Eye For Games Magazine 2014.2

Eye For Games is about game design and development • • www.efgmagazine.com magazine 2014.2

Onikira

Digital Furnace Games | Dublin, Ireland

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August 11-12, 2014

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The Art and Design of Video Games An Eye For Games art book

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EFG magazine 2014.2 ART DIRECTOR

COVER DESIGN

EDITION SUPPORT

Rai Sewgobind

Game: Onikira

NIS America

Developer: Digital Furnace Games

COPY EDITOR

Jerry Kline WRITERS & CONTRIBUTORS

RĂŠmy van den Wijngaart Nicholas Mamo Tom Schoen Jerry Kline

Rai Sewgobind

Digital Furnace Games HobbyGameDev Grotman

Eye For Games is a platform about game design and development where students, young professionals and developers can network and connect. By looking from different perspectives we provide inspiring, motivating and educative content.

bitSmith Games SaintandSimon Knick Knack

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INTERVIEW

KAZUTAKA KODAKA 34

IN DEPTH

BIOME

Polishing a Game’s Environment design | development

8

Grim Fandango concept story

32 FranknJohn devspot

25 Tribal and Error in development

38 Tomb Raider then and now

14

Onikira; creature and boss designs

10

in depth

Interview with HobbyGameDev interview

20

33 A Song for Viggo devspot

We asked: What’s your main struggle or challenge while working on a game? eye for...

24

interview

INTERVIEW WITH

Kazutaka Kodaka Taking a closer look to the character setting and design in Danganronpa 2.

In Danganronpa 2, 16 new high school students are brought to a tropical island against their will for a “killing school trip.” Monokuma and his little sister, Monomi, are present on the island as well. Why did something like this happen...? Well, you’ll have to play the game yourself to find out.

In addition to Danganronpa and Danganronpa 2, there is a novel called “Danganronpa Zero” that depicts the

events leading up to Danganronpa. We’re also in the middle of producing a spin-off game called Zettai Zetsubou

Shoujo (Absolute Despair Girl) depicting the events between Danganronpa 1-2. Unlike the main Danganronpa series, this will be an action game.

What was your inspiration when creating the character Monokuma?

In Japan, a guilty or not guilty verdict is often referred to as “black” and “white.” For this reason, we really wanted

Monokuma to have a monochromatic design from the very beginning. From there, Character Designer Komatsuzaki and I worked at my desk for about five

minutes and finished the rest of his design. As soon as we finished, we immediately thought, “This is it.” The

design hasn’t changed between then and now. As for Monokuma’s personality and mannerisms, those were established based on my whims and other random ideas that popped into my head.

All characters have very strong personalities. What goes into creating these? Do you draw inspiration from a certain source?

In the beginning, we determine each character’s archetype. For example, if they’re privileged, or

quick thinking, or proud of their physical strength.

Afterward, we set about creating the characters by

bringing together whatever comes to mind—their

design, their role in the story, and their conversations with one another, along with the main plot and any twists in the story. We create the perfect story by not just adhering to one idea and by bringing new ideas as required. Depending on the character, there are even

times when we might change the way they talk after we’ve cast the voice actors.

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Sometimes twisted personalities can be charming and other times levelheaded personalities can be charming.

interview

What character was the hardest to formulate?

When we created the characters we thought it was extremely important to not let them be reduced to

side characters. Personally, if I can see myself using a character as a protagonist in a novel, then they

The story build up worked so incredibly well! From the premise, to the revelation all the way through the ending. Do you feel satisfied with the way the story turned out?

deserve to have a role in Danganronpa. Sometimes

To be honest, there were some parts I wanted to develop

times levelheaded personalities can be charming, so

took a lot of painstaking focus to create a story that

twisted personalities can be charming and other we weren’t really particular about the details of each

personality as long as I felt they were charming. I felt super guilty about having to kill such charming characters one after another... actually, that’s a lie. It felt really good.

a little more, but I was satisfied with the outcome. It takes place entirely inside a school, but I think I was

able to work within those limitations and produce an

amazing story. However, after creating Danganronpa 2, I’m even more satisfied with how the story turned out.

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design | development

Polishing a Game's Environment Article by Nicholas Mamo

Stunning, alluring, magical - some games strike you from the very first moment.

Although seldom do we admit it, we do judge books by their covers and first impressions count more than we realize. As players, our first relation with the game isn't with the story or its mechanics - if love at first sight exists, it's between

players and graphics. Games such as Fez, Minecraft and Anodyne show us that

there is no such thing as an ugly style, and that a game doesn't have to have nextgen graphics to stand out. So what makes a good style outstanding?

Environment The game's environment is where the game is set, the part of the game a player is in contact with and

experiences throughout the game. It's only natural that the environment is where developers and artists

pour most of their time and efforts in. It's also understandable that after spending hours working on

the game's graphical style, frustration follows when

there still seems like something’s missing. Having a polished environment is far more important than

having pricey assets but figuring out how to fill that inexplicable void can be demanding.

Creating polished environments for a game is an

incessant process which starts with level design.

There are no rules dictating how to polish a game's

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Trine 2

design | development

Torchlight II

Dragon’s Crown

environment; it's up to the artist to adapt to the

Polish

environments is a good way to start, and balance is key

it look better, it's also about transforming the

game's world and its specifications. Avoiding cluttered

Polishing a video game level isn't just about making

in creating levels which aren't just functional, but look

mundane into something memorable. Different video

and feel natural to the player. Guidelines from other disciplines such as photography can also be utilized to

enrich the game's visuals. For example, using the rule

of thirds in a boss fight could enhance the environment and put the focus where it really matters.

Level Design When designing a level, filling up the environment can be as simple as using more assets or playing with

their placement. Sounds simple? It is! Varying the arrangement of a subset of assets or changing the

colors used in a particular scene can be an effective way of rendering a level remarkable.

If all else fails, you can also introduce new assets,

or create variations of existing ones. Classic games such as the Mario franchise and contemporary ones

demonstrate the efficiency of using enemy variants that

games use various techniques to achieve this effect, such as diversifying color palettes every few levels.

