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CO1301 - Games ConceptsWeek 24
Employment & Industry
CO1301 - Games ConceptsWeek 24
Employment & Industry
Gareth BellabyGareth Bellaby
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ReferencesReferences
• Rabin, Introduction to Game Development, Chapter 1.1
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Lecture StructureLecture Structure
• Games
• The games industry
• Culture
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PopulousPopulous
• Populous, Bullfrog, 1989
• Populous II, Bullfrog, 1991
• Populous: The Beginning, Bullfrog, 1998
• Peter Molyneux
• God game
• Isometric projection.
• Progressive levels.
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Black & WhiteBlack & White
• Black & White, Lionhead, 2001
• Black & White 2, Lionhead,
• Peter Molyneux.
• The game incorporates machine learning. One of the few games to include machine learning.
• Uses learning trees. We'll look at this technique in later years.
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Doom 3Doom 3
• id Software, 2005
• More a thematic remake of the original Doom than a sequel.
• Good use of tension and lighting.
• Parallax mapping.
• Shadows.
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Games you ought to playGames you ought to play
• Play a representative of every one of the main commercial genres: FPS, RTS, RPG, Platformer, TBS, etc.
• I'll do a lecture on the history of games and this will touch upon some important games.
• There are other games which are widely recognised within the industry and which an employer would expect you to be aware of.
• No need to play a game in full. Download the demo, 15-30 minutes play to at least have a basic knowledge of the gameplay.
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Games you ought to playGames you ought to play
• Civilization.
• Starcraft. (A SF-themed sequel to Warcraft). Regarded as one of the best RTS's. In particular viewed as being the best balanced RTS.
• GTA: San Andreas.
• The Sims.
• Final Fantasy VII
• Silent Hill (any of I, 2 and 3).
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Games you ought to knowGames you ought to know
• Fallout
• Zelda (Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess)
• Deus Ex (the original not the sequel)
• Halo
• Mario
• Sonic
• Tomb Raider
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The games industry
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People you ought to knowPeople you ought to know
• Ian Livingstone (Eidos)
• Peter Molyneux (Fable, Black & White)
• John Carmack (lead programmer on Doom, Quake, id Software, authored several important graphics papers)
• Sid Meier, (Firaxis, Civilization)
• Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda)
• Chris Crawford (founder of the Game Developer's Conference)
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People you ought to knowPeople you ought to know• Brian Reynolds (Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations)
• Richard Garriott (Ultima series, Tabula Rasa)
• Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy)
• Warren Spector (System Shock, Deus Ex)
• Roberta Williams (King's Quest)
• Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims, Spore)
• John Romero (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Daikatana)
• David Braben (created "Elite" with Ian Bell, now head of Frontier)
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ManufacturersManufacturers
• Nintendo
• Sony
• Microsoft
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NintendoNintendo
• Nintendo, Japanese, 1889
• NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Game Boy (portable)
• Current: Wii, Game Boy Advance
• Game Boy Advance still strong especially in the East
• Publishers
• Need to adhere to their requirements
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SonySony• Sony, Japanese, 1946 (name in 1958)
• PlayStation, PlayStation 2
• Current: PlayStation 3, PSP (PlayStation Portable)
• PS2 games still being published
• PS1 is still supported
• Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) (technical help, profiling, testing)
• Need to submit games
• Need to adhere to their requirements, e.g. max loading times
• Publishers
• Developers
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MicrosoftMicrosoft
• Microsoft, American, 1975
• XBox
• Current: XBox 360
• Software developers, Windows, Office, etc for the PC
• DirectX (used for PC and XBox). Work closely with video card manufacturers.
• Developers (Microsoft studios)
• Some hardware (XBox, some peripherals such as mice, NOT computers or components such as video cards)
• Need to adhere to their requirements for the XBox
• No control over the PC releases.
• XBox Live Arcade becoming increasingly more important.
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PublishersPublishers
• Eidos Interactive
• EA
• Paradox
• Capcom
• Koei
• Vivendi
• Take-Two Interactive
• Ubisoft
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UK employmentUK employment
• If you obtain employment within the games industry it is almost certain that it will be in the UK.
• Employment in the non-English speaking world requires knowledge of the language and, possibly, a visa.
• US requires a visa and this is difficult to obtain especially for a graduate job.
• Therefore you need to know about UK games and the UK industry.
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UK DevelopersUK Developers
• Over 200 UK Developers. This doesn't include developers of games for mobile phones, Interactive TV or Flash games.
• Some important names and product you need to be know.
• Companies change names frequently, e.g. Climax Racing now Black Rock Studio, acquired by Disney Interactive Studios (MotoGP)
• Almost all of the large internatational studios have UK offices as well.
• Microsoft and Sony a significant UK presence. Nintendo to a lesser degree but still important.
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UK DevelopersUK Developers
• Blade Interactive (World Snooker Championship, Hydrophobia)
• Traveller's Tales (Lego Star Wars)
• Bizarre Creations (The Club, Project Gotham Racing)
• Kuju (6 studios in UK, Battalion Wars, Buzz, SingStar (latter now Zoe Mode))
• Evolution Studios (Motor Storm)
• Rare (Perfect Dark Zero, Viva Pinata)
• Team 17 (Worms)
• Blitz Games (Spongebob, Bratz the Movie)
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UK DevelopersUK Developers
• Creative Assembly (Total War series)
• Lionhead Studios (Fable, Black & White)
• Codemasters (Turning Point, Clive Barker's Jericho)
• Rockstar (Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North in Glasgow)
• Climax Studios (Silent Hill Origins)
• Eutechnyx (Big Mutha Truckers)
• Relentless Software (Buzz! The Game)
• Real Time Worlds (Crackdown)
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UK DevelopersUK Developers
• Activision (Call of Duty 4, studios all over the world)
• GameLoft (mobile games)
• Midway (Stranglehold, offices in Newcastle, London as well as US)
• Rebellion (Gun: Showdown)
• Stormfront (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
• Studio Liverpool (part of SCEE, Wipeout Pure)
• Revolution Software (Broken Sword)
• Frontier (Thrillville)
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World DevelopersWorld Developers
• The UK developers are the companies you need to set you sights on. However, you should know about the main non-UK companies as well.
• Konami (have a branch in the UK, PES2008, in Japan Resident Evil)
• Firaxis (Civilization)
• Blizzard (World of Warcraft)
• id Software (Doom)
• Valve (Half Life)
• Insomniac (Ratchet and Clank)
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World DevelopersWorld Developers• Koei (Dynasty Warriors)
• Lucasarts (Star Wars)
• Namco Bandai (Warhammer: Mark of Chaos)
• Naughty Dog (Drake's Fortune, Crash Bandicoot)
• Maxis (Spore)
• Ubisoft (primarily publishers, also developers, have a UK branch)
• Square Enix (Final Fantasy)
• Epic Games (Unreal)
• Tecmo (Project Zero)
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Graphics Cards ManufacturersGraphics Cards Manufacturers
• NVidia
• ATI
• Companies work closely with games developers.
• Work closely with the developers of DirectX and OpenGL.
• Both companies employ graphics programmers.
• White papers.
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Industry newsIndustry news
• Gamasutra
• Game Industry biz:
• http://www.gamesindustry.biz
• MVC
• Develop magazine
• The Edge
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Industry conferencesIndustry conferences
• Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH). Presentations printed in the ACM Transactions on Graphics.
• Game Developers Conference (GDC)
• Develop conference. UK conference in Brighton.
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Industry organisationsIndustry organisations
• International Game Developers Association (IGDA)
• The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA)
• Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA)