Game Design In a College Course~ A Survey ~

With Appreciation to My Advisor:Dr. Arturo I Concepcion

Presented by:

Larry Cummins

Original IntentGOAL: To survey information to see what different universities

are currently doing in Game Design and Game Programming

1) Game Design & Development (GD&D)- play goals- how it is played- aspects that make it fun- organizational phases of development- submittal & feedback process

- evolution of the game in this process

2) Game Programming- how to build a game

- especially using XNA- software development process- implementation

Investigated SourcesCONFERENCES:• Computer Games, Multimedia and Allied Technology Conference 2009, Singapore

http://www.aigamesnetwork.org/main:events:cgat• E3: Electronic Entertainment Expo, Los Angeles www.e3expo.com• The Game Developers Conference Austin, 2009 http://www.gdcaustin.com/• Game Developers Conference Europe, 2009 http://www.gdceurope.com/• The Game Developers Conference 2009, San Francisco

https://www.cmpevents.com/GD09/a.asp?option=C&V=1&SB=4• Gamescom 2009, Germany http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/• The International Consumer Electronics Games Innovations Conference 2009, London

[IEEE Consumer Electronics Society] http://ice-gic.ieee-cesoc.org/• The L.A. Games Conference 2009, Los Angeles http://www.lagamesconference.com/• The New York Games Conference 2009, New York http://www.nygamesconference.com/• Nordic Game Conference 2009, SWEDEN www.nordicgame.com/• Tokyo Game Show 2009, Tokyo http://tgs.cesa.or.jp/english/PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE Xplore

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/guesthome.jsp

SOURCES FOR THIS PRESENTATION:• 3rd International Conference on Game Development in Computer Science Education, 2008,

Miami http://www.microsoft4me.com/faculty/events/adgd2008/

• 4th International Conference On The Foundations Of Digital Games, 2009, Orlando http://www.fdg2009.org/

• The ACM Digital Library Association for Computing Machinery http://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm?coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=65824273&CFTOKEN=55429939

An Additional Intent

• These papers reiterate the fact that there has been a significant drop in Computer Science (CS) student enrollment and retention for most of this decade

• They also consider that CS and Information Technology (IT) has a typical imbalanced population of only 5 - 6% women

• For a few years CS departments have used Game Design (GD) to attract more students

• This became another aspect of my research into the use of Game Design in a College Course

From Intent to PresentWith refined goals this presentation will focus on six classroom

experiences and will provides some insight to answer these questions:

1) A Course in Game Design & Development (GD&D)- What are characteristics of the course?- Can Game Design incorporate play to make it fun?- What attracts students to a course in Game Design?- How successful are courses in attracting and retaining students?- How can the male-dominated majors become more gender balanced?

2) The Process of Game Programming- What software and hardware are being used?- What are phases of development for Game Design?

Six Experiences Examined

• RITRochester Institute of Technology, New York, NY

• UVUniversity of Victoria, British Columbia

• UCSCUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, CA

• GT & SCADGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA

• DWCDaniel Webster College, Nashua, NH

• DPUDePaul University, Chicago, IL

DemographicsUniv Year Class

SizeComposition Course

RIT 2008

60 freshmen Game Design and Development

UV 2007

56 Undergrads Computer Science Survey class

UCSC 2007

212 Undergrads Foundations of Interactive Game Design

GT & SCAD

2008

136

14 Jr & Sr5 grads

Handheld Augmented Reality Game Design

DWC 2008

Various All undergrad years

Game development throughout the CS curriculum

DPU 2007

25 Mostly Jr & Sr Console Game Development Environments

Design EnvironmentsUniv Software Hardware

RIT • Java• An RIT program that allows Java to work with the Wii remote

• Wii remote• PC-based

UV • Game Maker • PC-based

UCSC • Game Maker • PC-based

GT & SCAD

• Studierstube ES (STBES [written in C++])• Visual Studio 2008• T-Square• Maya• Maya plug-in to export models & keyframe animations• a stand-alone model viewer

• Gizmondo mobile device (Bluetooth)

