Ludology Paper – Game Theory

I analysed ‘Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney’ for my essay last semester on game theory.  I decided to post this up on my blog to get some more insight from anyone reading or hopefully enlighten someone on a bit of basic game theory.. I am in no way an expert on the subject and donot claim to be.  Would love to hear your feedback and comments.

Game Theory

Introduction

The game under analysis is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS.  This game provides the player with multiple episodes with different storylines but recurring characters and mechanics.  The particular episode under review will be the very first episode, “Episode One – The first turnabout”.  This means characters are introduced in the game as if the player has never met them before, and introduces the player to the various game play elements without being too complex which will make it easier to unearth the kinds of theories which can be paralleled with the game.  This game also has shown elements of being what is known as an ‘interactive novel’ with the engagement of dialogue with other characters to discover and discuss information being a large portion of the game play.  Without the player interaction, the textual machine ceases to work thus not making it a game anymore (Nitsche, 2008) therefore game theory models must be put in place in computer games through which the player interacts.

Overview of Relevant Game Theories

There are a large amount of game theories that are used to model decisions, consequences and pay-offs in a given situation (Duffy, 2010).  It is widely used in economics and business to understand the types of transactions that can occur between people in a given situation.  Game Theory umbrellas multiple approaches, one of which is known as Decision Theory.  It focuses on what decisions are available to players in the face of uncertainty and how the player is going to make that decision based on a rational and justified course of action (North, 1968).  These models show how a decision can get the most reward out of a situation where the player might not have all the information of the situation (imperfect information).  This concept can be paralleled with the iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma.  The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a model of the decision between cooperation or defection between two players in order to get the best outcome individually when neither have perfect information about what the other player will do (Le & Boyd, 2006).  An example of this is the television game show ‘Golden Balls’.  Utility theory is also relevant, and the first stage in understanding decisions.  It assigns mathematical value to the finite amount of outcomes a situation has to be analysed to create a strategy.  Utility can be represented in two different forms – extensive form (situation tree) or a matrix (normal form).  Games can therefore be represented by their utilities in either extensive form or normal form.  Utility theory is relevant because “it is more general because it allows for the possibility of goods

without monetary value” (Bartha, 2001) which is applicable in Phoenix Wright.

Critical Review of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Episode One ‘The First Turnabout’

The player interacts with other characters using cheap talk tactics.  Communication happens between characters constantly through first-person dialogue scenarios.  It is how the player gains spoken information which motivates the player to then bargain.  However, because of the amount of spoken information the player obtains through these one-on-one dialogue scenarios, the player must use data reduction methods to determine what information will be relevant.  This means the player often suffers from the curse of dimensionality – the often large amount of characters in each episode of Phoenix Wright means the player is presented with a variety of perspectives and bias on the situation.

The spoken information does not become valuable until it has been manifested in the form of an item which can be presented at court during the court phases.  The presentation of these items is the key to victory.  Items can be obtained in two ways – through individual exploration of a crime scene which can be paralleled to the Princess and Monster search game model where the item is hidden until the player finds it and that particular game ends.  In the traditional Princess and Monster search game model, the Princess has the ability to move locations and a time limit is present (Garnaev, 1992).  The items (the Princess) only have one location in any given episode, and occasionally the player cannot further the game until the item has been uncovered.  It is sometimes obtained through bargaining methods with other characters (other ‘players’ in traditional models).  This bargaining method is somewhat limited due to the game mechanics of only being able to talk with other characters and having a finite amount of conversation topics and dialogue options.  If the game designers opened up opportunity for the player to engage in more extensive conversation and the characters to have more nodes and responses to players it would make the game a little more engaging and intimate for the player, typical of the style shown in RPGs such as Neverwinter Nights.  The bargaining model assumes there is a varying pay-off for each player if they cooperate which provides a motivation for the players.  This creates a strategic equilibrium (Nash, 1950) and shows the utilities of the other characters – sometimes it is reward enough to help their friend Phoenix.

