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Content and Content Production
Abstract
Once a game design has been created and production begins, a game development team’s two main activities are programming and content production. While a relatively small, experienced programming team can provide the necessary support for a state-of-the-art game, an art department and other departments have to produce the game content. In this chapter, we examine the production of content, including an analysis of what kinds of content exist in serious games, technical implications of the different kinds, and content production management. We also provide an introduction into procedural content generation, i.e., techniques to produce content algorithmically. Finally, we provide considerations for integrating serious content, and how the integration should be reflected in the organization of the overall game production.
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The use of procedural content generation (PCG) is increasingly explored in game design. Yet so far, few have explored its use from a learning perspective. In this paper we describe how PCG provides for an opportunity for fostering collaborative mindful learning. The increase in content variety due to PCG has the potential to make players more mindful about the educational content and create incentives to discuss the content between players. We encourage scholars to investigate this interesting intersection of two research communities—PCG and educational games—and also consider other potential impact that comes from understanding how players communicate about generated content.
The use of procedural content generation (PCG) is increasingly explored in game design. Yet so far, few have explored its use from a learning perspective. In this paper we describe how PCG provides for an opportunity for fostering collaborative mindful learning. The increase in content variety due to PCG has the potential to make players more mindful about the educational content and create incentives to discuss the content between players. We encourage scholars to investigate this interesting intersection of two research communities—PCG and educational games—and also consider other potential impact that comes from understanding how players communicate about generated content.
**THIS IS A BOOK DO NOT REQUEST A COPY*****
As serious games are emerging as a new educational paradigm, it is increasingly important to understand how to integrate educational content into the games, and what elements of the game make learning more effective. This research proposes to add to the work in the area by examining whether learning objectives delivered through the game narratives as text, or learning objectives delivered through game mechanics provide more effective way of integrating educational content in a game. In order to investigate this question, we designed a study evaluate two types he participants who were divided into two groups to take part in complementary version of the game. Participants are asked to play a game in which learning objectives are delivered either through text or game mechanics. An evaluation was performed with 60 participants. The results show that for one of the learning objectives, the participants learn more when the educational content was integrated through the game mechanics and that the difference between the groups who learn through text and the one who learned through game mechanics is statistically significant. For the rest of the learning objectives covered no statistically significant difference was obtained between the two ways of integrating the learning objectives.
In computer games and simulations, content is often rather static and rigid. As a result, its prescripted nature can lead to predictable and impersonal gameplay, while alienating unconventional players. Adaptivity in games has therefore been recently proposed to overcome these shortcomings and make games more challenging and appealing. In this paper, we survey present research on game adaptivity, identifying, and discussing the main challenges, and pointing out some of the most promising directions ahead. We first survey the purposes of adaptivity, as the principles that could steer an adaptation and generation engine. From this perspective, we proceed to thoroughly discuss adaptivity's targets and methods. Current advances and successes in this emerging field point to many yet unexplored research opportunities. Among them, we discuss the use of gameplay expectations, learning preferences, and assessment data in the integrated adaptation of game worlds, scenarios, and quests. We conclude that, among other methods, procedural content generation and semantic modeling can powerfully combine to create offline customized content and online adjustments to game worlds, scenarios, and quests. These and other promising methods, deserving ample research efforts, can therefore, be expected to significantly contribute towards making games and simulations even more unpredictable, effective, and fun.
The focus of this survey is on research in applying evolutionary and other metaheuristic search algorithms to automatically generating content for games, both digital and nondigital (such as board games). The term search-based procedural content generation is proposed as the name for this emerging field, which at present is growing quickly. A taxonomy for procedural content generation is devised, centering on what kind of content is generated, how the content is represented and how the quality/fitness of the content is evaluated; search-based procedural content generation in particular is situated within this taxonomy. This article also contains a survey of all published papers known to the authors in which game content is generated through search or optimisation, and ends with an overview of important open research problems.
The third edition of this classic tutorial and reference on procedural texturing and modeling is thoroughly updated to meet the needs of today's 3D graphics professionals and students. New for this edition are chapters devoted to real-time issues, cellular texturing, geometric instancing, hardware acceleration, futuristic environments, and virtual universes. In addition, the familiar authoritative chapters on which readers have come to rely contain all-new material covering L-systems, particle systems, scene graphs, spot geometry, bump mapping, cloud modeling, and noise improvements. There are many new spectacular color images to enjoy, especially in this edition's full-color format.As in the previous editions, the authors, who are the creators of the methods they discuss, provide extensive, practical explanations of widely accepted techniques as well as insights into designing new ones. New to the third edition are chapters by two well-known contributors: Bill Mark of NVIDIA and John Hart of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on state-of-the-art topics not covered in former editions.An accompanying Web site (www.texturingandmodeling.com) contains all of the book's sample code in C code segments (all updated to the ANSI C Standard) or in RenderMan shading language, plus files of many magnificent full-color illustrations.No other book on the market contains the breadth of theoretical and practical information necessary for applying procedural methods. More than ever, Texturing & Modeling remains the chosen resource for professionals and advanced students in computer graphics and animation.
Integrating user-generated content into digital games helps to increase re-usability and to decrease development effort. In terms of learning games, the content creation can be extended to the learning parts of the game as well, e.g., allowing teachers to create custom games for their students. In this work, we propose a method of how to create learning games with arbitrary user-generated learning content. This includes not only different topics of learning content, but also different types of knowledge acquisition. To do this we combine a static game scenario with lightweight HTML5-based mini games. Learning content can be conveniently added through a web-based authoring tool that does not require any programming or game design knowledge. In addition to that, we created a game prototype based on the Unity3D engine that uses a tower defence game setting to integrate the learning content. These mini games are retrieved from the backend service at runtime. The implemented solution already allows for the integration of arbitrary content and can easily extended without altering the game client.