DWC • Freshman: C#.net• Sophomore, Juniors: some XNA building on the C#.NET foundation• Senior: encouraged to develop entire game engine in C++

• PC-based

DPU • XNA all the way through (other courses use C/C++, OpenGL) • 20 Xbox 360 consoles

RIT – The Attraction

GD&D Majors• Advantage: high interest in expressing creativity in

GD&D compared to other majors• Disadvantage: low interest in problem solving

RIT – Lessons• Wii remote - the physical manipulation is very attractive to

students• Game Design included about 10% women, twice the average

for CS & IT

Retention:- CS 56% (1st year)- GD&D 93%

Results of a subsequent C++ course:- GD&D 48% As 25% Bs- CS 25% As 29% Bs

• GD&D students believe: 1) career would be long hours 2) it’s a hard industry to enter Result: none have changed to the RIT GD&D major

UV – The Waterfall Lifecycle in the Context of Game Design

Game Design Process Waterfall Lifecycle Project Deliverables

Conceptualization Phase Requirements

Specifications

Architectural Design

Project Schedule

Specification Sketch

Initial Design Document

Game State Diagram

Prototype PhaseDetailed Design

Implementation

Alpha Version Executable

Revised Design Document

User Guide

Playtesting PhaseTesting & Debugging

Finished Product

Playtest Feedback

Beta Version Executable

Final Design Document

Final User Guide

UV - Conceptualization Phase

Game Design Process Waterfall Lifecycle Project Deliverables

Conceptualization Phase Requirements

Specifications

Architectural Design

Project Schedule

Specification Sketch

Initial Design Document

Game State Diagram

Define formal elements: objectives, rules, resourcesDefine dramatic elements: story, characters, challengeDeliverables:

- Project Schedule: with milestones equivalent to deliverables- Specification Sketch: explains game concept interface mock-ups game controls flow of game-play- Design Document- Game State Diagram: to visualize the Architectural Design

UV - Prototype Phase

Game Design Process Waterfall Lifecycle Project Deliverables

Prototype PhaseDetailed Design

Implementation

Alpha Version Executable

Revised Design Document

User Guide

Workload: team determined distribution of work between membersDeliverables:

- Alpha version minimum requirements:1) artwork for sprites2) defined game objects3) system behaviors (e.g. game structure)4) executed basic events (e.g. start game)

- Revised Design Document- Users Guide

UV - Playtesting Phase

Game Design Process Waterfall Lifecycle Project Deliverables

Playtesting PhaseTesting & Debugging

Finished Product

Playtest Feedback

Beta Version Executable

Final Design Document

Final User Guide

“…one of the most critical phases of Game Design…”Feedback: test others’ games and give them feedback

provide input for iterative design loop re-evaluate requirements, specifications and design

Incorporate changes from feedback receivedDeliverables:

- Beta Version Executable- Final Design Documentation- Final User Guide

UV - Lessons• Game Maker good for: 1) short learning curve, 2) no programming

experience required, 3) rapid prototyping

Survey results for interests in:• Game Design: decreased 70% CS degree: decreased 20%• Further programming: 25% increased, 40% decreased• More CS courses: 20% reduced, 15% increased interest,

67% non-majors not likely to take more CS courses

Possible causes:• Those with little programming bogged down in technical details and

couldn’t work on design• Those with programming experience did well with implementation

but lacked conceptualizationSuggestion:• Equal emphasis on conceptualization and implementation

“Students appeared to have reached the conclusion that the reward-to-work ratio for game development is not one-to-one.”

