IGDA Perspectives "Best Of" Issue 2013

newsletter March 2013 | "Best of" Issue

Perspectives executive director

Best of the IGDA

O

ne of the greatest strengths of the IGDA is its incredible breadth of topics both internal and external to the game industry, as represented by our membership. Many of the very best and brightest thought leaders of our industry are members of the IGDA, and over the years they’ve contributed their insights and

wisdom to other developers through a variety of means – by giving talks, contributing their time as Chapter and/or SIG leaders, acting as mentors and, of course, through their writing. This special issue represents a great sampling of the IGDA’s offerings over the past few years and gives just a glimpse of what the IGDA has to offer.

- Kate

Kate Edwards Executive Director, IGDA

editor in chief

IGDA @ GDC!

W

elcome to GDC 2013!

The International Game Developers Association is happy to bring you our Perspectives Newsletter “Best Of ” issue. And hey, look, it’s printed, just for you! Please hold onto your copy dearly in the name of trees everywhere.

IGDA has a range of presence this year at GDC, especially in crafting much of the Advocacy Track.

Dustin Clingman will speak about much needed community support in difficult times. Wendy Despain, Richard Dansky, and others bring up health risks that game developers face. Coray Seifert also has a call out for Quality of Life. You can see him again hosting the AAA Level Design Bootcamp.

If you’re looking for challenging topics, Ian Bogost, Daniel Greenberg and Mike Capps tackle how we deal with the public image of the game industry. Also check out Tom Buscaglia speaking out against attacks on innovation in games. And Ian Schreiber’s Educator’s Rant in the Education Summit is sure to raise some eyebrows.

Catch the Production SIG, Diversity Advisory Board, Localization SIG, LGBT SIG, Women in Games SIG, and others groups in presentations and meetings!

You’re welcome to attend the IGDA Annual Meeting, visit us at the IGDA Booth and join in on IGDA fun at parties!

- Beth

Elizabeth LaPensée Editor in Chief, IGDA Perspectives Newsletter

Contents

IGDA PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER | MARCH 2013

06 BioShock Pitch Document: A Brief Analysis

Erik Robson

08 A Recipe for Homemade Jam:

Running Your Own Game Jam Chris Tihor

10 Data and Techniques

in Games User Research Veronica Zammitto

12 Positive Power Up:

Leading for Happiness!

Scott Crabtree

18 Drawing on Kids’ Imagination in Game Design Paul Gray

19 Three Questions For Being/Writing A Character

Sheri Rubin

20 Emergence in Game Audio Gina Zdanowicz

22 Highlighting IGDA’s GDC 2013 Scholars

Luke Dicken

14 Developers Without Borders Tom Slattery

16 Upcoming Trends

in Social Impact Games Emily Treat

| PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER | "BEST OF" ISSUE | MARCH 2013 | PAGE 3

Editor in Chief | Elizabeth LaPensĂŠe Art Director | Cat Wendt

igda perspectives newsletter Copy Editor | Brian Kung AUTHORS Erik Robson Chris Tihor Veronica Zammitto Scott Crabtree Tom Slattery Emily Treat Paul Gray Gina Zdanowicz Sheri Rubin Luke Dicken EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Kate Edwards BOARD MEMBERS Dustin Clingman | Chair Brian Robbins | Vice-Chair Ed Fries | Treasurer Sheri Rubin | Secretary Gordon Bellamy Darius Kazemi Cordy Rierson Coray Seifert LIFETIME MEMBERS Kathy (Schoback) Astromoff Ernest Adams Michael Agustin Thomas Allen Yassine Arif Andrew Armstrong Asad Aslam Charles Babb Michael Bartmess Hal Barwood Bob Bates Jessica Bayliss Julian Beak Gordon Bellamy Pamela Betts Bazil Akmal Bidin Jared Bills Michael Blake William Blough Richard Boehme Curtis Bolser Aaron Boonshoft Matt Brenner Sean Breslin Stewart Burns Tom Buscaglia Stephan Carpenter Alvin Caseria Joshua Caulfield Mark Cerny

Jonathan Cheatham YuChiang Cheng Andrew Claus Dustin Clingman Brenden Conte Ross Dannenberg Elliott Davis Sela Davis Mark DeLoura Christopher Diaz Dino Dini Brett Douville Elonka Dunin David Edery Kate Edwards Jon Estanislao Noah Falstein Ira Fay John Feil Dan Fischbach Richard Fleming Alister Fong Ming Yang Gary Foreman Rolando Fuentez Benjamin Gifford Ryan Gildea Stephane Gimenez Jeff Goodsill Juan Gril Misha Halvarsson David Harr Tamara Hartman Michael Hasty John Hattan Ben Hawes Charles Hawkins Sean Hernandez Daniel Hettrick Tobias Heussner John Hight Tristin Hightower Alan Hinchcliffe Wesley Hines Dehron Hite-Benson Stephan Hodes Mary Holtschneider Ian Horswill Chelsea Howe Kenneth Humphries Rob Jagnow Eugene Jarvis Hamilton Johnson Josh Jones Daniel Jung Peter Justeson Benjamin Kalb

Fredrik Kaupang Christopher Kingsley Neil Kirby Kenneth Kleiner Rolf Klischewski John Kopecky Malte Kosian Constantin Koumouzelis Thomas Kristensen Francois Lapierre Messier Andrew Leaf Frank Lee Martin Leibowitz Olivier Lejade Tristan Lewis Michael Lewis Patrick Li-Cheong-Man Matt Lichtenwalter Jess Loeb Clinton Lowe Brendan Luchen Philip Ludington Jen MacLean Jon Manker Tim McLennan Gene Mocsy Jamil Moledina Pablo Montoya Charles Moore Sally Mullan Pratik Murarka Jonathon Myers Kengo Nagata Douglas Naimo Christopher Natsuume Paul Nowak Casey O'Donnell Kevin O'Gorman Kevin O'Neil Kenji Ono Cliff Owen Kenneth Pariser Joe Pearce Jeff Peck Carlos Perez-Navarro Jane Pinckard Tatiana Prokudina Jared Psigoda Bob Quenneville Marla Rausch Eric Reinhart Bauer RenĂŠ Scott Rigby Brian Robbins Erik Robertson Giselle Rosman

Oren Ross Bob Rost Xavier Rousselle Simon Etienne Rozner Sheri Rubin Pablo Ruiz Paul Rylance Katie Sabin Emilie Saulnier Rocco Scandizzo Ronald Schaffner Jesse Schell Kristofer Schlachter Glen Schofield Warren Schultz Matt Scibilia George Sebolt Coray Seifert Jamison Selby Ying Sha Lee Sheldon Ryo Shimizu Grant Shonkwiler Benjamin Siems Drew Sikora Derek K Smart Michael Songy Blake Sorensen James Spaulding Warren Spector Diego Suarez Dwain Theobald Tim Train Lou Tranchitella Richard Tsao Feargus Urquhart Matthew Versweyveld Mary-Margaret Walker David Walker Gordon Walton Joyce Weisbecker Cat Wendt Mads Wibroe Arthur Wiesen Shane Williams Brian Winn Steven Woyach Kai Zheng Eric Zimmerman COVER Shutterstock / Albert Ziganshin

IGDA @ GDC 2013 You can look forward to great activities, as follows: THE IGDA ADVOCACY TRACK

During the Main Conference, the IGDA is presenting a series of sessions that will highlight important topics such as improving the public image of the game industry, dealing with misogyny in the online gaming space, quality of life topics around “crunch time” and more. Speakers include industry movers such as John Romero, Jane McGonigal, Anita Sarkeesian, Erin Hoffman, Ian Bogost, and Daniel Greenberg.

THE LOCALIZATION SUMMIT

This annual summit is organized entirely by the IGDA Localization SIG. When: Tuesday, 26 March - 10:00am-6:00pm | Where: North Hall, Room 131

IGDA VIP LUNCHEON

A special event for the IGDA's key contributors, leaders and sponsors (invitation only event).

IGDA ANNUAL MEETING

Don't miss this critical membership meeting and an overview of the org's past year and its future!

When: Thursday, 28 March - 1:00pm-2:00pm | Where: South Hall, Room 308 (Esplanade level)

SIG AND CHAPTER MEETINGS

These will take place on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (SIGs only on Thursday).

When: Monday and Tuesday, 25-26 March - 10:00am-5:30pm; Thursday, 28 March - 10:00am-6:00pm Where: Monday and Tuesday, North Hall, Rooms 113 & 114; Thursday, North Hall, Room 112

SIG & CHAPTER SOCIAL GATHERINGS

Take tihs opportunity to meet fellow SIG and Chapter members!

When: Wednesday-Friday, 27-29 March - 9:00am-6:00pm | Where: IGDA booth, South Hall lobby (street level)

THE IGDA BOOTH

This is our hub of activity throughout the week; meet your Executive Director, Operations Manager, IGDA board members, and keep up with all things IGDA!