Alternatively, introducing special assets can make a level distinctive.

Special assets could be anything from an ancient oak tree inhabiting a particular level to a defiant forest

sprite. Whether in the form of a non-player character (NPC), a background ornament, or as a storyline-related object, special assets tell a story of their own, make a level more interesting, and spice up the environment.

Video game environments are purely artistic, and alongside everything which is art, it's up to the artist to decide what best suits the game. Only one principle

governs level design-polished levels are the fruit of planning, experimentation, and evaluation. The result?

A stunning environment for your game.

are indigenous to a particular level to refresh gameplay.

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in depth

CREATURE AND BOSS DESIGNS

Hey I am Tom, a.k.a. NinjaMonkeyBrain, and I am the character artist and animator for Onikira.

Onikira is a 2D combat focused action game set

in a fantasy feudal Japan. We are currently deep in

development working on refining our mechanics and gameplay to make this game as good as it can be. We hope to release sometime early next year on PC first and hopefully everything else too.

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in depth

What kind of enemies and why?

Our fantasy version of Japan is divided into four clans

weapon. As a twisted demon, these guys have massive

ability and a single main weapon style. Unfortunately

at the player.

with different ways of life defined largely by martial for them, the barriers separating the underworld, or

tetsubo arms, and can tear up chunks of ground to hurl

Yomi, from the land of the living have been weakened.

In terms of art direction the game has a wide range

emperor, have become corrupted and are tearing their

color palettes and dynamic figures. Some notable

The ancestors of these clans, led by a long-dead way out of Yomi, possessing and warping the living into vile undead creatures. The various characteristics that

these clans have are exaggerated in their demon form and inspire the various enemies’ powers, weapons, and attacks.

So for example the basic grunt enemy is called an “ashigaru.” They are low level warriors of the Samurai clan. Being Samurai, their main weapon is their katana,

of influences coupled with my personal love of bright works of inspiration are Berserk, Samurai Champloo, and Afro Samurai.

We’ve designed eleven basic enemy characters. There’s

variations on some of those base ones to spice things up. We may not get to fit all eleven in the game because we’ll probably run out of time, but we’ll get as many in as we can.

which has been warped and melded directly onto their

body. A higher level enemy is the Kanabo Oni, a giant mass of twisted rock and flesh. The Kanabo Oni was

from the Stone clan, a clan of hulking warriors whose main weapon is the tetsubo, a large studded club

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in depth

Some enemy attacks didn’t work as we hoped; we learned from those prototypes.

How did you decide which creatures were good enough design-wise to be included in the game’s final build?

We usually discuss the mechanics of an enemy character before building a prototype so that we are confident as a group that

they will be worthwhile and hopefully fun to face off against.

and will invest time in finishing them so that they work well against the players moves. We try not to waste the work it

takes to get a character working, so if its original design isn’t

working we will probably change its design so as not to waste the time invested in art.

in two days and re-evaluate the character then. If things are

What are the main differences between the normal enemies and the bosses?

skeleton for it, and start fleshing out its moves, with someone

One of the difficulties of designing grunt type enemies that you

Then we will try and prototype the character quickly, maybe

looking good I will create the character’s art assets, build a else tackling the behavior tree for it.

Currently we have a couple of enemies that we have prototyped

to test out different mechanics. Although some enemy attacks didn’t work as we hoped, we learned from those prototypes

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encounter a lot is that if they have a strong, individual design they can look quite silly when you are fighting a large amount of them. In this case you become immediately aware that you

are fighting multiple copies of the same opponent rather than multiple enemies of a similar type. So to stop this the visual

in depth

designs are somewhat restrained and such characters are often

against. There’s a lot of work and balancing that needs to

stormtrooper looked like Darth Maul it would be weird. It’s

hardest to finish enemies as we are constantly improving our

seen with their faces covered. Think stormtroopers. If every brain science.

go into every enemy that we create, and we probably find it systems and working out some kinks in our mechanics.

With the visual designs of the bosses the intent is the complete

In contrast the funnest part is the early conceptual stage when

and memorable while at the same time designing their abilities

talk about dragons a lot. I think dragons solve most of our

opposite, and we try to create characters that are visually unique and attacks to challenge a particular aspect of gameplay.

we just chat about what they might be like or might do. I problems.

What has been the most challenging part of designing the game?

The most challenging thing for us is probably balancing player

moves and combos with enemies that those moves are useful

Developer: Digital Furnace Games

Game: Onikira

Website: http://honourboundgame.tumblr.com/ EFG

13

concept story

SPOILER ALERT!

Article by Rémy van den Wijngaart

concept story

Grim Fandango In this article, we take a look at the narrative of Grim Fandango, the noir adventure game by Tim Schafer that conquered the hearts of fans and critics everywhere. The black text describes what the player experiences directly, while the gray text shows what is happening outside the player’s perspective. This allows us to simultaneously observe the story (the sequence of events) and the plot (the significance of those events and how they relate to each other).

YEAR 1 When your life comes to an end, a new journey begins: The Four-Year Journey

of the Soul. This journey through the Land of the Dead is long and dangerous but luckily the Department of Death employs the finest travel agents to help get you there as fast as possible. Those who have lived a particularly good life

might even find themselves eligible for a Double-N ticket on the Number Nine, an express train making the trip from El Marrow to the Land of Eternal Rest in four minutes instead of four years.

Back in the golden days, travel agent Manny Calavera handed out Double-N tickets like candy, but lately all the good clients end up with his rival Domino Hurley, leaving Manny scraping the bottom of the barrel. On the Day of the

Dead, after setting yet another poor schmuck on his way with merely a walking

stick, Manny decides to turn his life around: he needs to find a premium client.

