BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 in Hong Kong, September 27 2013 titled Gaming on BlackBerry.
A post mortem about one of the highly anticipated but "launch failed" pojects I did. This is THE talk I was sued about by the publisher as I was too honest.
This document outlines the game development pipeline, including concept, preproduction, production, and post-production phases. Concept involves defining the genre, audience, and initial ideas. Preproduction consists of learning tools, organizing design documents, prototyping, and refining concepts. Production uses agile sprints to iteratively develop the game. Post-production focuses on quality assurance testing, platform certification, and ongoing support/DLC. The goal is to deliver a fun game through this structured yet flexible process.
Rockstar Games is a video game developer and publisher owned by Take-Two Interactive. It comprises multiple studios around the world that develop popular franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Midnight Club. The development process involves pre-production, production, testing, milestones, completion, and maintenance stages. Rockstar works with external partners on some games and has a large parent company, Take-Two Interactive, which also owns 2K Games.
The document discusses how Facebook uses algorithms like Edgerank to determine what content to show users. It favors content from pages the user interacts with regularly and friends. It also considers things like past user reactions and whether fans have "unliked" a page after certain posts. The document then provides tips for boosting Facebook posts, including using photos, short text, asking questions, and providing resources to users. It also discusses using Facebook's targeting options to choose which people see boosted posts.
Making A Game Engine Is Easier Than You ThinkGorm Lai
This is a talk I gave at the Develop Conference 2015 in Brighton. It is a an attempt at making a balanced talk on when it makes sense to make your own technology, and what it takes to get you there.
This document discusses the importance of pre-planning and documentation for game modding projects. It provides examples of why people create mods, including as a way to get involved in game development. Modding allows users to access and modify levels, assets, scripting, and more. The document outlines key aspects of development documentation, including official documents, deliverables, functional documents, and administrative records. It also discusses asset creation pipelines, quest and mission design, and provides instructions for an assignment involving documenting side quest ideas for games like Skyrim and Far Cry.
The document discusses the various institutions involved in the video game industry, including platform holders like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo who produce the consoles; developers who create the games; publishers who fund development and distribute the games; and retailers who sell the games to consumers. It provides Crazy Taxi as an example, noting it was originally an arcade game and later released on Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and digitally on Xbox Live Arcade. Students are assigned to research the institutions behind Grand Theft Auto 4 for homework.
An introduction to what multiplayer games are, what makes them different from normal games, how to approach building them and specifically how to begin building them with the Unity game engine.
Talk given at the GameIS & Dragonplay mobile multiplayer hackathon, 30/7/2015
Artificia Intellicence and XPath Extension FunctionsOctavian Nadolu
The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of how you can use AI from XSLT, XQuery, Schematron, or XML Refactoring operations, the potential benefits of using AI, and some of the challenges we face.
The document outlines the typical stages involved in planning and developing a video game: 1) Planning covers defining the game type, features, characters, and target audience. 2) Pre-production develops the narrative, visuals, and art style. 3) Production builds character models, code, sounds, and other in-game content. 4) Testing checks for bugs and exploits. 5) Pre-launch involves marketing. 6) Launch releases the game for purchase/download. 7) Post-production fixes minor bugs and issues patches and additional content.
The document outlines the typical stages involved in planning and developing a video game: 1) Planning covers defining the game type, features, characters, and target audience. 2) Pre-production develops the narrative, visuals, and art style. 3) Production builds character models, code, sounds, and other in-game content. 4) Testing identifies bugs and exploits. 5) Pre-launch involves marketing. 6) Launch releases the game for purchase/download. 7) Post-production fixes minor bugs and issues patches and additional content.
Digital distribution allows games to be published, marketed, and distributed electronically rather than through physical media like discs. It provides benefits like reducing the time for players to start playing and minimizing download sizes and disk space requirements. Game streaming renders the game on remote servers and streams video and input to the user's device, while assets streaming downloads game assets to the local device for rendering. While streaming is still developing, digital distribution can currently efficiently distribute games by splitting installs into parts, keeping package file orders consistent for small updates, limiting the number of files, and testing with long paths and Unicode characters.
Game marketing has changed over the years and this presentation from OrlandoiX15 should give independent game studios and indie game devs a roadmap for launching titles into the current market. Always happy to give advice to studios - sean@ide-agency.com
Developing games for consoles as an indie in 2019David Voyles
I've given this talk several times across the world, and it's largely about the intricate parts of releasing a title in 2019. It covers everything from engines/tools, ESRB & PEGI certifications, and how to build a brand.