IGDA-YETIZEN PARTY @ GDC 2013!

Date: Tuesday, 26 March | When: 8:00pm-2:00am | Where: Ruby Skye, 420 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 How: Visit our Eventbrite page and sign up! | What: The International Game Developers Association and YetiZen have teamed up to bring you 2013's Epic GDC bash...Yetis on Ice! Come and be thrilled by various street performers and artists galore (all vetted by the IGDA), drink and be merry. As always, an IGDA membership earns you a free drink! But don't worry - if you're not an IGDA member, you can register at the door! Note: This party will explicitly adhere to the GDC Code of Conduct; unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated!

MOGA GAMING SYSTEM

Renew or Sign-up for an IGDA Membership at GDC and claim a MOGA Mobile Gaming System! Any mobile game developer that signs up or renews their qualifying IGDA membership at the IGDA Booth on Monday, 25 March or Tuesday, 26 March (during the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit and Independent Games Summit) will be eligible to claim a MOGA Mobile Gaming System.

To learn more about how MOGA delivers a console experience to mobile devices, please visit http://www.powera.com/moga. Take the voucher to the MOGA booth in the GDC Expo during operating hours Wednesday through Friday and pick up your MOGA device!

The IGDA would like to thank its partners UBM and Game Developers Conference for helping the IGDA fulfill its mission of enhancing the careers and lives of game developers through networking, advocacy, and professional development by providing booth and room space at | PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER | "BEST OF" ISSUE | MARCH 2013 | PAGE 5 the conference - among many other things!

Erik Robson, October 2011

P

itch documents are strange animals.

They remind me of a man introducing himself to a woman and asking her on a date — it behooves him to present his best qualities with confidence and poise, while it’s in the woman’s interest to scrutinize him intensively.

Imagine that scenario as an unfolding narrative. Will the woman accept or reject his offer? We watch the man’s efforts without knowing whether they will prove to have been an exercise in futility or a heroic triumph. Because the outcome is unknown, we’re unable to find a proper dramatic frame for the man’s actions. We know that once the woman responds, we’ll reflect on his words and gestures and

image credit: BioShock

BIOSHOCK PITCH DOCUMENT: a brief analysis think, “Yeah, I can see why she didn’t fall for his bullshit” or “That moment right there, that’s where he hooked her.”

However, for that brief period before she accepts or rejects him, he’s the Schrödinger’s Cat of dating: at once both an earnest loser and a self-assured winner.

Game-pitch documents are like a portable snapshot of that brief period before you know the outcome, with all the awkwardness intact. I can read the original BioShock pitch document as a self-assured winner, as a self-fulfilling prophecy and as the foundation of a hit game. I feel like it’s more interesting and informative, though, to read it in its original context: “We’ve got a game we’d like to make. We think it will be good and will sell well. We’re going to need a lot of your money to do it, though.”

The game publisher’s goal, like any company, is to make money. The mechanism by which they try to make money will vary — there are publishers that specialize in casual games, or niche games, or

knockoff games, or arty games, etc. That specialization will shape their business plan and some of their operations, but it won’t change their goal.

When you walk into a publisher’s office with an initial pitch, there’s one question on their minds: “How will your game make us money?” (And, per individual in the pitch meeting, “How can my involvement in this project make me look good to my bosses?”)

They’re not likely to ask you that question, but I guarantee their questions will all originate from that one place. Why shouldn’t they? After all, you’re begging for money, trying to convince them that if they fund your project, they stand to make even more money.

Therefore, the primary job of the pitch is to answer the question. To say, as convincingly and professionally as possible, “Here’s how our game will make you money.”

It’s hard to know how successful BioShock’s pitch document was in and of itself — in the game’s postmortem, Project Lead Alyssa Finley writes that “… the project was signed after GameSpot ran an exclusive feature based on a single-room graphics demo.” Nevertheless, I’m going to examine the document with the assumption that it roughly matches the verbal pitch and that it didn’t change after it was presented. This examination will involve some conjecture on my part, and it’s important to note that any motives I ascribe to individuals or groups are speculation — carefully considered speculation, but speculation nonetheless.

It looks to me like the elevator pitch for BioShock was: “Imagine System Shock 2, minus that game’s mistakes we’ve learned from (complexity, interface), plus the best parts of Freedom Force (deep customization), on two platforms using a high-qual-

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ity modern engine.” In other words, the team members believed that System Shock 2 had a worthwhile core but that certain identifiable factors prevented it from selling as well as they’d hoped. Indeed, System Shock 2 was reviewed extremely well (92 percent average on Metacritic), but on sales, Ken Levine himself said, “I don’t know the exact figures, but it certainly wasn’t a blockbuster.”

So going into the BioShock pitch, trying to sell a new game in the mold of System Shock 2, Irrational probably had some clear goals: 1. Remind them of what was great about System Shock 2.

2. Talk about new ideas that are logical extensions of System Shock 2’s mechanics.

3. Get them excited about the new setting and story.

4. Where possible, address System Shock 2’s problems, framed as features of the new game. (Graphics, engine, platforms, multiplayer.)

5. Where necessary, address System Shock 2’s problems as lessons learned, and demonstrate solutions to those problems. (Complexity, interface, balance.)

The pitch document’s first half (pages 1-9) seems constructed to drive points 1-4 home, and it does that job well. The second half (pages 10-20) is devoted primarily to addressing point 5. But really, the summary on page 9 says it all: “The first-person shooter market on PC and especially console is stronger than ever. The race is on to figure out who is going to be the next Halo or Half-Life.

The staff at Irrational has demonstrated a unique ability to innovate in the firstperson market in both Thief and System Shock 2. BioShock will be the realization of the promise of those games.”

If I may paraphrase: “Games in our target genre have proven they can be hugely successful. We have a track record of innovation in this area, and we’re ready to bring our expertise to the mass market.”

With the strength of Irrational’s previous games behind it, that’s a damn persuasive argument. It punctuates a pitch that’s relatively conservative, with just enough innovation to stand out in a crowded field, set to be executed by a group of people who’ve shown they know what they’re doing.

That said, a few things surprised me in the pitch doc:

1. There’s a lot of talk about horror and scaring the player. It’s always been my impression that Western publishers are scared (ha!) of horror games. In terms of atmosphere and pacing (though not necessarily themes), BioShock is very close to a horror game. As far as I’m concerned, Irrational deserves kudos for pitching BioShock with a horror component, and Take-Two deserves kudos for being good with that.

2. The second half of the document — the “Design Annex,” pages 10-20 — contains more information than I think is necessary, particularly in the backstory and enemy sections.

A pitch doc isn’t a design document; its job isn’t to preemptively answer any given question the publishers might have about the game. You,

“there's one question on their minds: 'How will your game make us money?'" the pitcher, need to have answers prepared if they start asking detailed questions during the pitch, but the pitch doc is there to support your presentation and get left behind so people can pass it around. Keep it simple. If and when the publisher reaches the next stage of interest, they’ll ask for a design document.

3. I thought the little snippets of quotes from characters were neat. They were unobtrusive, and they were easy to skip over for the bottom-line guy who just wants the bullet points. However, they functioned a lot like supplemental illustrations, providing a bit of fictional context.

4. I’m not sure why they didn’t talk about the Unreal engine and FPS expertise Irrational surely acquired while producing SWAT 4. Maybe this document significantly predates SWAT 4? (Side note: SWAT 4 was a brilliant follow-up to the great SWAT 3, and I’d give anything to see Irrational produce SWAT 5.)

5. The doc oscillates between present tense and future tense. It seems relatively minor, but present tense tends to feel more solid and committed. At the early pitch stage, when the publisher doesn’t really know how far along you are in development, there’s a palpable difference between “there’s a cool thing that will happen in our game eventually” and “here’s a cool thing that happens in our game.” The pitch doc is not a legal document, and you’re not lying if your game doesn’t yet do that thing; the present tense’s persuasive qualities make it worthwhile.

6. I was surprised after reading the pitch doc in the context of BioShock’s postmortem. After Finley’s description of how much the game changed late in development, I expected the pitch doc to describe a game that was radically different from the final product, but it wasn’t.

I suppose the game could have been pitched conservatively, then grown in wild new directions during development, only to be reigned in at the 11th hour, but without more insight, I’d say that setting and characters aside, BioShock’s pitch is remarkably similar to the final product.

And really, that might be the finest testimonial to the effectiveness of bothBioShock’s pitch and the final game — Irrational presented its vision and persuaded the publisher to fund it; the game accurately reflected that vision; and finally, gamers embraced it.

