gamedeveloper200603-dl.pdf

>> EDITORS’ PICKS GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE 2006

MARCH 2006

>> WATCHING THE SKIES

BUILDING DYNAMIC

HEAVENLY BODIES

>> PLAYING CATCH-UP

VINTAGE GAME CREATORS

ON AGING GRACELESSLY

>> BUSINESS LEVEL

FROM NINE TO FIVE

WITHOUT THE SLACK

POSTMORTEM:

GUN

NEVERSOFT’S

[

CONTENTS

]

MARCH 2006

VOLUME 13, NUMBER 3

FEATURES

11 GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE

PREVIEW 2006

With GDC just around the bend, the editors of

Game Developer and Gamasutra.com have

written up a set of event highlights, session

previews, and other informational delights.

While by no means a comprehensive guide,

this feature gives you a nice sampling of

what’s to come, filtered by the personal

preferences of each editor.

23 DYNAMIC SKYSCAPES

A game’s sky is integral to its believability,

but creating a convincing one can sometimes

be a daunting task, especially in the new

generation of consoles. In this technical

artist’s article, Michael Gehling details the

creation of a stunning yet scalable sky using

modern techniques. This should take some of

the strain off both coders and artists alike,

without compromising quality.

By Michael Gehling

POSTMORTEM

44 PLAYING CATCH-UP

In this series of interviews, important figures

from the golden age of game development,

including Al Lowe, Steve Purcell, and David

Crane, clue us in on what they’ve been up to

over the years, and what they’re up to now.

The article begs the question: Where will you

be in 20 years?

By Frank Cifaldi

34 GUN: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

It’s no simple task to create an original IP from scratch, let alone to

release it for multiple consoles, including the next-gen Xbox 360. This

was Neversoft’s task with G UN , and a particular challenge given the

company’s long ties to licensed titles. Can veteran cowboys learn new

tricks, or will they fall into the same old gulch? This postmortem offers a

very honest appraisal.

By Scott Pease and Chad Finley

DEPARTMENTS

COLUMNS

2 GAME PLAN By Simon Carless

Outlaws of Game

49 BUSINESS LEVEL By David Amor

[ BUSINESS ]

Crunch-less Development

4 HEADS UP DISPLAY

PC retail game sales fall, PopCap’s serious future, an open letter

from Jon Goldman, and more.

51 THE INNER PRODUCT By Mick West

[ PROGRAMMING ]

Evolve Your Hierarchy

55 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore

[ ART ]

6 SKUNK WORKS By Dennis Crowley and Spencer Lindsay

Elsevier’s High Dynamic Range Imaging book and Razer’s Copperhead

high-precision mouse

Brave New World

61 AURAL FIXATION By Alexander Brandon

[ SOUND ]

Databasic Ideas: Part I

88 A THOUSAND WORDS

Sega’s T HE R UB R ABBITS !

62 GAME SHUI By Noah Falstein

[ DESIGN ]

The Judo Rule

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GAME PLAN

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CMP Media, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94107 t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090

OUTLAWS

OF GAME

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Simon Carless scarless@gdmag.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Jill Duffy jduffy@gdmag.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Brandon Sheffield bsheffield@gdmag.com

ART DIRECTOR

Cliff Scorso cscorso@gdmag.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Alexander Brandon abrandon@gdmag.com

Noah Falstein nfalstein@gdmag.com

Steve Theodore stheodore@gdmag.com

Mick West mwest@gdmag.com

ADVISORY BOARD

Hal Barwood Designer-at-Large

Ellen Guon Beeman Monolith

Andy Gavin Naughty Dog

Joby Otero Luxoflux

ADVERTISING SALES

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SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER, EAST COAST, EUROPE & EASTERN CANADA

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ACCOUNT MANAGER, NO. CALIF., NORTHWEST, ASIA & WESTERN CANADA

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GLOBAL SALES MANAGER, RECRUITMENT & EDUCATION

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ACCOUNT MANAGER, SO. CALIF., SOUTH WEST, CONTRACTORS, &

MARKETPLACE

Jasmin Davé e : jdave@cmp.com t: 415.947.6226

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Kevin Chanel

REPRINTS Julie Rapp e : jarapp@cmp.com t: 510.834.4752

CMP GAME GROUP

VP, GROUP PUBLISHER APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES Philip Chapnick

VP, STRATEGIC MARKETING Michele Maguire

GROUP DIRECTOR Valerie Pippin

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Ta r a C . G i b b

CONFERENCE DIRECTOR, GDC Jamil Moledina

SENIOR CONFERENCE MANAGER, GDC Meggan Scavio

EXECUTIVE WEB PRODUCER Peter Leahy

EDITOR-IN-CHIE F, GAMASUTRA.COM Simon Carless

FEATURES EDITOR, GAMASUTRA.COM Quang Hong

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Kevin Regan e : kregan@cmp.com

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT MANAGER Jessica Ward e : jward@cmp.com

CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Miguel Mendiolaza e : mmendiolaza@cmp.com

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Michael Campbell e : mcampbell@cmp.com

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Andrea Abidor e : aabidor@cmp.com

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INTERNATIONAL LICENSING INFORMATION

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CMP MEDIA MANAGEMENT

PRESIDENT & CEO Steve Weitzner

EXECUTIVE VP & CFO John Day

EXECUTIVE VP, CORPORATE SALES & MARKETING Jeff Patterson

SENIOR VP, AUDIENCE MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT Bill Amstutz

SENIOR VP, INTERNET BUSINESS Mike Azzara

SENIOR VP, CMP INTEGRATED MARKETING SOLUTIONS Joseph Braue

SENIOR VP & GENERAL COUNSEL Sandra Grayson

SENIOR VP, CORPORATE SALES Anne Marie Miller

SENIOR VP, MANUFACTURING Marie Myers

SENIOR VP, COMMUNICATIONS Alexandra Raine

SENIOR VP, CORPORATE MARKETING Kate Spellman

VP, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Michael Zane

PRESIDENT, CHANNEL GROUP Robert Faletra

PRESIDENT, CMP ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA To ny Ke efe

PRESIDENT, CMP HEALTHCARE MEDIA Vicki Masseria

SENIOR VP, GROUP DIRECTOR ELECTRONICS &

SOFTWARE GROUPS Paul Miller

SENIOR VP, ENTERPRISE GROUP Fritz Nelson

SENIOR VP, GROUP DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS GROUP Stephen Saunders

THIS MONTH’S BUMPER ISSUE MANAGES TO COVER

a plethora of bases, but the one that’s most likely

to jump out at you is the lone gunslinger from

Neversoft’s G UN , making a last stand on the cover

and appearing in a postmortem on page 34.

Originating, as it does, from the developers of the

classy T ONY H AWK ’ S P RO S KATER series and S PIDER -

M AN , and blessed with a mysterious monolith

advertising it at the 2005 E3, G UN was one of the

products we were most looking forward to for this

past holiday season—not least because it was one

of the few major new original IP titles released in

time for Christmas. And, heck, it’s that relatively

rare thing, a Wild West game.

However, G UN , while scoring a solid 80-ish percent

average across game review web sites, clearly

wasn’t received rapturously by the gaming press,

who particularly dinged it for being a briefer

experience than they would like. But, in common

with P SYCHONAUTS and a few other games of the

past couple years, the title is a completely game

developer-generated original world that feels like a

living, breathing mythos. The careful, detail-oriented

approach of the developer makes a postmortem

particularly worthwhile in understanding the

game’s lofty aspirations and rough and tumble

attitude. Our thanks go to Neversoft for being

honest enough to tell us about it.

entire skyscape from scratch, complete with stars, a

sun, and a moon, through the much more complex

clouds, suggesting some possible approaches for

each, and including plenty of visual examples.

Dave Pottinger Ensemble Studios

George Sanger Big Fat Inc.

Harvey Smith Midway

Paul Steed Microsoft

DO NOT GO GENTLE

The “Playing Catch-Up” series is a set of interviews

with classic game developers that appeared on

our sister web sit e Gamasutra.com late last year.

We’ve picked some of our favorite pieces,

including chats with L EISURE S UIT L ARRY creator Al

Lowe, P ITFALL designer David Crane, and S AM &

M AX ’s daddy Steve Purcell, presenting some fun

reminiscences about the old days (pg. 44) .

For those of you who aren’t yet reminiscing

about the good old days, you’re probably familiar

with the more recent and ongoing debate about

work practices and office culture. An extremely

provocative Business Level column by David Amor

from U.K. developer Relentless Software discusses

why a much stricter approach to employee

practices, such as curbing internet use and

mandating nine to five hours, can actually create a

much more efficient, contented work environment,

contrary to what some might presume (pg. 49) .

XBOX LIVE ARCADED

Finally, just a word regarding the halcyon Xbox 360

Live Arcade experience. As a gamer who doesn’t

always have time to play through the 80-hour epics

(editing magazines takes a little time), and with a

healthy retro arcade leaning to start with, I was

predisposed to love Xbox Live Arcade. But its bite-

sized chunks of casual goodness in games such

as G EOMETRY W ARS E VOLVED , M ARBLE B LAST U LT R A , and

O UTPOST K ALOKI X are making me love simple games

all over again. It’s very obvious that at least this

part of Microsoft’s strategy is a home run.

The only question I have is this: Seriously, will

Live Arcade stop people from wanting to buy as

many full-price $60 games for next-generation

consoles? I already feel marginally less motivated

to do so, but then again, I apparently bought a

$400 console largely to play 1980s style arcade

titles. I’m probably the odd man out here.

My hunch is that there’s room in the market for

both the big and little guys, even if it does mean

that the money diffuses out a little more than

some may be expecting.

GDC GLEE

We’re not covering the 2006 Game Developers

Conference in our editor’s preview (pg. 11)

because our colleagues elsewhere in the CMP

Game Group produce it—rather, we do it because

there’s so much neat content this year, and we’re

as eager to get to the best lectures, roundtables,

and tutorials as you all are.

In any case, the preview includes basic info on

some of the major sub-conferences and special

events taking place in San Jose this March, as well

as five specific picks from each editor (with a special

cameo from the Gamasutra editors) on some of our

favorite putative sessions, from discussions of

prototyping in S PORE to Namco’s Japanese arcade

conversion of C OUNTER -S TRIKE , and beyond.

WHAT WERE THE SKIES LIKE?

Whether they go on forever and ever or not, many

games need some kind of way for the player to look

up and not be horrified by a badly texture-matched

skymap. In this month’s technical article (pg. 23) ,

Michael Gehling walks us through the building of an

Simon Carless, editor-in-chief

Game Developer

is BPA approved

MARCH 2006 | GAME DEVELOPER

WWW.CMPGAME.COM

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