Maximize Your Production Effort (English)slantsixgames
This document discusses how to maximize production efficiency through efficient content authoring tools and pipelines for inter-studio asset development. It covers topics like infrastructure, content authoring, data conversion, game runtime considerations, and asset sharing. The key recommendations are to identify and reduce latency throughout the production pipeline, automate processes as much as possible, prioritize tool and workflow improvements, and treat outsourcing partners like internal team members to maximize output.
Updated High-Level guide to marketing games in 2018. The intended audience is game studios with a small budget, but much of this applies regardless of studio size. The focus is on marketing, community and social media versus advertising.
Developing for Xbox as an Indie in 2018Nick Landry
This session presents an overview of what it means for a game studio to be ready to publish for consoles under managed programs like ID@XBOX. I also cover UWP games for Xbox One and Windows 10, and the new Xbox Live Creators Program which opens up open self-publishing on Xbox One with Xbox Live support.
BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 - Gaming on BlackBerrySegitiga.Net
Slide presentation by Sujoy Ghosh (Marketing Manager, App World & Content Marketing - APAC, BlackBerry) & Pratik Sapra (Application Development Consultant, BlackBerry) on BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 in Hong Kong, September 27 2013 titled Gaming on BlackBerry.
A post mortem about one of the highly anticipated but "launch failed" pojects I did. This is THE talk I was sued about by the publisher as I was too honest.
This document outlines the game development pipeline, including concept, preproduction, production, and post-production phases. Concept involves defining the genre, audience, and initial ideas. Preproduction consists of learning tools, organizing design documents, prototyping, and refining concepts. Production uses agile sprints to iteratively develop the game. Post-production focuses on quality assurance testing, platform certification, and ongoing support/DLC. The goal is to deliver a fun game through this structured yet flexible process.
Rockstar Games is a video game developer and publisher owned by Take-Two Interactive. It comprises multiple studios around the world that develop popular franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Midnight Club. The development process involves pre-production, production, testing, milestones, completion, and maintenance stages. Rockstar works with external partners on some games and has a large parent company, Take-Two Interactive, which also owns 2K Games.
The document discusses how Facebook uses algorithms like Edgerank to determine what content to show users. It favors content from pages the user interacts with regularly and friends. It also considers things like past user reactions and whether fans have "unliked" a page after certain posts. The document then provides tips for boosting Facebook posts, including using photos, short text, asking questions, and providing resources to users. It also discusses using Facebook's targeting options to choose which people see boosted posts.
Making A Game Engine Is Easier Than You ThinkGorm Lai
This is a talk I gave at the Develop Conference 2015 in Brighton. It is a an attempt at making a balanced talk on when it makes sense to make your own technology, and what it takes to get you there.
This document discusses the importance of pre-planning and documentation for game modding projects. It provides examples of why people create mods, including as a way to get involved in game development. Modding allows users to access and modify levels, assets, scripting, and more. The document outlines key aspects of development documentation, including official documents, deliverables, functional documents, and administrative records. It also discusses asset creation pipelines, quest and mission design, and provides instructions for an assignment involving documenting side quest ideas for games like Skyrim and Far Cry.
The document discusses the various institutions involved in the video game industry, including platform holders like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo who produce the consoles; developers who create the games; publishers who fund development and distribute the games; and retailers who sell the games to consumers. It provides Crazy Taxi as an example, noting it was originally an arcade game and later released on Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and digitally on Xbox Live Arcade. Students are assigned to research the institutions behind Grand Theft Auto 4 for homework.
An introduction to what multiplayer games are, what makes them different from normal games, how to approach building them and specifically how to begin building them with the Unity game engine.
Talk given at the GameIS & Dragonplay mobile multiplayer hackathon, 30/7/2015
Similar to DLC in Video Games: What, Why and How? (20)
Artificia Intellicence and XPath Extension FunctionsOctavian Nadolu
The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of how you can use AI from XSLT, XQuery, Schematron, or XML Refactoring operations, the potential benefits of using AI, and some of the challenges we face.
Graspan: A Big Data System for Big Code AnalysisAftab Hussain
We built a disk-based parallel graph system, Graspan, that uses a novel edge-pair centric computation model to compute dynamic transitive closures on very large program graphs.
We implement context-sensitive pointer/alias and dataflow analyses on Graspan. An evaluation of these analyses on large codebases such as Linux shows that their Graspan implementations scale to millions of lines of code and are much simpler than their original implementations.
These analyses were used to augment the existing checkers; these augmented checkers found 132 new NULL pointer bugs and 1308 unnecessary NULL tests in Linux 4.4.0-rc5, PostgreSQL 8.3.9, and Apache httpd 2.2.18.
