Lecture1 - Intro and Representation - Lecture 1...

Unformatted text preview: Lecture 1: Introduction to SI T253 _’nd?llisuui Gomes VEiements McKenzle - r - School oflnfvrrnotion TM ~ faculty of Science and 7mm Introduction - Teaching Staff — Lecturer: Mrs Sophie McKenzie - Burwood, Geelong, Off Campus - Contact: momenlglngqeameduw I PH: 522 71263 Unit Details - Practical Classes — Geelong: (Room Ka5.226) - Wednesday 11:00 12:50 0 Wednesday 14:00 15:50 — Burwood: (Room T1.05) - Wednesday 9:00 10:50 - Wednesday 14:00 15:50 0 Thursday 9:00 10:50 0 Friday 9:00 10:50 - Friday 11:00 12:50 5 hie, ‘ ’ Waurn Ponds - Matt Waurn Ponds ~ Matt Melbourne - Greg Melbourne - Greg Melbourne - Anthony Melbourne —Anthony Melboarm 7I12I2011 Introduction - Covered in this weeks lecture: Unit Details Who are the teaching staff? Textbooks and Readings Practical Classes Assignments& Exam Deakin Studies Online (D50) Unit Objectives and Structure Introduction to A/V Representation Unit Details 0 Prescribed: - DVD - Video Tutorials on Modelling — $3.001 - Recommended: DARK SIDE OF GAME TEXTURING, by Franson GAME CHARACTER DESIGN COMPLETE: USING 3DS MAX 8 & ADOBE PHOTOSHOP, by Franson and Thomas GAME DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS: GAME AUDIO DEVELOPMENT, by Marks and Novak Unit Details 0 Use of DSO in SIT253 — All lectures, practical's and assignment details here! — Submit your assignments on DSO only. — Use the Digital Library: - Many relevant readings to compliment the lectures and textbook 7/12/2011 New DSO features The New DSO aims to offer students a better learning experience which includes: — a more consistent look and feel — easy access to updates, news, new discussion postings, online assessment dates — greater ability to personalise your learning o more structured learning path Introducing the New DSO (Desire2Learn) Faculty of Science 8: Technology Deakin University How to log in to the New DSO Help and further information . Student Help linkin right hand top cornerofeach 0 Go to http:[gd2l.deakin.edu.au. The link to the login screef‘ m the New DSO for access to HE'P Gu'des page for the New DSO will be available from your and V'deos unit’s DSO site. — Student Orientation Site in the New DSO — self h l . h I registervia the link in the News item on your My . Fromt e New DSO ogm page 5 ow Students' Home page, — System Check link — this enables them to check — IT Service Desk (technical issues e.g. difficulties that their computer is setup correctly for the New logging in to DSO, computer and browser issues) DSO. Any problems contact IT Service Desk. nttpnxwww eakinecluau/stsrv sewterlzaskpnp . Students New DSO 2011 website link _this includes Quick and Video Guides to assist with use of the New DSO. Encourage students to watch theNavigating _ — Discussion in DZL unit site ‘Help using the new DSO (DZL)’ — Lecturer for any unit content relatde Unit Details Unit Details - Lecture structure - Assignments & Exam — Question style, discursive — 2 assignments each worth 20% (total 40%) — Plenty of extra relevant reading! — Details of assignments will be released on DSO — Theory in lecture, creation in practical classes ' Due Dates forASSignmentSI 3'“ of August arid 3'“ Of October 0 Week 12 lecture high jacked by students to allow presentation of assignment work! —- Exam worth 60% - Held in exam period Unit Objectives and Structure - Unit Objectives: — This unit introduces students to the terminology, fundamental and technical concepts of audio/visual elements of computer games — This is achieved by covering the following areas: - The role of these elements play in computer games; - The approach to produce these elements, from concept to creation - The technologies and involved in this process; and - The role of audio/visual professionals in the games industry, — This unit requires students to develop the audio and visual elements for games designa ("a Unit Objectives and Structure ' Unit Objectives: — The second part of the unit focuses on the audio elements and includes: 0 the basic skills required in terms of— hardware/software; recording, mixing and mastering and 3D audio 0 the fundamentals of audio design, including — audio engine terminology, functionality and processing; mixing and controlling sound for aesthetic effect 0 study of designing sound for interactivity, including sound effects, music and voice record' Plagiarism and Cheating - What is Plagiarism? — It is cheating! - It is using the ideas or work of others without acknowledgement and presenting them as your own. — It is a very serious academic offence! - Plagiarism can be avoided, so ...Don’t do itll If you have any concern with your work, discuss it with your lecturer or tutor - Collusion V’s Collaboration? f Examples in SITZSBV, L 7/12/2011 Unit Objectives and Structure - Unit Objectives: — This unit is divided into three broad parts: — Part 1 I the role A/V plays in computer games, sources of ideas Ki concepts, and the