Postmortem GAM350 DigiPen Institute of Technology Academic Year 2003-2004

End of the Alphabet describes the process of making

Insecticide
End of the Alphabet is: Max Wagner, Josh Wittner, James Yarrow, and Jon Renish

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Insecticide Table of Contents

Postmortem

2003-2004

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 3 WHAT WENT RIGHT................................................................................................................ 4 AMBITIOUS........................................................................................................................................4 TECHNICAL DESIGN...........................................................................................................................4 WORKED HARD.................................................................................................................................5 COMMUNICATION..............................................................................................................................5 SUPPORT FROM THE FACULTY...........................................................................................................5 WHAT WENT WRONG.............................................................................................................. 6 UNBRIDLED AMBITION......................................................................................................................6 TECHNICAL DESIGN...........................................................................................................................6 ONLY 3 TEAM MEMBERS FIRST SEMESTER........................................................................................7 CONTENT AND RESOURCE CREATION...............................................................................................7 APPENDIX A TEAM SIGN OFF......................................................................................................................... 8 MAX WAGNER: PRODUCER...............................................................................................................8 JOSH WITTNER: TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, ART DIRECTOR..................................................................8 JAMES YARROW: SOUND DIRECTOR.................................................................................................8 JON RENISH: DESIGNER, PRODUCT MANAGER..................................................................................8

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TOC Prof. Ben Ellinger

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Insecticide

Postmortem

2003-2004

Introduction
From concept to final product, Insecticide has been a project full of surprises and significant hurdles to overcome. It was the teams first fully 3D game, and for most of us, the first networked game as well. Our design called for significant code sections for physics, graphics, networking, AI, and user interface, and there were only three of us when we started out. That meant more than enough for each person to chew on, given that it was all fresh and unknown territory for us. But we wouldnt have had it any other way. We sought a challenge, and a challenge is what we got. While our intent was to make a polished and fun game, we had given highest priority to learning as much as possible about how to make a game using todays cutting edge technologies. In this respect, we achieved what we set out to do. Some of our original game design ideas had to be cut along the way, but in the end we have produced a game everyone is happy with, and which has taught us a priceless amount about making real time, gpu-, cpu-, and network-demanding games.

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Insecticide

Postmortem

2003-2004

What Went Right

Ambitious
Our ambition propelled us and provided us with fuel to last the duration of the year. Without our ambition, the game would actually never have been made, as the normal requirements for GAM200 dictate no 3D and no networked multiplayer. Our ambition also pushed us to implement many game features using our own, home-grown technology solutions, which could have otherwise been achieved using third-party libraries or freeware. Examples of this include writing our own 3ds Max model exporter, using our own math libraries, preferring lower-level solutions to highlevel solutions as in the case of our networking (using Winsock as opposed to DirectPlay) and much of our rendering and animation technology (using vertex and pixel shaders as opposed to the fixed function pipeline, calculating all transformations ourselves as opposed to calling utility functions). In addition, tools were written using the Win32 API, as opposed to MFC or similar library. While we honor and respect that in programming, its often wiser not to reinvent the wheel, we also feel that the only way to learn how to make a better wheel is by making one yourself first.

Technical Design
We began our project writing code that we knew from the beginning would be thrown out. After experimenting sandbox-style, we then spent a significant amount of our first semester actually planning and 6/22/2013 GAM350 End of the Alphabet
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Insecticide

Postmortem

2003-2004

designing the code before launching into the core engine code. Surprisingly, we remained quite faithful to our initial design, and, perhaps more surprisingly, this design succeeded in keeping our game afloat.

Worked Hard
Our ambition wouldnt have taken us very far without a complementary work ethic, and fortunately we found it within ourselves to dedicate the necessary hours to get the project done.

Communication
We had a very tight-knit team, which contributed significantly when times were tough and deadlines looming. We had a fluid work dynamic that allowed people to help pull others slack when and if it existed. We communicated issues to each other about the game on a daily basis at least.

Support from the Faculty

This game also would not have been possible without the support of the DigiPen Game Department faculty, as we did insist on breaking some of the normal requirements for sophomores, which ended us getting placed ahead a year. Fortunately, we were able to convince everyone involved that we were up to the challenge.

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Insecticide

Postmortem

2003-2004

What Went Wrong

Unbridled Ambition
While our ambition propelled the game, it also created for goals that were just not possible to achieve under the circumstances. Our original design had been scaled at least in half by the time we had submitted our Game Design Document, and by another quarter again by the time the game was finished. Our ambition perhaps prevented us from creating a highly polished jewel of a game, which also prevents us from really hoping to win competitions such as IGF. On the other hand, technically were still sophomores and have the chance for such gems later on.

Technical Design
Another double-edged facet of our game was the technical design. If our technical design were a boat, then I would be proud to say it got us across the water and that we didnt drown; however, I would also have to say that at times it seemed we had created more problems for ourselves than solutions, and that we were spending more time bailing water from the boat then paddling to get to the other side. A specific issue with our technical design lay in the overall separation of code between client and server, and in deciding what events would take place where. We had decided early on on a strict separation between code modules, including the AI and Physics. This separation, while enabling certain (failed) attempts at distributing our processing, made AI implementation far more difficult, as simple querying abilities

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Insecticide

Postmortem

2003-2004

between the two modules had been for all intents and purposes eliminated.

Only 3 team members first semester

This one pretty much speaks for itself. We made up for it in manhours, but perhaps at the expense of our having lives outside of school. Oh well. No regrets.

Content and Resource Creation

Perhaps most painfully to ourselves, we neglected considerations about content creation. This meant compromising between making the game work, and making the game pretty and fun. Given that we were all more interested in working on the former, this meant that our game was doomed to not be too much of the latter. Given that were programmers, its not the end of the world, and it would obviously be fixed by having a team of designers and artists. Until that time, however, we will in the future consider game designs that are not so reliant on content and resource creation.

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Insecticide

Postmortem

2003-2004

Appendix A Team Sign Off

Max Wagner: Producer

Josh Wittner: Technical Director, Art Director

James Yarrow: Sound Director

Jon Renish: Designer, Product Manager

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8 Prof. Ben Ellinger