During the court case phases in Phoenix Wright, the hawk-dove approach is apparent.  The ultimate victory and preferable utility for the player is to make sure the defendant gets a ‘not guilty’ verdict.  The utility which means loss for the player is a guilty verdict, which the opposing ‘player’ – the prosecution – is aiming for.  This means Phoenix Wright is a zero-sum game, where the victory of the prosecution means a loss for the player and visa verse.  In order to obtain these utilities, bargaining and ultimatum techniques are applied.  The prosecution often offers Phoenix an ultimatum to prove to the court the innocence of his client after Phoenix makes a point (a point the player does not have control over but has to deal with the consequences).  This interaction with the prosecution means it becomes a one-shot game and the player has to choose the correct item to present to the court in order not to lose to the prosecution.  Each item in the player’s inventory can have its own situation tree applied to it.  Only one item can be the correct item in any ultimatum situation in Phoenix Wright so the utility of all items bar one provide player loss.  This means the player must use data reduction on each item to determine whether it would back up the point Phoenix made previously and the player must also try to recall the cheap talk that happened with characters throughout the episode thus far to justify the item choice and make a rational decision in order not to lose.  If the game designers made better use of this technique, they could add additional nodes and utilities to each item to provide more responses from the court when the player presents an item rather than making the item choice decision so risky.  This situation in the game is very binary – it is either win or lose, whereas in a real court situation the defence lawyer would have a chance to explain why a certain item is relevant and make further points rather than relying on the often spontaneous responses Phoenix comes out with which leaves the player in a bad position.

Critical Reflection

Looking at this game using superficial analysis, it is apparent which areas are covering a very basic interaction between two players.  For example, the bargaining ultimatum game that occurs between the prosecution and defence is very black and white.  The player either presents an item from the inventory which causes them to lose the argument or win it – there is no grey area, making it very binary.  This can be frustrating for a player who has used data reduction methods to decide that that particular item has been referenced by characters in conversation previously.  It may be better for game designers to add more nodes of utility for the items to cause the court to respond differently to each one and perhaps steer the player in the right direction.  This binary model seems quite archaic when it’s compared to modern day games such as Dragon Age which has multiple nodes attached to the smallest decisions (such as choosing a dialogue option).

As Phoenix Wright is a single-player game, the other characters will be programmed with a number of information sets, and that is obvious by the binary structure the game takes on when the player is tackled with the ultimatum challenge.  Therefore, the latest artificial intelligence theories and research can be used to improve this style of game to make it less one-dimensional and transparent to the very simple game underneath.  Research by (Floridi, 2010) on the philosophy of information shows the importance of improving the way cybernetics and artificial intelligence interact dynamically to provide innovative approaches to how information is given and how information theory can be studied.

Phoenix Wright shows the importance of utility theory in extensive form trees however.  Many of the character’s motivations in providing Phoenix with information and items stem from their emotional relationship with Phoenix, something that can’t have a mathematical value attached to it unlike the Prisoner Dilemma approach where the outcomes are represented as a matrix rather than a tree.

References

Bartha, P. (2001, September). Probability and Decision. Retrieved December 14, 2010, from University of British Columbia, Philosophy: http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/pbartha/p321f01/p321ovh4.pdf

Duffy, J. (2010, April). Introduction to Game Theory. Retrieved December 14, 2010, from Game Theory: http://www.pitt.edu/~jduffy/econ1200/Lect01_Slides_files/v3_document.htm

Floridi, L. (2010). What is the Philosophy of Information? Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Garnaev, A. Y. (1992). A Remark on the Princess and Monster Search Game. International Journal of Game Theory , 269-276.

Le, S., & Boyd, R. (2006). Evolutionary Dynamics of the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma. Journal of Theoretic Biology , 258-267.