———————————— References: Pitch doc part 1: http://www.gamepitches. com/2010/05/irrational-games-BioShockpitch-document/ Pitch doc part 2: http://irrationalgames.com/ insider/from-the-vault-june/ Postmortem:http://www.gamasutra.com/ view/feature/3774/postmortem_2k_boston2k_.php?print=1 SS2 reviews: http://www.metacritic.com/ game/pc/system-shock-2 SS2 sales quote: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/03/making-of-systemshock-2/

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A RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE JAM: Running Your Own Game Jam

image credits: Veer / artenot & Veer / Daniil Chetverikov & Veer / magicinfoto

Chris Tihor, November 2012

T

here is nothing quite like a game jam. Getting together with likeminded individuals and devoting a chunk of time to the act of game creation without any outside pressure like making a marketable product can be a thrilling and invigorating experience. It helps build communities, gets the creative juices flowing, and is just plain fun. And fun is a valuable commodity. When struggling to get that last layer of polish on your professional game project, you can too often lose sight of the fun that drew you into making games in the first place. Game jams are a great way to get back in touch with fun and attempt those wacky projects that you wouldn’t normally think twice about.

But what if there are no game jams going on in your area? Simple. You can run one yourself. At least, that’s what indie developer Andy Moore decided to do. He started OrcaJam as a small local game jam in Victoria, British Columbia a few years back and it’s become bigger and more popular with each successive year, attracting guests from across Canada and the United States. I talked with Andy recently and got the scoop on what’s involved in running a local game jam.

One of the key elements in running a game jam is finding the right space for it.

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a space: number of attendees, event budget, 24 hour accessibility, etc.

A common strategy is to approach large institutions like universities and ask for donated space to hold a game jam. They’re usually willing to do so, but oftentimes certain conditions must be met. For example, you may be required to hire extra security guards if you wish the space to be accessible during off hours. Another thing to watch for is that the institution may demand partial or full ownership of any intellectual property developed during the event.

With OrcaJam, Andy decided to go a different route: he looked to local hotels.

Hotels can be a good choice for game jams. They often have meeting or conference rooms that are large enough to hold a decent sized crowd, 24-hour access, and rooms with beds when the energy drinks are no longer doing the job. The downside is that they can cost quite a bit, especially for the more upscale venues. The most recent OrcaJam was held at a cost $1200 CDN for the weekend, which was

mid-range for Victoria where the prices range from $400 to $2500 CDN on the high. In addition, some venues will require spending a mandatory minimum amount on catering, which brings us to our next subject: food.

Providing food isn’t required, but it’s considered good manners to provide snacks. Hotels often have a “No Outside Food” policy, so if you want to provide anything for your jammers, you’ll need to make use of their internal catering services. Catered food can be pretty expensive, often equaling the cost of the room rental, so you’ll want to be sure to budget for it. If you are permitted outside food at your venue, you may want to check your local grocery store for prepared food trays featuring cold cuts, cheeses, crackers, fresh fruit and the like – satisfying finger food that isn’t too messy. You’ll want to try to minimize any cleanup that you need to do after the fact.

With OrcaJam, Andy followed both routes. When permitted, he would bring in sandwiches and other food trays.

Otherwise, he would make a deal with the hotel when booking the space and receive catering at a discount. Andy recommends always trying to get a deal or ask for a discount when planning your jam. More often than not, businesses will give you a deal, especially if you can guarantee a good turn out.

You may be asking yourself, “How am I going to pay for all of this?” Selling tickets to the jam are one way to help cover your costs, but finding the right amount to charge can be tricky. You want to be sure that you charge enough to recover some of your costs and to make it appealing to prospective jammers. Charge too much and people won’t pay it, but charge too little and people will think that your jam isn’t worthwhile. Also, offering early-bird bonuses like ticket discounts or prizes is a good way to get an early idea of how many people will be attending. For OrcaJam, Andy charged $20 per ticket and offered a free event T-shirt for early-bird ticket buyers.

A more effective way to fund your jam is to find sponsors. Sponsorship can come from any number of different sources. OrcaJam received funds from the University of Victoria, both from the university in general and from the computer sci-

ence department in particular. They also received funding from a few of the larger local game companies like Kano Apps and GameHouse Canada. Besides money, companies can also donate network hardware, game development software, and prizes for the jammers. In return, they may ask to be recognized and mentioned as sponsors at the event. Not too bad a deal at all.

But how does one find sponsors in the first place? Sometimes, all that’s required is puting the word out assuming that you have some decent connections. But, says Andy, getting those connections isn’t that difficult either. It’s mainly a matter of getting involved with your local IGDA chapter or game development groups or getting out to some game conferences and meeting people there. Some of his sponsors were just chance encounters who happened to be looking for sponsorship opportunities. It goes to show: you never know whom you might meet. Sometimes networking can pay off in a big way.

So there you have it. All you need to get your own game jam under way. If you have more questions, there are plenty of resources on the Internet, including pages for existing and well known jams such as Ludum Dare and OrcaJam. If you’re looking for a Game Jam to jump into, January’s Global Game Jam is just around the corner. You might want to check out their website to see locations near you.

Or, if none are close by, you may just want to host one yourself.  -----------------------------------------Links: OrcaJam http://www.orcajam.com/ Global Game Jam http://www.globalgamejam.org/ Game Jam Central http://www.gamejamcentral.com/ Ludum Dare http://www.ludumdare.com/ Andy Moore http://www.andymoore.ca/ Chris Tihor is a writer, narrative designer, creator of comics, and organizer of IGDA Victoria. He’s also the creative dynamo behind Ironic Iconic Studios. You can check out some of his work at http://www.ironiciconicstudios.com/.

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DATA & TECHNIQUES in Games User Research Veronica Zammitto, August 2012

W

hat is the ultimate goal of a video game? To provide the user with a great experience.

Games User Research (GUR) is the applied field that looks into exactly that, evaluating if the game is achieving the intended experience. Terms like “flow”, “engagement”, “fun factor” and “wow moment” are all trying to describe the ideal experience that a game should create.

Multiple disciplines contribute their knowledge to Games User Research, including psychology, usability, ergonomics, social science, human-computer interaction, cognitive science, and communication.

We borrow psychological theories to better grasp players’ emotions, we used cognitive science to assess players’ attention, we look into social science to draw multiplayer behaviors, and we tap into usability to achieve efficiency in our games.

With this GUR theory framework in mind, the next question is how we are actually supposed to get information about the quality of the experience the game is providing.

There are several techniques that can be applied to gather user data, each of which will tell you a different piece about the user experience. Let’s explore this “toolbox”, thinking about these techniques mapped on a two dimensional model.

Both axes represent a continuum: • The Y axis ranges from Subjective to Objective: Subjective data is linked to the particular perception of the user, for instance uttering

“This game is engaging”, whereas Objective data can be directly observed. One such example of gathering Objective data is measuring the user’s skin conductance level.

• The X axis ranges from Qualitative to Quantitative: Qualitative data is rich in descriptions, whereas Quantitative data relies on numerical measurements. For example, a qualitative question might ask “What’s your impression about the difficulty of this level?”, and a quantitative approach would be to analyze the telemetry on number of times the character died, or how many times the user restarted the level.

There are no inheritably “good” or “bad” techniques.

The trick is to employ the most appropriate technique for answering what you’re looking for.

I’ll briefly explain each technique from the chart: • Focus Group: This technique consists of leading a discussion with a group of people to gauge their perception, opinions, and attitudes toward a game or aspect of it. While participants don’t actually play the game, this technique is good for testing the waters for a new IP or style.

• Survey & Questionnaires: these

image credit: Veer / Infinity

instruments consist of a series of questions. However, there are multiple types of questions for these techniques. For instance, open questions where the participant can write whatever they want or likert-scales where users indicate their level of agreement to a given statement.

• Interviews: An interviewer leads a conversation with questions. You can have an interview before or after a game session.

• Journal or Diary: Users are given the game to play and a journal, which can be blank or have predefined fields. Users write every time they play, capturing what happened along with their experience, thoughts, and feelings.

• Think Aloud: Participants are asked to think out loud while they play the game. They are encouraged to speak out about what they are doing and express different thoughts

and feelings that arise from playing.

• Cognitive Walkthrough: An expert on usability and video games examines the ease for new users to achieve tasks and the responsiveness of the game at each required step.

• Expert Evaluation: An expert on usability and video games assesses the overall game from both game design and user perspective.

• Heuristics: This involves an expert reviewing the game according to recognized usability and user experience principles (a.k.a. “rules of thumb” or “good principles”.)

• Card Sorting: Users are given cards each labeled with a menu and submenu items of the game, and they are asked to group them as they see fit. The results unveil users’ mental model about the cohesiveness of the menu.

• Telemetry: A set of code-hooks in the game engine to track events

which reveals users’ in-game behavior. A typical example is a heat map of the level indicating the number of deaths.

• Direct Observation: The user plays the game while the user researcher keeps track of player’s behaviors, body posture, facial expression, and other reactions.

• Biometrics (a.k.a. psychophysiology): Players’ physiological signals (like heart rate, skin conductance, facial muscles, and eye gaze) are tracked and measured continuously while they play a game. Those signals are translated into emotions and attention.