What Manny doesn’t know is that his recent misfortune isn’t just bad luck; it’s a dastardly plot by crime boss

Hector LeMans. Hector plans to steal all the Double-N

tickets and sell them for exorbitant prices to the rich people who would pay anything to skip the four-year

journey. Using his criminal connections, Hector has spread corruption throughout the D.O.D., rigging the

system so that all the premium customers end up with Domino, who can rob them of their ticket. There is a

resistance group, the Lost Souls Alliance, but its small operation is of no consequence to Hector. He is going to be filthy rich.

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official artwork by Peter Chan

concept story

Manny enlists the help of Glottis, one of the D.O.D.’s mechanics, who builds for him a vehicle faster than any company car: the Bone Wagon. Its speed allows Manny to race ahead of Domino and get his hands on a premium client:

Mercedes “Meche” Colomar. But when he tries to get her a Double-N ticket and comes up empty once more, he realises that someone inside the D.O.D. has

rigged the system in favor of Domino. When he leaves to do some snooping, his boss locks Manny up in the garage. Luckily, someone has been watching Manny from a distance. Salvador “Sal” Limones, leader of the Lost Souls Alliance,

frees the unlucky travel agent and recruits him into the L.S.A. But Manny isn’t

planning on staying around to help — he needs to find Meche and set things right. After supplying Sal with access to the D.O.D. computer system, he and

Glottis head off after her. The Bone Wagon quickly gets them to Rubacava, a small port town, ahead of Meche. With nothing to do but wait, Manny takes up a job as janitor in a local restaurant.

YEAR 2 The road to Rubacava is dangerous when you don’t

have transport, and Meche’s year-long journey is

complicated further when Domino Hurley catches up with her. Seeing in her an opportunity to lure out

Calavera, Domino takes her prisoner. Meanwhile, the

L.S.A. is slowly growing, gaining a foothold back in El Marrow. They are not strong enough to take on the

powerful Hector LeMans just yet, but Sal is determined

to see his mission through to the end. Hector, on the other hand, sees no reason to slow down, and

he expands his fraud scheme. Not only is he stealing

Double-N tickets, he’s also producing counterfeits now. Double the sales, double the profits.

official artwork by Peter Chan

A year after arriving in Rubacava, Manny has worked himself up in the business and converted the roadside restaurant into Café Calavera, a luxurious

nightclub to rival Rubacava’s finest establishments. With people like police

chief Bogen and known counterfeiter Chowchilla Charlie trying their luck at his rigged roulette wheels, Manny makes a decent living here. But every night, he

looks out over the small town, hoping that tonight will be the night that Meche arrives.

That night finally comes on the Day of the Dead, but it’s nothing like Manny had envisioned. When he learns of Meche’s arrival and goes down to the dock to meet her, he sees her sail away with Domino on a large ocean liner. Manny immediately decides to leave his comfy life in Rubacava behind to give chase,

but the only ship heading to the same destination, Puerto Zapato, is the S.S. Limbo, a small cargo boat that doesn’t take passengers. While trying to secure a place onboard for himself and Glottis, Manny uncovers a murder plot, fuels

a workers’ strike and discovers that Chowchilla Charlie is making counterfeit Double-N tickets. When he is ready to leave Rubacava for good, Manny forces the closure of Café Calavera and sets off on the Limbo.

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15

concept story

YEAR 3 The ship Domino and Meche are on might be heading to Puerto Zapato, but the sleazy salesman has an

entirely different destination in mind. He instead brings Meche to The Edge of the World, a coral mining facility

where he and Hector have imprisoned all the people they robbed to keep them from spilling the beans.

Meanwhile, Hector again expands his operation in El

Marrow. The souls who are not willing to make the four-year journey, or pay for a Double-N ticket, need

entertainment. Who is he to deny them that? With El

Marrow fully in his grasp, he starts building casinos,

taking even more money from the souls stuck there. He appears to be unstoppable, but the L.S.A. is becoming

stronger, gaining more members every day. The time to strike back is nigh.

Another year has passed, and Manny has once again risen through the ranks; he’s now the captain of the Limbo (which he renamed the Lola). Thanks to Glottis’s love for speed and engine tinkering, the two friends quickly arrive in Puerto Zapato. The

victory is short lived, though. A message from Sal arrives, informing Manny that Meche never made it to port — she has thrown herself overboard somewhere down the line. What’s more, the customs officials currently boarding the Lola are Hector’s assassins. Manny and Glottis barely manage to escape, but they eventually reach The Edge of the World, where they find Meche imprisoned by Domino.

When confronted, Domino audaciously tries to have Manny take his place, but the

grim reaper isn’t tempted by Domino’s shady promises. As punishment, Domino

drops Glottis into the ocean depths and throws Manny out of his office. While exploring the island facility, Manny finds Glottis alive and well, frees Meche from

confinement, and discovers even more counterfeit tickets. Glottis brings an old

ship back to life, giving them a way off the island, but Domino spots them leaving

and attempts to stop them. During the escape, Manny faces off against his archenemy and defeats him for good. Feeling responsible for the fate of those now looking to him for guidance, Manny promises to see the journey through to the end.

YEAR 4 In the following year, Hector takes over El Marrow

completely, renaming the city to Nuevo Marrow and

turning it into a corrupted shade of its former self.

The L.S.A. has grown strong enough to take the fight to Hector, but Sal knows he can’t just take the fat criminal head on; the plan calls for a subtle approach.

The revolutionary starts sending agents in undercover to infiltrate Hector’s operation, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

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official artwork by Peter Chan

concept story

AUTHOR’S PERSPECTIVE Having made their way over vast oceans and scorching deserts,

Rémy van den Wijngaart

Manny’s group finally arrives at the final Number Nine train station, the gateway to the Land of Eternal Rest. The end of the journey

seems near, but the gatekeeper throws a wrench in the works by

Grim Fandango is my absolute favorite game

They need the tickets that Hector LeMans stole from them. There

inspired by works like Casablanca and Double

informing Manny that none of his followers can board the train. is only solution: Manny, Glottis, and Meche have to get back to El Marrow to retrieve the tickets.