Nash, F. J. (1950). Equilibrium Points in N-Person Games. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 36 (pp. 48-49). Princeton University: JSTOR.

Nitsche, M. (2008). Video Game Spaces. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT Publishing.

North, D. W. (1968). A Tutorial Introduction to Decision Theory. Transactions on System Science and Cybernetics , 200-210.

- Emma

 

Ludology Paper 1 – ‘Females Shouldn’t Play Games’

fyi – I didn’t come up with the title..

I thought I’d post up my recent paper I did for a module at university ‘Ludology’ which is the study of play (games).  I chose to do this project in particular because there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding women and games (at least in the general media) and thought it would be interesting to shed some light in my own mind and anyone who reads it on gender roles in modern games.  Feel free to give any feedback and enjoy~

‘Females Shouldn’t Play Games’

Introduction

Research discourse suggests that the activity of computer gaming is still dominated by a solitary, male audience (Bryce & Rutter, 2002) despite the increasing figures of women especially in the US and UK buying and playing games (ESA, 2010).  In the mid 1990’s research within the computer game field was minimal with people viewing them simply as children’s toys.  Postmodern and feminist theorists ignored the increasing popularity of computer games, due to the lack of traditional academic activity within universities relating to computer games, the child-like view of games and the mounting idea that games were violent and addictive (Schleiner, 2001, p. 221).  Main characters (up to 1996 with the introduction and high popularity of Lara Croft) were almost exclusively male and their tasks were much like the traditional fantasy text structures that were outlined by Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth where the Hero has set masculine roles and meeting with various characteristically female characters along his journey (Campbell, 1949) – the Goddess, Temptress and Princess (the “battle trophy” (Schleiner, 2001)).  This argues that most games do not cater for the interests of women, and purely for the interests of men (Crawford, 2005) (Kinder, 1991).

Today, more and more women play games and involve themselves in the subcultures and communities surrounding games.  This report explores the theories surrounding gender roles and characteristics and just how relevant the statement “females shouldn’t play games” is in modern times.

Overview of Domain Issues

A study regarding German females’ dislikes within computer games showed violent content, gender stereotypes represented within games and competitive gameplay were what discouraged the girls from playing (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006).  However, market sales in the US show that at least 46% of the players are female.  Regardless, it is still regarded as something of an anomaly when people find out a female is participating and as passionate about games as a male, despite the fact women aged 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game playing population than boys aged 17 and younger (ESA, 2010).  When an editor at a gaming magazine was asked why there are so few females reviewing games in their magazines, one editor responded, “Women don’t play games other than Tetris or Nintendogs” (Guy, 2007).

The increasing number of women buying and playing games contradicts what is being presented when people are intrigued to find a woman playing games – if it is becoming common (nearly taking up 50% of the market) for women to partake in gaming, then why does this issue still crop up in academic discourse and why are certain perspectives on female gamers still being stereotypical ‘casual gamers’.  Casual games cater to an older and more female audience by involving less complex game controls and less overall complexity in terms of gameplay or investment to get through the game (Wallace & Robbins, 2006).  If this is predominantly the characteristics that women prefer, then does that mean game developers must take this into account when creating games these days to increase gender inclusiveness?

There are several issues that are being presented.  First of all it seems clear that cultural background is an important factor in the social acceptance of women playing games.  Different cultures tend to impose role differences on different genders.  This provides separation between male and female activities and states the male and female characteristics which are expected in that particular culture.  In this context, there are games with certain characteristics that people associate playable by women and ones which are assumed to be played by men.  Those with set masculine and feminine themes.  Secondly, studies show that women are uninterested in games that present them in a stereotypical, sexist fashion such as the ‘helpless victim’ stereotype, as well as certain kinds of violence and masculine themes being portrayed (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006) which may push the gender divide further (Bryce & Rutter, 2002).

