Computer games: Developing an online multiplayer game

1
Computer games Developing an online multiplayer
game

• Introduction

2
about today

• Players Jesper, me, you.
• Course description
• Course format
• Course contents
• How to do a games critique

part I
break
part II
3
players

• Academic background
• Research
• Game Design
• Courses taught
• What are we playing?

• Name
• Academic background
• Writing thesis?
• Computerspil I? II?
• Why are you here?
• What are you playing?

GMs
multiplayer
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course description I
goals

• Create a computer game prototype by applying
  experience with games, theoretical understanding
  and technical skill.
• Understand the process of designing, and
  developing a game (in this case a multiplayer
  role-playing game).
• Understand what games are from a theoretical
  perspective. They will be able to analyse and do
  academic critique on games.
• Describe the principles and practice of game
  design, focusing on multiplayer games of various
  sorts.
• Discuss aspects related to the game development
  process.
• Generally To learn the process of coming up
  with, discussing, and documenting game ideas.

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course description II
contents
In this course, the class will create an online
multiplayer game in the role-playing game genre.
This takes place by reading game design
literature and general computer game theory,
looking at existing games, and using these as
input for our game design. The practical side
of the course deals with designing a computer
game from scratch but implementing it using
existing tools.The class will in conjunction
define the content of the game, document it, and
implement it in an existing system. We will then
use external playtesters to comment on the game
and learn to modify the game according to the
external input.
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course description III
contents
The class will decide the content of the game. As
a point of inspiration, the teachers suggest that
we start with a well-defined goalWe can begin
by looking at a focus group (children,
pensioners, people like us, people who dont
normally play games, etc.), a mood (a game that
makes people cry, techno, spleen etc..), an
existing game (Cluedo, EverQuest, Anarchy Online,
Dungeons Dragons etc..), an existing story
(Kafka, Matrix, Dostojevski, Usual suspects, Star
Wars, Hamlet, Camus etc..).We will focus on
how to work with raw ideas, game proposals
(documents, planning, scheduling), genre-specific
issues, immersion, interactivity (actions and
gameplay), the interface (setting, time, space,
characters, etc), tools, the AI, levels,
playtesting.
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course description IV
technical
We will use a Java-based system for creating
graphical multi-user worlds. The client runs in a
browser. The server-side stores all world and
player information in an SQL database.Programmin
g skills can come in handy in terms of scripting
(using a JavaScript syntax) and Java programming
(to create custom objects in the game world).
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course description IV
prerequisites

• Interest in games / storytelling.
• Since the development process will consist
• of dividing the work between the course
• participants, no specific set of skills are
• required, but proficiency in programming,
• graphic design, and writing can come in
• handy.

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course format I
9 to 15 6 hours
blocks
915 to 945
game critique
break
lecture discussion
1000 to 1200
lunch break 12 to 13
workshop
13 to 15
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evaluation
in groups

• Project individual or groups (in by 22nd
  November)
• Oral examination (based on group prototype)

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course content II

• Game design and game genres
• Game and RPG history
• Gameplay
• Storytelling
• Sociology of online worlds
• Player types
• Characters Agents
• Performance Identity

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time for a break
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game critique?

• Description (lookfeel, gameplay)
• The gaming experience (getting started, possible
  actions outcomes, interaction kinds)
• The game in context (game history, other media,
  game community...)
• Evaluation

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Neverwinter Nightss single player game is not as
good as Baldurs Gate, and the multiplayer option
is about the same as Vampire the Masquerade, so
wheres the big hype?
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A review should take a work seriously and
consider it on its own terms. That doesn't mean
not being critical. I'm happy for a reviewer to
decide that the work's premises are flawed, or
that it doesn't fulfil what it's trying to
do. Jill Walker
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Halo just looks so awesome you would never
believe it. Visually stunning, one of the best
shooters ever.
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Rouse reviews...

• chap 4 Centipede
• chap 8 Tetris
• chap 12 Loom
• chap 16 Myth The Fallen Lords
• chap 20 The Sims

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Next week
- Rouse, Richard. 2001. Game Design. Theory and
Practice. Plano, USA Wordware Publishing. p.
1-19. - Bruce Shelley "Guidelines for Developing
Successful Games". Fra Gamasutra,
2001.http//www.gamasutra.com/features/20010815/s
helley_01.htm - Bates, Bob. 2001. Genre-Specific
Game Design Issues in Game Design The Art and
Business of Creating Games. California Prima
Publishing. p. 48-74.