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Hello!. I’m Going To Talk About…. What I do and what I’ve done Game Industry overview. Game development process Getting into the game industry. What I Do. Senior Programmer at Sony Computer Entertainment America, San Diego
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I’m Going To Talk About…. • What I do and what I’ve done • Game Industry overview. • Game development process • Getting into the game industry
What I Do • Senior Programmer at Sony Computer Entertainment America, San Diego • Lead Programmer for the R&D team for Sony’s Next-Generation PlayStation Basketball games. • 3D Graphics Programming, Tools Programming, Management & Planning.
Why Do I Do It? • I love games, programming and computers. • Having the ability to reach millions of people with your work is a great feeling. • Videogames can change the world! • Its better than having a real job
What I’ve Done • 10 years videogame experience • Small companies (Angel Studios, ATD), and big companies (SCEA, Konami) • Some good games, some not-so-good games, some sadly-never-released games. • Mostly programming, with some management.
A Misspent Youth • Started programming at about 11 years old (BASIC, Assembler) on 8-bit micros. The Big Lie! • “Andrew, get off that computer and do your homework, playing games won’t help you get a job!!”
Education • BSc Computer Science • Took selective courses in 3D graphics, Artificial Intelligence. • Lots of C programming. • Lots of Math.
The First Job • Wrote Air Traffic Control software for the UK for ~18 months. BORING! • Worked for 6 months writing demos/ sending resumes to every game company in the UK who’d taken them!
Into Games • First game job, writing porting a 3D game to the Apple Mac • Learnt lots about practical game programming, 3D and optimization. • Second game job, writing AI for PlayStation. • Third game job (hello America), lots of experience in many different areas.
The Games Industry The Good, The Bad & The Evil
QUESTION! What is the games business about?
MAKING MONEY!! (The Jaded Answer)
Making Money&Entertaining People (The less Jaded version!)
Dev Business • 1st Party Hardware Manufacturers/ Publishers (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) • 2nd Party Developers publish through 1st parties (Insomniac). • 3rd Party Publishers release titles across multiple 1st parties (Electronic Arts, Take Two) • 3rd Party Developers (um, any left?)
Non-Dev • Retail (Electronics Boutique, Walmart) • Press (G4, Gamespot, monthlies). • Recruitment companies. • Advertising, marketing • Distribution (often a part of publishing) • Conferences (E3, GDC)
Industry Trends • New consoles released every 5 years. • New consoles ~600x more power than their predecessor. • Handheld release is more sporadic. • Companies are consolidating. • Costs are rising. • Outsourcing & Middleware
Why Do We Need More Power?Why Do We Need Better Graphics? • Because of evolution we’re very good at knowing when people move or look wrong in a videogame. • The more realistic people look and move, the more empathy we feel with them. • A 5 year old can connect with Pac Man… a 50 year old has more difficulty. • We want everyone to enjoy computer entertainment.
Making Videogames (For Consoles)
Phases In Game Development • The Idea! What are we going to do? • Pre-Production. How are we going to do it. • Production. Do it! • Alpha. All features complete (in theory), tweaking, many bugs. • Beta. Really complete, just bugs left. • Final. Done!
The Idea • What kind of game do we want to make? • Why will people want to play it? • Why do we think it sell? • What it makes it different from other titles in the marketplace? • What makes it the same as other titles in the marketplace?
Pre-Production • Create a plan. • Assemble a team • Identify key parts of the game which need to be developed and built. • Choose tools and middleware. • Reduce risk by identifying potential problems in development. • Create the workflow.
Production • Making the game. • Building artwork. • Improving tools and workflow.
Alpha • Feature Complete!... • … but it never really is • Tune and adjust the game. • Fix major problems.
Beta • Fix all remaining bugs… or mark them as “won’t fix”. • Make sure all TRC requirements are met. • No more code change, no more art change, unless it’s a bug.
Final • Submit discs to hardware manufacturer (eg. Microsoft, SCEA, Nintendo) • They run tests on the disks, make sure you pass all TRC requirements, and that the game doesn’t have major bugs. • Can take a week or two…. • Nerve wracking!
Game Development Schedule • Typical game development cycle is now 24-36 months. • Some games take less (sports games). • Most of this time is spent in Production or Pre-Production • 3 months Alpha, 1 month Beta.
Game Team Organization • Each team has a Lead or Director • For Multiple SKUs, a Lead for each. • 20 - 120 people in a game team!
Producers • Responsible for making sure the project ships on time and on budget. • Sometimes responsible for “The Vision” of the project. • Uses tools such as MS Office, MS Project,Carrot & Stick.
Game Designers • Responsible for designing parts of the game or the whole game. • Sometimes the Lead Designer is the project’s director too. • Plays the game daily, tests new features for playability.
Artists • Broad tem, encompassing 3D modelers, 2D texture artists and character animators. • 3D artists use Maya, less commonly 3DS Max. • Adobe Photoshop for textures. • Maya and/or Motion Builder for animation. • Multitude of plug-ins for the above software.
Programmers • Write the game & tool code. • 95% of code is written in C++. • 5% of code is in Assembler/ Microcode. • Use standard tools such as .NET, GCC, OpenGL, DirectX, Maya API. • Programming disciplines include tools, game logic, AI, physics and 3D.
Tools & Hardware • Hi-Spec Windows PCs. • Development console (eg. T10-000) has lots more memory, extra debugging features. • Compilers, debuggers.
Entry Level Positions • A good programmer with a degree in Computer Science should be able to get a job as a programmer. • For artists, education is important, but a good demo reel is critical. • Next to impossible to get a job as a game designer (unless you know somebody!). • Many producers begin in another field.
Other Entry Level Positions • Game Tester • Production Assistant • Skills required will vary from project to project.
Getting A Programming Job • Have a good understanding of key game programming disciplines. • Excellent C++ skills, debugging skills. • Don’t lie about what you’ve done! • You’re not expected to know everything (coz you don’t !) • Know somebody!
Thank You! Questions?