- Accepted in ASPLOS ‘17, Xi’an, China.
- Featured in the tutorial, Systemized Program Analyses: A Big Data Perspective on Static Analysis Scalability, ASPLOS ‘17.
- Invited for presentation at SoCal PLS ‘16.
- Invited for poster presentation at PLDI SRC ‘16.
SMS API Integration in Saudi Arabia| Best SMS API ServiceYara Milbes
Discover the benefits and implementation of SMS API integration in the UAE and Middle East. This comprehensive guide covers the importance of SMS messaging APIs, the advantages of bulk SMS APIs, and real-world case studies. Learn how CEQUENS, a leader in communication solutions, can help your business enhance customer engagement and streamline operations with innovative CPaaS, reliable SMS APIs, and omnichannel solutions, including WhatsApp Business. Perfect for businesses seeking to optimize their communication strategies in the digital age.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Neo4j - Product Vision and Knowledge Graphs - GraphSummit ParisNeo4j
Dr. Jesús Barrasa, Head of Solutions Architecture for EMEA, Neo4j
Découvrez les dernières innovations de Neo4j, et notamment les dernières intégrations cloud et les améliorations produits qui font de Neo4j un choix essentiel pour les développeurs qui créent des applications avec des données interconnectées et de l’IA générative.
Using Query Store in Azure PostgreSQL to Understand Query PerformanceGrant Fritchey
Microsoft has added an excellent new extension in PostgreSQL on their Azure Platform. This session, presented at Posette 2024, covers what Query Store is and the types of information you can get out of it.
UI5con 2024 - Keynote: Latest News about UI5 and it’s EcosystemPeter Muessig
Learn about the latest innovations in and around OpenUI5/SAPUI5: UI5 Tooling, UI5 linter, UI5 Web Components, Web Components Integration, UI5 2.x, UI5 GenAI.
Recording:
https://www.youtube.com/live/MSdGLG2zLy8?si=INxBHTqkwHhxV5Ta&t=0
Odoo ERP software
Odoo ERP software, a leading open-source software for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and business management, has recently launched its latest version, Odoo 17 Community Edition. This update introduces a range of new features and enhancements designed to streamline business operations and support growth.
The Odoo Community serves as a cost-free edition within the Odoo suite of ERP systems. Tailored to accommodate the standard needs of business operations, it provides a robust platform suitable for organisations of different sizes and business sectors. Within the Odoo Community Edition, users can access a variety of essential features and services essential for managing day-to-day tasks efficiently.
This blog presents a detailed overview of the features available within the Odoo 17 Community edition, and the differences between Odoo 17 community and enterprise editions, aiming to equip you with the necessary information to make an informed decision about its suitability for your business.
A Study of Variable-Role-based Feature Enrichment in Neural Models of CodeAftab Hussain
Understanding variable roles in code has been found to be helpful by students
in learning programming -- could variable roles help deep neural models in
performing coding tasks? We do an exploratory study.
- These are slides of the talk given at InteNSE'23: The 1st International Workshop on Interpretability and Robustness in Neural Software Engineering, co-located with the 45th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2023, Melbourne Australia
E-Invoicing Implementation: A Step-by-Step Guide for Saudi Arabian CompaniesQuickdice ERP
Explore the seamless transition to e-invoicing with this comprehensive guide tailored for Saudi Arabian businesses. Navigate the process effortlessly with step-by-step instructions designed to streamline implementation and enhance efficiency.
Takashi Kobayashi and Hironori Washizaki, "SWEBOK Guide and Future of SE Education," First International Symposium on the Future of Software Engineering (FUSE), June 3-6, 2024, Okinawa, Japan
SOCRadar's Aviation Industry Q1 Incident Report is out now!
The aviation industry has always been a prime target for cybercriminals due to its critical infrastructure and high stakes. In the first quarter of 2024, the sector faced an alarming surge in cybersecurity threats, revealing its vulnerabilities and the relentless sophistication of cyber attackers.
SOCRadar’s Aviation Industry, Quarterly Incident Report, provides an in-depth analysis of these threats, detected and examined through our extensive monitoring of hacker forums, Telegram channels, and dark web platforms.
Introducing Crescat - Event Management Software for Venues, Festivals and Eve...Crescat
Crescat is industry-trusted event management software, built by event professionals for event professionals. Founded in 2017, we have three key products tailored for the live event industry.
Crescat Event for concert promoters and event agencies. Crescat Venue for music venues, conference centers, wedding venues, concert halls and more. And Crescat Festival for festivals, conferences and complex events.
