Knowledge
Player Motivations
• Social Interaction
Preferring MMOs and interacting with other players (e.g. RecRoom, ROBLOX)• Physical Seclusion
Preferring privacy and seclusion and yet still interacting with others• Competition
Enjoys competing with other players. Prefers sports games, fighting games and turn-based games of competition (e.g. The International, EVO)• Knowledge
Players motivated by the opportunity to learn and/or master trades and skills that apply to real life (e.g. Rocksmith 2014, Never Alone)• Mastery
High score seekers, gamers who try to master a game and demonstrate their ability to dominate (e.g. FORTNITE, Call of Duty)• Escapism
Players motivated to play to escape the stress and challenges of real life.Game Development Roles
• AI EngineerThe AI engineer focuses on the artificial intelligence behaviors of the game (NPC Behavior Profile). They work closely with the design team to identify what behaviors and functionality are needed for the characters in the game.
• Art Director
Responsible for communicating the artistic vision to the team. The Art Director is responsible for ensuring that all the artistic assets relate to each other within the game.
• Concept Artist
Concept Artists are responsible for creating concepts of all of the art assets before they are produced. Obviously artistic talent is important. However, creativity is more important at this stage of development. All concept artists will work directly with the Art Director in creating and documenting the artistic vision of the game.
• Creative Director
The Creative Director communicates the overall creative vision to the team and ensures that this vision is carried through to every aspect of the game. The Creative Director works with many different team members and ensures that the environments, characters, music, dialogue and gameplay all work well as a single cohesive game.
• Designer
A Designer, while a general title, is responsible for creating, prototyping, implementing and balancing different areas of the game. This position is a floater position and will work with many of the other designers as she/he is needed.
• Developer Producer
Directly manages the direction of the contributor team. Will work together with all contributors to create the development plan and update as necessary. The DP is to be involved in the day to day production of the game and is the creative lead for all departments.
• Graphics Engineer
The Graphics Engineer is responsible for creating the graphics code. This person works hand in hand with the Technical Artist and the Systems Designer on the art tools, content creation apps as well as the art production pipeline.
• Lead Artist
This position works with the Art Director to ensure that the artistic vision is maintained throughout the development process. They will manage the day to day tasks of the Art Team and act as a liaison between the Art Director and the Art Team. The goal of the Lead Artist is to manage the personnel allowing the Art Director to focus on the creative aspects of development.
• Lead Designer
This person is responsible for managing the day to day tasks of the Design Team and acts as a liaison for the Creative Director and the Design Team. They will direct the design team in documenting the design concepts, prototyping gameplay, implementing and balancing design features, balancing gameplay as well as redesigning features as needed.
• Lead Engineer
The Lead Engineer is responsible for managing the day to day tasks of the Engineering Team and acts as a liaison between the Technical Director and the Engineering Team. They will determine what technologies are needed for the game. The lead may or may not create code for the game as her/his primary role is to manage the Engineering team.
• Lead QA
The Lead QA works with the Producer and other Leads to evaluate the game’s features from a testing perspective. They will estimate how long feature variables will take to test. As a Lead they are also responsible for managing the day to day tasks of the QA Team, locating volunteer testers as well as documenting any areas of concern.
• Marketing Artist
Marketing Artists create all the marketing assets for the game. To include but not limited to: Game screenshots, gameplay videos, creating high-resolution art, packaging and all other facets of promoting the game.
• Networking Engineer
The Networking Engineer is responsible for the multiplayer and cross-platforming code They work to ensure that all the necessary gameplay functionality is supported.
• QA Tester
QA Testers are responsible for checking the game’s functionality against the test plan, testing new features and prototypes, as well as finding defects in the game software. They will also verify that the game meets all the platform requirements. They spend their day playing the game looking for weaknesses in the integrity of the websites, game clients as well as updater and the game engine.
• Sound Engineer
The Sound Engineer focuses on creating the sound engine for the game.
• Systems Designer
The Systems Designer designs the system components within the gameplay (i.e. combat model, the controller set-up and character creation elements. She/he will also be responsible for spearheading the content creation applications in game that will give our players the ability to created objects in-game.
