IMED 105 Game Modding Lecture 2 Pre-Planning Docs
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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.
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IMED 105 Game Modding Lecture 2 Pre-Planning Docs
- 1. IMED 105: Intro to Game Modding Lecture 2: Pre-Planning and Documentation
- 2. Unit: Pre-Planning • Why we mod • Development documents
- 3. Why we Mod Modding brings the process of game creation to the general public. Creating mods is a great way of exercising your creativity and getting started in the game development industry. Pinball Construction Set (1983)
- 4. Why we Mod • Although Spacewar! started the industry, most modern games can trace their roots to Wolfenstein 3D. • A community grew out of id’s software when the company separated the programming code from the assets and levels • This separation let users to see and access: o Level design o Asset management o Scripting o Development Wolfenstein 3D Mods Collection Screenshots
- 5. This talk - from the Level Design In A Day workshop at GDC 2015 - touches on the historical and modern relevance of modding, as well demonstrating the many positive ways in which modding has affected the Bethesda studio. How Modding Made Bethesda Better
- 6. What game should I mod? • What have you played – check your current game collection • Community activities – look for an active community avenue for sharing your creation • What else is out there – how are people currently modding the game, and what directions have not been undertaken • Compatibility of toolset – check the requirements of the toolset, not just those of the game
- 7. It all begins with a dream and some paper…
- 8. why is DOCUMENTATION the key to success?
- 9. Documentation • Official o describe the relationships between publishers and game developers, and lay out the responsibilities of a game development company • Deliverable o are those required by a publisher to be turned in during game production • Functional o communicate the elements of a game • Administrative o documents related to running the company, including executive summaries
- 10. Asset Creation/Pipeline • 3D models • Textures • Materials • Sounds • Animations • Narration • Lighting • Environments
- 12. Quests and Missions • Quests or Missions are tasks the players perform in video games. Various NPCs can initiate quests, allowing for rewards to be gained upon their completion. Rewards can be monetary, equipment, increased skill levels or access to previously unreachable game play areas • The "main quest" denotes tasks the character is compelled to complete as part of the game's main story. Other quests or missions present themselves as side quests, which skirt on the periphery of the game's plotlines.
- 13. Assignment 2: Concept Ideas One of the first steps of the development process is documenting your ideas. This process is used to solidify the key concept and outlining relevant information. To begin your design process please create 5 side quest ideas for Skyrim or Far Cry. Your ideas should include the primary mission objective, a brief description of key locations, types of challenges to overcome and any important NPCs (non-player characters) the player will in their journey. See the Moodle assignment for the complete instructions and a submission template
- 14. Before you begin Characteristics of a good mod • Your idea should be Novel • It should be Marketable • It should include New Content • It should trigger an Emotional response Nick Pearce (creator of The Forgotten City) outlines the Design Principles for creating a great mod in Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/one-of-the-best-skyrim-mods-got-started- with-a-punch-to-1788309660
Editor's Notes
- Why we mod The cost and development process for creating full-scale AAA console game has skyrocketed from tens of thousands on the original PlayStation titles to today’s $8-15 million dollar blockbusters. The necessary man-hours, equipment, and software development kits have made the fantasy of game creation from our basements to monolithic skyscrapers. But, modding bring the process back to the general public. Creating mods is a great way of exercising your creativity and getting started in the game development industry. Creating a game from scratch requires a sizable investment of time and resources. It’s almost impossible for any one person to complete the art, sound, coding, designing, and testing all on your own. On the other hand, modifying an existing game makes the process manageable for smaller (1-6 person) teams; giving you a jumpstart into the game making process.
- Mods are actually a set of tools packaged together to handle level design, asset management, scripting, and delivery. Although Spacewar! started the modding industry, most modern modding activities can be traced to WOLFENSTEIN. id Software’s code base was easy to access and manipulate, so many hobbyist constructed new level packs which extended the gameplay experience. As the community grew id and other developers began separating the programming code from the media assets and levels making it easier for modders to distribute their changes.
