I must admit that I have been writing very little on Technology despite being an individual working in that profession (To be precise: Computer Technology), there are several reasons for it, the first reason being that I believe as a human my profession plays only one part of my life while the rest is a mosaic of several others.
Secondly not everyone likes technology, I wanted to write on several other subjects that pondered my mind, so that this blog will have a variety.
However, none of these are reasons for refraining from writing about Technology. So let me start from my next post.
I remember once when I was attending a lecture during my undergraduate years at APIIT. The lecturer (who was from a legal background) asked us a question 'What is coding'. This question was asked in a similar manner a layman would ask an IT expert.
Surprisingly none of us could answer that question because as undergraduates our focus was not in understanding coding but to improve our proficiency in coding. However today I am able to answer it by simply saying 'Speaking to the computer', This is a technique used by programmers to speak to electronic devices.
Next time if someone asks me the question
Q: Who are Software Engineers
My answer will be
A: Living Things (also known as Professionals) attempting to speak to non living things
When I visited a local bookshop to buy a copy of the book 'Life of Pi', I was told by the gentleman at the counter that the book was out of stock and only the movie tie-in version of the book is available, when I visited another bookshop to buy the same book they had the same story to tell me.
Movie Tie-in Book Cover
(Source: Barnes and Noble)
What exactly is a Movie Tie in book ?
A book based on a media franchise e.g: A Movie, television Series, Comic Strip etc.
What exactly is the difference?
Nothing that I noticed, except the cover of the book that may feature the actors or characters in the franchise.
Should I buy them ?
As an adult you should be able to decide what you should buy and what you should not buy.
I am not an adult can you please advice
All Right then!!, I don't see anything special in a book which features a movie star unless I am a fan of that movie or the actor, but as a avid fan of reading I see value in the text rather than its promotional material.
I was quite happy when I saw a news item where the National Child Protection Authority in Sri Lanka has decided to appoint a task force to combat cyber crime.
Though Cyber bullying and stalking is not a familiar term in Sri Lanka, traditional bullying and stalking is a common and overlooked menace in the Country, so it is easy for such perpetrators to transfer their intimidating skills online and modernize their methods with the aid of technology.
Bullying and Stalking is a serious issue not only in Sri Lanka but in many developing Countries, it affects a person's progress and well being. Anyone could be a victim as the perpetrators could be in schools, workplace as well as within families and could range from school children to adults, the attitude that is usually held by the society is 'You should be able to bear and fight back', which is a pathetic situation.
Finally its happy to note that though the government hasn't focused on any attempt to solve the problem of traditional bullying, they have framed and appointed a task force to address the grievances of the cyber menace.
My mother occasionally speaks about her past with nostalgia which includes the plays that she had enjoyed during her time and one of them being 'The Dowry Hunter', so needless to say when I saw the advertisement in the newspapers about this vintage production we were eager to see it.
Souvenir of Dowry Hunter
As seen in the front cover of the souvenir, this has been a vintage drama that has been written by one named S.J.K Crowther seventy years ago, which has been reproduced by two prominent dramatists in Sri Lanka, Indu Dharmasena and Jith Peiris
Inside the Souvenir of Dowry Hunter
The plot is about a man's struggle to manage his acquaintances who seems to flock around him after he won a lottery with the aid of his friend.
This was the first time I witnessed a stage play with two intervals. The play as a whole was good, the actors did an excellent job, the humour was also fine but I personally preferred He Comes from Jaffna (another vintage reproduction which I witnessed some time ago).
The Music score and the stage setting resembled of an olden era that was nice and unique, and finally it was inspiring to see such vintage reproductions as it displays the nostalgic experiences that our mothers would always admire.
I still remember the day I met you and your son PaulMarie in 2011, I consider myself highly privileged to have learnt music theory and techniques in playing the piano from you.
As a child I had been a fan of your songs 'Master Sir', 'Nim Him' and 'Kalpanaawo' without ever knowing its composer, it was later that I knew that the composer was none other than Nimal Mendis, never did I dream that this composer would one day be a good friend of mine (and my family).
The attitude you held during your lifetime was a marvel even to our generation, there was a lot we all could learn from you. The entire Country will miss your music and all those who knew you would miss both your music and kindness forever.
As mentioned in my last post, I thought of writing a special post on the final event of the final day of GDC.