With a wide range of popular features such as event scheduling, shift management, volunteer and crew coordination, artist booking and much more, Crescat is designed for customisation and ease-of-use.
Over 125,000 events have been planned in Crescat and with hundreds of customers of all shapes and sizes, from boutique event agencies through to international concert promoters, Crescat is rigged for success. What's more, we highly value feedback from our users and we are constantly improving our software with updates, new features and improvements.
If you plan events, run a venue or produce festivals and you're looking for ways to make your life easier, then we have a solution for you. Try our software for free or schedule a no-obligation demo with one of our product specialists today at crescat.io
Software Engineering, Software Consulting, Tech Lead, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Spring Core, Spring JDBC, Spring Transaction, Spring MVC, OpenShift Cloud Platform, Kafka, REST, SOAP, LLD & HLD.
E-commerce Application Development Company.pdfHornet Dynamics
Your business can reach new heights with our assistance as we design solutions that are specifically appropriate for your goals and vision. Our eCommerce application solutions can digitally coordinate all retail operations processes to meet the demands of the marketplace while maintaining business continuity.
8 Best Automated Android App Testing Tool and Framework in 2024.pdfkalichargn70th171
Regarding mobile operating systems, two major players dominate our thoughts: Android and iPhone. With Android leading the market, software development companies are focused on delivering apps compatible with this OS. Ensuring an app's functionality across various Android devices, OS versions, and hardware specifications is critical, making Android app testing essential.
5. So what Is DLC?
DLC stands for Downloadable Content. It adds extra content and/or functionality to a video game after a game's release.
6. So what Is DLC?
DLC stands for Downloadable Content. It adds extra content and/or functionality to a video game after a game's release.
It can be released as a paid or free update to the game.
13. Ok, So Why DLC?
• (Picture skills are on cooldown, incoming text!)
14. Ok, So Why DLC?
• The game industry has learned over the years that DLC is important for
many reasons, but here are three to consider:
15. Ok, So Why DLC?
• The game industry has learned over the years that DLC is important for
many reasons, but here are three to consider:
Customer Acquisition
Monetization
Player Retention
16. Customer Acquisition
• Getting somebody interested for
your game/DLC
• Can apply to any game, but more
so towards social games
Inherent game mechanics
Facebook/mobile game designs
Could build friend referral systems
that award DLC items
• Announcing DLC plans early can
build customer confidence
17. Monetization
• Getting somebody to give you
money for your DLC
• Game prices remain the same,
development costs climbing
Something had to change
• Law of build once, sell many
My favorite thing about writing
software!
Build more things you already
support to maximize profits
• Listen to your community
18. Retention
• Keeping players playing your game
• Perhaps the most important!
Especially for multiplayer games
• New content and changes will keep
current customers interested
And bring back some who had taken
a break
• Free DLC, high value DLC, and
addressing community issues are
goodwill builders
For current and future games by
your company
20. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game
Ideally we plan & test ahead so we end up with something like this
21. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game
Rather than an unstable and hacky thing like this
22. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game
• (3 parts, incoming text!)
23. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (1/3)
• Plan ahead!
Reserve some RAM during main game development
Understand first party requirements
Scale testing as necessary
Build a simple DLC example and test before shipping main game
• Build it!
Great care should be taken so as to not break the main game.
DLC content should not be referenced by the main game
Use budgets and reference the main game as needed
• Binaries are typically delta patched or replaced wholesale
• Content layout/run-time use depends on game engine
24. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (2/3)
• Release Engineering
Typically responsible for things like:
File/package/chunk management per platform
Branching the game per DLC/patch and per platform release
Integrating DLC team’s changes & propagating to the correct branch
Uploading builds to QA and first party certification
• QA & First Party Certification
Test for random game issues as well as certification rules they have on their end
Generate reports and score issues that need addressing
Eventually the DLC will pass and marked as GOLD!
25. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (3/3)
• Marketing
Collaboration with marketing to raise awareness and excitement about
upcoming DLC
• Release
Many switches to flip at once
May want to pre-release some items or display news as well
• Micropatching
Becoming popular way to address game issues in-between “big” patches
Micropatches are tiny, typically in the single kilobyte range!
Same changes should be made in DLC so micropatches can be retired
eventually
• And a News system
Text, image, video & URL support ideal for marketing’s needs
First presentation of the day, let’s get this thing started!
Here’s a few of the franchises I’ve worked on over the years (better list can be found at http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,82004)
Before video games I wrote multiuser finance software and contract web programming in Arizona.
This is what my life looked like when I was around your age!
No Google, YouTube, Twitter, Steam or Twitch!
Things were much different then, but there’s always opportunities when it comes to technology and our favorite type, video games!
