A Game Developer

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A Game Developers Wish List for Researchers
Chris Hecker http//chrishecker.com
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Disclaimer
This talk assumes you care about being relevant
to games.
Also, I sometimes curse...a lot.
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Games Research Through The Ages
In days of yore, we were passive consumers of
(usually old) research.
These days, there is active feedback between the
two disciplines.
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How to do a talk on research?
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Know Your Audience
What is our highest technology priority?
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Know Your Audience
performance?
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Game Technology Priorities

1. robustness
2. simplicity
3. performance

Technology is a means, not an end.
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Robustness
Interactivity prioritizes robustness!
edge cases?
failure modes?
parameters simply connected?
downsides?
negative results?
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Robustness
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Simplicity
game
me
you
We are always about to fail!
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Simplicity
...even crudeness, if two sticks and a rock will
do it, great!
explainable to artists
few parameters
dependencies code preprocessing markup order compa
tibility
art directable
intuitive output
pipeline integration
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Performance
the constant matters
real comparisons algorithms implementations inputs
scenes working sets
ms, not fps!
worst case vs. average case?
not just embarrassingly parallel
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Real Data
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Real Data
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Real Data
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Source Code Yes!
source code is more rigorous
the cost to verify a paper actually works is
prohibitively high
small fraction of papers are relevantsmall
fraction of those work as advertised
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What to research?
Avoid solutions looking for problems. Talk to
game developers.
Graphics must integrate well.
AI is game design.
Animation interactivity is king.
Perceptual Models and Metrics what is important?
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Miscellaneous Stuff
Patents dont!
Patents if you must be a douche, disclose your
douchiness in the abstract.
Put your paper online, not behind paywalls.
Publish negative results.
Answer emails.
Play games.
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Thank you.
chrishecker.com