You also have to out-weigh the pros and cons of each technique.

For instance, think-out loud is great for having a glimpse at users’ thoughts, but the act of talking constantly while playing is also introducing “noise” and detracting from the experience itself.

Conversely, biometrics can tell you exactly how they are feeling but not why. Planning is critical for success.

Think ahead of time what you want to know and choose which techniques are the most appropriate to answer your questions.

As you see, each technique will tell you a piece of the user experience. Using different techniques will complement the other and you will obtain a more complete understanding of how your players are experiencing your game.  ----------------------------------------Veronica Zammitto is a Games User Researcher at Electronic Arts Canada. Her background is rooted in psychology, HCI, and game studies which ideally positions her to understand game user experience. She holds a Master in Interactive Arts and Technology from Simon Fraser University. Veronica has written numerous scientific articles on game research, including user experience, gamers’ demographics, usability, and believable characters. She has presented at international conferences in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, including venues like GDC, CHI, and DiGRA. Veronica’s main research goal is to better understand players’ reactions and to provide feedback to game developers with actionable data to ensure informed decision during the game development process.

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POSITIVE POWER UP:

Leading for Happiness! image credit: Veer / kanate chainapong

Scott Crabtree, September 2011

A

s a leader, would you say what my old boss said? ”From now until the end of the project, we are going to be crunching. I expect everyone to be here 7 days a week, at least 12 hours a day.

If you don’t like it, go find another job; there are plenty of people waiting to take your place.” These were the words from my boss’ mouth many years ago, when I was programming for a console title. Needless to say, I didn’t like it. I tried to persuade my boss that some extra hours were fine, but 7 days a week 12+ hours a day wasn’t going to be productive, but he quickly dismissed my concerns and told me to get to work.

I found my productivity dropping fast. I was “plenty” motivated to be productive.

I wanted the project and the crunch time to end! But stewing in my anger toward the boss, I just couldn’t find and fix bugs at my usual rate. Neuroscience and psychology strongly suggest that the stress I was experiencing and the lack of insights to fix bugs were causally connected. Fundamentally, our brains are always in one of two modes: minimize risk, or maximize

reward. When we feel tense or afraid, we head toward the flight or fight response, where our limbic system takes over. It essentially says to the rest of our brain “I’m in charge now. We are under threat and we have only 3 good options for survival: running away, fighting, or freezing.” Creative, insightful thinking doesn’t help us survive under immediate physical stress, so the limbic system dominates. The human cortex, responsible for creativity, insight, and much more, is relegated to the background. The fight or flight response is highly adaptive; it helps keeps us alive under immediate physical threat! The problem is, we can easily enter this more limited state of brain function when under emotional stress as well. In my stressed out crunching state, my brain doesn’t work as well at fixing problems.

A number of studies have found that when we are in a positive state of mind, we are more creative, energetic, productive, resilient, cooperative, sociable, and healthier.

Happiness widens the scope of attention and increases behavioral repertoire. Anyone will make better games if they are happier!

What do I mean by ‘happy’? Scientists use the term “subjective well being”. ‘Subjective’ because a valid way of measuring someone’s happiness is to ask them how happy they are. “Well being,” indicates that scientists are studying more than what gives people positive emotions. When scientists study “subjective well being”, they also look at longer lasting elements such as life satisfaction, a feeling of long-term contentment and a sense of meaning.

As a leader, you can’t control the happiness of others, but you certainly have a strong influence over those you are leading.

What can you do to help keep the brains you are managing in positive states where they will do their best work? Neuroscience and positive psychology have produced many actionable findings in recent years.

Some of the most powerful include striving toward goals, maintaining a positive attitude, and nurturing relationships.

Striving Toward Important Goals Most of us believe that achieving our goals will bring us great happiness. It does, but not as much happiness as we think and the good feelings don’t typically last as long as we think. A more sustainable source of happiness is making progress toward goals that are important to us.

Setting goals with those you are leading, making sure the meaning of those goals is clear to your people, and then regularly tracking progress toward those goals will be both good for your game development and good for your team’s happiness. This will be especially true if a person’s goals align with their strengths.

Many large companies evaluate their leaders in part on how well they connect their people with larger strategies and goals. Science suggests there is good reason for paying attention to those skills.

When an employee understands how the work he is doing contributes to a larger meaningful goal, he will derive more meaning from his own goals, and be more engaged in the pursuit of those goals.

People perform better when the goals have a coherent explanation. Co-create goals with each of your reports so that each person is using his strengths and contributing toward a larger goal that means something to them.

Positive Attitudes It may sound cliché, but looking at the bright side does make us happier, and therefore more productive. This is espe-

cially critical in teams. In a remarkable study Frederickson, Losada, and Heaphy[1] watched 60 teams do annual business planning. They evaluated the success of those teams as objectively as possible, using criteria such as revenue, profitability, and thorough “360 degree feedback”.

The scientists did not participate in the planning meetings in any way. They did observe the planning, and simply noted several aspects of the sessions. Most relevant, they counted the number of positive and negative comments in the groups. The highest performing group had over 5 positive comments for every negative comment. The middle performing teams averaged about 2 positive comments for every negative one, and the lowest performing teams had more negative comments than positive ones. You may interpret this as pure correlation; the successful teams had positive things to say, they were filled with smart people. The scientists believe that there is a causal effect and I agree with them. Meetings with mostly positive comments make people feel safe, putting their brains in creative “maximize reward” state, where they do their best work.

When I lead my workshop titled The Science of Being Happy and Productive in Game Development and get to this data, I routinely ask if anyone has been in a meeting of more than 5 people in the past 5 months with a ratio of more than 5 positive comments for every negative comment. I occasionally get 1-2% of hands up. This indicates that most of us are missing our team’s best work, by tolerating mostly negative comments. At many companies where I’ve worked, people show how smart they are by criticizing other people’s mistakes. While pointing out errors may sometimes be necessary, failing to praise the positive produces a negative meeting environment that gets brains into “minimize risk” mode.

In addition to role-modeling positive interactions in meetings, as a leader you can specifically carve out time for them.

This is especially useful at the beginning of a meeting, to set a positive tone and put brains into a positive state. For my own staff meetings, I consistently put ‘recognitions’ as the first agenda item. The first time I tried this it went over like a lead balloon. I said “OK team, I want to start each staff meeting with recognitions.

This is simply a chance to say something appreciative about someone else on the team, typically because they’ve done

something helpful to you in the past week.

So, recognitions anyone?” Dead silence.

This is when I explained to my team that science strongly shows that those who express gratitude experience an increase in their own happiness, and that happier people do better work. The next week again I asked for recognitions, and again got almost no response. However, after a few weeks, the team really started to get into it. I would ask for recognitions, and Steve would say that Julie really helped edit an article he was working on to improve the prose. Vipul thanked Sam for help debugging a tough problem, and Nolan recognized Greg for helping him brainstorm design ideas for the project he was starting. This kind of recognition gets everyone’s brains into more positive states, setting the tone for a more positive and productive meeting. It is also a great step toward building better relationships.

Nurturing Relationships Maintaining good relationships with colleagues can be challenging. On top of the challenge of working with a diversity of personalities, typically colleagues in an organization are in competition with each other in some way. Conflict is a fact of work life at most companies. Game companies, with complex projects, deadlines, and all the stress of crunch time can strain even the strongest relationships.

However, the science is quite clear: positive relationships are extremely important for happiness. So taking time to meet regularly one-on-one with your people is time well invested. A few minutes of social chat at the beginning of such meetings is not a waste of time, but a valuable relationship builder. Taking time to celebrate wins, blow off steam, and just socialize is worthwhile.

You may feel you don’t have the time for this, but indications are it will actually produce better results. Trust is often built on simply knowing each other as human beings, and trust is the foundation of good teamwork. We are social animals and need solid relationships to keep our brains positive and working best. Taking time to know each other personally will result in better relationships, which results in happier brains doing better work.

Back Around The value of leading with positivity is clear, both for the well-being of your team, but also for the bottom line. Being a positive leader will increase your own happiness

as well. Studies by Dr. James Fowler at UC San Diego suggest strongly that happiness—and unhappiness—are contagious. If we are dealing with happy people, we tend to be happy. So by putting forth some positive energy and working to lead your team toward happiness, you will ultimately be helping to produce your own happiness as well. As a result, you may be more creative, successful, and engaged at work. You will likely produce better games. You will even live longer as a result.

So remember to lead positivity whenever possible! Bring positive energy to your organization by helping your colleagues strive toward important goals, maintain positive attitudes, and nurture positive relationships.