- Watch video… “Modding has had a direct influence on many developers, game studios, genres, and helped shape the course of the video game industry itself. Bethesda Game Studios is no exception to the influence of modding, having provided official mod tools for all of their projects since 2002's Morrowind to their most recent game, Skyrim. “
- What have you played – check your current game collection. Many PC come packaged with modding tools. Additionally, you’re already familiar with the game’s mechanics and should be able to adapt those to your concept. Community activities – you’ll want to make sure there is a community out there to help you along with development and to make sure there is an avenue for sharing your creation. Remember your mod needs exercise and wide open spaces to roam, and you need community feedback to help you and your mod grow and succeed. What else is out there – another reason to search online for a community, is to find out what else is out there. Before you start down the development path check out sites like www.moddb.com or those created by your chosen toolset to find out what the market is looking for in a game, or identify directions not undertaken by other modders in an effort to set yourself apart. Compatibility of toolset – here the goal is to make sure you’re using a modern toolset that will run on your operating system and an easily accessible hardware setup. There is nothing worse than to start planning a fantastic idea and be waylaid because the toolset doesn’t work under a modern OS.
- The dream part is up to you. But unless you intend on working along in a dark basement, without any external support. You better have a plan!!! Have class answer this question: What happens if you don’t have a plan??? Failure Scope problems Schedule issues Ill conceived ideas
- Question for the class to answer…
- The documents, and in some cases the assets, created during production generally fall into one of four categories, although many can belong to more than one category depending on their use. The four categories are official, deliverable, functional and administrative. Official These documents include contracts, amendments and milestone charts. Deliverable These documents are usually decided upon and laid out in the contract between the developer and publisher. Almost all of the documents and assets listed in the preproduction through post production stages of this paper are deliverables in some form or fashion Functional such as the game design document Administrative documents related to running the company, including executive summaries YOU’LL READ MORE ABOUT DOCUMENTS AND ASSETS IN THE READING.
- In standard full-scale game production, assets are the elements needed (excluding programming code) to bring your game to life. Things like 3d models, textures, materials, sounds, animations, narration, and so on are created by various artists (graphic, 3d and audio) on the development team. In modding these elements are provided by the toolset. The tools will give you access to the tiles (background/environment art), objects (weapons, character items), animations, and sounds used in the full-scale game and as long as those work for your partial or complete conversion you will be fine. But, if your project requires special assets you’ll need additional time and skills to development these items. The pre-planning phase is the perfect time to identify asset needs. You’ll need to determine if the skills are available within your team or if you need to look for outside sources to assist. Making these decisions early can be the difference between completing your project, or miserable failure. Take a deeper dive: Naughty Dog motion capture pipeline for The Last of Us - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GoDlM1Z7BU CD Projekt RED cut scene dialogue pipeline for the Witcher 3 - http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1022988/Behind-the-Scenes-of-Cinematic
- The game asset pipeline is the path that all game assets follow, from conception until being loaded into the game. It can consist of a large number of different components, which are interconnected in various different ways. Some are quite independent, while others need to be developed alongside of other components. The figure shown here shows the relationship between different parts of the pipeline. The assets are first created using some tool (bottom). The tool itself is considered part of the pipeline too, although it is not a large topic from the perspective of the pipeline. The major work of the pipeline is the pipeline processing. The assets cannot be loaded directly from the creation tools, so they need to be processed first. An important aspect that might not immediately be obvious to those who have not actually been involved in the development of a game is the content management system. This stores all assets, usually both in the original form and in the exported form so it is accessible by the game engine and the asset developer for further tweaks and refinement. The content management system is of key value to allow developers to work together smoothly in a large team.
- Although the “Main Quest” is the player’s ultimate goal, many games require players to complete several side quest to gain experience, background story, items or simply to stretch out the story and action. In Skyrim, you can skip the side quests and get to the main antagonist in a relatively short period of time. But because of your low level, inadequate equipment, limited shouts and pitiful health you will die quickly and often.