• Technical Director
The Technical Director is a counterpart to the Art Director. The Technical Director uses their knowledge of the latest technologies to recommend whether or not they can be implemented into the game. She/he focuses their time on research and development; setting coding standards, and determining what technologies are best suited for the game.
• Tools Engineer
The Tools Engineer is responsible for creating the proprietary tools used during game development. These tools include scripting, lighting, exporters, localization tools, and any other tools that can be coded to streamline the game. They must work with most of the team so as to understand the needs of each team.
• UI Designer
This person designs the User Interface (UI) of the game, including but not limited to: how the UI screens and the Heads-Up-Displays (HUD) for each profession will function and fit in the game.
• Writer
A writer is responsible for creating the story elements, characters and dialogue for the game. They work along side the Lead Designer as well as the Creative Director to ensure that these elements fall in line with the overall vision of the game. The writer is also responsible for writing marketing materials, website content and anything else that would require their talents.
Production Cycle
○ ConceptThe concept development phase begins when an idea for a game is envisioned and it ends when a decision is made to begin planning the project.
○ Pre-production
Pre-production begins once the decision is made to begin planning the project. It involves the development of an Art Style Guide as well as a Production Plan. The final phase in pre-production is when the Game Design Document (GDD) and Technical Design Document (TDD) have been completed.
○ Prototype
A working piece of software that captures on-screen the essence of what makes your game special, what sets it apart from the rest and what makes it successful. However, it is beneficial to initially create a low-fidelity prototype using cards, boards, tiles and/or miniatures. This is often paper-based (think old-school D&D).
○ Production
In this phase the game is actually developed.
○ Alpha
The phase in which the game is playable in its entirety. There might be a few gaps and the art assets might not be finalized, but the engine and user-interfaces along with the various HUDs are complete. This phase is about "polishing" the game. In this phase there will be a limited, controlled group of testers.
○ Beta
This is the final phase before completion and functions as a secondary testing phase. Beta will be open to the public allowing for the game server to be tested against high amounts of traffic.
Our Game Damage Classification System (in progress)
Damage Levels
○ Light (1 - 15%): Bruises, scrapes and soreness as well as some shivering and 1st degree burns○ Moderate (16 - 45%): Small cuts, bruised muscles, pulled muscles, body temperature drop, sever shivering as well as
1st and 2nd degree burns
○ Heavy (46 - 75%): Lacerations, fractures, dislocations, early frostbite as well as 2nd and some 3rd degree burns
○ Severe (76 - 95%): Broken bones, internal bleeding, internal damage, deep wounds, suffocation, severe temperature
drop, frostbite on appendages and severe 3rd degree burns
○ Critical (96 - 99%): Severed or frozen limbs, full body 3rd degree burns or frost bite, protruding breaks, heavy blood
loss and internal failures. This type of damage is fatal unless addressed immediately .
Damage Types
○ Weapon Types
• Edged (Sword): causes lacerations, bleeding and severed limbs and death.• Pointed (Spear): causes puncture wounds, internal bleeding, internal damage and blood loss and death.
• Blunt (Warhammer): causes bruises, bruised muscles, fractures, dislocations, internal bleeding, internal damage,
protruding breaks and death.
• Laceration (Whip): causes small cuts, lacerations, broken bones, deep wounds, suffocation and death.
○ Magic Types
• Burn (fireball): causes 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns• Freeze (ice storm): causes shivering, body temperature drop, frostbite, frozen limbs and death
• Shock (bolt): causes electrocution, paralysis, 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns and death
• Acidic (dissolve): causes 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, flesh breakdown, bone breakdown, suffocation and death
• Poison (poison cloud): causes 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, paralysis, suffocation, internal damage, internal
bleeding and death
• Ethreal (Slam): causes bruises, bruised muscles, fractures, dislocations, internal bleeding, internal damage,
protruding breaks and death.
• Dark (death touch): causes 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, flesh breakdown, bone breakdown, paralysis,
suffocation, internal damage, internal bleeding and death.
• White (judgement): causes 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, flesh breakdown, bone breakdown, paralysis,
suffocation, internal damage, internal bleeding and death.
