Serious Games

& Game Design

Lecture 1 : Intro & Game Engines

Jay Crossler
Senior Software Engineer
www.crossler.com

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Serious Games Highlights
Related Knowledge Zones (Informal
KM categories):
• Modeling and Simulation
• Education & Training
• Training Technologies
• Computing Methodologies
• Military Programs & Operations
• Military Simulation
• Systems Engineering
• Human Factors Engineering
Game Design and Techniques
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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Serious Games

“Serious Games Initiative is focused on the

uses of games in exploring management
and leadership challenges facing the public
sector …use of games in education,
training, health, and public policy”
Seriousgames.org
6.5 million
registered users
– MMOG - Massively multiplayer online games
– 1000’s of players simultaneously connecting
– (supported by 1000s of self-transforming machine
elves)
– Sharing actions and state – millions of objects
– In persistent worlds Ultima Online – 1997
Game Design and Techniques
Origin Systems
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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Ludology – social science analysis of games

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Higher Education is supporting Ludology

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Overcoming Negative Social Stigma

Game Design and Techniques

© Jay Crossler, George Mason University Excerpt from Raph Koster’s Theory of Fun book Slide-6 (R)
 Related Areas: Virtual Economies

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 CMU: PeaceMaker - www.peacemakergame.com
 Simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
– Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment
Technology Center
– Aimed at conflict resolution and understanding
– Play as either the prime minister of Israel or The
Palestinian president

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 National Institute of Health games

 Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner

Space
 Escape from Diab (
www.ArchimageOnline.com)
– Collaborated with the Children's
Nutritional Research Center of Baylor
College of Medicine
– Help prevent childhood obesity and
Type II diabetes
 "We want to get into kids' heads.
Games are a channel that reaches
children in a way they want to be
reached,“
 “Players can learn through actual
Game Design and Techniques
© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
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 Game Engines

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Game Engines

3D graphics tools Cost: ranges

Physics engine from open
Audio
source
(CrystalSpace)
Animation
to $100K+
Character “AI” (Unreal Engine)

Visual3D Architect .NET Screenshot RealmWare Corporation

 Typically tailored to a particular kind

of game
– first person shooter (FPS)
– massively multiplayer online role-playing
game (MMORPG)
 A few game engines include facial
Game Design and Techniques
© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
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 Torque and Microsoft XNA

Game Design and Techniques

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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Current Microsoft SDK Beliefs
 Visually stunning titles
– Half Life 2, Halo 2, Far Cry,
Doom 3
 Largest worlds
Offload common functions to the GPU
 Most detailed levels of
Game
realism
D3DX
 Not just graphics: AI, physics,
Direct3D
animation
GPU
 Longest development times
 Extensions
Variable Transparency Mapping
– Maya
– Max
– Photoshop
– Windows Shell
 Xbox 360/DirectX 10
Tessellation & Displacement
Integration
 Increasing geometric detail Unsorted Transparency
– 2K → 5K → 15K
Game Design and Techniques
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triangles/character
© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
Game Design and Techniques
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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
Game Design and Techniques
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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Game Engine List
 Engines:
– Torque – Low cost set of engines (2D, 3D, 3D+Shaders), large dev community
– 3D Game Studio – Hundreds of games, C-script, many libraries of pre-made games
– OGRE – Scene-oriented, 3D engine, open source, Basic Physics
– Crystal Space – Used for Modeling and Simulation, Physics engine, True 6DOF
– Many others at http://www.devmaster.net/engines/

 Terrain Tools:
– L3DT – “Plugable” Terrain Generation engine, low cost, importing into Torque
– Terragen 2 – Amazing photorealistic terrains and terrain imagery – More real than real

 “Mod” tools:
– Return to Castle Wofenstein / Enemy Territory - Based upon an older version of the
Quake engine.
– Quake III - One of the most heavily modified games ever. id has announced they will
make the game code open source.
– Counter Strike - A great starting point for tactical & law enforcement sims and FPS
– Counter Strike: Source - A rebuild of the original but to use the Source engine.
Despite using the Source engine, you can "dial down" the graphics and effects to make
this run on a more modest PC
Game Design and Techniques
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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University
 Game Engine List
 More “Mod” tools:
– Call of Duty - COD2 added a smarter AI. Tool support is really just for the map editor
and not really for the program logic.
– Unreal Run-time - This is free and can be downloaded from the Unreal Dev site. Very
well documented - UT/editor documentation can be applied pretty easily as well.
– Medal of Honor franchise - Based on the older Quake engine so modest resource
requirements.
– Halo (PC) – Works on a very large number of machines and not just to the hardware
extreme. You can only make levels for an add-in multiplayer environment.
– Empire Earth II - An RTS favorite. Much more modest graphics and physics than
Empire Earth III. Has a map tool but no way to re-write the application logic.
– Rise of Nations - Comes with a map editor and a script editor for editing the logic of
the game. The scripting environment is specific to this platform but uses an event-
driven paradigm that is widely used elsewhere - conceptual you get some mileage out
of that investment. You can create scenarios that are modern - good for simulations.
– Warhammer 40,000 - The game as a very good RTS engine in it and Relic clearly
knows its stuff in this genre. The Relic developer site looks informative and has lots of
tutorial and map-making information.
– NeverWinter Nights - Used for several studies or experiments discussed in journal
articles from the IEEE, ACM, etc. If you buy the DVD version you get lots of product for
your money. Tools are easy enough for school kids to use.
Game Design and Techniques
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© Jay Crossler, George Mason University