This article by Michael Krimmer originally appeared in DP 05 : 2010.

There are not many successful German games developers who survived the boom years of the 80s and still regularly bring titles to market today. One veteran of the German games studio sector is Blue Byte. And this studio is still successfully developing games 22 years after it was founded.

Blue Byte, founded in 1988 by former employees of the German studio Rainbow Arts in Mülheim an der Ruhr via Blue Byte GmbH, specialised in the development of strategy games and simulations from the very beginning.

The first major success was the tennis simulation “Pro Tennis Tour” from 1989, which sold a good 500,000 copies in total. This was followed by such successful titles as “Battle Isle”, which made its debut in 1991 and received a total of two sequels.

However, none of Blue Byte’s many titles were as successful as the first version of “The Settlers”, which was launched in 1993. To date, more than 8,000,000 copies of The Settlers games have been sold.

Today, 17 years after the release of the first version, Blue Byte launched version 7 of the Settlers series on the market in March 2010 and is expected to continue the success of the previous versions. One reason for this success, in addition to the steadily growing target group over the years, may also be that “The Settlers” is still not only being developed for Windows PCs, contrary to what has been announced in the meantime. A large fan base has also formed among users of Apple’s Mac OS, who have contributed to the success of The Settlers, episode after episode.

In 2001, Blue Byte was taken over by the French publisher Ubisoft. Ubisoft paid 26 million marks for the acquisition and also acquired the rights to all previous Blue Byte game titles. In retrospect, this investment was probably worth it for the rights to the Settlers series alone. As part of the integration into the Ubisoft studio group, Blue Byte moved to the Ubisoft headquarters in Düsseldorf in 2003.

Blue Byte was integrated into the worldwide network of Ubisoft studios. This network consists of 24 studios in 17 countries, making it the second largest in-house development resource in the world. Ubisoft employs around 5,300 people in the area of production. Well over 120 employees work on a project like “The Settlers 7”. In the case of “The Settlers 7”, external service providers also contributed to the game’s soundtrack, for example.

The Ubisoft studios in Montreal and Bucharest were also involved in the production process, working closely with their colleagues from Blue Byte on the internet connection for the multiplayer mode or supporting the quality assurance test area.

Ubisoft relies on a combination of organic growth and acquisitions and acquires studios and brands from time to time when the opportunity arises. In 2007, for example, the German publisher Sunflowers was acquired along with the rights to the “Anno” series. “Anno” is a popular economic simulation game that has been around since 1998, when the first instalment of the series, “Anno 1602”, was released. This was followed by “Anno 1503” in 2002, “Anno 1701” in 2006 and “Anno 1404” in 2009. The rights to “Driver”, a type of driving simulation previously owned by Atari, were also added to the Ubisoft portfolio.

The result was a heavyweight in the games industry that generated a turnover of 1.058 billion euros in the 2008/2009 financial year and was the number three independent publisher in Japan. And with further acquisitions, the Ubisoft project could slowly but surely develop just like a healthy city in “The Settlers”.

About Blue Byte GmbH

Blue Byte was founded in 1988 by former Rainbow Arts employees Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt. The company was based in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Right from the start, successful titles were developed, but the final breakthrough came with the building strategy simulation “The Settlers”.

In 1994, a subsidiary was founded in Northampton, England, so that the English-speaking market could also be served. Just one year later, a branch was opened in Schaumburg, Illinois. This additional branch was intended to help the company become active on the North American market.

This was followed by several successful years, but also some that went less well. in 1997 and 1998, Blue Byte had to cope with the departure of some veteran employees who founded their own studio: Funatics. The development studio Funatics is still in business today and has developed several titles for the French games developer and distributor Ubisoft in recent years, including some based on “The Settlers”. It was also Ubisoft that took over Blue Byte in February 2001 for around 26 million marks.

As part of the takeover, Blue Byte relocated its headquarters to Düsseldorf in 2003, where Ubisoft Germany also has its headquarters. Web: www.bluebyte.de

Interview | Benedikt Grindel

Benedikt Grindel, born on 6 March 1969, has been working as a producer at Blue Byte since April 2001 and was significantly involved in the production of “The Settlers 7”. In an interview with DIGITAL PRODUCTION, he talks about the production of the latest instalment in the Settlers series.

