gamedeveloper200704-dl.pdf

>> PRODUCT REVIEW AUTODESK’S MAYA 8.5

APRIL 2007

THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

SALARY SURVEY

6 TH ANNUAL

DWl_]Wj[Oekh):MehbZ

HiVgi^c\Vi *.

HeVXZE^adi IB (..

6YVei^kZhZch^c\iZX]cdad\n

Wj^ai"^cY^heaVn

HeVXZ:meadgZg IB '..

6YkVcXZYZg\dcdb^XYZh^\c

HeVXZCVk^\Vidg IB *.$ ..

>YZVa[dg]dbZ!hX]ddaldg`

HeVXZIgVkZaZg IB &..

Dc"i]Z"\dcVk^\Vi^dcXdcigda

(9XdccZm^dc¼hVlVgYl^cc^c\(9cVk^\Vi^dcYZk^XZhYZa^kZg^cij^i^kZidjX]"hZch^i^kZXdcigdad[i]gZZ"Y^bZch^dcVa

bdYZahVcYZck^gdcbZcih#;ani]gdj\]hXZcZhVcYbVc^ejaViZbdYZahl^i]VcV\^a^inVcYegZX^h^dcjcVX]^ZkVWaZ

l^i]VbdjhZVcY`ZnWdVgY#Jc^[ni]ZcVk^\Vi^dchnhiZbhd[bjai^eaZ(9egd\gVbh^cdcZh^beaZidjhZYZk^XZ#

6X]^ZkZjceVgVaaZaZYegdYjXi^k^inl^i]egd[Zhh^dcVa(9Veea^XVi^dch#

6ildg`!]dbZ!hX]ddadgdci]ZgdVY!(9XdccZm^dcd[[ZghVcVk^\Vi^dcYZk^XZ[dgndjg(9ldgaY#

HeVXZCVk^\Vidg E:EZghdcVa:Y^i^dca^XZchZhjeedgihcdc"XdbbZgX^VajhZd[YZk^XZdcan#HeVXZCVk^\Vidg HiVcYVgY:Y^i^dchj\\ZhiZYgZiV^aeg^XZ^h..#

AZVgcbdgZVi lll#(9XdccZm^dc#Xdb

C:L

CONTENTS

]

APRIL 2007

VOLUME 14, NUMBER 4

FEATURES

GAME DEVELOPER

’S 6TH ANNUAL

SALARY SURVEY

Two mid-level game developers walk into a

bar. One makes about $62,000 per year and

the other cashes in only $53,000. Which

one is the designer and which is the artist?

If you’ve ever wanted to sneak a peek at

your colleagues’ paychecks, now is your

chance. In this sixth annual Salary Survey,

Game Developer has collected and crunched

the figures for you, comparing job titles,

years of experience, education, location,

bonuses, and other factors that affect a

developer’s pay.

By Jill Duffy

15 OPTIMIZING CELL CODE

The Xbox 360 has six hardware execution

threads running on PPU architecture. On the

PlayStation 3, the Cell processor has two PPU

execution threads and eight symmetric

processing elements. With advancements in

hardware this dramatic, clearly game

developers need to rethink how they

optimize code. In this case study, Martin

Linklater of Sony Computer Entertainment

Europe, Liverpool gets close to the metal

with the PlayStation 3 Cell processor,

examining how to best exploit the power of

this parallel hardware.

By Martin Linklater

POSTMORTEM

20 ADVENT OF ADVERGAMING: BLITZ GAMES’

BURGER KING GAMES

In a mere seven months, Blitz Games produced three small titles across

two platforms (Xbox and Xbox 360) for restaurant giant Burger King.

Burger King had very specific ideas in mind for B IG B UMPIN ’, P OCKETBIKE

R ACER , and S NEAK K ING , ideas that Blitz didn’t always agree would make

for great gameplay. Senior designer Edward Linely shares how Blitz

learned to work within some of these restrictions, while also learning a

thing or two from the creative minds at Burger King.

By Edward Linely

DEPARTMENTS

COLUMNS

2 GAME PLAN By Simon Carless

Rise of the Game Engine

30 THE INNER PRODUCT By Mick West

[ PROGRAMMING ]

Practical Fluid Dynamics: Part II

4 HEADS UP DISPLAY

Overheard at the Game Developers Conference, Adventures in Motion

Capture, and more.

33 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore

[ ART ]

Neither Fish Nor Fowl

35 GAME SHUI By Noah Falstein

[ DESIGN ]

27 SKUNK WORKS By Tom Carroll and Jill Duffy

Autodesk’s Maya 8.5 and product news

Software Toys

36 AURAL FIXATION By guest columnist Rob Bridgett

[ SOUND ]

48 A THOUSAND WORDS

Amanita Design’s S AMOROST 2

Interactive Ambience

35 BUSINESS LEVEL By Makoto Iwai

[ BUSINESS ]

Marriage License

COVER ART: ALEJANDRO CHAVETTA

WWW.GDMAG.COM

[

GAME PLAN

]

www.gdmag.com

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

RISE OF THE

GAME ENGINE

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Simon Carles s scarless@gdmag.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Jill Duffy jduffy@gdmag.com

FEATURES EDITOR

Brandon Sheffield bsheffield@gdmag.com

ART DIRECTOR

Cliff Scors o cscorso@gdmag.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jesse Harli n jharlin@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 Microsoft

Andy Gavin Naughty Dog

Joby Otero Luxoflux

ADVERTISING SALES

DIRECTOR OF SALES

Steve McGill e: smcgill@cmp.com t: 415.947.6217

GLOBAL SALES MANAGER, RECRUITMENT & EDUCATION

Aaron Murawski e : amurawski@cmp.com t: 415.947.6227

MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER

John Watson e: jmwatson@cmp.com t: 415.947.6090

SR. EVENTS ACCOUNT MANAGER, SOUTHWEST

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

SR. EVENTS ACCOUNT MANAGER, NO. CALIF., NORTHWEST, ASIA &

WESTERN CANADA

Nick Geist e: ngeist@cmp.com t: 415.947.6223

EVENTS ACCOUNT MANAGER, EAST COAST, U.K. & EASTERN CANADA

Cecily Herbst e: cherbst@cmp.com t: 415.947.6215

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Kevin Chanel

REPRINTS Cindy Zauss e : czauss@cmp.com t: 516-562-5000

Julie A. Douglas e: jadouglas@cmp.com t: 516.562.5092

CMP GAME GROUP

VP, GROUP PUBLISHER APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES Philip Chapnick

VP, STRATEGIC MARKETING Michele Maguire

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 Frank Cifaldi

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Miguel Mendiolaza e: mmendiolaza@cmp.com

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Michael Campbell e : mcampbell@cmp.com

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT Andrea Abidor e: aabidor@cmp.com

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND ADDRESS CHANGES

t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606 e : gamedeveloper@halldata.com

INTERNATIONAL LICENSING INFORMATION

Mario Salinas t: 650.513.4234 f: 650.513.4482 e : msalinas@cmp.com

CMP TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

PRESIDENT AND CEO Steve Weitzner

EXECUTIVE VP AND CFO Adam Marder

SENIOR VP, AUDIENCE MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT Bill Amstutz

SENIOR VP, CMP INTEGRATED MARKETING SOLUTIONS Joseph Braue

SENIOR VP AND GENERAL COUNSEL Sandra Grayson

SENIOR VP, CORPORATE MARKETING Lisa Johnson

SENIOR VP, CORPORATE SALES Anne Marie Miller

SENIOR VP, MANUFACTURING Marie Myers

SENIOR VP, COMMUNICATIONS Alexandra Raine

VP, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Michael Zane

PRESIDENT, CHANNEL GROUP Robert Faletra

PRESIDENT, CMP ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA To ny Ke efe

PRESIDENT, BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY GROUP Jeff Patterson

SENIOR VP, GROUP DIRECTOR, ELECTRONICS & SOFTWARE GROUPS

Paul Miller

SENIOR VP, GROUP DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS GROUP,

Stephen Saunders

REAL-TIME MIDDLEWARE IS REALLY STARTING TO

take off at all levels of the food chain, from AI

through path finding to physics and beyond. The

growth of middleware is significant for a multitude

of reasons, but primarily, it’s good news for

developers because it takes a lot of the pain out of

game development.

Within middleware, the most fascinating area to

watch is the game engine market. As it turns out (in

case you haven’t heard), a great game engine is

vital to next-gen game creation. The industry is

getting really close to the stage where adapting the

previous generation’s engines to next-generation

projects is simply too time-consuming, expensive,

or risky for some developers and publishers.

S CROLLS IV: O BLIVION . Buena Vista Games has also

licensed Emergent’s engine for next-gen consoles.

Another company that’s attempting to move in on

the space is Vicious Cycle with its in-house Vicious

Engine. Vicious Cycle has been using the engine for

PSP game development (D EAD H EAD F RED ) and has

made an initial thrust into the engine seller’s

market on this platform predominantly. But the

company is now rapidly morphing the tool to also

target next-generation consoles.

Valve’s Source Engine now looks like it’s being

well tweaked for multi-SKU development, although

the company’s relatively recalcitrant nature

means that, from my perspective, they’re hardly

out there looking for licensees in a front and

center manner, preferring to license the engine to

close partners and work on the actual game

design with them.

There’s also GarageGames (with Torque) and

BigWorld (with its MMO engine technology), who are

also ramping up notably, plus a number of others.

Dave Pottinger Ensemble Studios

George Sanger Big Fat Inc.

Harvey Smith Midway

Paul Steed Microsoft

EPIC PROPORTION

To me, the biggest missed opportunity in the

game tools market of the past few years has been

the failure of any firm to keep up with Epic and

Unreal Engine 3 in terms of next-gen engine

licensing. Epic has created a tremendously high-

end engine, as showcased in G EARS OF W AR , and its

combination of graphic thrills and solid underlying

technology has taken the business by storm. The

company has proven the prestige of this engine in

action and has made multi-SKU development

relatively straightforward.

In fact, the latest announced Unreal Engine 3

licensing deal as of press time, as reported on

sister web sit e Gamasutra.com, was for a North

American-developed game by publisher Capcom,

and referenced that the engine has been licensed

by “Activision, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Game

Studios, Atari, Real Time Worlds, Namco, Midway,

Silicon Knights, VU Games, THQ, and Sony Online.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, to be honest.

Epic’s move to market dominance has been

extremely impressive and aggressive.

YOU ARE YOUR TOOLS

The way I see it, most people who are making and

selling game technology adopt the perception that

working with a great engine puts developers most

of the way to a producing a great game.

Given that, you need to be a dedicated,

independent technologist to step back and realize

that licensing your game engine is possibly even

better business than just making a game. Epic,

which is led by a technologically-oriented

developer (Tim Sweeney) and some savvy

business folks, is having its cake and eating it,

too, by making a cutting-edge engine for its own

games and licensing it at the same time. I believe

that a lot of people have missed a big opportunity

by not doing the same.

Then again, there’s one major issue with game

engines: “the RenderWare problem.” Building one

engine so deeply into a development process can be

risky if the company in question is ripe to either be

purchased or potentially dwindle its support over

time. Epic is such a large, historically independent,

and relatively platform/company-agnostic developer

that neither of these fates feels likely.

Maybe that’s the implicit assurance that money

can’t buy. But change is inevitable, and I’m

expecting to see much more investment and

competition in this market in the near future. *

Simon Carless

Editor-in-Chief

IN THE RING

But why, given that the Xbox 360 launched 18

months ago, have major competitors been so thin

on the ground? I was actually asked to write a

feature for Official Xbox Magazine earlier this year

on that subject, and so I had a chance to

investigate in a little more depth which third-party

engines have formally announced that they are

powering Xbox 360 games.

The total is surprisingly small. Emergent’s

Gamebryo Element is probably one of those closest

to challenging the Unreal 3 Engine, with a heavily

modified version powering Bethesda’s T HE E LDER

Game Developer

is BPA approved

APRIL 2007 | GAME DEVELOPER

WWW.CMPGAME.COM

[

WWW.CMPGAME.COM

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: