Wesley Tyner Tyner 1

04/19/14
PDT 426
Professor Oades
Elements of the Field Section 1
1. What real knowledge do you know of your field and area?
a. What do you need to know and be able to do
i. For production I need to know how to analyze a video game and discern what its
unique selling points are. I also need to recognize what it achieves well and where
it falls short and why. Furthermore, I must be able to develop new game concepts
with unique selling points and clear design goals. In addition, I must be able to
communicate these ideas clearly and concisely to others.

ii. Advanced skills I need are the ability to draw out concepts, edit them in digital
imaging software such as Photoshop, and block out a 3D environment within a
game engine such as Unity 3D or Unreal Engine. I must also know how to build
gameplay functionality within the engine using either Kismet, C#, JavaScript, or
C++. For modeling assets I must know how to use 3D software such as 3DS Max
or Maya and be able to unwrap, texture, and import them. Knowledge of
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel are also useful.


iii. Within game design I must understand how a game goes from concept, to pitch, to
pre-alpha, to alpha, to beta, through testing, to gold, and lastly shipped. Within
these phases I need to understand UI design, UX design, storytelling through 3 act
or 5 act structure, screenplay writing, game mechanics, player dynamics, level
design, and sound design. For modelling I must understand the low to hi-poly
pipeline as well as the hi to low-poly bake pipeline. In addition to these
development processes I must know how a game concept is pitched to publishers,
funded on a milestone basis, and managed through Game Design Documentation
and project schedule deadlines.

iv. Historically video game designers were originally programmers from the advent
of Space War to Pong and Tetris. These games were developed primarily to see if
computer technology was capable of running games. Then, designers began to
incorporate art with games like Space Invaders, Pac-man, Centipede, and Donkey
Kong. These games were housed in arcades and began to monetize gaming by
charging a quarter per credit. This legitimized video games as a business. Later,
the Magnavox Odyssey and the Atari 2600 allowed people to play video games at
home on their TVs and video games were developed on cartridges. Around this
time personal computers were on the rise and video games were primarily sold to
teens, children, and dedicated geeks at computer stores. In 1983, the market was
saturated with low quality video games, a plethora of platforms, and consumer
trust was very low. The video game industry crashed and nearly died out.
Fortunately, a Japanese toy company called Nintendo developed the Famicom or
Nintendo Entertainment System and established quality control procedures for all
games published on the platform. The combination of Nintendos seal of quality
and mega hit games like Mario Bros. revived the home console market and the
video game industry at large. Since then, video game graphics have improved
Tyner 2
dramatically, processing power has allowed more complex games to be built,
genres have been established, and games have been solidified as an art form
enjoyed by people from ages 3 to over 90. However, over the last decade console
games have stagnated creatively and the power of mobile phones has given rise to
independent game development on a much more creative, smaller scale.

v. The fundamental nature of video games is the abstract concept of fun. As a game
designer I must hone my ability to identify fun and pin down how it is created.
Video games are also products built for profit. Monetization of fun is how the
video game industry thrives. In recent years the budgets for games to reach
commercial success have grown to the tens of millions of dollars and developing
games has become a gamble. By understanding the nature of fun, capturing it in a
game, and selling access to the fun within the game this gamble pays off.
Nevertheless, the majority of people on a development team are paid wages and
do not receive royalties for copies sold. Still there is an incentive to develop
commercially successful games because it will guarantee the companys survival
and further employment opportunities.

b. Mental habits you need to develop
i. I must be aware how the government perceives video games as a potential threat
to developing youth and as a learning tool depending on the content. I must be
aware of how publishers view video games as profitable or not profitable
regardless of its artistic value. Also, I must be aware of how gamers take a
personal stake in a video game when they buy it and how they feel that the game
developers have a responsibility to develop games they want despite the real
world cost to develop and market them. Lastly, I must be aware of how those who
do not play video games view them as a waste of time, for lazy people, or toys for
kids and do not understand the justification for the prices charged for games or
how the majority of the population plays video games in some form.

ii. In order to stay on top of my field I read Game Informer magazine to gauge which
technologies, genres, or games are generating the most hype and revenue from a
gamers perspective. This allows me to see things from my consumers point of
view. I also read Game Developer on Gamasutra to see what techniques are being
used in the industry to develop better games. I also read video game post-mortems
on Gamasutra to see how different game developers handle challenges in the
development process and how they would do things differently in retrospect.
Occasionally I will read books on game design to learn theory and better
understand the complexities of the concepts involved in video games.

iii. To keep up with developments in my field I own many of the current video game
platforms and play most of the critically acclaimed video games released to
analyze them for myself. I purchased a powerful laptop computer to build my own
home development studio with industry standard software that should remain
professional caliber for at least the next 2 years. When I am financially stable, I
will attend more industry related events to converse with other professionals
about development techniques and the direction the industry is headed.