Andrew Eiche

This is the game I made for GGJ 2011.

http://globalgamejam.org/2011/make-it-stop

Local Multiplayer in Unity

Space Invaders – From final post

Here are the files for the class tonight:

SI Unity Class Package

Here is the presentation I gave for the DC Metro Chapter of the IGDA. I gave a postmortum of Savanna Scrum and the Global Game Jam process. It is in PowerPoint 2007 format.

SavannaScrumGGJ2010-postmortem.pptx

Here is a trailer for the “DM-ElevatorTraining” level I created for my CA195 class in Unreal Tournament 3 using the UT3 Editor:

The music is “Computer” by Slate Shirt. It is licensed under the CC (by-nc) license.

Here is a trailer for the “Freedom Field” level I created for my CA195 class in Neverwinter Nights 2 using the Electron toolkit:

I wanted to create my own music for this trailer, but it’s been so long since I have composed anything that what I made was really forced. Luckily, when I woke up I had a solution for what the music should be.

Music: Saint-Seans – Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Movement 1

I just posted a trailer for the “Tom the Mailman” level I created for my CA195 class using the GECK (Fallout 3):

Yes, I know today is not quite April, but it is in spirit. In a few weeks I should have a portfolio portal up. It won’t have too much new content if you have already poked around here. Also, I have been updating the CA195 page with the final builds of my Neverwinter Nights 2 level, and my Fallout 3 level. Enjoy!

I finally got around to working out the major bugs, and adding some polish, to the Savanna Scrum prototype.

Go check out version 1.0 of Savanna scrum.

Enjoy!

In January I participated in the Global Game Jam 2010 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. I had an amazing time, met some outstanding people, and learned a lot about what it takes to make a game in a single weekend. Unfortunately our game, Savanna Scrum, was not ready by the close of the 48 hours. Instead, we produced a functional “toy” to show off what some of the artists had created for the level using whatever technology we could scrap together in three hours.

Since I took a lot away from this experience I figured I should write up a postmortem for our project and post it here on my personal site. Just a quick note, these are my personal thoughts. The rest of the team may feel very different from how I feel, but I did not want to pass up the opportunity to get these down in a more formal setting.

What went right:

Strong central idea

The game design of Savanna Scrum was something that we all bought into from the beginning. The thought of playing a very simplified soccer rugby combination was easy to visualize. Using team changing as the method of producing “Deception” was something that we could all grasp.

This simple core design allowed us to start work immediately while the designer was drawing up many of the specifications for individual features.

Art style, direction, and production

The artists were in top shape for the entire jam. They were asked to produce highly stylized 3D and 2D assets with very little technical guidance or requirements. They presented us with some outstanding assets. Each model, texture, etc. was right on target for the cartoon savanna theme the game was trying to achieve.

They were also able to integrate with our design pipeline very quickly. The programmers were able to use assets from the artists within the first hours. The artists were responsive to requests, both technical and otherwise; and meshed with a team that had already worked together quickly.

Environment

The Game Jam was run by the DC Metro IGDA chapter and George Mason’s game program. Together they provided an excellent, positive environment for us all to work. We were a group of developers sequestered in a room for an entire weekend. This would seem like the perfect Petri dish for a meltdown, but everyone was enthusiastic; even after two days with next to no sleep.

The organizations helming the jam provided us with workstations, tools, food, entertainment, and so much more. I don’t think this event would have been nearly as successful without the selfless volunteering that took place. The venue and hosts were everything you could have asked for at a jam, and I cannot thank them enough.

What went wrong:

Torque X, Torque 3D, Torque X

Some of our team had worked with the Torque X engine on a previous project. Based on their knowledge we decided to use the engine again. We should have listened when they told us horror stories of trying to wrestle the engine into anything of value. The Torque X engine was so poorly documented that we were struggling to do things like add player control to a mesh, or move the third person camera back further.  Looking at online forums and websites only made us more confused about using the engine. We started the first full day frustrated and confused with nothing playable to show.

We had heard that the Torque 3D engine was going to open up a licensed version for the jam. At noon of the first day the programmers had called off the use of Torque X and decided to switch to Torque 3D. We thought it would better to use the more mature product because it would be able to handle what we wanted to implement. We could not have been more wrong.

Torque 3D did have better documentation, but not much better than Torque X. It also had multiplayer right from the start, which was a relief for the programmers. We did not want to write a great deal of network engine code during the jam.

What Torque 3D lacked is any sort of tangible rigid-body physics engine. The worst part is that there were hooks for some nonexistent physics engine lying around the code and editor. Between the lack of documentation and the hooks for a physics engine we were led to believe that we could pull off our very physics dependant game. The second night the ball began behaving erratically, and the physics bugs became more pronounced as the night went on. By morning we had an engine we could not get working, and another that had no physics.

At noon of the second day we switched back to Torque X, and cannibalized a game that some of our team had made for a school project. We quickly realized there was no network support in the Torque X engine. Since we had no time to make XNA multiplayer and Torque X play nice together we called the development of the game off. We quickly threw together a playable art demo and presented it to the jam.

Networked Multiplayer

Making a multiplayer game is hard to begin with. Making a multiplayer game in 48 hours with no predetermined engine or network code is borderline insanity. We thought we could pull this off given all of the unknowns, and we were wrong. There were times we had something resembling multiplayer up and running. Yet, without any technology direction from the start, and with the ever changing engine, it was difficult to implement any networked multiplayer.

At the end of the jam we tried to shoehorn the XNA multiplayer into Torque X. This is a significant task that would require thoughtful design, and careful programming. We had 2 hours till the end of the jam. Needless to say, we abandoned our goal of multiplayer. In retrospect, without a stable engine we should have completely revamped the concept to be a bit more obtainable with the time left. We were ambitious and would not stray from the core design.

Our eyes were bigger than our hands

At the beginning of the process we had tons of ideas on how to expand on the core of the game. We designed power-ups for the players to use to change the dynamics of the game. A “chaos” system was created to help balance the teams. We even suggested, and worked a bit on, a random level generator.

These ideas were excellent, but also used precious time. We did not have the core nailed down in any playable fashion. We were off on eight tangents exploring the exciting possibilities. We needed to come together and ensure we had a stable core before we added the other game elements.

Conclusion

At the GMU jam we were the largest team with eight members. We all worked well together, and many of us even managed to get some sleep. Personally, I met some great people, I was able to experiment with some tech I had never used, and I got to experience the rush of my first jam. I am definitely hooked, and will be looking forward to next year.

I know that I spent a great deal of the postmortem speaking to our experience with engine difficulties. In the past few weeks I have taken the game and have begun to implement it in the Unity Engine. It makes a huge difference, and I will post the updated prototype to both the Global Game Jam game page and this site in the coming weeks. So keep your eyes open.

Savanna Scrum