Tip of the Iceberg In a short article like this, I can only scratch the surface of the many valuable and actionable findings coming out of neuroscience and positive psychology. For more information including a recommended reading list, please visit HappyBrainScience.com or contact me using Scott <at> HappyBrainScience.com.  -----------------------------------------Scott Crabtree has been making video games for over 20 years, and is the founder of HappyBrainScience.com. He is an expert on the application of neuroscience and the “science of happiness” to game developers and other business organizations. Through workshops and individual coaching, he helps companies and individuals make the best use of their brains. He has presented at GDC, the IGDA Leadership Forum, and numerous private companies. He has written multiple articles for Gamasutra.com and served as technical editor for Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. Scott has developed games with companies including Microsoft, Mattel, Disney, LEGO, and more for a variety of console, PC, and mobile platforms. His most recent published game is Twist Tac Toads for iPhone. He currently serves as the Tech Strategist for the Intel AppUp Developer Program. He can be contacted using Scott <at> HappyBrainScience.com.

-----------------------------------------[1] Sources include Frederickson, Barbara, (multiple publications) and Losada, M. & Heaphy, E. (2004). The role of positivity and connectivity in the performance of business teams: A nonlinear dynamics model. American Behavioral Scientist, 47 (6), pp. 740-765

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image credit: Veer / BlinkBlink

DEVELOPERS WITHOUT BORDERS Tom Slattery, December 2010

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ooking to take your next job search overseas? Good for you! Not only can an international move be a fantastic opportunity for personal growth, but willingness to consider relocating gives you a great deal of leverage when looking for a position. With unemployment rates climbing, it can be easy for companies to adopt the attitude that there are always other fish in the sea. But as you have probably already realized, in the modern world, it is also very easy for the fish to swim to other seas â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the good fish

tend to go where the waters are bountiful.

To find and keep the very best, employers need to be competitive globally. If they fail to do so, they empower employees to expand their horizons â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and those employees may be surprised at just how many possibilities are out there for the open-minded.

For me, moving to Japan after college turned out to be an excellent career move.

Things that would have meant very little here in the United States, like being a native speaker of English and having

familiarity with the North American video game market, suddenly became impressive qualifications. I was able to land interviews at major game companies, despite having little relevant experience. At home, I likely would have found myself a victim of the great employment paradox (you need experience to get a job, and you need a job to gain experience), but in Japan, I found myself in a dream position almost effortlessly. And I was hardly the only one.

In the five-plus years I spent doing localization work in Japan, I witnessed a steady

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influx of foreign talent into the Japanese games industry. Some companies were simply seeking the most talented programmers and artists they could find and discovering an increasingly diverse pool of applicants. Others may have been actively attempting to diversify their staff in hopes of capturing a larger piece of the overseas market with games aimed at foreign audiences. Some smaller studios merely seemed to want a native English speaker or two on staff to be their go-to people for international communication and other linguistic issues. (Hey, why not? Even if most day-to-day communication is done in Japanese, a bilingual programmer is still more useful than a monolingual programmer, right?) Regardless of the reasons, the trend was apparent.

Interestingly, I also witnessed a steady exodus of foreign talent from Japanese games companies during that same span.

People moved on for a variety of reasons: growing families, dissatisfaction with working conditions, lack of advancement opportunity or compensation failing to keep pace with experience and expertise.

What they tended to have in common, though, was the lack of any particular reason to stay in Japan and the knowledge that — with the skills and experience they had acquired — they could do better for themselves elsewhere. Unlike many of their colleagues, who considered their situations only in relation to other jobs in Japan, these globetrotting ex-pats were more than willing to work as long as it benefitted them and then move along the moment they found themselves spinning their wheels in the mud.

This past summer, I joined their numbers.

Let it be said: Moving across the globe for a new position is not for the faint of heart. It was by no means an easy thing to do. I spent well over a year from the time I began seriously looking until I landed my current job. During that time, I applied for numerous openings in multiple countries, endured a great deal of frustration and wasted money trying to second-guess my own future. However, for those adventurous souls willing to endure the hardships involved, the payout can be great. In my case, the process taught me a great deal and, most important, ended with me obtaining a job I love and being more satisfied with my work and life situation than I have ever been before.

If you are considering making a major move the next step in your career, you may

want to keep the following tips in mind: Don’t rely on online applications.

Living in another country is a major red flag on an application. It means the company will have to fly you around the world and put you up in a hotel if they want to have an interview; they will have to wait a few months for you to obtain a visa; you will probably need relocation assistance; and you won’t be able to move very quickly on the position. Even if the last two or three are untrue, the automated system or human resources staff member who receives your application is unlikely to ask before they discard it. Hiring someone who lives abroad is a pain. If at all possible, use your connections and get your résumé to someone who cares and will actually read it. If you have no choice but to apply through an online system, don’t set your hopes too high. Your chances of ever hearing back are slim, even if you’re a shoe-in for the position.

Be persistent.

As I said, hiring someone who lives in another country is a pain. A simple telephone interview can be difficult to arrange when your contact’s working hours are your sleeping hours. The person at the other end may have to do research just to figure out how to make the call. Be accommodating, and do as much of the work for the other person as you can. It can be very tempting for a hiring manager to set your application on the backburner and wait for something easier to come along. Don’t let that happen! Time is your enemy. Keep the lines of communication open. If you have been waiting for a long time, there is nothing wrong with asking for a status update and perhaps suggesting some times that would be convenient to talk.

Get yourself where you want to be.

Being physically present in the area of your job search is the single best way of improving your odds. When I had been as persistent as I could be without being annoying and was seeing no signs of being flown anywhere for an interview, I didn’t wait. (Time is your enemy!) I planned a trip, e-mailed the companies to which I had been speaking and requested the interviews I had hoped would be requested of me. It worked. Not only did they all say yes, but it turned out to be what landed me a job. The difference in response is amazing when you change the proposition from coordinating an international visit to reserving a meeting room for an hour.

A friend met with similar frustration applying for jobs for abroad and decided it would be best just to pay for her own relocation and then look for a job. After moving, she had no trouble at all. It’s certainly a riskier route, but if you are willing to forgo relocation support, it can also make the process a lot easier.

Plan far ahead.

Moving overseas is a major undertaking; if you have a family, home or other obligations, it is even more of one. If you are seriously considering a move, get the ball rolling as soon as you can. Obtaining visas for spouses and children is fairly painless in many countries. Obtaining a U.S. green card, on the other hand, is a notoriously long and difficult process. My wife and I wasted money applying for a fiancée visa, anticipating we would move sooner than we actually did, and ended up having to pay again to apply for a U.S. green card since we got married in the interim. Still, we decided we would rather spend the extra money than run the risk of having to live in different countries for several months waiting for a visa to be approved.

Think about the time required for all of the things you will have to do and ways you can manage the uncertainty of not knowing if or when an offer will come and how quickly you will need to act on it.

Put the numbers in context.

Job-hunting is never simply a game of comparing numbers, and when considering an international move, it is even less so. Salary is obviously a major factor to consider, but trying to compare salaries for different countries is much like comparing apples to orangutans. Tokyo often ranks as the most expensive city in the world, and starting salaries tend to be very low there.

However, you also don’t need a car in Tokyo, taxes aren’t too high and the cost of medical care is extremely low. If you aren’t familiar with the living costs in another country, make sure you get familiar with them before you try to figure out just how far a salary will go.

With all that in mind, good luck! It may seem daunting, but an international move can be incredibly rewarding when all is said and done. Some of us even go back for seconds! 

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UPCOMING TRENDS in Social Impact Games image credit: Veer / cienpies

Emily Treat, September 2012

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merging trends in the game community at large hold an increased potential in social impact games.

As social, mobile and data driven games explode into the industry, they increase the prospect for impact and substantiate the credibility of social impact games.

With the growth of these trends, opportunities for games to create a social impact are at an all-time high.

A colleague recently articulated in very simple terms that the way towards successful cultural and social change is through mobilizing groups: friends influencing friends. As our world becomes increasingly connected through social platforms that thrive on social games, it is clear that there is opportunity to leverage this perception and produce games that purposely bring people together to address social causes.

Social games on Facebook have swept into the industry and brought with them new opportunities to connect friends in asynchronous play. Organizations are starting to leverage these opportunities for the viral awareness-raising and the friends-influencing-friends cycle that my colleague was so enthusiastic about. The immersive storytelling nature of games invites dialog about complex issues and allows friends to enter a space together where they can empathize with characters and scenarios.

As social games create new spaces for people to solve problems together, friends connect on issues to catalyze dialog between larger groups, and make a real world impact. WeTopia has demonstrated that social games can be used to raise awareness and provide an engaging game space all in one. With the power to connect people globally, the game provides a playground for friends to connect and work towards helping people in the real world.

Mobile devices introduce another opportunity for social impact games. Mobile access is surging globally, and along with

communication capabilities, increased access brings games into the hands of rural villagers in developing countries. Though a formal infrastructure for developing mobile games is still emerging, and challenges still exist, very soon this will be commonplace.

