Unit 12 Task 1/2/3

Motion Control
Motion control is becoming more popular than ever in the video game industry. The Nintendo Wii sells on the concept of motion control. Being the first and most developed console to completely utilise motion control the Nintendo Wii is the most advanced system on the market. The concept of being able to swing a remote in order to swing a tennis racket or a golf club in the game is far more immersive than just pressing a button. This helps the console appeal to normal and more casual gamers, helping to increase it's consumer base. Hoping to follow in the Wiis motion control success Playstation and Microsoft have devloped/developing their own motion control devices.



Music Games

The first music game that made the genre truly popular was Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the two biggest franchises in the genre both make use of a simple guitar with 5 coloured buttons. The user presses the coloured buttons on the guitar to coincide with the buttons appearing on the screen with the rhythm of the music. Other peripherals such as drums and a microphone have also been released for these games. The simplstic gameplay and quality and popularity of the songs featured in these games makes it enjoyable for all people. As these games make larger profits they are able to acquire more popular and expensive licensed music.



User Generated Content

User generated content is a way for the player to add their own ideas, characters or environments to games. Game developers have begun releasing their development kits to the public which allows them to edit the game and import their own creations. Some of the biggest games to offer their development kits are Unreal Tournament, all the Unreals. The Witcher, Half Life 2 and all other source games. By giving this option to the gamers the developers have found a way to increase their games replayability and longevity by a large degree.

Contracts in Games

Milestone Contract
When a publisher hires a games developer to create games for them they make sure the development team sign specific contracts. Included in these contracts are things such as amount of pay the team will receive and an N.D.A or Non-Disclosure Agreement. this agreement prevents the development team from talking to the public or rival companies about the ideas in the game or the actual IP. Another clause that could be in this sort of contract is the milestone clause. The publisher sets the development team goals that they must meet every few weeks. This ensures that the development team is working quickly enough for the publisher. Included in this clause would be whether or not the team receives payment on the completion of these goals or whether they receieve a lump sum at the end of the development.

Employee Contract
These are the type of contracts that an individual would sign when he begins working at a games development studio. This contract would contain clauses such as an N.D.A and ownership of work. This would mean that any work you create whilst at or for the development studio would be their property and they would have all rights to the work. The contract should also state what would happen if you breached any part of the contract.

Ethics
Games are becoming increasingly more popular and mainstream. As a result of this game developers have to continually evaluate the content they are including in their games. Sex, violence and swearing are a constant source of controversy for video games. Because many people still see video games as appealing to the younger generation (despite the clearly labeled age limits) the inclusion of any of these sparks outrage in the media. Ethical concerns aren't always as black and white however. Even the inclusion, or exclusion of certain content can spark ethical debate. For example in Resident Evil 5 it was claimed to be racist that you killed mainly black zombies/weirdos. Whilst in Left 4 Dead 2 some have said it's racist that there aren't any black zombies. Win win right.

Naughty Dog first began in 1986 creating small games for the Apple 2, 3DO and later the Sega Megadrive. The release that really made Naughty Dog successful came in 1994 when they released Crash Bandicoot on the Playstation. Later, in 2001, Sony acquired Naughty Dog studios and added it to its list of increasing internal studios. In addition to this inhouse game development studio, Naughty Dog is home to the ICE team. One of Sonys leading technology groups, helping to revolutionise each new console. Some of the games released by Naughty Dog are; Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.

Different departments in games industry, or something.

Artists - Artists are responsible for all of the art needed for games. There are a number of departments in the art section. Some of these are, 3d modelers, concept artists, HuD designers and other UI elements.

Sound Department - The sound department is responsible for the sounds required for the game. These could include, character voices, weapon sounds, prop sounds and other ambient noises.

Programming Team - The programming team is responsible for all of the coding needed to create the game. There are many different sections of the programming department. Some of these are, AI programming, Engine coding, Sound programming and physcis programming.


Design:
Game designers are responsible for coming up with new and inventive ideas to use in games. They are also responsible for coming up with core mechanics, content and the rules that the game should follow. In addition they will also have a say in environment design and the storyline of the game. Decisions such as, whether the game should make use of cover mechanics, a physics engine and how difficult the game should be are all initial design ideas. Designers will usually combine all of their ideas into a game design document to make it easier.

Concept Art:
Concept artists are responsible for creating initial images of the games characters, environments, vehicles, weapons and anything else that will need to be referenced such as props. A concept artist will usually be told by the game designer roughly
what it is he is to create. It is then up to the artist to draw this. Usually a concept artist will create a few different images so that they can take them to the designer and let him decide which he thinks is the better one. Once the concept artists work is accepted it is passed off to a modeler or someone in another art department to create the final, in game piece.

3d Modeler:
3d Modelers use the concept art created for them by the concept artists to create 3d models. In the games industry these models are usually created using 3d software such as 3dsMax, Maya and Zbrush. The 3d models that need to be created fall under a few categories, some of these are, Character models, Weapon models, Environments, Vehicle models and prop models. Once the modeler has finished his model the designer will decide if anything needs to be changed or added to it.

AI Programmer:
AI Programmers are responsible for making the AI walk and talk. Depending upon the AI being programmed the programmers have a number of jobs to do. For instance, in many games the human AI is created to be as realistic as possible. In this case the programmer must code the AI to react to situations like humans would. So when you shoot at an enemy AI it should take cover, fire back and try to out maneuver you rather than just stand there being shot at.

Physics Programmer:
Physics programmers are responsible for creating and maintaining the physics engine used in the game. Some physics programmers prefer to create their own physics engine whilst others prefer to use and edit existing engines such as the Havok engine. Whatever they decide to use these programmers are responsible for creating the physics used in the game. Things such as gravity and collision detection are important parts of a physics engine. Some games pride themselves on realistic physics such as Half Life 2 while others make use of the bare minimum such as Sonic games.

Quality Assurance
Game testing begins in the Alpha phase. In this phase the developers of the game constantly play through parts of the game trying to find aby game breaking bugs or glitches. On some days the whole of the development team will take part in these play tests to test on the game on a mass scale.

After Alpha testing comes beta testing. This can be in either a closed or open state. A closed beta means only a limited number of people get to test the game, this is a more formal approach to an open beta as there are less people and it is important each tester tries his hardest to find and bring the existence of bugs to the developers. An open beta is a beta on a much larger scale. This is usually open to every member of the public and is generally used as more of a stress test for the games servers, although bugs are often found and reported in this phase.

I would like to work in the 3d modeling department.