real-world considerations that need to be taken when creating these artifacts Part 2: - focuses on the audio elements —what is audio; how is managed in digital form; the various uses in computer games Part 3: I focuses on the visual elements —design fundamentals such as composition, lighting and colour and graphic design; 2D and SD graphics;texturing and rend_ering;t ' ism”? ‘ Unit Objectives and Structure I Unit Objectives: — The third part of the unit looks at the visual design fundamentals in game design - Such as composition, lighting and colour and graphic design - Specifically it looks at 2D and SD elements as well as motion graphics such as animating, cinematography and camera angles and framing - This part of the unit also looks at textures, optimisation of real time 3D rendering and interface design - Finally students consider character design. In both sections ofthe unit, students also review the relevant standards of both elements. National ICI' Careers Week 2011 Mondayst July Level 13,8 Exhibition lnrhousevislt m Ems! & Young Emmi. Young Zflflpmr mopm smacmlboumn Tuesday26‘* July nicherdSearbynoom FutureoflCT Careers DeioitteflBS/Ninlex,Silizar 53me sonpm Nouns Pty Ltd, Aeeenme, mesa-yst July Rkhard SearbyRoom Networking evening ‘“"'3"a"c°mf’“‘e' 5 30W .800“ "Dune SeaetylACSlDeakin University wedmsdayfimluly reism Bulldlng242 AC5 SpeclaiEveM-Career acs soapm — aoopm Exhlblllon progression sum. Melbourne Thursdayzamluly muons lT and is Rexumelzlluring Accenture l 30pm 7 new Friday 29'“ July San Remo Ezllroom DlGITS Ball 10H DIGlTS 71mm onwards Limited-SW" soon stigma: 7I12I2011 Lecture 1: Introduction to A/V in Games *2 TARTHERE GDANYWHERE ements _ For Raglstratlon and Quarlas Contact ‘ r Jessica oofigy 9 WMtKlee - - Jonlca.Cofl[email protected] moo] oflltfprmation 03 9244 5413 Matty of Science and TV ‘ V Readings Introduction - On DSO! - Introduction to Audio Visual Elements — Rules of Play by Salen and Zimmerman — What role does audio and visual content play in - Chapter 3: Meaningful Play computer games? And why is this important? o Other readings of note; — What is the current state ofaudio/visual design, — "The art of interactive design : a euphonious and illuminating guide to creation: and related tEChnOIOEiES? bulldlngsuccessful software bthrI‘s Crawford I u _ What are the fundamental concepts and - mp my“ diaglgggu auflwavm ’SlF/qcrawford drrgygmggyggggawcsgm mgdwrmm ., g c terminology used in NW — "Game deSIgn workshop : a playcentrlc approach to creating innovative ga mes" by Tracy Fullerton ' hm: [1‘31 jfrarnese What Role? Feedback Ludology/ Narratology in Games 0 ExplICIt— the result of some player action: . Feedback and Audio Visual also help with — Character walks through a cave Iudology and narrative in game: — Character shoots a gun _ Ludology focus on gameplay — Character ’warps’ through a portal . Ludus = game — mm pygmy vpggng :n withFwdw:‘qutmraarmemelggd - Logos = reason and science ' lmglllc't _ used as a gu'de/prompter’ more — Narratology focus on story and narrative su t e: — Eerie lighting and sounds to set mood — Subtle ’signpost' or background noises to give hints or so thing is about t happen :3 ‘ " “HQ .gmgatihgg£zbarwgg g} mm ' Which perspective are you? — Focus on gameplay, or focus on story — Either way, need A/Vto assistchoth’pfifgfiéctives 7/12/2011 Audio / Visual Feedback Immersion - Helps with Story Enabling in Games (as 0 Player presence within the gaming world opposed to story telling). . Remove repetition Iminurlmx — Play control and engagement — World and NPC design is important! — Plot choice? 0 Consistency/ balance in game — Character Customisation . Flow 5'5 Ilroviflur kwamum — Show Consequences of choice — Allows Interactivity and collaboration — Immersionllll - Non—linearity (player choice!) — Schrodinger’s cat example x,&_:' a??? Emotional Storytelling A Game Player Aesthetic Responses 0 Goals - Sensation, games as a sensory pleasure - Wants and Needs 0 Fantasy, game as make believe - Desire - Narrative, game as drama Curiosity - _, ,_ - .4 V - Challenge, game as obstable course Fear ‘ ‘ l “it” .~ V~ 5 ‘ - Fellowship, game as social framework 0 Love ‘ ‘ '5 'H' ‘ ' ..'. - Discovery, game as uncharted territory - Virtues and Vices x - Expression, game as self-discovery ' Submission, game as Why is A/V so important in games? Gaming Technology Issues _ I Implementationissues: — A/V feedback top two most Important features, _ 3M multiihannel audio along with good gameplay — video/graphics standards — Technologies advances are raising the - scriptinglansuage (expectations! of users I Consoleimplementation issues: - High quality models/textures — Better graphics and better sound are usually a . Lotsofdata/Smrage needed users highest ranking requirements - Processing power also — What are some games that have good examples ‘ 3° 8‘ "‘“"i'°ha”"e' “db . . I A 'th ' | t of excellent Audio and/or Visual content? sw' V's“ “pea — Video/graphicsstandards - Need to be able to program/port to variou — Scripting language _ busily codtmlltaitbr 7/12/2011 Classic Games and AN Current Games and AN - Banjo Kazooie I Games available on present day consoles and — 1ttg:[[au(youtubecgw[watch?v:2C3mSLno 29 PCS are very impressive .g‘ . — Attributes include: - Increased realism - What are the A/V Elements? ‘ _ - Fine detail - Dramatically better sound and visual effects Current Games and AN Current Games and A/V - E4 — Every Extend Extra Extreme (xbox 360) - Fallout Three - mmfiMVL-YQQILi?