The issues of why women do (or do not) game are not going to be found at surface value.  Market percentages and social norms tell us what people are doing and thinking regarding games but the underlying influences are ultimately environmental, cultural and biological.  Historically speaking, the gender scale has always tilted towards the empowerment of the masculine within most games.  With the introduction of what is being called ‘pink software’ developed with purely stereotypical female roles and preferences in mind, it has allowed developers to easily fill the large gap in the electronics market by appealing wholly to one side of the gender scale.  For example, “Barbie Fashion Designer” a game where you could design clothes and dress up Barbie sold more than 500,000 copies (Cassell, 2002).   This enforces societal roles onto girls with a wider area of effect.  The fact is, the more a stereotype or role is expressed in a culture, the more that audience will accept or rebel against the role.  Children learn appropriate and rewarding behaviours by observation and reinforcement.  This means computer games could strengthen certain behaviours and norms (E. Dill & C. Dill, 1998) because of the punishment and reward aspects that games come with which other forms of media don’t.

Instead of indulging in these characteristically female stereotypes, should developers try to become more androgynous in their game development, ensuring gender-inclusiveness is apparent in their games to include both genders?  Or should we accept that in society there are women who won’t play certain developed games because of the masculine themes and gender split and accept that females just shouldn’t play games because it is affecting the way game development (particularly single player) is done.

Critical Reflection

Research appears to be torn regarding women in games.  Studies which are done in particular countries do not seem to be an effective way of finding out women’s opinions of play and their level of involvement.  When looking at market values it is apparent that different countries show different levels of women playing games and varying opinions.  For example, studies done in Germany showed the girls were not interested in games mostly due to their violent content and competitive play, contrasted with the obvious presence of women in games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops and Left4Dead, these being considerably violent and having modes of competitive play involved.  There are even teams (known as ‘clans’ in the competitive first-person shooter world) that are comprised completely of women which rate highly in leader boards and are well respected in the gaming communities such as Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers and FragDolls.

It seems that studying particular countries does not always bring out an effective answer to the level of women playing games, also because individuals tend to have different playing habits and the extensive variety of game texts, subgenres and themes within games in modern times makes it difficult for market reports to portray exactly what people are playing.  These answers may lie in the study of cultures and subcultures and the study of individual game texts.  For example more women choose to play a simulation game such as The Sims (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006) over a first-person shooter, but comparing two games in the Simulation genre such as The Sims and Train Simulator proves that individual games have their own masculine and feminine themes[1]

The women playing the ‘unexpected’ competitive and more ‘masculine’ games have been grouped into a subculture known as ‘girl gamers’.  This subculture is regarded by culture study researchers to have ideologies that resist gender societal roles and conceptions of masculinity and femininity (Bryce & Rutter, 2002, p. 246).  Societal roles typically state that women are restricted in their leisure choices and opportunities due to economic constraints, social expectations and domestic and caring responsibilities (Crawford, 2005).  This points out one reason as to why gaming was originally a male dominated arena (Crawford, 2005).

In terms of representation of violence in games, it is clear there is a gender divide on this issue.  Girls actually prefer fantasy violence compared to boys who prefer human violence (E. Dill & C. Dill, 1998) which corresponds with the increased female population in online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft compared to online first-person shooter games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  In fact, MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft attract a wider cone of demographic audience than other genres of games (Sullivan, 2009) due to it’s variety of portrayed archetypes and roles that players can fulfil in their class systems.  The exploration of different play styles across different classes allows researchers to see the potential of gender-inclusiveness design.  For example, the warrior class in fantasy games tends to be combat-central, whereas the mage class, often described as a ‘glass cannon’ must deal as much damage as possible whilst utilising defence tactics to get away from enemies making that class a more tactical and decision-based play style.  The most played classes by women in World of Warcraft are druid, priest and hunter (Daedalus, 2005).  These classes have several characteristics in common; in particular the term ‘nurturing’ comes to mind.  Each of these classes can heal their allies and show characteristics of motherly archetypes by giving positive magical effects to their team mates.  Though Hunters do primarily engage in combat they can obtain pets which do more damage for them the more care they give to the pet.  This follows the design of a typical feminine trait which is to care and nurture for those around her, rather than physically engage in combat herself, something females prefer not to do to resolve their conflicts (Bussey & Bandura, 1999).