"We'll keep releasing expansions and keep the game alive, but there needs to be some kind of final version that you can point at and say, 'I did this!'... I'm not sure why I feel a need to have something to call the final version if we're just going to keep updating it, but it just feels wrong to never have reached some kind of goal. Having the game constantly be under development also seems to confuse the press." - Markus "notch" Persson in Game Developer, Feb. 2011.
Master the secrets behind video game production - from concept to completion - with these comprehensive tips and tricks from two accomplished, working game producers. Discover how to lead a team, communicate effectively, budget, schedule, staff, and design quality next-generation games. Producing Games walks you through every stage of the production process with a focus on the part the producer plays at each phase. *What it takes to be an effective producer in the world of video games*All the key roles in game development and how they relate to the game producer*How to manage budgets, staff, schedules, and the overall vision of the project*The secrets behind one of the most misunderstood roles in the gaming industry - including tips on communication and team leadership*The art of managing management - their expectations and communication*Maintain the vision of the game throughout the entire development process and how to save troubled projects *Companion website includes sample milestone schedules, a glossary, and more
Although the concept of Serious Games and Digital Educational Games (DEGs) is not new, many of those are either not accepted as real games by players due to a lack of fun or they are not accepted by professionals - such as teachers or trainers - as a true alternative to traditional forms of learning due to insufficient didactic concepts and learning efficiency. A major reason for this is one of the grand challenges in Serious Games: Assessment integration, i.e. seamless integration of learning content and seamless and non-disruptive evaluation of learning success during play. Based on an analysis of the state of the art, we formulate a list of guiding principles for DEG design. Hereby the aspects of seamless integration of learning content into a game regarding game genre, the proper degree of realism, active and passive game elements, player evaluation and feedback, adaptation and personalization as well as learner types are considered. Furthermore, three award-winning Serious Games/DEGs are discussed with respect to these guiding principles and underlying methods and concepts for assessment integration are analyzed.
1 Graphical modeling using L-systems.- 1.1 Rewriting systems.- 1.2 DOL-systems.- 1.3 Turtle interpretation of strings.- 1.4 Synthesis of DOL-systems.- 1.4.1 Edge rewriting.- 1.4.2 Node rewriting.- 1.4.3 Relationship between edge and node rewriting.- 1.5 Modeling in three dimensions.- 1.6 Branching structures.- 1.6.1 Axial trees.- 1.6.2 Tree OL-systems.- 1.6.3 Bracketed OL-systems.- 1.7 Stochastic L-systems.- 1.8 Context-sensitive L-systems.- 1.9 Growth functions.- 1.10 Parametric L-systems.- 1.10.1 Parametric OL-systems.- 1.10.2 Parametric 2L-systems.- 1.10.3 Turtle interpretation of parametric words.- 2 Modeling of trees.- 3 Developmental models of herbaceous plants.- 3.1 Levels of model specification.- 3.1.1 Partial L-systems.- 3.1.2 Control mechanisms in plants.- 3.1.3 Complete models.- 3.2 Branching patterns.- 3.3 Models of inflorescences.- 3.3.1 Monopodial inflorescences.- 3.3.2 Sympodial inflorescences.- 3.3.3 Polypodial inflorescences.- 3.3.4 Modified racemes.- 4 Phyllotaxis.- 4.1 The planar model.- 4.2 The cylindrical model.- 5 Models of plant organs.- 5.1 Predefined surfaces.- 5.2 Developmental surface models.- 5.3 Models of compound leaves.- 6 Animation of plant development.- 6.1 Timed DOL-systems.- 6.2 Selection of growth functions.- 6.2.1 Development of nonbranching filaments.- 6.2.2 Development of branching structures.- 7 Modeling of cellular layers.- 7.1 Map L-systems.- 7.2 Graphical interpretation of maps.- 7.3 Microsorium linguaeforme.- 7.4 Dryopteris thelypteris.- 7.5 Modeling spherical cell layers.- 7.6 Modeling 3D cellular structures.- 8 Fractal properties of plants.- 8.1 Symmetry and self-similarity.- 8.2 Plant models and iterated function systems.- Epilogue.- Appendix A Software environment for plant modeling.- A.1 A virtual laboratory in botany.- A.2 List of laboratory programs.- Appendix B About the figures.- Turtle interpretation of symbols.
Procedural content generation in games: a textbook and an overview of current research
- N Shaker
- J Togelius
- M Nelson
How I learned to love procedural art. Talk given at the Game Developer’s Conference 2015. http:// www. gdcvault. com/ play/ 1021805/ Art-Direction-Bootcamp-How-I
- G Duncan
Triadic game design—Balancing reality, meaning and play Concerning the requirements of serious game content, we refer the reader to Chapter 3, “Reality” of Harteveld’s (2011) Triadic Game Design, in which the author examines the properties of serious game content in more detail
- D Harteveld
Procedural content generation for C++ game development
- D Green
Integrating serious content into Serious Games
- W Ryan
- D Charsky
) How I learned to love procedural art. Talk given at the Game Developer’s Conference
- G Duncan
Reality” of Harteveld’s (2011) Triadic Game Design, in which the author examines the properties of serious game content in more detail
- D Harteveld
Berlin/Heidelberg The “PCG book” is a compilation of research topics on procedural content generation
- N Shaker
- J Togelius
- M Nelson