When I entered the hall in which the session was being held, I realized that the lay out was arranged in a different way which made me realize that this was a round table conference.
As I went forward I saw a gent with a cap pulling a chair who quite pleasantly smiled at me, I asked him if I could sit here while placing my hand in a chair which he answered in the affirmative, as I sat down I asked him if the session was in Chinese which he replied 'No, As my Chinese is not good'.
It was then that I realized that I was speaking to the speaker/moderator of the event who was none other than Ken Wong, the creator of the mobile game 'Monument Valley'. As a result I got to sit right next to him throughout the conference.
Ken Wong and me
(Courtsey: GDC China)
This was indeed a highly interactive session where he was kind enough to show his Oculus Rift(https://www.oculus.com/rift/) and the Concept Art he did for the Monument Valley. Here are some of the facts that he shared with us.
Writing documents is not as useful as creating a playable prototype.
The prototype for Monument Valley was created in Unity (Game Engine).
The structure of the game was different (similar to the difference between a Movie and TV Drama).
Monument Valley was focusing on the UX (User Experience).
Monument Valley was developed with the IPad in mind.
How to make the best use of the touch controls of IPad.
It is always possible to do impossible things.
Details were not added to the character (in Monument Valley), as it is not storytelling.
The main objective of the character is to walk.
To create a strong character observe other strong characters.
Once you see a silhouette of Mickey Mouse or Indiana Jones, you identify the character, the reason is because the characters are strong.
The story is not important in a game, there could be games without a story.
The most important thing is to create a strong character.
If the game is too complex in the beginning, people will not use them.
The ability to express ideas and opinions between teams is very important.
Having no sound effects in the Princess (in Monument Valley) panting while climbing had some effective aspect, as players could imagine the sound through their mind.
When making games its always important to discuss how an activity could be done rather than why it shouldn't be done.
When a game is submitted to Apple, there will be a gap of a few weeks as Apple Inc. checks if the game follows the Apple guidelines.
It is important to note why you make games and why you want to make games.
Minecraft (The Game) is played by users without a goal in mind, but just to showcase their creations in Minecraft.
The most important thing when creating a company that makes games is to make its employees happy.
Once the session was over, each one went up to him to introduce themselves, take photographs and engage in General discussions, I too introduced myself and spoke to him, and the first thing he asked me was 'Do people in your Country make the villain black ?' I explained to him that game developing is a very new field in Sri Lanka and then he said 'Make sure when you make your next game don't always make the villain 'A black' but make a 'A White' villain as well'.
Finally to the Final day of the conference and the most interesting day of the lot.
The first session I participated was titled '7 Steps to Mastering Native Advertising on Mobile',
According to the speaker of that session there are very few paying users compared to non paying users (The speaker displayed the statistics with the aid of a pie chart where only a thin slice was shaded to show the percentage of paid users) who play mobile games.
While he displayed several advertising formats for mobiles, he added that a player relationship management is important to display the appropriate advertisement for the user.
Further he compared the games 'Sweet Mania' and 'Happy Mall' as games where advertising had been used effectively, finally he mentioned that it is the developer who has to build and control advertising and suggested 'Pubnative' and 'AppLift' as good publishing platforms (which fortunately works with the Unity Engine).
The next session I participated was titled 'What could gaming learn from UI/UX Engineering'.
I was interested in attending this session as I believed that what users experience plays an important role in increasing its popularity. The following tips were gathered during this session.
Attention to detail is very important in UI/UX design
Every line you draw should be beautiful and functional
UX design is an industrial design as well as a visual design
UX designers should know where the user wants to go quickly
Placing UI objects/buttons in a way that obstructs the game in not good since the users should get a full view of the object
Create a User flow in such a way that each box has one page
Include decision trees
Don't rely on back buttons and don't be obsessed about the number of clicks
Amazon.com gives the recommendations of the products in the same page itself so that the user's don't have to go back to see its UI.
UI/UX is like animation but with a slower frame rate.
In addition to that the speaker discussed about Wireframing, Information Design and several other features like consistency, navigation, sticking to the button sizes, App Icon Design and paying attention to color (In China red colour denotes good luck and happiness while in the west red colour denotes danger).
Finally the session ended up with the note that Good UI may not work for a bad game but bad UI will hamper the chance of success of a good game.