It seems that gender-inclusive design would require an exploration of different play styles within the game to make sure roles for both genders are provided, something which online games can cater for (Sullivan, 2009).

Discussion

“There are games now for pretty much every age, every demographic. More and more women are going online. It comes down to everybody is playing games. Games are just evolving like

Species in order to fit into every little niche of our lives.”- Jesse Schell, instructor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon University (ESA, 2010)

Thanks to the increase in accessible and usable mainstream technology the game market can now reach a larger audience without the audience being intimidated by the barrier of entry.  This is the usability barrier which people suffer between tangible interfaces and on-screen actions, once something that prevented some demographics even considering products in this market (Smith, 2011).  Now software and hardware designers take usability very seriously because they are able to tap into new audiences by providing easy to use interfaces.  To encourage more women to play digital games not only provides more profit for the industry but a wider understanding of audiences.  However, the influx of pink software designed especially for young girls may support and further previous stereotypes about women and gender roles.

It is not just the themes within the game which can be gendered and are of interest to certain genders, but it is also play styles (Sullivan, 2009).  Whereas men tend to prefer physical combat, women prefer puzzle-based and story driven objectives which mean if designers want to create gender-inclusive games, they need to consider these male and female play style characteristics.  In retrospect, these male and female characteristics (in particular female characteristics which can be often viewed in a negative light) are not derogatory because if developers start to take gender inclusiveness more seriously and develop games with more gender awareness it can potentially not only move the medium forward but reach out to a wider audience and put the stereotypical gender divide to a halt.

Social role theory states that the social structure is the underlying force for gender differences.  It states that the division of labor is what drives sex-differentiated behavior which creates gender roles, therefore gendered social behavior which is then to be expected by that society (Gilbert T & Malone S, 1995).  Men and women strive to belong by conforming to these social and gender roles which are also known as ‘sex-typed social behavior’ (Hendrickson-Eagley, 1987).  This theory can be applied to computer games, especially as the study taken in Germany also showed that a large factor of the girls did not want to play games because it went against social norms (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006).  It can also be perceived by certain subcultures of women – ‘girl gamers’ that the realm of digital games are a neutral, androgynous ground, regardless of what can be considered ‘typical gender themes’ the designer portrays in the game.  These subcultures seek to challenge and ignore societal gender roles in games and by doing so allow acceptance of cross-gender roles in games and presence of women in previously male dominated arenas.

“In this theoretical perspective, gender roles and conceptions are the product of a broad network of social influences operating interdependently in a variety of societal subsystems. Human evolution provides bodily structures and biological potentialities that permit a range of possibilities rather than dictate a fixed type of gender differentiation” (Bussey & Bandura, 1999, p. 676)

This ideal, neutral, androgynous field for games means that current designers don’t need to take gender roles into account and can keep developing games with the themes and representations that they want.  However this will still mostly appeal to male interests and only a small minority of women who perceive these games a challenge to dominant stereotypes.

Representation of women in games is also something to discuss.  The character roles they tend to get portrayed in traditionally were similar to those within Joseph Campbell’s monomyth – the magical Goddess, Temptress and Princess.  This representation is a double edged sword because they do not appeal to female interests, meaning fewer women will play.  It then enforces the stereotypes with men because men still take up more than half the gaming audience (Bryce & Rutter, 2002) pushing women even further away.  The feminine absence of strong main characters was noticed by Gillian Skirrow who created Lara Croft.  Lara Croft was something of a ‘female Frankenstein monster’ (Schleiner, 2001).  Though she was created to represent a strong, independent female role, the third person view of the game indicated she was something to be gazed at, particularly by male audiences.  This was disturbing for feminists of the time as they realized computer games were a space where men could develop unrealistic ideals of females and their bodies (Schleiner, 2001).  However it could be argued that Lara Croft is a better role model for girls than Barbie or Ms Pacman as she challenges societal roles by engaging in combat and adept problem solving techniques and holds upper class values.

