Game Developers Club General Meeting 18/8/03

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Game Developers ClubGeneral Meeting 18/8/03
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Whats happening?

• IGDA Membership forms here to fill in for all
  TieR 2 members.
• Membership
• If you want to take part in the upcoming
  tutorials then membership is due next meeting.
• CVS is up and running for development teams
• As soon as you have code, its there for you to
  use
• Website has been linked and is active.
• Tier 2 members enter profile tonight

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Development Teams

• If you havnt given me your details then do so
  tonight
• Projects will be springboarded by designs that
  resulted from the tutorials
• A regular meeting time should be organised
  between yourselves. We will get you a regular
  room at Clubs and Societies
• These projects are aiming at a submission to the
  IGF in 2004 or 2005

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Project RPG (tentative title)

• Jeremy Weir - Designer - 3D Modeler
• Nathan Farquar - Designer - 3D Modeler -
  Producer
• Alex Freeland - Designer - Programmer
• Anthony May - Programmer 
• Grant Mark - Programmer 
• Michael Stockli - Programmer 
• Joel Timpson - Concept Design - Visual Artist
• Tim Barribeau - Digital Art
•  
•  

Resilience
Tim Elder - Designer Project Lead Shannon
Morgan - Lead Programmer more to come    
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Tutorials

• Photoshop tutorial Wednesday 5pm 7pm
• G4 Lab, First Floor, Design Studies Building
• Maya turorial Wednesday 7pm 9pm
• G4 Lab, First Floor, Design Studies Building
• Programming tutorial Tuesday 7pm - 9pm
• Linux lab, 539 Castle Street
• Design tutorial Thursday 7pm 9pm
• Room 105, First Floor, Design Studies Building

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• Maya
• Follows the Learning Maya book, available for
  brief loan (for Photocopies)
• First two lessons will focus on the manipulation
  and animation of some simple objects, introducing
  you to the key elements of the environment
• There will then be a focus on modeling and some
  more specialised tutorials on character modeling
  and animation
• Photoshop
• Follows classroom in a book training workbook
• First tutorial covers
• Getting to know the work area
• Basic photo corrections

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COSC 360 Computer Game Design

• Course content is being developed now
• Taking place during summer school (5 Jan 16
  Feb)
• Pre-requisite of COSC 242
• Pre-registration on the webpage
• http//www.cs.otago.ac.nz/cosc360
• Valid as a 300 level minor requirement

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Library books here tonight

• Current titles
• The Art of Episode 2 - The Black Art of Java
• The Art of Final Fantasy 9 Game Programming
• The Art of Warcraft - C Programming
• The Art of Episode 5 - Artificial Intelligence
• The Art of Alien Resurection - Problem Solving
  with Java
• Learning Maya - Java Collections
• The Art of Maya
• Maya Illuminated Games - How to Draw Anime and
• Game Characters
• Photoshop 7 Classroom in a book
• Illustrator 10 Classroom in a book - Game
  Development and Production
• Teach yourself Illustrator 7
• Using Flash 5
• Flash 5 Action Script
• Using Dreamweaver 4

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Library

• Planning to purchase
• Earnest Adams and Andrew Rollings on Game Design
• Game Architechure and Design
• Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus
• Game Developer Magazine
• Last years back-issues available tonight
• Additional printed readings also available

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Balance of Power

• I had a big hit in Eastern Front (1941) a
  second game in the genre would surely make a
  bundle of money. Artistically, it was a sound
  decision If you've mastered a problem, it's time
  to move on.
• A theory far less untilised today. Why?
• Esbablishing motivation?
• Sequels are for entertainment they have no
  artistic content.
• Choosing the Mac
• Right decision?
• Know thy platform intimately. Understand its
  strengths and weaknesses.
• Verb lists and the question What does the player
  do?
• Closely linked to UML design and functional
  consideration

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Balance of Power

• Game designers have no talent for marketing. Let
  the pros cook up the title
• Narrowing the verb list
• Trade relationships?
• Too close to the wire already?
• The rubber map
• 6 weeks? Should he have realised earlier?
• Know when it's time to throw in the towel on a
  feature.
• Headline generator
• Extensions upon its format?
• Fantasize. Play what-if games. Ask silly
  questions. Why aren't cows green like grass?

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Balance of Power

• Read! Read! Read!
• Historical accuracy is incredibly important
• Creating games for a niche market
• Building up a feeling for the subject matter
• Take no pride in facts memorized, but in ideas
  grasped.
• The importance of the press
• Word of mouth sales and critical recommendations
• Why Chris Crawford is going to change game design

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The 400Let Players Turn the Game Off

• The player should be able to save and exit the
  game at any point, loosing at most a few seconds
  of game play.
• Our job as game designers is to entertain, not to
  punish.
• The customer is always right?
• Applies to all single player games
• Trumped by Suspend the players sence of
  disbelief
  
  

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Rule Let Players Turn the Game Off
The 400

• Can this apply to multiplayer games?
• Play-saving, is this any good?
• Save points?
• Examples of bad save schemes?

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Next crit

• Available from
• The Gaming Depot
• http//www.gamingdepot.com

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Next forum3D Graphics are the Spawn of Satan

• Available on GameDev
• Why has the industry focused on making things
  look pretty?
• What are some games that have suffered from
  overuse of technology?

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Coming Up

• Next meeting
• Archway 2, 700 900
• Monday 1st September
• 3D Graphics
• Balance of Power
• Game playing session
• More of the 400
• Tutorials next week