§£9fllfl§l£b3fi=fi3fl9fldfll — httn;//,www.y,outube.cornjyvatch?v=pA_NOB\LLSsV4 I What are the A/V Elements? :1 ' What are the A/V Elements? Future Games and AV What is it that players crave? - You tell me! - Better and more realistic Audio and Visual components — Complex effects...in REAL TIME! - Where to... — More natural/real life effect: - Hair - Water - Cloud/Smoke/Fire Miranments What is representation? - A practice: that produces cultural artifacts such as games The production of meaning through visual and auditory means - audio and visual representation Representation is the means by which members of a culture (gamers) use signifying systems (audio, visuals, gameplay etc) to produce meaning The game in itself does not have any fixed, final or true meaning. Visual and audio examples Shellshock: Nam '67 Silent Hill America‘s Army Cultural relativism Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the situation, environment, and individual. Those who hold to cultural relativism hold that all religious, ethical, aesthetic, and political beliefs are completely relative to the individual within a cultural identity. Relativism often includes: moral relativism (ethics depend on a social construct) situational relativism (right or wrong is based on the particular situation) cognitive relativism (truth itself has no objective standard). Somewhat dangerouspoint ' w, but in termsfigf » r ,'m§5§2b°‘ieve_néin,e‘Worid' 7/12/2011 What is representation? - Breaking down the steps in representation: — Identifying the important features of a visual display (surface level processing or external identification in the brain). — Relating the visual features to their meaning, i.e. semantic processing — Constructing the communicated message What is representation? It is us, the gamer, who make the game mean something, who instill signification Representation and thus meaning of a game will therefore change according to the culture (this in turn results in different genres) Cultural relativism = the different ways in which a culture assigns meaning to something such as a game Hence the need for translation as we move from one mind set or conceptual universe of one CultW” ’ _ r r“ _. au as. Constructionist perspective 0 Representation involves making links between three different factors — The world of things: people, events and places - The conceptual world: the mental concepts we carry in our heads — And the signs, arranged into "languages" (such as audio, text, image etc) which "stand for", represent or communicate those concepts Interpretation - Producing meaning depends on the practice of interpretation - Interpretation is continually used by us via codes — Encoding - putting meaning into the message — Decoding - interpreting the meaning at the other end of the message Codes - Representation is therefore more complex than we think - This is why we need theories to explain the way in which we construct meanings when we design, develop and implement games Social Ideology Here we are starting to interpret signs (games) in terms of the wider realm of social ideology - the general beliefs, conceptual frameworks and value systems of society The games we play are thus intrinsically interwoven within ideology Inevitably, culture, social ideology, will permeate the system of representation that we use to make games This connotative representation is about the construction of myths (Barthes Mythologies) We are myth-makers — Considered true by both orator and audie 7l12/2011 Codes Because meanings are always changing, codes function as social convention Codes are NOTfixed or unbreakable laws These concepts and classifications (meaning—making tools) that we carry around in our heads, enable us to think about the world, to construct meaning, to negotiate our way through society. We translate this thinking—about-the-world into “language” (audio, text, image) we make them “speak”, through signs — 50... signs stand for or signify our thoughts-aboubth rld Power and Knowledge We produce knowledge and meaningthrough representation via audio, image and text We are producers of a cultural artifact (the GAME) We construct meaning and knowledge through: — technology (specialist knowledge) — techniques (skills in design and development) Game designers have influence in their social and cultural representations in games: — The games we create, assumes that an authority of truth by the audience (the gamer), who