Conclusion

The aim of this research was to discover what gender roles were and how they made themselves apparent in modern games.  It was then important to see how this might affect the way women play games and their preferences.  Societal roles and stereotypes do make themselves apparent within modern games, with themes and play styles in games being predominantly male which means women either reject games or choose to challenge those roles by actively becoming involved in them.  However stated social norms in a society means it will always be regarded something of an anomaly to see a woman participating in video games that portray male characteristics.  These include violence and stereotypical female archetypes.  However despite the increasing number of female protagonists represented in game narratives, the popularity of games with the female population still remains low (M. Grimes, 2003).

It was also interesting to explore the idea that games might be asexual, or androgynous.  However, because all themes and play styles ultimately can be gendered and do certainly attract and repel different genders.  Rather than being androgynous, certain subcultures simply choose to reject and ignore gendered roles within modern games but that does not mean they don’t exist and repel other groups in that gender.

Developers should be careful when developing games for women.  If they pander to pure feminine characteristics in order to attract young girls to fill a gap in the market where they can make a profit (such as Barbie Fashion Designer), then it simply enforces these typical societal roles onto girls from a new medium.  Also if developers were required to start developing gender-inclusiveness in all games then it may ruin the way games are played.  However, games are changing and the gender gap in them is closing and future games may provide us with insight into how developers can incorporate more women into their games without having to consider stereotypical societal roles.  In order to do this, women do need to play games and not reject them or their themes because of what they think they already know about computer games.  A larger female audience means profit for the industry and development of the industry itself.

References

Bryce, J., & Rutter, J. (2002). Killing like a girl: Gendered gaming and girl gamers’ visibility. CGDC (pp. 243-255). Manchester: CGDC.

Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation. Psychological Review , 676-713.

Campbell, J. (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Bollingen Foundation.

Cassell, J. (2002). Genderizing HCI. The Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction , 402-411.

Crawford, G. (2005). Digital Gaming, Sport and Gender. Leisure Studies , 259-270.

Daedalus. (2005, July 28). WoW Character Class Demographics . Retrieved April 5, 2011, from The Daedalus Project: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001367.php?page=1

E. Dill, K., & C. Dill, J. (1998). Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Aggression and Violent Behaviour , 407-428.

ESA. (2010). Essential Facts about the Computer Game Industry 2010. Entertainment Software Association.

Gilbert T, D., & Malone S, P. (1995). The Corrospondence Bias . Psychological Bulletin , 21-38.

Guy, H. (2007, March 12). Women Video Gamers: Not just Solitaire. Retrieved April 01, 2011, from AsianCanadian.net: http://www.asiancanadian.net/2007/03/women-video-gamers-not-just-solitaire.html

Hartmann, T., & Klimmt, C. (2006). Gender and Computer Games: Exploring Females’ Dislikes. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication .

Hendrickson-Eagley, A. (1987). Sex Differences in Social Behaviour: A Social Role Interpretation. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Publishers.

Kinder, M. (1991). Playing with Power in Movies, Television and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Berkeley: University of Berkeley Press.

M. Grimes, S. (2003). You Shoot Like a Girl – The Female Protagonist in Action-Adventure Video Games. Level Up Conference Proceedings (p. 1). Utrecht: DiGRA.

Schleiner, A.-M. (2001). Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender Role Subversion in Adventure Computer Games. Leonardo , 221-226.

