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Game Developer - January 2010
SPECIAL FEATURE:
2009 FRONT LINE AWARDS
VOL17NO1
JANUARY2010
THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
CONTENTS.0110
VOLUME 17 NUMBER 1
POSTMORTEM
DEPARTMENTS
20
NCSOFT'S
A
ION
A
ION
is NCsoft's next big subscription MMORPG, originating from
the company's home base in South Korea. In our first-ever Korean
postmortem, the team discusses how A
ION
survived worker
fatigue, stock drops, and real money traders, providing budget and
demographics information along the way.
By NCsoft South Korean team
2
GAME PLAN
By Brandon Sheffield
[EDITORIAL]
Going Through the Motions
4
HEADS UP DISPLAY
[NEWS]
Open Source Space Games, new NES music engine, and
Gamma IV contest announcement.
34
TOOL BOX
By Chris DeLeon
[REVIEW]
FEATURES
Unity Technologies' Unity 2.6
7
2009 FRONT LINE AWARDS
We're happy to present our 12th annual tools awards, representing
the best in game industry software, across engines, middleware,
production tools, audio tools, and beyond, as voted by the
Game
Developer
audience.
By Eric Arnold, Alex Bethke, Rachel Cordone, Sjoerd De Jong, Richard
Jacques, Rodrigue Pralier, and Brian Thomas.
38
THE INNER PRODUCT
By Jake Cannell
[PROGRAMMING]
Brick by Brick
42
PIXEL PUSHER
By Steve Theodore
[ART]
Tilin'? Stylin'!
46
DESIGN OF THE TIMES
By Damion Schubert
[DESIGN]
Get Real
15
RETHINKING USER INTERFACE
Thinking of making a game for multitouch-based platforms? This
article offers a look at the UI considerations when moving to this sort of
interface, including specific advice for touch offset, and more.
By Brian Robbins
48
AURAL FIXATION
By Jesse Harlin
[SOUND]
Dethroned
50
GOOD JOB!
[CAREER]
Konami sound team mass exodus, Kim Swift interview,
and who went where.
27
CENTER OF MASS
This technical artist-oriented article from an ex pro gymnast shows
how you can use math and physics (specifically dealing with gravity)
to improve your character animation. The author most recently
worked on UFC U
NDISPUTED
2009, which has some of the best body
interpolation and animation seen in games.
By Eiko Oba
52
EDUCATED PLAY
[EDUCATION]
Focus on ENJMIN's student game AZ66
56
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
By Matthew Wasteland
[HUMOR]
Dear Mr. Wasteland
COVER ART: NCSOFT ART TEAM
WWW.GDMAG.COM
1
GAME PLAN
//
BRANDON SHEFFIELD
www.gdmag.com
Think Services, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl.,
San Francisco, CA 94107
t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
IS GESTURE CONTROL REALLY THE FUTURE?
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND
ADDRESS CHANGES
t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606
e
:
gamedeveloper@halldata.com
EDITORIAL
PUBLISHER
Simon Carless l
scarless@gdmag.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Brandon Sheffield
l
bsheffield@gdmag.com
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Jeffrey Fleming l
jfleming@gdmag.com
ART DIRECTOR
Joseph Mitch l
jmitch@gdmag.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jesse Harlin
Steve Theodore
Daniel Nelson
Soren Johnson
Damion Schubert
ADVISORY BOARD
Hal Barwood Designer-at-Large
Mick West Independent
Brad Bulkley Neversoft
Clinton Keith Independent
Bijan Forutanpour Sony Online Entertainment
Mark DeLoura Independent
Carey Chico Pandemic Studios
ADVERTISING SALES
GLOBAL SALES DIRECTOR
Aaron Murawski e
:
amurawski@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6227
MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER
John Malik Watson e
:
jmwatson@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6224
GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION
AND RECRUITMENT
Gina Gross e
:
ggross@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6241
COORDINATOR, EDUCATION AND RECRUITMENT
Rafael Vallin e
:
rvallin@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6223
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Robert Steigleider e:
rsteigleider@ubm-us.com
REPRINTS
WRIGHT'S REPRINTS
Ryan Pratt e:
rpratt@wrightsreprints.com
t: 877.652.5295
THINK SERVICES
CEO THINK SERVICES
Philip Chapnick
GROUP DIRECTOR
Kathy Schoback
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Cliff Scorso
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
Anthony Adams
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
TYSON ASSOCIATES
Elaine Tyson
e
:
tysonassoc@aol.com
LIST RENTAL
Merit Direct LLC t: 914.368.1000
MARKETING
MARKETING SPECIALIST
Mellisa Andrade
e
:
mandrade@think-services.com
UBM TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
David Levin
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Scott Mozarsky
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
David Wein
CORPORATE SENIOR VP SALES
Anne Marie Miller
SENIOR VP, STRATEGIC DEV. AND BUSINESS ADMIN.
Pat Nohilly
SENIOR VP, MANUFACTURING
Marie Myers
THE YEAR 2010 IS UPON US.
It
should prove to be a time of
iterative improvements, rather than
major hardware shifts, and the area
in which this is most apparent is
peripherals. Within this year, or so
it is said, there will be three home
systems with motion or gesture
control—the Wii of course, the
PlayStation 3 with its motion wands,
and the 360’s Project Natal.
Everyone’s chasing the motion
and gesture train, after the success
of the DS, the iPhone, and the Wii.