The next session that I attended was titled 'Simple skills to rapidly improve the business value of mobile games product'. This session was in Chinese but with the aid of translators it proved to be another enlightening session, the tips gained from this session are as follows.
The name of the game has an impact on its commercial value (A game in China that was named 'Kung Fu' gained popularity after it was named 'Sword' )
The simpler the name, easier it is to understand
Names should not be changed very quickly as people will not remember too many names
The name can also give a preconceived idea about the game
Try to avoid giving too common names.
Icon pays an equal importance for a business perspective of a game
We are in a world of pictures, so take time to design an icon.
Don't follow the trend, try to do the opposite (unless it is risky)
Decide on the colour theme (Using a single colour or using several colours).
Audio plays a crucial role in games.
Pay attention to the size of game, as people with slower bandwidth connections may find it difficult to download the game
The next session I participated was titled '80 DAYS Post-mortem: Letting the game tell the story'.
This was indeed a valuable session as this was a postmortem of the mobile game '80 Days' by its Creative Director. Below are some of the facts that he shared with us.
Designing Games in tablets helps to simplify things
Deliver the game that people expect
Relationships of characters are in the heart of everything
Resources that are expected in a gameplay are 1)Time 2)Money(useful) 3)Health while the game '80 days' did not use health.
Conversation between characters were used in the game 80 days
No death was used in the game
Text slows down game play
Story is the 'Heart' and not the 'Spine' of the game
Players learn the rules of the game and then uses them
The inspiration for the game was used from 1920 travel posters
The writing was done in a scripting language rather than a visual tool.
Price Algorithm - A Good algorithm that could be used for strategic games.
The last session of the last day was indeed the most memorable for me, it was a Round Table session titled 'Monument valley: Joy, Beauty and Ideas'.
Source: GDC China
This was delivered by none other than Ken Wong, the Lead Designer of UsTwo, the company that made the game Monument Valley, this session was so memorable to the extent that I will write a separate post on it.
The second day was equally interesting, I was familiar about the conference with my experience from the first day and since I knew the proceedings before hand (Thankful to the organizers of the conference who had deployed a Mobile app on the conference that was very handy) things went on smoothly.
The first session I attended was titled 'Building tools for empowering creativity and improving efficiency'.
This session was focused on the development of tools that could be used when designing and developing games, so the discussion was based on the usage of these tools by taking real world examples into consideration. In addition to that several libraries and tools were discussed, PHPExcel, YAML and Particle Editors were among them. This session was held under the Smartphone and Tablet summit.
It is important to note here that to create a game a developer needs the aid of so many tools, a Game Engine will be able to provide most of these tools, but sometimes the relevant tool may not be available in the engine, even though it may be available the tool in the engine may not be as effective as the custom built tools. This session presented some guidelines to consider when developing such tools which are as follows
1. Build something generic, as you may never know what your next project is going to be.
2. Have a plan on how you will be working with the tool in future
3. Version Control your tools (TotalSVN is a free tool that could be used)
4. Never connect your tool to another tool or software, even though we may like to connect our tools on top of another tool.
5. Have a good document about your tool so that people could read and use them (This is what so many projects lack)
6. Keep the project smaller
7. Have a few programmers that will ensure less confusion in the initial development.
In addition to that the speaker mentioned that as the tool becomes popular people could demand more features, so he suggested to make the code clearer.
Prior to ending the session there was a suggestion to watch a TED Talk that was delivered by a Game Developer named Jane McGonial (Author of the book 'Reality Broken'), though this TED Talk had very little to do with the content that was spoken (except about World of WarCraft Wiki which highlighted the importance of documentation) this is an interesting Talk that could be viewed below.
The next session was titled 'Road not taken: Lessons learned transitioning from Mobile to Console' this too was held under the Smartphone and Tablet Summit.
As the title suggests this session was focused towards the migration of Mobile games to the Console market, so in this session the focus was on the migration to a new market, so according to the speaker thriving markets have the following features
1. Weak Competition
2. High Platform Support
3. Large Audience
In addition to this he mentioned the following during his session
1.Gaming Consoles fall under the category of consumable media as they only care about selling the game, so have a good sales pitch and an effective marketing strategy (create an excitement about the game - Community marketing is a good option)
2. Consoles are closed platforms, i.e. Platform controls Distribution
3. Though advertising a console game through the press could be effective, it takes a long time to get attention and such advertising methods should be done intensively.