Smith, D. (2011, April 5). Barrier of Entry. (E. Haley, Interviewer)

Sullivan, A. (2009). Gender Inclusive Quest Design in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. University of California, Santa Cruz: Expressive Intelligence Studio.

Wallace, M., & Robbins, B. (2006). Casual Games Whitepaper. IDGA.

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[1] A point to make is that Sims focuses heavily on social interaction and development between characters, a trait which is commonly associated with being feminine

Let me apologise..

What a sad waste of webspace this blog has been the past several months – I can’t believe I haven’t bothered to update.  But now I am!

Now I have a fair bit of practical work to share, so I am going to post it incrementally over the next few days, in particular the main focus of this semester will be my Advanced Modelling Investigation work.  To clarify I am on the Computer games design MSc now!  Much of it is written work and independant research but I managed to choose modelling as my optional module and took up character and environment artist on our group game.  I am using Flash for the first time ever and really enjoying it!

I am really enjoying our Ludology module, where I get to talk about one of my favourite games Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney endlessly!  Or rather, analyse it.. so I suppose in a way I am ruining it for myself.. hm, not such a great idea after all  heh! Oh well nothing can take away my love!

Enough of this ranting anyway. Look out for more updates soon!

Emma

My Final Results for Year 3 – Staffordshire University

Hello everyone,

Long time no post. Been relaxing alot since this university year is now over! I plan on posting up all the work I finished very soon~ but for now, here are my grades!

Narrative for MMOs – 15/15

Advanced MMO Technology – 11/15

Handheld Games Deisgn – 11/15

Advanced Modelling Portfolio – 11/15

Final Year Project – 9/15

Advanced Modelling for the Games Engine – 9/15

This means I have completed my BSc Computer Games Design course with a 2:1 bachelor degree which I am very proud of! Next stop: Masters! I look forward to a creative summer and sharing my ideas with you.

- Emma

Sculpting bit o’ clothing folds

There is a really nice Gnomon workshop tutorial by Richard Smith called ‘Sculpting Clothing in Zbrush’ where he walks through his workflow of creating high resolution sculpts for clothing on characters.  I watched it earlier, making notes as I went along, and decided to have a try on my own character.  Now his workflow differs slightly from mine in that, he actually just brings in a very basic – almost primative – mesh from Maya that has very simple topology and edges and works it in Zbrush using Transpose to apply it to his character in the correct orientation and alignment and begins working it onto the character, adding more sub-divides as he goes.  I on the other hand just modelled the clothing in Max and brought it through to Zbrush, but each workflow to their own – I imagine his is a pretty nice way to go, I might have to try it.  Anyway this is what I’ve got for the clothing on my character now:

I know that major improvements can probably be made – please feel free to critique me on twitter/facebook (@Yuecake) or make a comment on this blog.  On the jacket, at her waist where the folds are going down towards something, there is infact going to be a belt there. I can has texturing now..?

Thanks,

Emma

Advanced Character Modelling for the Games Engine!

What a title!

I haven’t posted any information on this semester’s lovely modules, which are at this very moment, taking up more time than my dissertation in terms of priorities.. Unfortunately my time management skills are rubbish, but it’s okay – it’s all gonna be good in the end.. (WE HOPE!)

So for this module we’re required to make a custom character for Unreal 3 from scratch, concept to in-game running around blazing up the place with flak cannons style.

For my concept, this was the kind of thing I had in mind:

Think Motoko Kusanagi meets Rick Deckard..

I started with some very basic thumbnails and female references to work from – and to Max I went.  I had a good idea of the clothing and colour scheme I wanted to go for (played with some anyway, and hair styles!)

I used the model I had started on to sketch ideas on top of the head for hair.

In terms of modelling, I am nearly complete. This is what I have so far!