But the hiking journey has taken a heavy toll on poor Glottis, who is now deathly ill. To be cured, he needs to drive, to fly, or to race

at breakneck speeds. Using his last ounce of strength, he designs one last hotrod: a rocket sled that uses the same train tracks as the

narrative. Perhaps it’s the film noir feeling,

Indemnity. Perhaps it’s the unique take on the Mexican holiday Dia de Muertos. Perhaps

it’s the memorable characters, the striking art

direction, the superb music — I’d say it’s the

combination of all of the above that makes this game such a brilliant work of art.

Number Nine. It will be able to heal Glottis and get the trio back to

While much of the story’s nuance is lost in the

Manny finds the right fuel, they strap Glottis to the roof and set off.

just how expertly Tim Schafer drives the

El Marrow in no time. After the local mechanics build the sled, and

The sheer thrill of cruising at an insane velocity completely

revitalises Glottis, who wakes up halfway to Nuevo Marrow.

Unaware of his surroundings, he accidentally derails the sled and

the trio ends up back in Rubacava. But all is not lost, as Manny and

Glottis soon reunite with the Bone Wagon. Before they continue the journey, the owner of a Rubacava jazz club Olivia Ofrenda joins up with them, eager to fight for the L.S.A.

translation, I hope this article helps illustrate narrative forward. By consistently maintaining

Manny’s viewpoint throughout the game, the player unravels the conspiracy at equal pace,

offering an almost first-person experience while binding the player to the main character.

We are both an observer and participant of the

story; we are ourselves, but we are also Manny Calavera.

Upon arriving in Nuevo Marrow, Manny infiltrates Hector’s casino

Tim Schafer once stated that, in order for a world

he manages to get Hector alone in his old office. Hector escapes

that gives us a glimpse of the world beyond but

with the help of Sal’s resistance. Using his experience as a salesman, with the case of tickets, but after a chase across the rooftops, the

crime boss loses his balance and falls to streets below. Manny

retrieves the case and instructs Meche to return it to the gateway,

but she is ambushed at the train station. As Glottis jumps to

Meche’s rescue, Olivia arrives in her car and tells Manny to get in.

Manny demands to know why there were no resistance members

there to back them up; Olivia answers by tossing something on the back seat. It’s Sal’s head, disembodied but still alive. The traitorous

Olivia takes Manny to the greenhouse of Hector LeMans, who has

to feel alive, it must be like a painting: a window never reveals all. I feel Grim Fandango is the ultimate implementation of this. Schafer sets up enough of the world to make it seem believable, functioning, and real, while also leaving our

imagination to fill in the blanks. In a way, the same process happens on a plot level, where

our minds are constantly going through those “whodunnit” motions.

survived the rooftop fall. Hector tries to rid himself of Manny, but

In short, Grim Fandango is why I love game

finally turns the tables and ends Hector once and for all.

become a game designer myself.

thanks to some clever tricks and an heroic sacrifice by Sal, Manny

narratives, and it is why I am on a journey to

With the crime boss out of the way, Manny finds the stolen tickets

and receives one of his own from the D.O.D. as a reward for his valiant efforts. He and Glottis head back to the gateway, where

Meche and the rest are still waiting. With the Double-N tickets back where they belong the gang is allowed to board. After saying

goodbye to his dear friend Glottis, who has to stay behind, Manny

joins Meche aboard the Number Nine. As Glottis waves from the

platform, the train takes off into the unknown. What is next for Manny and Meche? What will the Land of Eternal Rest be like for them? The answer is just a train ride away.

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eye for...

The Art and Design of Video Games explores facets of game design and development from over twenty different developers, of all sizes, from around the world. Drawing on interviews with artists, designers, and developers, this book enables you to peer into the world of game development.

It’s a great feeling to see and have all these different developers in one place and with the same purpose, to talk about what they love to do, creating games.

Rai Sewgobind, founder Eye For Games

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eye for...

Thankful and proud!

For more information, or to find out about a second printing, visit http://hardcover.efgmagazine.com/ EFG

19

interview

HOBBYGAMEDEV If you’re a developer and using Twitter, you may have have heard of Chris DeLeon, a.k.a.

@HobbyGameDev, who is keeping developers inspired by regularly asking questions about their game development. But who is behind HobbyGameDev, and why is this person so passionate about helping others achieve their goals?

I grew up in Missouri, worked in California some years after college, and after a detour in Atlanta for graduate school I recently

returned to California again. I've always lived and traveled in North America. I've worked on about 90 completed games as a

solo or lead developer, which can be found at ChrisDeLeon.com.

The majority of those projects have been medium-sized noncommercial side projects, club projects, and class projects. I was

in and out of professional game development at various scales - AAA, web casual start-up, indie mobile - from 2005-2011. My

main skill areas are design and programming, although I make a

point of practicing enough fluency in art and sound effects to fill in when needed or to make small solo projects. In recent years

I've increasingly shifted my focus towards teaching and helping others get into (or further into) making their own games.

My days variy wildly based on which business or side objectives

I'm currently taking on. Lately most days consist of waking up at 7 a.m., working out, getting ready for the day, driving my girlfriend Laura to work (it's nearby, and the parking situation

there is tricky), and then my work day is filled with interviewing other developers for my upcoming podcast, writing or recording

new content for my game development blog, and making or

updating game development training products for my business.

In the evening I pick up Laura from work, after which we eat

dinner with a show on, maybe run some errands, and chat about how our respective work days went.

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interview

Can you tell us something about your passion for creating video games?

For my first ten years or so I enjoyed it as a

challenging craft. I just liked making things, I enjoyed that in contrast to other craft activities,

this one didn't require materials, didn't need space to store the end results, and produced

outcomes that others who didn't share the same hobby could still understand and enjoy.

For some years after that it was my profession.

I changed course when I found myself wishing I could do more to help other people. After a

brief tangent in exploring the use of games for the purposes of education, communication,

and other non-entertainment endeavors, I realized that most of the good I'd done through

my game making wasn't actually the end products. The good I had done was instead

from things I had been doing on the side:

forming game development clubs, sharing articles and tutorials online, and otherwise helping more people make progress on their own projects. Building bridges to help more people make videogames contributed to their

professional skill development, got them real experience working with people that think and

work differently than they do, and otherwise has often become a healthy and positive part

of their lives. Now creating videogames is something that I mostly engage in as my way of trying to help others.

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interview

How did you came up with this concept?

About

five

years

GameDevLessons,

a

ago

it

series

started

of

as

What is the main goal of HobbyGameDev?

monthly

I want to help more people make the games

making iPhone games as my primary income,

word that games can be well worth making even

newsletters about videogame creation. I was

and on the side wanted to help more people get started. At the time I also explored one-on-one lessons, doing them a bit like piano lessons

though often remotely via Skype. I only had a few students then. Many people at the time

were seeking to get into game development as

an immediate business venture, and I found I was facing more questions about pricing and ads than I was about skilled game design or practicing good development. The hobby

aspect began at first from my own transition into finding other ways to earn my income

(research and teaching) while making games on the side that I wanted to make. In the years

that they want to make and further spread the

when they're not commercialized products. For

some people that may eventually lead to new career opportunities, but for many more I think

it can be a fine and enriching collaborative

creative activity to enjoy on evenings and

weekends. My angle is often that it's something people should think of more like woodworking, playing an instrument, or painting.

How are things going at the moment?

since, the hobby element has increasingly

In terms of sheer number of people reached:

they want to make, independent of business

encouraging stories that I hear back from

become about helping others make the games aspects.

very well! In terms of the positive and readers, some following my materials for years, some starting clubs at their schools, and some

I've always felt at home working with small

teams, especially with beginners or students.

I've worked with companies of various sizes in the game industry, and I can respect why processes have to operate very differently

than they do with small amateur teams or

finding my approach is what helped them cross over from wishing they'd start to actually

making finished projects and learning as they go, extraordinarily life affirming. The stories of people I've helped have absolutely kept me going over the years.

solo projects, but it isn't what I prefer doing. If

Commercially, which I only began at all in

and on projects being made by beginners I of

this summer, slowly so far. I'm in the process

nothing else, I enjoy teaching and mentoring, course have more opportunities to do more of that.

I recently collected my thoughts on a related matter in a blog entry, A Frank Look at Making Videogames

Professionally:

http://www.

hobbygamedev.com/beg/a-frank-look-atmaking-videogames-professionally/

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2014, and full-time starting even more recently of rethinking my approach and preparing some

new materials to offer. I'm more teacher and

developer than salesman or businessperson,

but I'm learning the ropes. I respect that it's up to me to create (more) compelling products, convey their value, and ensure they're known about by people who'd be interested in them.

interview

“I want to help more people make the games that they want to make.�

What would be the most interesting thing HobbyGameDev has to offer?

including many older than I am, have been

I make a specific effort every month to provide

game development.

at least four separate articles or other materials

finding it of interest or help as well. Many of the adults following my materials have a day job

in something technology related, and in their off hours have started adapting those skills to

intended for different skill levels: beginner

(hasn't made a game yet, in the process of learning), intermediate (has completed some practice games at least), advanced

(has completed a number of original games), and special topics (varies, for example this is sometimes a more research or theory angle

Chris, if you could give any starter advice about getting into game design or development, what would it be?

rather than developer approach to material).

Start with small, simple, and unoriginal practice

I originally started making my content with

or original games, working up toward the latter

the expectation that teenagers and college

students might make use of it, since those were just the people I had personally known who

were trying to learn it. While they've certainly

been a major part of my audience, I've also learned over the years that people of all ages,

projects before trying to take on large, complex,

incrementally. Also, put the time into learning how to program, even if primarily interested in game design, so that you'll be able to prototype

and iterate on your own mechanics ideas rather

than being at the mercy of someone else doing it on your behalf.

Visit the website: http://www.hobbygamedev.com/ EFG

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eye for...

WE ASKED

What's your main struggle or challenge while working on a game?

Jonathan Jennings

Tony Garcia

Making the game / theme around it. I love developing mechanics for

The largest hurdles I face are explaining the difference

making a neat mechanic and then creating a fun and complete gameplay

vast majority of non-gamer customers and business

Unity Developer at Fuel Industries

small prototypes but I have learned there's a huge difference between

experience around that single mechanic. The partners I have had the best success with have helped me put my excited programmed mechanic ideas into a larger overall project.

Director / Project Manager at Sage Management Enterprise, LLC

between prototype and demonstration games. The

development folks are unaware of all of the work that

is necessary just in the design phase, let alone the development and testing phases of building a game.

Staying motivated has never been that difficult either but fine-tuning

While any of us nerds know prototypes are boxes and

usually to get that last 10% it takes a lot of testing and patience to get

on the design document(s), and a demonstration is at

a mechanic can be difficult only because 90% of the work is done and exactly what I am looking for. It's always worth it and that small level of

polish can make a world of difference on your end product, but it can be very difficult to keep pushing for perfection at that point.

spheres (at best!) proving theories behind code based

least an Alpha or even Beta ready game including art assets.

More often than not the prototype is ignored, forcing

game teams to stumble right into development, hitting

Tim Pelham

CEO at Nitrous Butterfly

One of the most challenging aspects I tend to face is developing a proper design plan. It's easy to have an idea in your head and start working

towards that end goal but lack of a good design plan tends to lead to

a long list of half finished projects. A good plan/approach is a never

ending process throughout game development and something I've had to dedicate some time to doing. Whether it's designing a level, making

all of the glorious snags along the way that could have been ironed out beforehand. Terminology has different

meanings to different people and within differing tasks -

almost requiring a translation guide for the non-gamer.

It is as if people believe since a game is fun to play, it

must be fun and easy to build, when in reality the fun parts are mostly in the concept design and testing. The rest is hard work and cannot be accomplished by waving a magic wand.

assets, coding mechanics, or marketing, I think having a plan of attack

is the first and most important part, but should also be something that allows for change.

Prototyping and gray boxing can be a good first step to this, but I always

try to think about how does this prototype/idea fit into the larger game concept. Any game idea can feel overwhelming when thought about in

its entirety and because of that I try to think about the smaller parts of the larger whole to remain focused on what is important.

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Brian Faulkner

Program Designer/programmer at iFF_Games

Getting art assets with a limited number of artists. That number being one makes it even more difficult.

in development

IN DEVELOPMENT

Tribal & Error developer: Grotman

We are team Grotman. We are students studying at the University of the Arts in Utrecht. Right now our team consists of six people. We are all in our second year studying Game Design and Development and Game Art. For sound design and music we are working with a Sound Design & Music Technology student called Mathijs Wiermans.

moodboard

Developer: Grotman

Game: Tribal and Error

Website: http://www.tribalanderror.com EFG

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in development

INSPIRATION Oskar: Before I pitched the rough idea to the team the

basic language mechanic swam around in my head a few years. I had just watched movies such as I, Robot and The

Matrix, which led me to think how a game would work if you yourself play a true artificial intelligence. A game where

you became intelligent and gained abilities by observing and repeating everything in your surroundings, like a baby

taking its first steps. The original idea was an abstraction of learning in general and language was just a part of it.

Learn and experience a complete unknown language.

Back in 2009 I tried to write a game design document on it. I did not however possess the skills back then to tackle

the game design challenges the concept created. Five years

later together with game designer Joel Sjouke and sound designer Mathijs Wiermans we picked it up again, took the

core of what we thought was great, and filled in the details.

The three of us pitched this new concept with this pitch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4rVnyumd3I

The students and teachers could vote on different concepts. Tribal & Error was approved and Tim Haerkens (our developer) and Moniek Schilder (extra artist) joined the team.

Joel: When Mathijs and I joined him for the concept pitch, we took the idea for a language mechanic and created a story and world around it. Several ideas came to mind from

aliens to spaceship travel and time travel to cavemen. The

bottom line of the game is that the player must be able to learn and experience a complete unknown language. We

was that he was sent back in time involuntarily and that he

should find a way back to the future. We thought it would

be cool if he found an old dead/decaying version of himself

somewhere around the cavemen. In this early version of the story the robot would have used a time machine which the cavemen would have taken apart and used as some sort of relic. With your own time machine broken you could

salvage the parts of this other time machine to fix your own time machine, only to find out that it was the same time machine and the same robot. That’s where it gets so complex that we spent too much time on the story and

forgot about the most important thing of our game: the language mechanic. We chose to focus on the latter.

also decided that we absolutely didn’t want any existing

Clicking objects:

game more accessible as it is ironically without a language

and combine that with the making of sentences. With this

written or spoken language in the game itself, making the barrier. For the game mechanic to work we had to come up with a way to make it really clear to the player what each

symbol means. In order for this to work both the animations and audio should be simple but understandable. When I designed the symbols I wanted to make them look abstract

enough to be unable to guess and yet recognizable when you know its meaning already.

We considered giving the player the option to click objects

option it would be as if the player could point at something and speak out a sentence of symbols to go with it. For

instance, when you want a caveman to lay a stick on the ground you could say the stick symbol and then click on

the ground. Although the clicking option gives us more options from a designer’s perspective, it seemed that it would all soon become too complicated. Perhaps in the future we’ll look into it again.

IDEAS Joel: I’m sure there were more but here are some examples.

DESIGN

Real images/symbols:

Oskar: An important aspect of the character designs

using “thinking clouds” for the cavemen with images in

cavemen, so while wanted them to have a wild appearance

Before we chose to use abstract symbols we thought about them to explain to the player what their problem was. For

example, a caveman being hungry could show an image of some sort of food to explain he is hungry. We soon found out that this would spoil too much to the player and would kind of defeat the purpose of learning their caveman language.

Time travel paradox:

Story wise we got ourselves stuck in some sort of time paradox. We wanted the robot to have a clear goal and communicate that to the player. Our initial idea for the robot

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was that they needed to incentivize the player to help

they also needed to look appealing, so that the player could empathize with them. Some of the earlier designs had this wild appearance but not the appeal. A lot of the

design considerations were made based on the characters’ functionality in the game. The animation needs to clearly visualize what the cavemen are trying to express. Because

of the large amount of animation the game requires we

also needed to limit the complexity of the design while still

retaining enough elements to allow for expressions. This was one of the reasons we didn’t go for characters without eyebrows.

in development

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in development

Before the full project started, when we still had to pitch the idea, we wanted to explain the game visually with a trailer.

So we needed a rough idea of the look and feel. At the time

I was able to spend just one day making some sketches and

paintings, but what came out of that even though rough was already something with its own appeal. When the full project began we kept iterating on that until we had what we felt was the right feeling for Tribal & Error.

“The core mechanic is not ABOUT language, the core mechanic IS language.”

It’s a game about helping cavemen survive the coming Ice Age but to help them you’ll need to learn their language first! This is done by observing the cavemen, repeating what they say, and by experimenting through trial and error. You see the symbols, the robot stores them, you repeat the symbols. The reaction that follows shows the

player the meaning of these symbols. The player can interpret the meaning in his or her own way and there is no

right or wrong answer per se. Again this makes it possible to make the game universal and without language barriers.

With these symbols you build a vocabulary which you use to solve puzzles.

CHALLENGES Joel: The problem with the symbols is that in theory the player should be able to make every combination possible.

With each combination there should be a reply of some

sort. This requires a ridiculous amount of animations

so we had to choose which symbol combinations we really needed. We are looking for ways to make as many

animations as possible to give the player the optimal experimental experience. The most crucial part of the

language mechanic is the animations. If the reaction of the cavemen aren’t clear and readable, the player will not

understand what the symbols mean. If the player gets the meaning of a crucial symbol of a puzzle wrong the player

could get stuck. Of course we don’t want that to happen,

so our goal is to make the animations of the cavemen as simple and readable as possible. That in combination

with good audio, giving away emotions of the cavemen,

will hopefully result in a fun puzzle full of experimentation through trial and error.

