Elements of Game Design-Documentation

Elements of Game Design

Documentation

For this blog I will be writing a technical specification document for a game. This will be a dry run for my final major project next year.

The brief

This project will require me to recreate three vehicles and a lead character (driver), a none playable character (NPC) an asset and a scene for them to go in. The vehicles will need to show the progression of the ‘Porsche’ design through the years. I will be able to pick specific vehicles through the history of ‘Porsche’ but my primary aim is to show the progression in terms of ‘Porsche’s’ design over the years. Below are examples of past, present and future ‘Porsche’ vehicles.

The character design will be based around the ‘Stig’ from the T.V show ‘Top Gear’, I did toy with the idea of creating relevant characters for each car and it’s era however I feel that this would probably be too much work what with three cars already to model a scene and assets too.

The environment will be a recreation of any of the main ‘Porsche’ headquarters from around the world, interior or exterior. I will choose the Stuttgart headquarters in Germany.

There is a requirement to create a NPC for this brief and I have decided to create a character based on the creator of the ‘Porsche’ Mr Ferdinand Porsche.

The learning outcomes from this should be that of an understanding as to the past present and future of car engineering and to develop modelling, texturing and research skills. The assets will be required to run on high end platforms i.e. PS3 XBOX 360.

The genre for this brief will be that of a racing game with the target audience of 15 and over, similar to the ‘Grand Turismo’ series or such like.

· I will be required to use 3ds max for modelling, mapping and manipulating UV’s

· Photoshop for texturing and for image manipulation and texture painting

· A camera for collecting reference

· The internet for any secondary reference

Technical Specification

For each car there must be no more than 6000 tri’s. Each car will be allowed

· 2 1024 x 1024 32 bit tga’s, 1 for the exterior and 1 for the interior

· 1 512 x 512 32 bit tga for the lights.

For the character there must be no more than 9000 tri’s. The character will be allowed

· 2x1024 x 1024 diffuse map without an alpha 24Bit or 2 x 1024 x 1024 diffuse with an alpha 32 bit tga map.

· 2 x 1024 x 1024 specular map or 2 x 1024 x 1024 colour specular 24 bit tga map

· 2 x 1024 x 1024 24 bit normal map

· An optional 2 x 1024 x 1024 ambient map

For the environment there must be no more than 1500 tri’s. The scene will be allowed

· 3 x 1024 x 1024 24 bit diffuse map

· 3 x 1024 x 1024 24 bit specular map

· 3 x 1024 x 1024 24 bit normal map

· An optional 2 x 1024 x 1024 ambient map

As for any assets within the scene there must be no more than

Timescale

The timescale for this project will be 20 weeks. That will break down into six weeks modelling, six weeks laying out the UVW’s and collecting and creating textures, four weeks texturing and two weeks for any problems and to present all models to an acceptable standard.

Elements of Game Design-Level Design

Elements of Game Design

Level Design

For this blog I will be looking at what is involved in level design.

Level Design definition:

Level design or game mapping is the creation of levels—locales, stages, or missions—for a video game (such as a console game or computer game). This is commonly done using level design tools, special software usually developed just for the purpose of building levels, however some games feature built-in level editing tools.

Level design is a process used in the majority of video games in a variety of genres, such as platform games, puzzle games, adventure games, role-playing games and even driving games. Most of the coverage of the discipline in widely available media such as the Internet relates solely to level creation for first person shooter (FPS) or real time strategy (RTS) games. Only in the last ten years or so has the actual separation of labor occurred that has allowed the job of level designer to come into being, and in the last three or four years the job of level designer itself has often been subdivided into level artist, level designer and scripter.

http://dictionary.sensagent.com/level+design/en-en/

Level design is a complex, and I think one of the most important jobs when creating a game. Without the complexity, size and depth of level design, some of the most popular and successful games just simply wouldn’t have continued to do as well, Games such as ‘Grand theft auto’, ‘Assassins creed’, ‘Far cry’ and ‘Fallout’ to name just a few.

Having said that, when creating levels, detail can be equally as important as size, small but highly detailed scenes can generate alot of game playing hours, games such as ‘condemned’ are a good example as to what I am stressing. The small but highly detailed crime scenes are both interesting and keep the gamer occupied. The detail here is quiet good as the blood has gathered along the skirting board and also the splatter of blood all over.


No matter how good the character or the story line, the level design, I feel is more important. There has to be a desire to get into wherever or whatever place it is. The same of course is true in terms of films. The level design for films or set design can make a film alot more appealing there are a few films that spring to mind that I will just run over. There is of course the big historical block buster’s such as ‘Gladiator’ with Dreamworks superb recreation of the Coliseum, also James Cameron’s recreation of the famous ‘Titanic’ but I want to discuss a film called ‘Dark City’. This film was directed by Alex Proyas and its story line briefly is about a man’s struggle with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

The story line and film overall is good but it is the level design in this film that is outstanding. At various points during the film the city which they live in is altered, it shows the changing structure of buildings from old poor homes into glamour’s mansions. This film was the Matrix before the Matrix. As I stated in the film plot, it is set in a world with no sunlight and so there is a really good use of effective lighting to emphasis certain detail as the buildings morph. It also adds to the feel of the film, as in the film ‘The Crow’, to create a dark gothic sort of feel. An excellent plot and story line and some really top notch art direction and, like I said, level design. From the director of ‘The Crow’ it’s one I’d recommend.

The next film that I would like to mention is the more recent film ‘Inception’ directed by Christopher Nolan. The story line of the film is briefly about a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception is a mind bending sort of film in terms of the special effects incorporated into its level design and film plot.

Below is an extract detailing the link from ‘Inception’ to level design.

As a game environment artist and level designer "You have a chance to build cathedrals, entire cities that never existed, things that couldn't exist in the real world."

Inception is level designers dream. Throughout the film words such as architect, creating levels, worlds, creating boundaries (closed loops) for believable worlds and designing layouts are discussed in Inception.

After watching Inception a couple of times, I found many similarities between creating worlds in a game and creating worlds in dreams.

Second time I went to see it I set down with a small notepad I always carry with me for ideas. I wrote down a few things that I believe could help a level designer. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

Many things in Inception directly relate to level design and creating game worlds. Here is what I learned in Inception about creating worlds.

• As a level designer you have a chance to build worlds, to design levels. You create a world out of an idea, a single thought you have in your mind. Simple idea becomes something tangible for someone else to experience. Player has a chance to explore your creation. Something that started as a simple idea in your mind can become a game world. Do not ignore a simple idea of a world you want to create.
• Continuously create. Never stop creating. Always design and build something new.
• Design with story in mind. Make sure the player has an objective you want them to fulfil. Make it clear, make it interesting.
• The world you create is about visuals and emotion. The feeling you want the player to experience, reinforced by the visuals.
• Never create from memory. Always use reference to create worlds. Use your memory to communicate the feelings of spaces and environments you've been to, but when designing use reference to make the world believable.

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/game_environments_design/game-world-creation-with-inception.php

As I watched ‘Inception’ it filled me with many thoughts and ideas, I love the whole concept of creating levels and then executing them whilst in a dream. To me it translates to creating a level in my imagination then applying that to reference and creating an actual game environment.

In one of the dream worlds within the film it sees the main stars going through a level set in a pristine city but then they come across an old house. This house is a representation of a house that one of the characters lived in, in waking life. I think that, visually, it says so much more than words. I think it’s a great way to catch the attention of the viewer and to draw you into a certain chain of thought. It is this sort of skill that I will try to incorporate into my level design.