But is motion really the reason
these consoles are successful?
Partially, sure—but that’s not the
whole story.
gyroscope and accelerometer
were a step beyond what had been
done previously, and the iPhone’s
multitouch interface hadn’t
really been done before with
games in mind. The innovations
were subtle—what was really
disruptive, as Nintendo might say,
was the marketing.
year old male to bring the console
into the house (Sony may have
it easier here, with its Blu-ray
player, but the jury’s still out on
that), and market the peripherals
as something they can plug into
their existing system. Microsoft is
rumored to be preparing a relaunch
for the console with Natal, likely
responding to the predicament
I’m describing. Quite simply, my
question is, no matter how nice
the motion controls and cameras
themselves may be, will these
companies be able to rebrand
themselves properly for the family
set while continuing to push the
blockbusters that have been their
bread and butter? Right now, the
360’s best selling game is C
ALL
OF
D
UTY
M
ODERN
W
ARFARE
2. Far from
a family game, that one, and a
market the company is not likely
to abandon.
YES, THESE ARE YOUR MOM’S
VIDEOGAMES
»
Nintendo told us that its systems
were new, and disruptive—but what
they told moms, grandmothers and
grandfathers was that this device
was fun for everyone. They could
say that this was brand new, and
just for them, and mostly be right in
saying it. Nintendo took out ads in
parenting and women’s magazines,
and blazed a trail of accessible
television marketing that placed its
consoles far away from the others,
which were, at least in terms of
marketing, very clearly for 17 year
old boys in the early days.
Nintendo reminded people that
it was the company that made
M
ARIO
, and they all remembered
M
ARIO
, right? That was probably
the only game the target market
had ever played that wasn’t T
ETRIS
.
Nintendo knew the market it was
going for, and targeted it perfectly.
Parents, grandparents, and most
importantly, families.
Now, Sony and Microsoft
are releasing motion control
expansions, both with the express
intention of broadening their
consoles’ markets. But can they do
it from where they are now? These
companies don’t have the benefit
of a completely new launch with
which to brand themselves, and
have spent most of their consoles’
lifetimes marketing to the hardcore.
(Let’s face it, Nintendo, aside from
perhaps a brief stint in the 90s,
never targeted the hardcore very
directly, choosing to go after the
youthful and light players with the
bulk of its marketing bucks.)
Sony and Microsoft most
likely have to rely on that 17–34
YOU LOOK FAMILIAR
»
Motion controls have been
around for a long time. Light gun
games in arcades and at home are
primitive motion controllers, and
they’ve been around since games
began—one of Ralph Baer’s first
prototypes before the legendary
Brown Box was a light gun that
worked with a television. Touch
controls, likewise, have been around
for quite a while. The DS brought
it to the masses, and the iPhone
hammered it home, but PDAs have
had touch control for years now, and
have been host to games with major
industry backing to boot (remember
the Tapwave Zodiac?).
I would submit that aside from
outstanding games like W
II
S
PORTS
or B
OOM
B
LOX
, much of what’s done
on the Wii with motion control could
be done with a normal controller, if a
few design issues were solved. The
thought struck me as I was playing
N
EW
S
UPER
M
ARIO
B
ROS
. W
II
, tilting
the controller to raise the end of a
platform so that he could access a
higher area—this could easily be
done with shoulder buttons.
My point is not to trivialize the
Wii Remote, but rather to point
out that what Nintendo did when
it released the DS and the Wii was
not to revolutionize control. There
were subtle upgrades certainly—
the DS’ two screens, and the Wii’s
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
»
Sony and Microsoft have a long
way to go before they can steal
Nintendo’s thunder. Sure, the 360
and PS3 have the edge in terms of
game to hardware tie ratio, but that
goes hand in hand with the hardcore.
The Wii was purchased by a lot of
people who only wanted W
II
S
PORTS
,
and maybe another Nintendo game
every year thereafter.
My concern is that Sony and
Microsoft may have a stigma to
overcome before they can get the
moms and grandmas involved in
their console. They’ve both spent a
lot of time promoting their machines
as homes of blockbusters—and
unlike the movie definition of that
word, game blockbusters only appeal
to a certain set of people.
2010 will be a very interesting
year, with battles fought between
Sony and Microsoft for dominance
of the hardcore set, and between
all parties for the “emerging
market” set. As that demographic
increasingly turns to social network
games and the iPhone, this will be a
battle that's hard won.
—Brandon Sheffield
2
GAME DEVELOPER | JANUARY 2010
WWW.CMPGAME.COM
Perforce
Fast
Software Configuration Management
Introducing P4GT,
a productivity feature of Perforce SCM.
The Perforce Plug-in for Graphical Tools, P4GT, makes version control
painless by seamlessly integrating Perforce with leading graphical tools.
Drop-down menus allow access to Perforce from within 3ds Max, Maya,
Softimage XSI, and Adobe Photoshop.
Art and development teams can standardize on Perforce to version and
manage both source code and digital assets. Enhanced collaboration
during the design process helps teams to work together in real time to
release small patches or create whole new worlds.
P4GT
P4GT is just one of the many productivity tools that comes with the
Perforce SCM System.
Download a free copy of Perforce,
no questions
asked, from
www.perforce.com.
Free technical support is
available throughout your evaluation.
All trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. Adobe screen shot reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.
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