assume our power to make the game "The Truth" Semiotics The study of signs in culture and of culture as a sort of “language” All cultural objects (games) convey meaning AII cultural practices (making games) depend on meaning Therefore we make use of signs as both as gamers (reading the signs) and the game designer and developer ("writing"/ "authoring" the signs) Analyse games using Saussure’s linguistic concepts of the signifier/signified - w“ v' fitwisefiafifit 7/12/2011 Saussure’s linguistic concepts Avatar’s as Representation ' Language is the collective product of social interaction, The interpretation of one’s self virutally? and supply the essential conceptual frameworks for men's analysis of reality and, simultaneously, the verbal equipment for their description of it. — True to life representation? = - Wii with the Mii's Linguistic signs do not exist independently of the I second we complex system of contrasts implicitly recognised in the day-to-day vocal interactions of a given community of speakers. — Xbox and P53 are following Linguistic signs are not like individual bricks, put together — Character Customisation is a certain way to form an architectural structure . such as in any FPS — Partsofthetotalstructure ‘ i - Sims Genre Genre As We move from the created game CUIture (the - To study the meaning in "AMs Alice" we would have game elements, etc) to the underlying structure of to treat the game elements as signifiersz the culture, the constructs we Impose (the genre) _ the audio, images, text are signifiers Genres impose style upon the game: _ e Action=adrenalin(fightorfleel) ° U56 the COde 0f the genre. — Survival =reflexive or twitch games — to discover how each element in the game made Shooters = FPS or TPS, weapon oriented, cooperative use of the genre rules to Racing = victory or defeat Fighting : reflexes and clear opponent - "say something" /make meaning (signifieds) that the Adventure = exploration. narrative gamer could "read" or interpret/understand within the Action — Adventure : reflexes and reflective thought formal framework of the game genre Pulzle = individual puzzle solving RolevPlaving: complex story and advancing goals Simulation and Sports = real world experience Turn Based Strategy : interval defined, resource; mum: tothlnk - Strategy =ma of resouroasln realtl " 1'. tut ’ V i ‘- Reading the Game (Analysis) Screen Shots of Ams Alice When we talk about "American McGee’s Alice” we use a semiotic approach for our “reading” and treat the game elements as signs through which meaning is communicated from the developer to the gamer. We analyse the meaning not by the content but by the underlying codes and conventions through which the objects and practices in the game produce and convey meaning Alice Movie... Cinematic Trailer: htmlzausxqutu be, :éQtIl/iwatghifi asylhygué Gameplay Trailer: @9153! EU. page rlibiiatch 3v agy B we ijJ A Signifier and Meaning In the game, the image, audio, text, game play, etc all function as signifiers in the production of meaning They construct a meaning and carry a message The game and all its components therefore function like a “language” - the language of gaming Each element within a game acts as a signifier Signifier and Meaning These relations can be of similiarity - weapons go with fighting which goes with Differences are also marked... weapons don’t go with pink and purple barbie palaces Some signs actually create meaning by exploiting the difference - the lethal knife + Alice in Wonderland with blood stained apron These elements and their relationship to each other all "say something" - they convey meaning BUT not everyone "(w)reads” the code in the same way . , ,, _ _.,‘ 7/12/2011 What did you notice? 0 Activity: We think of the game as a text to be read - what messages about our culture is AMsAlice trying to communicate? — Please answer the following in groups of 3 to 5: - What signs/ signifier of the genre? - What rules did you imply because of the genre? - What signifiers did the audio asserts give you? - What meaning did you derive from the visual presentation? — Overall, how_did it mage-yourfieéi’? «NY: 3 Signifier and Meaning - We correlate particular kinds of game elements (weapons) and their combinations (weapons plus character action) with certain concepts (violence, fun, detriment to society, wayward youth etc.etc) — These are the signfieds This coding has converted the game elements into signs which can then be read as a language in the language of games the signifiers are arranged in a certain sequence, in certain relations to one another Conclusion: Representation First we need a basic code (FPS) which links a particular set of game elements (signifiers) with a particular way of playing it and our mental concept of it (signifieds) Once we have recognised these elements and produced a sign, FPS, we then progressed to connecting those signs with cultural ...
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