DP: Does Blue Byte develop exclusively in Germany or are games also created in your own studios abroad, in a kind of round-the-clock workflow?

Benedikt Grindel: The game is largely developed in our studio in Germany. However, we also use resources from other Ubisoft studios, such as the one in Montreal, as well as other outsourcing partners. The cut-scene sequences in “The Settlers 7” were created in France at the Chez Eddy studio. Dialogue sequences and in-game animations were made in Dresden by PiXABLE. We simply drew on expertise from the film industry to further emphasise the new graphic style. The fact that the soundtrack comes from service providers is nothing new. Very few studios have their own composer. However, our major studios in Montreal and Shanghai have their own sound studios.

DP: How long does the visual polish take in post-production once the game itself is finished?

Benedikt Grindel: It’s difficult to say, because the finishing touches don’t just start in post-production. In the last two months of development, we worked almost exclusively on the finishing touches, but this was also done beforehand, especially for buildings and characters.

DP: What software do you use to develop your games?

Benedikt Grindel: The programming mainly uses C and LUA, in graphics we used 3ds Max for 3D modelling, Photoshop for texturing and Softimage for creating the animations.

DP: What hardware equipment do you have at Blue Byte?

Benedikt Grindel: We use powerful PCs, mostly dual- or quad-core, which are also all equipped with fast graphics cards.

DP: How high is the proportion of a game’s post-production compared to the other development stages?

Benedikt Grindel: That is also difficult to quantify. One estimate: the visual polish takes up around 30 per cent of the time spent on creating the graphics.

DP: Does Blue Byte or Ubisoft outsource the post-production work or is everything done internally?

Benedikt Grindel: As already mentioned, this is essentially done internally, even for assets that we have created externally. In individual cases, such as animations, our partners have also been involved in post-production.

DP: How great is the pressure for developers when you continue a series like “The Settlers”, which is expected to be commercially successful with every sequel?

Benedikt Grindel: It’s pressure on the one hand, but it’s also a good starting point. I believe that the risk of commercial failure is greater with a new brand launch than it is with Ubisoft’s own CGI studio for a well-known title.

DP: Which Blue Byte production was the highlight of the past few years?

Benedikt Grindel: For me, THE highlight of the last few years is Settlers 7.

DP: What are you currently working on?

Benedikt Grindel: We’re still working on The Settlers 7, but I’m not allowed to say anything else here.

Interview | Odile Limpach

Odile Limpach, born on 9 March 1971, has been with Ubisoft since 1996 and is currently Managing Director & Product Development at Blue Byte.

DP: Founded in 1988, Blue Byte was acquired by Ubisoft in 2001. What is life like under the umbrella of one of the world’s largest publishers and what about studio freedom?

Odile Limpach: We are fully involved in the development processes at Ubisoft, but we have a lot of freedom in our decisions. That’s a great situation: with Ubisoft behind us, we have access to the expertise and technology of over 5,000 developers worldwide. We benefit from the methods, processes and experience of the Ubisoft Group and the studio network, which consists of 24 studios in 17 countries.

DP: Given the history of the Settlers series, was it foreseeable that “The Settlers 7” would also be a success or is it always a risk until the launch, as with any other game?

Odile Limpach: There is always a certain risk because markets change. But with the quality delivered and the brand loyalty of our Settlers fans, we were very confident.

DP: And how is the current seventh instalment in the Settlers series selling?

Odile Limpach: It’s still too early to make a real judgement because Settlers games traditionally sell for a very long time. We are satisfied with the initial sales.

DP: Is it more of an advantage or a disadvantage these days to develop computer games in Germany?

Odile Limpach: Germany still has some catching up to do, especially in terms of training, promotion and social recognition of our industry. But there are some initial positive developments. We like being in Germany and want to stay here.

DP: Many sectors have suffered from the economic crisis in recent months. How hard has Blue Byte/Ubisoft been hit and how are things looking at the moment?

Odile Limpach: The crisis has not left us unscathed, but it has not hit the industry and our company as hard as others.

DP: What were the strategies to avoid failure during the crisis?

Odile Limpach: We focussed on what we do best: Publishing good games and monitoring the market for new niches.

DP: Which three titles have been the commercial highlights of the past few years?