UCSC – Demographics

- Female population similar to Engineering 15 - 20%- Largest population of courses examined

UCSC – Class Lessons• Students demo games they like at the beginning of class

engaging, fewer missed classes, late arrivals are less disruptive

• Taught: game elements, genre overview, challenge & conflict, level design, history of games, narrative, games & culture

• Original non-computer-based game taught students rules and limitations- an unusually high percentage of drinking games were designed; suggest discouraging them [due to iterative testing requirement?]- games based on cards were remakes of existing games

• 6 best demoed to a panel from the computer games industry- top 4 got prizes, very motivating to polish their games

UCSC – Results

• Each year this course is taught 1-3 students declare GD as their major

• Game design can be done in a large classroom aimed at freshmen & sophomores

• It is effective in attracting non-engineering students

• Programming experience is not necessary and not a deterrent to create working computer games

GT & SCAD – Class Process

• Special Challenges: 1) inter-institutional class & 2) designing for a new technology handheld device

• 3-5 students per team including 1 or 2 SCAD students• Assignments required a playable prototype with demo video

- 1 week of ideas & concepts

- 1-2 weeks for feedback and implementation

- 1 week presentation, tweaks & fixes

• Groups analyzed formal aspects (rules, mechanics, genre,…)

- what was compelling or effective

- how that could be used in an AR game

- BUT done too much and students start mimicking existing games

GT & SCAD – Game Design Process

• Goal: create an AR board game, since a board game depends on game pieces and a board which correlates to markers and multi-marker boards in AR

• The AR physical interactions:- must be tested as soon as possible (not like 1st person shooter controls or 2D platformer controls)- must be allowed to evolve with the game which makes the game in constant prototype

• Beginning of first 2 prototyping cycles were spent playing and analyzing board games

GT & SCAD – Results• Prototyping

- Prototype live AR interactions early result is more successful- Too much paper prototyping caused groups to miss deadlines- Rapid prototyping: more time for trying ideas, failing and fixing

Device Limitations• Had to use a low-polygon count model to ensure a frame rate that

made their games playable

• Limited 256x256 texture size was a challenge for some but restricting for others

• Inter-institution experience: SCAD students didn’t feel that they had technical knowledge or “owned” their projects

DWC – Curriculum Software

Freshman: write complex C#.net games

Sophomore: Gaming Majors and some CS use XNA to develop multi-player gaming systems

Senior: if pursuing career in game industry encouraged to develop entire game engine in C++

DWC – Curriculum Process• 1st year

- given an executable and specificationsscore is based on sophistication of codemakes learning faster and the project is more game-like in itself

- teams create a casino-oriented gaming systemindividuals make their own prototype of one of the casino

gamesgame integration, documentation, Q&A, final testing

• 2nd year: game theme in assembly on 16-bit processor• 3rd year: broad CS themes, Unix/Linux, web, networking, programming• 4th year: teams choose their tools, many select C# .NET

Knowing C# .NET and XNA they will be ready for any 3D development of games, commercial training or defense

DWC - Results

• Adding game development in the freshman year CS increased enrollment 240% due to:- students are attracted to games- most DWC CS majors want to pursue a career in GD industry

• Game focus in CS provides: complexity, range of CS challenges, software engineering, teamwork, basis for cross-disciplinary knowledge integration like math, physics & logic

DPU - Systems

• Hardware: awarded 1 of 5 Microsoft grants that year: provided:

- 20 Xbox 360 consoles

- 20 Creator’s Club licenses

- funds to purchase monitors and

- upgrade the game development labs

• Software: XNA is used all the way through for students to learn all aspects of console game creation

- other courses use C/C++, OpenGL

DPU – Course Schedule

DPU – Class Process

• First 7 projects done individually, so students learn all aspects• 8th project option to work in a team up to 4 members

• By requiring all students to be familiar with all aspects means more exposure to content pipeline

• Understanding the content pipeline:- speeds up design- reduces frustration, improves morale- better represents students’ abilities

• Students encouraged to share artwork and code, get extra credit if any is used by another student

• Students design game level and asset budgets, like polygon counts, sound size, image map size, & memory use

DPU – Game Design

• Start by creating font, icons, 3D model, camera & object paths, animation, sound, programming is deemphasized, goal is a “rail shooter” game

• XNA Pipeline is implemented with a visual interface that helps students better understand the process

• XNA Game Studio which is the integrated development environment, code is written & debugged in C#