I’m in the process of adding a few more interesting pieces to her, to make her come alive a bit more.  In terms of interchangeable parts within the UT3 engine – I am thinking maybe a cool eyepatch and interchangeable hair styles, gloves or boots.  I understand it’s not as close to the original concept as I’d first wished without the really cool trenchcoat, but I’ve come across problems regarding rigging with that – and thanks to my time management I can’t find time to try and work that out at the moment, but a future project could be in the works.

Hope you enjoy.

Emma

Level 3, Semester 1 Marks!

Hello all!

This is an update blog with a little information on how my final year project is progressing and the marks I got for last semester!  Funnily enough, level 3, it was my best semester mark-wise thus far in university.

Advanced Modelling Portfolio – 11/15

Advanced Massivlely Multiplayer Online Gaming Technology – 11/15

Handheld Games Design – 11/15

That is 2:1 across the board so far, just hope I can keep it consistant this semester and I will have a great mark to pass my degree with.  Enjoying semester 2 alot so far, alot of focus on final year project over the other modules though – and really enjoying Narratology for MMOs, it’s a very interesting course. Will make a post about it further on if you’re interested in hearing about that! It’s the first course in the world to focus on this subject.  As for advanced modelling, it’s not really like the previous one – focusing on importing characters to Unreal 3, rigging and materials – more technical but just as important to learn these techniques – I have been slack though. Will update that one on here as soon as I have something ready to show!

See you next time.

Emma

Handheld Games Design: A Retrospect!

Well, this module was completed just before Christmas.  Of all the modules I did during last term, I spent the most work on Advanced Modelling Portfolio, and unfortunately Handheld Games Design got left in the dust slightly.  However I got my marks back and I did receive a 2:1, which is good enough.  More importantly I learnt alot through the feedback that was given; texturing has never been my strong point (as you will see..) but I feel the modelling is becoming one of my strongest skills.  The silhoettes of these handheld characters is intended to be strong, because the game res is so low.  Intricate texturing becomes visual noise, and the detail is lost. Same problem with silhoettes, so this character design workflow for handheld must be kept concise and simpler than those of normal game resolution character designs.

The beauty sheet shows individual developments of the character, including texture sheet, silhoette and original concept. And of course the final piece at game resolution.  I really spent alot of time trying to get the body to look correct, and similar to the original concept. The hair was kind of a new thing for me to try.. and I guess it didn’t really work out as well as I’d hoped. But I know that I am learning from all this and that’s mostly what counts (to me! ) Another noobie mistake I made was I set the texture resolution way too low, at 128×128, when it should have been 256×256 – always check what resolution limits you have before beginning these projects, as that is so important – it can make or break the design when it comes to viewing it on the chosen handheld platform.

My personal favourite handheld console = Nintendo DS. It has every game I could ever wish to play on there, Phoenix Wright, Pokemon, Final Fantasy and the games always try something fresh and new with the designs.

Emma

Advanced Modelling Portfolio – Stage 3 to Completion!

Hello everyone!

I have completed my advanced modelling portfolio module now, and actually have something worth sticking in my portfolio! So I guess the module was a success as far as that goes. I feel pretty good about everything that I did and hope that I continue to improve the way I have.

This construction sheet shows each basic step of the workflow. It shows my full sculpt, the low poly wireframe and the final product with the material on.

When I first started the project, the way I wanted it all to pan out I was still uncertain of.. but as time went by the goal of it all became much more clearer. Texturing was an interesting problem as I hadn’t properly thought about what colours and exact designs I wanted to create. Here are the final texture sheets:

I also managed to get it into Unreal, which was extremely easy to set up. Wow, I was astonished. There I was at 6am thinking how hard it was going to be and it took me no time at all. Thanks Epic <3

The finished product!

Enjoy!

- Emma

Advanced Modelling Portfolio, Full Challenge – Stage Two

The base mesh is near enough complete now! Different coloured elements to distinguish between the different areas of my little beastie. I added rider reigns and a seat to give him more of a purpose.

Next stage is Zbrush sculpting, woohooo!

(small update, sorry)

Emma