As mobile devices become increasingly available, the games which are created for them reach audiences that may see no other form of digital media. While aid organizations such as mHealth explore what mobile devices can do for the developing world, other organizations like Games for Change are exploring how this can be enhanced through games. As the barriers towards creating games for the developing world break down, the opportunities for mobile games to make impact expand.

If games can be generated to raise awareness on disease, challenge cultural norms, or invite discussion on human rights, then getting them into the hands of the individuals who struggle most with these issues is paramount to the success of social games as a whole. As telecommunication

capabilities spread into remote regions of Africa and India, opportunities for games to make impact in these areas open up and to present new ways to catalyze dialog.

At the same time, mobile games are also increasing capacity in the Western world.

Every person owns his own mobile device that includes a built in game platform. The ability to reach a mass audience can be leveraged to drive dialog and crate lasting impact.

One of the best examples of this is Moleindustriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Phone Story. The game offered an engaging critique on the manufacturing of and lust for mobile devices.

As a conceptual piece, the execution of this could not have been better. And all the players in the game played their part: in response to the game, Apple banned the game from their app store, resulting in more attention towards the game and the issue it introduced. The attention quickly spread and generated stories in the New York Times, CNN, USA Today and the Huffington post, among others. The game elevated the discussion of environmental and human rights issues associated with

the mobile manufacturing industry and transferred a concept from the virtual world into the very real news media world.

Another emerging trend which has potential for social games is data. Data driven game design has remolded the game development process and provided a unique method for designing games.

But for social impact games, this has the potential for so much more.

Traditionally, social impact games and learning games have struggled to obtain quantitative data validating perceived game impact. Mostly due to costs for testing and evaluating, the challenge has always been to demonstrate lasting change. With improved and game focused data collection and monitoring capabilities, the ability to easily and inexpensively measure quantifiable change has emerged.

Architecting games to output data is not new, but the increasing ability to collect data will introduce necessary evidence to demonstrate the ability for games to raise awareness or build capacity. For example, Games for Change is developing a game to allow players to make donations and take action in the real world. Working to highlight the efforts of many NGO partners, the organization is able to use data to measure how many players are taking action. Measuring which game components

drive real world actions and obtaining accurate data on how to leverage game features generates information that can be shared with partners as a validation of the support the game offers. With data driven game design and data collection, it is becoming increasingly easy to track data on player behaviors which will help inform and confirm players to achieve desired learning or behavior outcomes.

With the emerging trends in social, mobile and data driven games, the ability to make impact is on the horizon. Games, as in any type of media or art, carry the ability to ignite dialog, change perceptions, and challenge cultural norms. These three emerging trends invite opportunities for games to make social impact which is unprecedented.  -----------------------------------------Emily Treat has an extensive background as a producer and designer of educational games. Working as a Senior Producer, Emily extends her expertise to oversee social impact game projects at the Games for Change Lab. As a designer-producer, she works closely with impact partners, designers, developers, and other team members to produce and advise on high quality games that meet the high standards and mission of Games for Change.

INVEST IN INNOVATION:

Emily also supports new programs and initiatives to enable a range of “cause owners” to learn more about the space and leverage their investment. Emily began at Leapfrog where she worked on a range of e-learning platforms and products for children and teens.

Since then, she has worked as coordinator of the Scratch software and online community at the MIT Media Lab, produced learning games for 360KID, and worked in Kaplan Inc’s international office in London as lead designer and producer of an expansive online virtual world for language learning. Along the way, Emily has also spent time volunteering as a game design instructor in youth after school and community programs. Emily graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center in 2006 and earned her BA in Fine Arts and Cultural History, also at Carnegie Mellon. While in graduate school, Emily founded and directed an outreach program called Tech Nights for Girls to offer girls in middle and high school opportunities and mentors in technology.

She was a participating member in Carnegie Mellon’s Women@SCS program that delivered panel presentations on women in technology at AAAS, Grace Hopper Festival, as well as local middle and high schools.

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discover projects curated by the IGDA @ www.kickstarter.com/pages/igda

Wanna be an IGDA Scholar?

Visit www.igda.org/scholars for information onISSUE qualifications, judging and | PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER | "BEST OF" | MARCH 2013 | PAGE criteria, 17 required forms.

DRAWING ON KIDS' IMAGINATION in Game Design Paul Gray, July 2012

image credit: Veer / Evening

“The power of imagination makes us infinite.”

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his popular quote from John Muir is one that you might have seen.

When we look at videogames, it’s clear these interactive stories can help kindle our imaginations. For kids, this evolution can become truly incredible— kids have vivid imaginations and don’t hold back. They blend ideas and stories, role play scenes and imitate characters, creating their own stories for family and friends.

In creating a game for kids, the team here at Bubble Gum Interactive knew we had to involve them right from our earliest days. We knew we wanted to create a game based on our original story, of the Space Heroes facing up to the dastardly Lord Shadowbot, a not-so-evil villain with a fear of the dark. We also knew we wanted to create a kids virtual world – a safe, fun and social online game in which kids could interact, make new friends and play together.

Know Your Audience With these thoughts in mind, we invited over 50 kids to take part in a series of focus groups and game testing. We didn’t have a lot to show them, just some artwork and a limited prototype. We spent time talking to the kids about what mov-

ies they liked, which games they enjoyed and who their favorite characters were. We wanted to understand the universal stories they liked. We told them our story and introduced them to our character concepts.

We feel the storyline of Little Space Heroes is one of the main reasons players get interested in the game. The vibrant artwork and diverse environment has something for everyone. As we developed the game, Little Space heroes grew into a massive home world. This vibrant setting is where new players join the Space Heroes Academy, learn to use their jetpacks and bubble blasters and interact in social elements that resonate with their offline lives. In Little Space Heroes kids role play being the managers and employees of Stylebot’s Hair Salon or live out rock star dreams on stage in the Star Struck Theatre. They can dive underwater, explore a sunken pirate ship or fly through the galaxy with friends.

Through our work in these original focus groups, and through continually engaging with both kids and parents throughout game development, we’ve been able to change tack a number of times and adjust our thinking. For example, we at first had intended the game to be skewed towards

boys, but the many girls that took part in our focus groups and our beta testing period showed us how much they enjoyed the game. We learnt that it wasn’t relevant to pigeonhole kids based purely on age and gender. We talked to just as many girls that wanted to blow up asteroids as we talked to boys who spent ages personalising their hero’s space suit.

This showed us that kids gravitated to certain types of game play based on their personality. Some preferred the competitive types of play such as having an epic bubble blaster battle or racing in their starjets; others preferred nurturing activities such as adopting and caring for pets; some liked to set forth in their starjets and explore the virtual universe while others just wanted to hang out and chat with other players.

Creating your own model for your game and its audience is a great way to help your teams stay focused on who they’re creating the game for.

Don’t Forget Mom and Dad It’s important to know that when you’re creating a game for kids, you must also keep in mind that it’s the parents who make any purchase decision. We worked with leading Mommy and Daddy bloggers

and engaged industry experts to make sure we built the game experience in a way that not only met, but exceeded parent expectations around content-suitability, age-appropriate themes and gameplay, safety and value for money. Above all, it had to be fun and playable by kids on their own or with their older family members.

Little Space Heroes is free-to-play. Kids can create their own Space Hero, adopt a magical Glow and explore vibrant planets without paying a cent for as long as they like. Of course, we have a team of talented developers, artists and community people who work very hard to create the game so we offer optional premium memberships for those families that want unlimited adventure.

We’ve built Little Space Heroes with a number of innovations, from advanced chat-filtering that prevents personal info or profanity being shared to a moderator team that plays the game alongside kids and answers any questions. As our virtual universe is accessed globally we added multiple languages and allowed

kids to communicate easily wherever they are in their native language with multilingual menu chat. Our efforts have been recognised by leading safety and content suitability organisations around the world.

Little Space Heroes is certified kidSAFE+ and is rated E for Everyone and PEGIOK. It has been awarded the Creative Child Magazine 2012 Game of the Year,

a Parents’ Choice Approved Award and the Family Friendly videogames Seal of Approval to name just a few. Little Space Heroes now has more independent safety recognitions, endorsements and accreditations than any other virtual world for kids.

Draw Inspiration From Your Fans Little Space Heroes launched in late 2011 and we now have tens of thousands

of kids from over 80 countries blasting off for adventure every day. As a free online game for kids, our fan community is really starting to buzz and we’re amazed by their creativity. Our fans make videos, send in fan art, report bugs and suggestions and let us know what they think via the multiple engagement channels we’ve set up including the site itself, in-game reporting tools, a fan blog, Facebook page and Twitter too. It gives us a lot of feedback and this is synthesised back through to the wider team.

As a game developer, you need to keep your audience front and center in your decision-making. Take the time and make the effort to really understand your audience and involve them as much as you can. By inviting and using their feedback, comments and ideas you’ll be able to create a better game experience.  -----------------------------------------Paul Gray is the Community Director of Bubble Gum Interactive, makers of Little Space Heroes.