DPU - ResultsAverage Grades• 16 programmers: 86% 9 non-programmers: 79%• 3 CS majors: 86% 16 GD majors: 79%

programmers non-programmers• Milestones 79% 74%• Quizzes 80% 71%• Final 91% 88%

• Gave NON-TECHS: importance of naming convention at front end and how used at back end, why some rules intrinsic to games

• Gave TECHS: glimpse into world of artists

FUTURE• Try to minimize programmer vs non-programmer difference in

performance • May split into 2 courses: 1) intro skipping some things, making it

based more on path-based animation, 2) allow creation of more advanced content

Survey Results

Game Design & DevelopmentWhat are characteristics of the course?• GD gives student more freedom to be creative• Individual student games combined to create a suite• Some courses programming experience is not necessary

Can Game Design incorporate play to make it fun?• Students find physical interaction attractive, like with the Wii

remote• Students had to learn game principles by playing

What attracts students to a course in Game Design?• Students are attracted to GD for the creativity• There are cross-discipline aspects that can attract student in

Art, Communications, Computer Science, Interactive Media, Music and Writing

Survey ResultsHow successful are courses in attracting and retaining students?• Higher retention rate and test scores of GD students than CS• 2 experiences had negative results for attracting students to CS

How can the majors become more gender balanced?• More female students ARE attracted to GD than CS or IT (creativity?)• An increase from the typical 5-6% to 10-20 %

Game ProgrammingWhat software and hardware are being used?• 2 of the 6 surveyed use XNA and 2 use Game Maker• Others use C# .Net, Java and Studierstube• They design for the PC, Wii remote and Xbox

What are phases of development for Game Design?• One clearly adapted the Waterfall Lifecycle to GD process• Others adapted processes with milestones and deliverables

ReferencesBarba, Evan, Yan Xu, Blair Maclntyre, and Tony Tseng. “Lessons from a class on handheld

augmented reality game design.” Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games, April 26 - 30, 2009: Session on ICFDG-09 technical papers. 2009. 2-9. [GT & SCAD]

Bayliss, Jessica D., and Kevin Bierre. “Game design and development students: who are they?” Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Game development in computer science education, February 28-March 3, 2008. New York:Association for Computing Machinery, 2008. 6-10. [RIT]

Goulding, Tom. “Complex game development throughout the college curriculum.” ACM SIGCSE Bulletin 40 (2008): 68-71. [DWC]

Linhoff, Joe, and Amber Settle. “Teaching game programming using XNA.” Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, June 30 - July 2, 2008: Session on Games as a motivational tool. New York:Association for Computing Machinery, 2008. 250-254. [DPU]

Rankin, Yolanda, Amy Gooch, and Bruce Gooch. “The impact of game design on students' interest in CS” Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Game development in computer science education, February 28-March 3, 2008. New York:Association for Computing Machinery, 2008. 31-35. [UV]

Whitehead, Jim. “Introduction to game design in the large classroom.” Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Game development in computer science education, February 28-March 3, 2008. New York:Association for Computing Machinery, 2008. 61-65. [UCSC]

Reference LinksGDCSE08-02 RITGame design and development students: who are they?Bayliss, Jessica D., and Kevin Bierrehttp://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1463673.1463675&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=59445291&CFTOKEN=71978036

GDCSE08-07 UVThe impact of game design on students' interest in CSRankin, Yolanda, Amy Gooch, and Bruce Gooch.http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1463673.1463680&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=59445291&CFTOKEN=71978036

GDCSE08-13 UCSCIntroduction to game design in the large classroomWhitehead, Jim.http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1463673.1463686&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=59445291&CFTOKEN=71978036

FDG 09-01 GT & SCADLessons from a class on handheld augmented reality game designBarba, Evan, Yan Xu, Blair Maclntyre, and Tony Tseng.http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1536513.1536525&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=58406739&CFTOKEN=38457990

ACM-24 DWCComplex game development throughout the college curriculumGoulding, Tom.http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1473195.1473223&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=64248841&CFTOKEN=17112394

ACM-30 DPUTeaching game programming using XNALinhoff, Joe, and Amber Settle.http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1384271.1384338&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=64248841&CFTOKEN=17112394