Another challenge was the interface. The hotbar we use to store the symbols in resembles the look of a typical RPG items bar. When we tested the game a lot of people

thought they were collecting items instead of recording language symbols. We solved this problem by making the hotbar look similar to the robot. When a symbol in it is clicked the robot shows an animation of a text bubble and

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into EFG

presses a play button with a green light on his own body.

When the robot walks to a caveman and that caveman says something, the robot again presses a button on his own body but this time with a red recording light. Also,

in both situations the eyes of the robot, which are tape recorder reels, spin when playing or recording. The players

also tried to drag the symbols in the hotbar on top of each

other like in crafting games like Minecraft. To avoid this we decided to make the symbols in the hotbar look like

pressable buttons. With all this the players understood

almost immediately that the robot’s skill was only that of recording and playing sounds. The next problem was a

space managing issue for the interface. Right now we have a hotbar with nine slots for symbols to take place in. In the

game demo right now we only use six symbols. At the end

there will be a whole lot more symbols and the problem is the storage and managing of those symbols for the player.

We decided to create a database for the robot which will

probably be displayed at the left side of the hotbar in the game. The player can enter that database, scroll through

different categories of symbols, and choose to exchange

symbols with the ones that are in the hotbar. This way the player will be able to choose which symbols he/she wants to use for a certain situation.

DEVELOPMENT The player can walk around, collect new symbols, and

use the recorded words. The player can also write the

explanations above the symbols but is also free to ignore

that part of the game. If the player has a good memory and doesn’t need to write down the descriptions then it’s possible as well, though we quickly discovered the players

who focused on memorizing the meaning of words had a smaller capacity to solve puzzles then players who used the notes.

As the player learns more symbols, the more room for experimentation it gives. The player must achieve a few

main goals in order to help the cavemen survive the coming Ice Age, but there will be short puzzles along the way, some just useful, some purely entertaining.

We released a press demo which contains the first cave level with the objective to create fire. We’ve recently done a business pitch of the game at the end of our second year

at the HKU (University of the Arts Utrecht). Our pitch was

approved and we have permission to work on the game

full time next semester (5 months). We hope to get a lot of work done during this time and for the first time we hope to be able to make a good estimation on how much time

the production, marketing, and publishing is going to take.

EFG

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into EFG

WHAT IS Eye For Games?

Eye For Games is a platform about game design and development, where students, professionals, and developers can network and connect. By looking at design and development from different perspectives we provide inspiring, motivating, and educational content.

When taking an in-depth look towards a game’s development, we provide a great opportunity for developers to showcase their game in a unique way.

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EFG

into EFG

MAGAZINES To expand our concept we are also releasing high-

quality digital magazines to showcase the concept behind EFG.

Read full exclusive articles only in the magazine editions or get inspired by the One-Topic-Only edition where we discuss only one topic related to game design and development.

The November edition is about highlights of the year,

not just major highlights but also personal highlights from developers.

Go to the editions

PODCAST (beta) We are also working on a new podcast. Currently

in beta, our podcast will focus on new topics

each month, as they pertain to game design and development.

Hosts: Jerry Kline, Nick Lustig, Robert Busey, Evan McAnulty Segments: *Observe - What’s new or what have we observed about the industry lately?

* In-development / in-depth - We discuss one topic related to the process of creating a game. *Eye for - What has caught our eye lately?

Go to the podcast

EFG

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devspot

DEVSPOT

meet

bitSmith games bitSmith Games was formed in 2012 by three friends with big dreams of making great games. We were quickly joined by two more foolhardy adventurers. Our

merry band of five strides fearlessly into the gaping maw of the game dev wilderness.

FranknJohn has been in development since May 2013. The team brought an early protoype to GDC 13 (Game Developers Conference 2013) which

provided them with a platform to continue developing the game. The game was inspired by Paul’s memory of being a lonely, vulnerable child

in a strange world, where he kicked and scraped his way through it until it

made sense. The sense of detachment when growing up as you figure out who you are is something that will resonate with most people. Recapturing that same sense of growth and discovery in FranknJohn is the aim.

Developer: bitSmith Games 32

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Game: FranknJohn

Website: http://www.bitsmithgames.com/

devspot

DEVSPOT

meet

SaintandSimon Simon Karlsson: Creates the art, writes the script, composes the music and does the programming.

A guy who lives for creating. Sits on a tiny chair in a tiny workshop and folds paper into a tiny world, often together with his cat Klara.

A Song for Viggo contains five chapters, each one revolving around a different one of the difficulties you can experience after losing a child, such as marital problems, depression, and suicidal thoughts. In order to portray this as credible as possible I have interviewed several

people who have lost their children (even some who share Steve’s fate.) It’s one of my goals with the game: to bring their stories to you,

to make people who may be in this situation-trying to maintain their everyday life in the wake of a disaster-feel that they are not alone.

Developer: SaintandSimon

Game: A Song for Viggo

Website: http://www.saintandsimon.com/ EFG

33

in depth

BIOME

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in depth

Hi! I’m Tom Kail, and together with Jon Tree, we’re developing an relaxing digital toy called Biome.

Why a low polygon game?

The visual style was ripped directly from the work of the

wonderful Timothy Reynolds, who is, in my eyes at least,

the godfather of the low poly style, although from what I hear, he’s too humble to admit it. Originally I was simply experimenting, but when I discovered how well matched

the style and programming perspectives were, I started

thinking about what Biome might become. It was a long while later that I started working with Jon and we found

an answer. I guess the short answer is that it was simply never intended to be a game! In fact, we’re still adamant that Biome is a toy rather than a game.

We experimented briefly with texture and size, but because

Biome originated so organically from the relationship

between the art and code, we spent most of our time polishing our art style rather than reinventing it. You can actually play the original demo here and see for yourselves!

It’s still low poly, although the worlds have twice the detail, and the lighting is much harsher. www.tomkail.com/snowbound

Why pick “change” as the theme?