3 Questions for Being/Writing a Character Sheri Rubin, Fall 2009 IGDA Game Writing Quarterly

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here are three questions I ask myself when I’m preparing to write for a character:

I don’t have first-hand experience being a detective (though I’ve called enough customer service lines sometimes to feel like one), but I’ve ran into my share of snobby, arrogant rich people. So I can use my impressions of them to help guide how the character speaks or acts. Even for small things like stray kittens, I’ve rescued a cat before (he’s called Swarley) and valiantly tried to rescue others. I remember the sounds they’ve made when it’s raining and they were cold and wet. I know the meows of delight they made when presented with a nice bowl of tuna. So I can take that and use it to help the main character rescue a cat, or know what sounds a kitty might make when presented with some strawberries versus some salmon.

good) things were ‘back in the day’. Mac and Me is a story about an alien family that gets accidentally sucked up into a spaceship on their home planet, brought back “Have I ever gone through what this characto earth, they escape the lab, and the young ter’s gone through?” one, “Mac”, gets separated from the rest of The ultimate in “write what you know” his family. While yes, those creatures do means that if I’ve personally gone through not actually exist on Earth when it came what my character has or is going to go down to it they weren’t really that unique. through (or that’s what our team is planYou had a Dad and a Mom doing whatever ning!) then I try and recall my experiences, they could to keep their family safe and try relive the emotions of the memories, all and find their lost son. You had a boy who that gushy stuff. I ask myself what did I do, was lost in a strange place just trying to get what did I want to do, and what should I to where his family was hiding. Anyone who have done and then take all those answers has ever had to move to a new place with to help craft the character including back no way of communicating back home and story, story in the game, and even details surrounded by strangers has to know how like what they say. they feel. So when I’m faced with this I ask myself “really?” and then see if I can find a “Do I know this character or have I met this “Does this character not exist on Earth, really?” human analog to the situation and use it. type of character?”

Let me give a throwback here so those And those are the first three questions I Am I writing about a snobby, arrogant of us not in Generation Y and later can ask myself when preparing to write PERSPECTIVES "BEST ISSUE | MARCH 2013  | PAGE 19 rich person in a |“detective” game? MaybeNEWSLETTER either feel old| or smile atOF" just how bad (or a character.

EMERGENCE IN GAME AUDIO Gina Zdanowicz, June 2010

The following article first appeared on the community blog, Game Design Aspect of the Month (http://gamedesignaspect.blogspot.com), also known as GDAM, under the topic of Emergence. Each month, game designers and other industry professionals offer their views on a particular game design issue. Please participate by voting for June 2011’s topic. GDAM is currently edited by Sande Chen, founding member of the IGDA Game Design SIG. t’s no secret that over the years game audio has evolved from sound chip generated blips and beeps with simple musical melodies to three-dimensional

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SFX with epic sound tracks. In the past, the view of game audio was as a backdrop to the game’s visuals. However, more recent advances in game audio demonstrates that sound is no longer a subtle component of the game experience. In fact, sound is one of the key factors for total player immersion into to 3D virtual environment. Interactive soundscapes are the vehicle that forms the interactive partnership between the player and the game. Game audio designers are tasked with immersing the player into these 3D worlds and keeping them there by creat-

ing a unified soundscape made up diegetic (actual) and non-diegetic (commentary) sounds for both linear and interactive segments of the game.

As emergent game play becomes the more desired technique in game design, the outcome is a globally designed game system comprised of rules and boundaries for player interactions, rather than scripted paths and events. Players can use basic elements of the game such as the story or strategic moves to play the game in a way that was not specifically designed or implemented by the game designer. What

does this mean for game audio designers?

Simply put, game audio designers need to create techniques to adapt to this emergent and highly user interactive medium.

Emergent game design encourages “replayability” as each time the player plays the game they make different decisions, which changes the game as a whole and results in different possibilities for action and endings. Additional sounds and music are needed for the action brought on by these different choices. For example in the game Scribblenauts, the player can choose from over 10,000 pre-programmed words to create objects that will be needed to complete tasks in the game by writing it out. For instance, if a player wants a saw, they simply type or write, “saw” and it will appear in the game. The player then has the freedom to use and move the saw around in any strategic manner possible.

What’s interesting about this from an audio perspective is the fact that there are so many unique sound effects associated with the magnitude of objects that can be created by the player. The same magnitude of sounds are found in larger more open-ended game worlds but the draw in Scribblenauts is both the ability to create objects and to see and hear them in action on screen.

As game play choices and games become more filmic and realistic by nature, game audio designers adapt film audio techniques to achieve an epic and adaptive sound for their game environments. In the past, one of the biggest problems facing game audio has been the endless repetition of SFX that are triggered constantly along with short pieces of music which loop endlessly through the game without changing.

With increased memory available on modern consoles, game audio designers are filling their games’ soundscape with a variety of sounds that greatly improve the quality of this new generation of games: • Crisp dialog that cuts through the mix: Drake’s Fortune Uncharted 2 Among Thieves recorded all dialog while capturing the physical performance for the game on the Mo-Cap stage. Having all of the actors read their lines together on a single stage added a more definitive spontaneity to the scenes that you just can’t capture when recording lines separately in a sound booth.

• Minimizing repetition using alternate SFX: Game animations such as footsteps, effort noises or

armor movement can become very repetitive if there are only a couple of sounds, which are constantly triggered for each of those animations.

Adding subtle variety to footsteps in a game can break up that repetition quickly and make walking around the game world more enjoyable for the player. Good Foley, ambient loops that change subtly with the environment as well as flow consistently between in-game and cut scenes and attention to the little details enhance the games audio and immerse the player fully into the world. It can also provide more information to the user about their environment that they may not have been aware of.

• Mixing the soundscape with enough dynamics: God of War 3is a great example of a dynamic soundscape. The carefully mastered mix allows the sound elements to change subtly as Kratos moves through the world. Action in the distance sound closer as the action moves into what was the foreground. Ambient tracks mixed in a way that allows action in the foreground to supersede while allowing the music track to add emotional depth to the scene.

• Adaptive musical score: Adaptive Musical scores “adapt” as the game play changes and evolves based on the player’s choices. The use of branching music systems or stems allows the layering of musical or percussive tracks layers that can be flown in over the core layer to add enhanced tension or a positive vibe to the over all mood. Layers are used to build intensity as the player needs to be directed to move forward and additional layers with more tension and maybe more rhythm will be added as enemies approach and surround the players’ character. Layers of music can also build intensity, as the player’s character health is low. Real time DSP affects are used in conjunction with these musical layers to filter the sound to give the effect of a dizzying loss of life.

Layers can then be stripped away to lighten up the mood a bit by removing some of the rhythmic tracks and pulling back on the intensity as your player regains health or kills off the surrounding enemies and gets back to exploring the game and

moving onto the next stage. L.A. Noire is a great example of using musical cues that adapt to changing game play or to lead the player to the next action in the game. During the first mission or tutorial phase the player is instructed to search for clues. On-screen text informs the player that the music will fade down when all clues in that location have been discovered and musical chimes will indicate objects that can be examined. A small chime indicates objects that need further inspection.

Once the tutorial phase is over, it is up to the player to follow the musical cues through the game.

As game audio evolves, so does the technical aspect of sound design in games.

Audio designers have the ability to handle implementation of audio by using middle ware such as Fmod or Wwise with little to no programmer involvement therefore generating more control over the soundscape. Creating audio for interactive game segments can be a challenge as the players’ actions are able to alter the course of the game constantly and the sound needs to evolve along with those changes.

Audio middleware such as FMOD helps the audio designer overcome the issue of repetition in game audio by enabling the creation of a dynamic sound environment while optimizing resources of the game’s platform. It also allows the audio implementer to see what is happening to the layers of music as situations develop in the game. It unveils a sort of behind the scenes look at the process from the viewpoint of the middleware. This allows the audio implementer to be sure the music flows seamlessly from simple to percussive and complex and back to simple again with out any hiccups or a break in the sonic soundscape, which would quickly draw the deeply immersed player out of the game world.  -----------------------------------------Gina Zdanowicz is the Founder of Seriallab Studios, Lead Audio Designer atMini Monster Media, LLC and a Game Audio Instructor at Berkleemusic. Seriallab Studios is a full service audio content provider supplying custom music and sound effects to the video game industry. Seriallab Studios has been involved in the audio development of 40+ titles in the last few years.

| PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER | "BEST OF" ISSUE | MARCH 2013 | PAGE 21

Highlighting IGDA’s GDC 2013 Scholars Luke Dicken Rose Abernathy is a senior in Computer Science at Haverford College, where she’s writing an undergraduate thesis on narrative generation in video games. Creating games is her number one hobby, and as she prepares to leave school and enter the real world, she hopes to continue game development as a career. Rose enjoys many aspects of game development, but her favorite part is programming. She recently interned with Final Form Games, the indie studio behind Jamestown, and she hopes to meet more awesome developers at GDC. A recently graduated Game Development student of 6 years, Matt Dyet has two certificates, a diploma and a bachelors degree under his belt. He leads a professional development initiative, is a certified scrum master, and he’s introduced Agile methods to a company as part of a hugely successful internship coordinating a development team. He’s done everything from multimedia and design to programming and production, which has given him the unique opportunity to take part in dozens of projects. With his mixed skillset and drive to see projects succeed, he’s consistently slid into production roles, and he’s embraced his talent for it.