Here are a couple of examples from Rocket League and Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild.
But maybe one more example would help, yell out if you know what game this DLC appears in?
I think you get the picture on what DLC is now, but what about before DLC was a thing?
When I was a kid, the game I bought was the game I got...forever, for better or worse.
Think about that for a minute…
There wasn’t a way for developers to patch their game to adjust the game’s balance, fix bugs, or address poor performance. As a game developer I can tell you that this is pretty scary especially today as games have become incredibly complex to build and TEST!
By the same token, however, there also wasn’t a way for developers to offer extra content or features. We couldn’t purchase DLC for Super Mario, Tetris, or Legend of Zelda.
Sports games today have all sorts of neat features we could only dream of back then (roster updates, digital trading cards, etc)…in fact, one of the earliest times I can remember thinking about programming was when my best friend Ez and I ran Tecmo Bowl seasons for our neighborhood. Tecmo Bowl was rather simple, but we were stat junkies and highly competitive. We hand recorded stats for every play of every game and then calculated running averages and totals for bragging rights. As you can expect, that was a lot of work for us! But, totally something the developers could have offered in a free DLC update if there were such a thing back then.
So why do games need DLC?
I’m sure somebody in here has probably asked a math teacher why they need to learn a particular formula! It’s a great thing to ask and I believe questions like that help you remember what’s being taught.
Most people would probably guess we build DLC because…
…game developers just want to be rich, but that’s not true!
The game industry has learned over the years that DLC important for three reasons:
Acquisition, monetization and retention.
The game industry has learned over the years that DLC important for many reasons, but here are three to consider:
Customer Acquisition
Monetization
Player Retention
Let’s jump into Customer Acquisition
Acquisition
Ok, Monetization
Game prices haven’t changed much over the years, however the cost to create them has increased a lot. DLC allows developers to earn additional income which can offset the costs of development and ideally earn profits to keep the company going and the employees paid.
One of the awesome benefits of software is that you can create something once and sell it many times. DLC benefits from this concept greatly because you can build DLC systems once that you use many times to release new content (Ie. customizations like heads, skins, and emote). The upfront development cost is large, but additional costs are low resulting in more potential profits.
Think about a chore that you always have to do every day or every week and how nice it would be to build something that would take care of it for you automatically. DLC systems and game development in some ways are similar to that!
Listen to your community, they’ll tell you lots of things they would be willing to pay for which could spark some ideas.
Ok, Retention
Last, retention is a big reason to consider DLC.
If you’re a multiplayer game, your game most likely depends on other players playing for systems like matchmaking to function probably. Consistently building and releasing DLC is a good way to keep your players interested and playing your game.
Free DLC and DLC priced well below its value is a great way to build goodwill with your players both for your game and for your company. Think Borderlands keys!
Slightly technical, but heavily simplified. Happy to discuss in more depth after the talk!
Plan ahead!
Reserve some RAM during main game development (might need more global objects in a DLC, make room now)
Understand first party requirements (number and frequency of patches, sizes, etc)
Scale testing as necessary (self contained DLC is tremendously easier to test than one that will also impact the main game!)
Build a simple DLC example and test before shipping main game (cannot stress enough how much it’s easier to fix before the game is live!)
Build it!
Great care should be taken so as to not break the main game. (same as building a simple DLC example early, it’s painful to fix main game issues when it’s live)
DLC content should not be referenced by the main game (doing so could force the main game to run out of memory!)
Use budgets and reference the main game as needed (you’ll be thankful later)
Binaries are typically delta patched or replaced wholesale
Content layout/run-time use depends on game engine (Ie. some engines will put DLC content in their own folder and load it first before the main game’s content)
Release Engineering
Typically responsible for things like:
File/package/chunk management per platform
Branching the game per DLC/patch and per platform release
Integrating DLC team’s changes & propagating to the correct branch
Uploading builds to QA and first party certification
QA & First Party Certification
Test for random game issues as well as certification rules they have on their end
Ie. When a player is using voice chat we must display a microphone icon
Generate reports and score issues that need addressing
Eventually the DLC will pass and marked as GOLD!
Marketing
Collaboration with marketing to raise awareness and excitement about upcoming DLC
Release
Many switches to flip at once at the right time and on the right day
Multiple platforms and time zones
May want to pre-release some items or news as well
Doing so might require a system not talked about yet called Micropatching
Becoming popular way to address game issues in-between “big” patches
Micropatches are tiny, typically in the single kilobyte range!
Same changes should be made in DLC so micropatches can be retired eventually
And a News system
Text, image, video & URL support ideal for marketing’s needs