The Game Developers Conference day three saw a few announcements, but was mostly dominated by development and design discussion by some huge names in the industry. Below is a summary of the more interesting stories from the day.
Molyneux on Fable III design
Peter Molyneux, the brains behind such popular titles as Populous and Black & White, discussed the design decisions that went into Fable III, saying that it became apparent that moving the series towards the ‘action-adventure’ started to make sense post-Fable II. Molyneux said that 60% of the Fable II audience understood less than 50% of the features, which is frustrating for a development company after spending much time and money on these features.
Molyneux then went into detail about the processes he and his team followed in working out the core elements of Fable, citing the character appearance morphing system, the moral consequences, the emotional and dramatic story, and general accessibility of gameplay.
Blizzard on Design Concepts
Blizzard Executive Vice President of Game Design, Rob Pardo, shared insight into the company’s core design processes. Gameplay comes first for Blizzard, rather than working around other elements such as available technology. Ensuring that the player’s experience is the best it can be is the main concern. Blizzard follows a ‘easy to learn, difficult to master’ approach for their gameplay. Due to the multiplayer nature of most of their games, Pardo explained that they focus on getting the multiplayer aspect perfected, and then filter their experiences back into single player development.
All playable units must feel ‘overpowered. ‘ As a player tries different classes and units in a game, they must feel as if each one is an unstoppable force if used correctly. This could also be interpreted as a perfect balance for the units and characters. Pardo explained that the gameplay must tell the story, rather than voiceovers, text and cutscenes, which are used to enhance the experience.
Finally, turning a punishment into a bonus is a good way to keep players happy. By way of example, in WoW players were initially granted 100% experience after resting, later reduced to 50%. This was perceived as a punishment, so by simply changing the system to 200% rested, and 100% normal – technically the same system – players no longer felt punished, but rewarded.
Four creative tenets for design
Designer Yoshio Sakamoto of Nintendo, the brains behind the Metroid series, listed his four creative tenets, which are: Setting the mood; Dramatic timing; Foreshadowing of events; Contrast to increase dramatic tension. Sakamoto described taking his inspiration from numerous prolific film directors.
Taking time to discuss Metroid: Other M, Sakamoto described his latest title as “the synthesis of all the know-how I’ve acquired and the culmination of all the things I’ve been envisioning in a serious touch title.”
The Infamous world
Developers from the Sucker Punch team, creators of PS3 game Infamous, describes the techniques they used to create what appears to be a vast open world, with a limited number of art resources at their disposal. The city was divided into hexagonal blocks and the roads would connect at angles perpendicular to the sides of the hexagons. In this way, the areas could be mixed and matched seamlessly to create what appears to be a diverse layout to the city. The hexagonal approach also limited the sightlines of a player, and hid the geographical restrictions of the world. Finally, they gave certain areas their own themes, so that the game world appears diverse as players explore.
US$350 iStore application success
Indie developer Tommy Refenes declared his hatred for the iPhone App Store with some colourful language. Refenes was so fed up with the distribution platform, that he and fellow developer Adam Saltsman decided to create an experimental joke game to prove how rubbish they think the system is.
Zits & Giggles resulted, which focuses on popping virtual pimples. The title initially sold for US$0.99 and it generated a few sales.
They then bumped the price up to US$15 and three people bought it. Next was US$50, with four buyers. The price was then bumped up each time someone purchased it and now sits at US$350. So far they have made US$4 431 at these mad pricing points. Numerous conclusions can probably be drawn from this experiment, but Refenes offered his own, saying that “the people who you’re selling to on the App Store are not necessarily gamers.”
Announcements
Epic Games and Valve have announced a deal which will see the integration of the Steamworks toolset into the Unreal Engine 3. All current licensees will benefit from the deal, and at no extra cost. This means Unreal Engine 3 developers can take advantage of the numerous features afforded by the Steam digital distribution platform, such as product authentication, matchmaking, auto-updates, social networking, Steam achievements, and so on.
The Khronos Group, who are behind the royalty free OpenGL graphics standards, have announced the specifications for OpenGL 4.0. The new standard will see OpenGL 4.0 capable of utilising the latest generation of GPU technologies.
The InstantAction Platform was unveiled. This digital distribution service differs from others in that 3rd party games are downloaded through a web browser and then installed locally.Because of the progressive download method, games may be playable within minutes (in a browser window or full screen). Players can have a 20 minute trial, at which point they may purchase more play time through microtransactions, up to the full purchase price of the title. CEO Louis Castle believes his service will prove superior to OnLive.
Thanks goes to Gamasutra – the official media partner of the event – for their cracking live coverage of the GDC and IGF. In-depth analysis of these discussions (and many more) can be found at Gamasutra.
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Game Developers Conference day one roundup
Game Developers Conference day two roundup