It came out of a long, experimental design process. We knew

that Biome had to be about the world, rather than simply

using it as an area for gameplay, and we slowly realized that we wanted players to spend their time exploring for their

own reasons, rather than chasing any goals we enforced.

Having the world perpetually shift prevents players staying too long in any single world and helps them to see the life and death cycle as a way of life, rather than as an inherently positive or negative thing.

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in depth

How did you keep the visuals balanced?

The worlds are generated using a bunch of algorithms and rules. We try to keep them fairly loose to allow for a wide

range of worlds but also just tight enough that they still fit together visually. It’s a balance that doesn’t always work in every situation, but we’re happy with it for now. We’ve

found that embracing a wide and varied color palette,

mixed in with a good amount of abstraction, makes most worlds feel “right.”

There are about twenty unique templates we use to generate our terrains. Each template can be regenerated indefinitely, and they can be pretty varied on their own. Every world in

Biome is created from a mix of several of these templates,

allowing for millions of combinations. We’re looking to add many more templates as we get closer to release.

Let’s say you start in a coral reef. By interacting with the sand the water level falls, and the coral dies as the

environment transforms into a beach. From there you might touch the trees, leading to a jungle, or continue touching the sand, taking you to a desert. Desert rocks can

yield cliffs, canyons, or mesa. Rather than let you tug and

mold the world as many other games do, Biome lets you guide evolution of the land while millions of years pass.

One of the benefits of not having a deadline is that we can take the time to implement features the way we

want to rather than having to compromise our vision due to restraints. The best part is that the longer it takes to

optimize, the better devices people have, so the problem goes away on its own! We’ll try not to make you wait too much longer though!

Did this bring any challenges?

Plenty, but the hardest challenge by far was getting the worlds to evolve naturally, infinitely. It’s a challenge that most games that use procedurally generated environments (like Minecraft) don’t have, because they’re either static, or

only change in relatively small ways through player actions.

We’ve very recently changed how the evolution process works, but we’re certain that it’ll change again before release as we require more from the system.

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in depth

Developer: Knick Knack

Game: Biome

Website: http://lowpolyworld.com/ EFG

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then and now

Article by Jerry Kline

TOMB RAIDER

THEN & NOW

Crystal Dynamics' 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was well received by critics and fans alike,

selling millions for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

The “Definitive Edition” for the Xbox One and Playstation 4 includes improvements to the original game. The upgraded definitive edition

includes improved visuals, making Lara's reintroduction to the gaming world an even prettier

Tomb Raider (2013) • • •

one than before, and includes all previously

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Reboot of the popular franchise that started in 1996 for the PC, Sony PlayStation, and SEGA Saturn

Developed by Crystal Dynamics, who has been

handling the franchise since Tomb Raider: Legend

released downloadable content (DLC).

But what makes Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

so...well, definitive? The game itself is the same in terms of gameplay and story, but technically it has been revised and upgraded. Then it was

Tomb Raider, now it's Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition.

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Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (2014) •

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

•

Contains all previous downloadable content

•

Improved visuals

then and now

Object Physics

The physical objects Lara carries, such as her

climbing axe and bow, now have realistic physics.

As Lara moves throughout the island of Yamatai, climbing, running, and leaping, the items on her body bounce accordingly, as opposed to simply

looking as if they are plastered to her. Her bow will

bob as she runs, and her axe will swing from her hip. Individual arrows will jostle around in her quiver.

The new item physics mean that Lara's accessories look less plastered to her body, and more natural and attached.

To Tessellate or Not to Tessellate?

With tessallation on the edges of characters' faces and bodies they look much rounder, smoother, and more realistic. It's an especially noticeable effect on rocks and pathways. Unfortunately, tessallation

is only available on the PC edition of the game.

While the Xbox One and PS4 versions came later, tessallation is still exclusive to the PC edition.

It Must Be the TressFX

AMD's TressFX was one of the most noticeable

differences between the previous console versions and PC. TressFX allows Laura's hair to move in a more realistic manner. Her ponytail is affected by wind

much more than non-TressFX versions. Individual strands of hair are affected by wind and movement, as opposed to larger clumps of hair. Originally

TressFX was PC only, but the definitive edition has

“We did start with the idea of updating just her skin or a

update that allows better hair rendering.

the hardware and what was possible, we felt Lara deserved

brought it to consoles in the form of TressFX 2.0, an

Depending on how far away the camera is, it will render hair quality accordingly, so rendered strands

few extra polygons, but as we started to learn more about even more attention.”

- Crystal Dynamics Executive Producer Scot Amos

of hair will be reduced depending on how far the viewer is from the hair. The remaining hairs that are rendered are then thickened. This helps render Lara's hair with less performance issues.

Sub-surface Scattering

The definitive edition added sub-surface scattering,

which mean means that light now penetrates the surface layer of an object and scatters. It allows a

more realistic rendition of lighting. This is especially

noticeable in Lara herself, as she has more of a “glow” when light hits her skin.

New Lara

For the definitive edition, Lara herself has been rebuilt. Textures on her have been upgraded. But even more importantly, her face has been remodeled to be more expressive and detailed. Her jawline has

been re-shaped. Lara eyes are meant to be more expressive. She is literally a new Lara.

And Then Some

There are other changes to the definitive edition as well.

Dynamic foliage movement is one highlight point, making for better movement of plants as characters move past them. Wind will shake trees and foliage, making the

environments more realistic. The definitive editions run at 1080P resolution. Frame rate wise the Xbox One version is reported to have the lowest, clocking in at around 30, while the PS4 is unlocked, but is usually closer to 60.

Tomb Raider Moving Forward

Presumably we’ll see some of the definitive edition’s

changes come to the next game in the franchise, Rise of

the Tomb Raider. No doubt it will have better textures than

the previous game, and TressFX will probably be refined

and implemented once again. The story will continue to show us the rebuilding of a new Lara, as she copes with the fallout of the events of Yamatai island.

EFG

39

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