May 18, 2000

 

Interactive fiction -- Most games have some type of story line

 

  1. Might be simple back ground to enhance the game
  2. Might be an entire script to create the interactive flow of the game
  3. Arcade games keep the story simple, role playing the games success depends on the story

 

How games make stories interactive

  1. In general stories develop before the game – (continuity)
  2. Game elements add to the enjoyment of the story
    1. Let user make some decisions
    2. Make sure skills are required
    3. Write in some puzzles and problem solving stuff

Linear VS non-linear story telling – usually controlled by the author, non-linear games give the player more control over the plot at the least.

 

How well can books be adapted? To make an interactive game… most books are linear à to become a game need to change the ending... or have surprise endings

 

Dramatic unfolding:

1.     Many games present the entire story all at once (in the manual or opening game screens)

2.     Better to deliver the plot in incremental details/manner.

 

Design details -- graphic design decision

1.     2D side scroller

2.     2D top down

a.      Straight

b.     Top down/ side mapàtop sideàroom

3.     3rd person ¾ view (Sim city)

4.     3D point of view

5.     Point of view polygonal/ray caster

6.     First person 3D point of view polygonal

7.     Third person point of view – polygonal or pre-rendered (quake) good approach for fighting games

 

 

Character creation

1.     Give character depth

2.     Give character attitude

3.     Use of multimedia to add depth

 

Level design

1.     What new characters and objects to introduce

2.     What new obstacles?

3.     What is the basic layout?

4.     What is the design and color scheme?

5.     What about difficulty changes?

6.     New animation techniques?

7.     Players moving between levels? Scoring or physical barrier?

 

AI VS scripting

1.     Scripting is easier to implement – game response is always the same

2.     AI algorithms are used to introduce non-determinately to character actions

a.      Works well with AI

                                                    i.     Rule based reasoning – if statements and memory

                                                  ii.     Probabilistic reasoning – fuzzy logic à probability logic

                                                iii.     Neural network – learn user behaviors à inputs and outputs connected via matrix multiplication with weights inside network getting changed to increase or decrease strength

 

Design dilemmas

  1. How much detail do you need? Enough to be believable not to much to destroy the game
  2. When is a task a chore?
  3. Watching out for tasks bottlenecks
    1. Gambling to raise money – necessary
    2. Simcity steady state to accumulate things – hidden

 

Components of a text game – figure 15.1

 

Text based games

  1. Use descriptive language to set the mood (be verbose)
  2. “Key word search” of some vocabulary list à simple grammars
  3. Some kind of data structure to represent the universe and objects inside it array, database, cell based map
  4. Goals and enemies – simple àsolving puzzle complex -- multilevel tasks