Izzy Gramp is studying Maths and Computer science at the University of Adelaide (that’s in Australia!), though has recently been hanging out with a bunch of artists. Izzy’s been interested in games / games development since she was a wee child, but a long the way picked up interests in photography, music, advertising and UI design.

She’d love to be entirely self-sufficient at making games, but until then she hopes to be either an AI programmer or a Designer of sorts. Currently she’s doing the 1-GameA-Month challenge, but attempting to relate them more towards humanitarian issues.

Michelle Hill is an Undergraduate in her fourth year pursuing a BFA in Game Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She specializes in character animation for games and is gaining enthusiasm

for character rigging.

As an animator, she is passionate about bringing characters to life and expressing their personality. When she is not animating, she enjoys drawing, painting or using her theatrics to create reference videos for future ideas.

Yngvill Hopen is a Norwegian concept artist, and the CEO of Henchman & Goon.

Her background is in traditional art and she has a passion for storytelling. Yngvill graduated with an M.A. in concept art for games and animation in 2012. After graduation, she went on to start Henchman & Goon along with 10 others, and is now working towards giving the company a foothold in the industry. Yngvill is also passionate about the developer community in her hometown. Her company is represented on the board of the Bergen Game Makers Guild, and take an active part in arranging local events and happenings.

Jukka Laakso is a third-year MSc (in Tech.) student from Turku University, located in the mystical land of Finland packed with enraged birds and clans, Nokia phones and Saunas. His studies focus around productization and business competence, but are also accompanied by different aspects of game development. He has always been a passionate consumer of video games, and decided last year to put his skills and passions together by becoming a game startup entrepreneur (http://blog.rival-games.com/ ). Together with 3 co-founders, he aims to create entertaining and gripping stories combined with user-friendly playability.

Justin Lara is an undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Computer Game Science at the University of California, Irvine.

He started taking programming classes during high school and instantly knew he’d found his calling. Now he enjoys spending hours writing code, particularly for game projects. He has worked on a number of personal and academic

projects as a gameplay programmer and plans to fill that role professionally in the future.

Harry Lee is a game designer and medical student passionate about play, puzzles, and surprises. In his “free time” he makes minimalist videogames, multiplayer non-digital play experiences, and the best vegetarian nachos ever. He is also the co-director of Freeplay, Australia’s longest running Independent Games Festival. His superpowers include the ability to change people’s perception of reality and getting lost in any city very quickly.

After graduating from the Comparative Media Studies undergraduate program at MIT, Michael Lin decided that he wanted to become a game designer.

To that end, he is currently pursuing an MFA in the Interactive Media Division at the University of Southern California. He primarily considers himself a designer, with a special interest in educational games and games for research, although like most RPG and adventure gamers, he feels the need to sample all possible options before committing to a decision.

Chris Mathews, an aspiring Environment Artist, is finishing up his last quarter at Savannah College of Art and Design and is really excited to get into the industry and attend GDC for the first time! He currently lives in Georgia U.S., but has spent most of his life in Virginia. He loves spending time outdoors and would have his computer set up outside if such things were possible. He’s recently been learning about architecture and how space and form are used to convey ideas and emotions within the built environment which he feels will improve his skills as an overall artist.

Christian Muriel is a game designer and producer currently living in Los Angeles, California where he is pursuing an MFA in Game & Interactive Media Design

at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. He has a B.A. from the ITESM, Campus Santa Fe in Mexico City in Animation and Digital Art. Christian is currently working on several research and thesis projects with fellow IMD students and faculty members. His passion for video games and design have encouraged him to work on the innovation in gameplay, new ways of playing, and the interaction people experience. He is excited to continue learning and creating new experiences that help shape a new era in the game industry.

As a young child, Brittany Oswald loved all things arts and crafts. Now as a computer engineering student at Iowa State University, she continues to be creative, but in a different way. She enjoys solving problems and teaching programming concepts in interactive and meaningful ways.

In her free time, she mentors elementary school students who are preparing games for a competition in the spring. She enjoys being a teaching assistant for the Video Game Programming Course on campus, and last year she co-founded the ISU Game Development Club and continues to encourage others to be creative and create games.

David Parker is a dual-degree Master’s degree student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, studying Business and Computer Science. At CU Boulder, he is a member of the Game Development club. He enjoys creating games (more than playing them!), and he would like to start his own indie game studio. He has completed four Ludum Dare events, where he has been learning to make HTML5-based games. His favorite games are Braid and Day of the Tentacle. He blogs at http:// davidwparker.com.

Bryan Ploof is a fourth-year Computer Science student at the University of California, Irvine.

Outside of his technical degree however, he pursues his passion of sound design for games and film. By collaborating with students in both the arts and the sciences, he has practiced his sound skills on multiple game and video projects. In 2011 he co-founded Thunderfish Entertainment, a small game company that released three games to Xbox Live Indie Games. Now he is a contributing author on CreatingSound.com, where he runs Sonic Backgrounds, an interview series on audio degree graduates.

For Jorge Riquelme, it all started when after wandering through life he decided to study Video Game Design at Instituto ARCOS in Santiago, Chile. Right after graduating with distinction, Jorge was offered a position teaching at ARCOS. Alongside this opportunity he also took a leap of faith and founded Pucara Studios to make games. He has a wonderful 1 1/2 year old son, and still lives in Chile.

Emanuel Rosu is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, he’s had the good fortune to discover and be able to work at the Games+Learning+Society Center, a lab devoted to studying and making games.

Thanks to volunteer experience teaching kids how to make their own interactive media, his first involvement at the GLSC was to jump onto a project creating a game-oriented curriculum. He has since also gotten started on the development side, working on the learning games produced there. Always excited by the serious conversations surrounding games, Emanuel is thrilled to be able to attend GDC. Tommy Rousse is a shamelessly interdisciplinary scholar studying the interplay between law and new media, especially games. He’s currently enrolled in the Analysis track of the MSc. for Games at IT University of Copenhagen and graduated from Northwestern University’s American Studies program in 2010. As producer of LAZA KNITEZ!!, an award-winning and internationally exhibited local multiplayer game, he realized game development is amazing. He moonlights as a critic, photographer, and editor.

Timea Tabori is originally from Hungary, finished school in Ireland and is now a final year Computer Games Technology student at the University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland.

Passionate about technology, she aims to be a programmer after graduating in June, especially interested in creating tools for games. Her love of games development started at an early age, making board games out of paper and sellotape before realising that games can actually be made on a computer. She taught herself 3D modelling in Maya and used Adventure Maker to create simple point-&-click adventure games at the age of 14. In her free time she loves to dance and captains her University’s Dance Team.

Drew Utterback is a junior at the University of South Dakota earning his bachelors in Business Management. He works with the campus Computer Science club and GayStraight Alliance. Last year, Drew was named a 2012 IGDA E3 scholar. In summer 2011, Drew interned with SkyVu Entertainment where he worked on marketing the popular mobile franchise BATTLE BEARS. Previously, Drew earned his associates in Video Game Design at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, Iowa, where he was a founding officer of the IGDA club.

Drew looks forward to working in marketing video games after finishing school.

Evan Yovaisis is a graduate student at the Academy of Art University pursuing his MFA in visual development for game design. He has always enjoyed bringing to life creatures and characters that don’t exist. His strong imagination and appreciation for the fantastic have fueled his passion for art. After moving to California for his graduate studies, he co-founded a game studio with several friends in order to begin creating games on their own terms. Currently his company is developing several games for mobile devices and the new Ouya Game Console launching in 2013.

Alex Zook is a third year HumanCentered Computing PhD student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, researching ways for artificial intelligence and machine learning to augment the game design process. He has worked as an analytics intern for BioWare and developed research games that automatically tailor game stories and combat to players according to designer specifications. Alex aspires to enhance game design through AI techniques that better inform designers about their designs and improve the experiences games deliver to players through real-time personalization.

Eric Dybsand Memorial AI Scholarship (GDC 2013) Owen Macindoe is an independent game developer and doctoral student with MIT Game Lab and the Learning and Intelligent Systems group. His research focuses on making AI sidekicks that infer and support human intentions using tractable belief space planning techniques. He is also an organizer for the MIT Global Game Jam site, MolyJam Boston, and a curator for Boston Festival of Independent Games. 

| PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER | "BEST OF" ISSUE | MARCH 2013 | PAGE 23

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