4. Mailing lists and Cross Promotions may not work for console games since console games are closed platform.
5.Rush to meet the deadlines and the time line of work should be done simultaneously in order to keep in line with the deadlines.
6.Iterative development methodologies may not work for Console game development so make big development releases.
7. Console gaming market is very expensive and conservative, so the publishers may not want to spend money on a game that is very new as they fear it may not be liked by the players
8. Finally, Game Developers are not people who just make one game
9. You can find gaming articles in the following site: http://www.lostgarden.com/.
The next session I attended was titled 'Business model for web games'
I was not much thrilled by this session as I felt that the speaker was focusing his attention on the Chinese Game Market (which was understandable as the session was delivered in Chinese), yet I was able to gain the following facts from that session.
1. The Business model is a system and it will be useless if people dislike it.
2. Web games take a lot of testing time
3. Quality of the Game itself depends on the payment model.
4 Web games need to generate more traffic to generate more money.
5. Business models should be built on Innovation
6. The web game has to be unique to generate more money
7. Adding unique features could make the game more popular e.g. Making the player to ride a dragon the way he rides a Ferrari.
8. Having a good structure is very important.
9. When the difficulty of the game increases the player becomes anxious.
10.Match the difficulty and the boredom of the game.
11. Increase the levels of payment with the progression of the levels
12. Last but not least, consider the income of people when developing a business model.
The next session I attended was titled 'Engine Development of Moonlight Blade', I thought of attending this session as I wanted to learn about technologies that are used in Game Engines, Once again this session was in Chinese but the speaker was very informative as he spoke about several technological and design aspects that were used in 'Moonlight Blade' which included Mapping, Instancing, Material Shading, Rendering and Lighting.
He further stated that Moonlight Blade is MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Game Engine, so this may not be the best choice if you are building small scale games. In addition to that their official website is in Chinese (again I feel that this Engine is catering to the Chinese developers), however if you are able to manage simplified Chinese this is the official site http://wuxia.qq.com/
In my previous post I mentioned about the issue of having overlapping sessions, due to that I decided to attend two parallel sessions alternatively, this however had the disadvantage of missing and the advantage of gaining some information from both sessions. One Session was titled 'Powerful and Effective Animation for 2D and 3D Games' while the other was titled 'Data Oriented Programming Paradigm for Optimal Performance'
Courtesy: GDC China
This Session was presented by an Animator Working in Skull girls, she mentioned several animations that were used in Skull girls games .
She suggested that Gameplay is the most important thing, so that animators should corporate with the designers to know how the animations should be done.
Another important thing that she suggested was to make the animations strong and even the idle should be considered as an animation.
She discussed a lot of animation techniques that were demonstrated using sprite animations, which were quite interesting an could be used especially when developing 2D Games.
Courtesy: GDC China
The other session was related to Game Programming, an area which I am highly interested in learning, this session was more like a research and had a lot of technical and academic literature in its delivery. The Speaker highlighted the fact the data is going to be the bottleneck in the future and though the compiler has the facility to optimize the code execution, it cannot optimize the data layout.
The Last session I participated for the day was titled 'Prototyping for Innovation: How to Prototype Effectively', I would rate this as the best session I participated on that day. The first thing that she mentioned was that the Commercial Game Development is much different from Student Development Project. She mentioned that the Common Process was to: Have an Idea -> Make a Game -> Iterate on Mechanics -> Launch. She added that this may be good for student projects.
She mentioned about an interesting Method known as the Cerny Method which had two methods, which are Preproduction and Production. She suggested that Agile and Scrum are good development methods to implement the Cerny Method. In addition to that she suggested us to look at other games and do prior art research when developing a game.
Finally she ended up suggesting an effective method that we should follow when developing games. This was the first time I came across a Stage called Alpha Stage, that is comes prior to the beta stage of a product.
Assess the Assets and Constraints
Evaluate the Market Place
Look at the calendar of events
What are the biggest Unknowns
Vertical Slice - Refining the major features of a game
Alpha 1 - Game Should Work from start to end
Alpha 2 - Mixing Music, Visual Effects and other features
Beta - Only used to fix bugs
Re evaluate the schedule regularly
Maintain a stable build
With the end of that session, I called it a day and went back to the hotel with lot of knowledge on the Game Development Arena.