Odile Limpach: For Blue Byte, The Settlers and the Anno series. For Ubisoft worldwide, Assassin’s Creed I and II, probably the most successful new brand launches in our sector for a long time.

DP: Are there any international co-operations, mergers or acquisitions planned?

Odile Limpach: Blue Byte and Ubisoft have invested a lot in recent years, and our internal development resources have continued to grow even during the crisis. Unfortunately, I can’t give any details about future developments here.

The post The law of the series | Retro article first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: The production studio Goodbye Kansas has released a VFX breakdown for the upcoming video game Dune: Awakening. Goodbye Kansas realised the announcement trailer for the MMO (massively multiplayer online game) (see below).

In toto: Dune: Awakening is based on both the original book by author Frank Herbert and the latest film adaptation by director Denis Villeneuve. The video game is currently in development at the Norwegian company Funcom , which is also responsible for the games Conan Exiles, Dune: Spice Wars, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, Moons of Madness, The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey .

Clicked on: Digital Production readers are no strangers to the creative minds behind Goodbye Kansas Studio. We last reported on a VFX breakdown for the book adaptation Birds of Paradise on 8 November this year , and in DP 05 : 2021 ( on page 30) , editor Patrick Poti asked director Emnet Mulugeta, CG supervisor Alexis Andersson, VFX supervisor Henrik Eklundh and executive producer Jan Cafourek , among others, to talk about the preview trailer for the video game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Dune: Awakening, VFX Breakdown by Goodbye Kansas

Dune: Awakening Announcement Trailer

The post Dune: Awakening | VFX Breakdown first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: The VFX service provider Redefine (own spelling: ReDefine) has released a VFX breakdown for the streaming series Halo – including sci-fi-tastic battles in the air, on the ground and in the first-person perspective.

In toto: As in the original game, the Halo series tells the story of the armed conflict between humans and an alien civilisation called the Covenant. In terms of dramaturgy, Halo draws its viewers in with a mixture of action and drama. The series is set in a speculative 26th century. The protagonist is John-117, aka Master Chief, the iconic hero from the video game series. The series adaptation of the popular first-person shooter games can be viewed on the streaming service Paramount .

About Redefine: The VFX house Redefine is based in Canada; the company has three locations: in Montreal, London and Mumbai. Redefine’s portfolio includes the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi (with Ewan McGregor), the actioner Ambulance by director Michael Bay, and the slasher remake Scream by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The VFX experts are currently working on the sequel Scream VI and the Disney streaming series American Born Chinese. To the website of Redefine.

Click further: In the past, Digital Production has repeatedly reported on the spacey visual effects of Halo; we present them below:

• 2.08.2022: The Master Chief in Beast Mode: MPC not only plays Halo, but also means series streaming. Does John-117 pull the aliens’ teeth?
• 18.10.2022: VFX Supervisor Patrick David and VFX Producer Nancy Heller chat about Alien Concept Design.
• 24.11.2022: Rodeo FX blows up the Madrigal Tower! A colossal series entry for the Master Chief from the Halo series.

ReDefine | Halo VFX Breakdown

The post Halo | VFX Breakdown first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Since Digital Production last reported on a Blender tutorial from the YouTube channel All the Works – at that time we presented two new video tutorials, one on low-poly environments and one on portal scenes (see Digital Production from 28 October 2022) – another high-quality tutorial video has been released. It’s called “Third Person Game Project”.

In toto: The video (see end of this news item) shows how to create a game project from the third-person perspective (popularly known as the Tomb Raider perspective) using the Unity engine. Incidentally, the creative mind behind All the Works created the 3D character and the associated props using Blender and Mixamo, as stated in the video description (see Digital Production from 2 June 2015). The video tutorial is linked below.

Click further: In the past, Digital Production has repeatedly referred to the free training programme offered by All the Works. For an overview, see the list below.

• 4.2.2022: Procedural flower generator with Blender 3.0:
  Your life needs more flower power? Cultivate sunflowers, pansies and other flower wonders procedurally now!
• 31.5.2022: Geometry Nodes with Blender:
  “The back of the waterfall”: How do you create a realistic flowing waterfall in Blender?
• 24.6.2022: Recreate this beach with Geometry Nodes!
  With this video tutorial you can set up a coastal beach – populated with rocks, bushes and palm trees. The highlight: the assets continue endlessly.
• 28.6.2022: Build this picturesque medieval village in Blender! Another awesome tutorial from “All the Works”, this time with a low-poly dream castle.
• 8.8.2022: Create trees in Blender with this video tutorial! Why Mtree is probably the best Blender add-on for creating trees.
• 29.6.2022: Zombie hordes tunnel through London! Want to get your own zombie army on track?

Third Person Game Project | UNITY & BLENDER

The post How does a third-person game work with Blender? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Devcom 2022 will take place from today, Monday 28 November, up to and including Wednesday 30 November. Participation in the online event is free of charge. Only registration is required.

In toto: The three days of the event are divided into different thematic focal points – including: AI-generated art, character animation, developments in the studio’s own technologies, interactive cinematics, and lighting in virtual space.

• Monday (28.11.) – Warm-up: Many Let’s Plays will be shown via the corresponding Twitch channel , guests will be introduced and the general mood for the next two days will be set.
• Tuesday (29.11.) – Tech & Tools: Selected speakers from CD Project ( The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077), Techland ( Dying Light), Oxide Games ( Ara: History Untold, Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation) and Nvidia will report on current developments regarding quest systems and virtual lighting in Unreal Engine 5
• Wednesday (30 November) Art & Animation: The last day is dedicated to the topics of AI-generated art, visual effects, animation and UI design – with presentations by well-known companies such as Ubisoft Stockholm, Overrun Games ( Arcaxer, Wave Magic VR), TenSquare Games ( Fishing Clash, Hunting Clash, Undead Clash) and Techland.

Click further: All further information can be found at devcom.global – registration is also possible there.

The post Three days of Devcom-Online? Also relevant for VFXers! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: VFX service provider Rodeo FX has released the second instalment of its breakdown series for the sci-fi gaming IP Halo. The video, which runs for just under four minutes, is called “Halo Season 1 – Planets: Eradinus II, Oban & Madrigal Tower”. The video is directed by VFX Supervisor Patrick David and VFX Producer Nancy Heller – as in the first episode, which Digital Production reported on 18 October this year .

In toto: Eradinus II, Oban and Madrigal Tower. About Eradinus: For the fictional desert planet Eradinus II, Rodeo FX has created a proverbial Garden of Eden, an oasis with lush vegetation – from agricultural land to forests. For the series, Rodeo has created a past and present version of this oasis – once covered in lush vegetation, now a deserted wasteland. One of the concept artists who played a leading role in defining the look was Olivier Martin – whose concept art served the visual effects artists as a starting point for all further design decisions. To create the environment, Rodeo FX used a combination of 3D textures and geometry scans of real rocks – as well as Houdini and traditional matte paintings.

Click further: To find out more about the planet Orban, which is referred to in the series as the galaxy’s rubbish dump, and how FX supervisor Sadjad Rabbie helped make the Madrigal Tower from the opening scene of the first episode of the series explode in a flaming inferno, click on the video below.

Breaking Down The Breakdown – HALO – Episode 2

The post Rodeo FX blows up the Madrigal Tower! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

While the first part was widely advertised, the story and realisation of Assassin’s Creed II already had a loyal following. In contrast to the first instalment, Ubisoft Montreal, the development studio behind Assassin’s Creed II, this time added HumanIK as middleware to give the characters more room for manoeuvre. The AI module has also been further improved. But what’s really new about “Assassin’s Creed II”?

The game

The first instalment of “Assassin’s Creed” did the same to the competing titles in 2007 as the title hero did to his victims: The time jump between the near future (2012) and the past (1191) was showered with awards by critics and gamers and sold more than eight million copies. As a result, the sequel is under a lot of pressure – because on the one hand there is the dichotomy between further development on the one hand and the mood of its predecessor on the other. But with the time jump story from 2012, both parts of Assassin’s Creed are firmly linked, at least in terms of content.

In the first part, the main character, a bartender named Desmond Miles, fell victim to the machinations of a pharmaceutical company that tested a “genetic memory” machine on him. With this, he steps into the shoes of his ancestors – and ends up in the role of Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad, an assassin in the year 1191. In the second part, Desmond escapes the pharmaceutical company, but ends up in the clutches of another machine and lives the life of another ancestor – this time Ezio Auditore da Firenze, also an assassin for hire, who is on a quest for revenge through Renaissance Venice.

The development

The developer Ubisoft has once again opted for products from Autodesk – and realised a large part of the development with 3ds Max and Motionbuilder, with Human IK as middleware.

“From the beginning, we just wanted to refine and develop Assassin’s Creed,” says James Therien, Head of Programming at Ubisoft Montreal. “Even with such a successful game, we have to keep refining – better characters, better interaction and a story that keeps the tension going. We also need to further develop the game controls, for example in terms of muscles and acrobatic skills in combat,” continues Therien.

“One of the most important aspects for Assassin’s Creed II, in our opinion, was a more realistic hero. The player gains experience in climbing, fighting and flying, but also in dealing with the environment. Autodesk HumanIK helped us with the development of the climbing. We were able to create new and better movements through a fast repetitive process without worrying about the quality of the inverse kinematics.

When it came to jittering, i.e. when the figures started to flutter, we used to waste a lot of time optimising the compression. But HumanIK didn’t generate any of this jittering,” says Therien.

Artificial intelligence

The non-player characters (NPC) are another new development. Therien comments: “In the first part, the other characters only followed you. In the second part, they also approach the player, which requires much more precise animations. HumanIK was incredibly helpful in that, for example, the feet are always on the ground, the arms don’t shake or flicker or anything like that. This also benefited our cutscenes. We were able to compress the same animations more without any loss of quality.” Therien explains that all characters and meshes were generated using Autodesk software packages. The motion capture data was filtered through the motion builder.

The first expansion for Assassin’s Creed II, “Purgatory of the Vanities”, has already been released and is available to download. In this expansion, the player joins an alliance to free Venice from the clutches of the monk Savonarola. Ten new missions or memories await the player here and they meet one of the most memorable characters of the time, Niccoló Machiavelli. Other parts – such as the continuation of the story in “Brotherhood”, a multiplayer mode and another extra story called “The Battle of Forli” – were also well received by the community. Over nine million copies of Assassin’s Creed II have been sold since its launch. So the team from Montreal seems to have done everything right this time too.

Digic Pictures: Opening credits for the review

After the success of the first instalment of Assassin’s Creed, expectations for Part 2 were high – and fans don’t want to be disappointed. The developer studio Digic Pictures has taken up this challenge and produced the game trailer for the game. Digic comes from the gamer corner, as a former division of the game developer Black Hole. The company was spun off from this developer following the success of its own projects. According to the managing director, there were some stumbling blocks in the “most challenging work to date” – including the cloth simulation for dancing people, an enormous amount of matte paintings and missing motion capture data. In terms of workflow, Digic focused on the earliest possible complete version of the film after the storyboard, which was then rendered again and again – after the characters, motion capturing and backgrounds, the first version was output. Other parts such as lighting and textures were added gradually. The main software environments used by Digic are Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, Bodypaint, Nuke and mental ray.

The post Medieval murderer first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Mirja Fürst.

In nuce: Indie game developer Sørb reveals how he created his stylish, comic-like crystals from the image above. We have linked the corresponding Twitter posts at the end of this news item.

What’s behind it all? Sørb recently shared a GIF with his Twitter community that shows beautiful-looking crystals with a stylised comic look. The game developer created the crystals in Unity, but soon many users wanted to know more. That’s why Sørb has now delivered, revealing the approach of his comic crystal project. Sørb created them with the help of High Level Shading Language, a programming language developed for DirectX. In a detailed “Crystal Shader Breakdown”, the indie developer goes through step by step how he managed to create the crystals – from the reflection to the glow and light effects, the alpha channel and the various passes, and everything else involved in the creation process.

Click further: If you want to keep up to date with Sørb’s high-quality graphics in the future, you should definitely follow him on Twitter – or click directly to his homepage .

The post Comic-like crystals grow in Unity! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: If you were passionate about assembling model kits from Revell and the like as a child and now want to bring your childhood hobby into adulthood, the “Model Builder” game offers you the opportunity to set up a virtual hobby room – and create true-to-scale film memorabilia and battleships and spaceships there.

What does Model Builder have in store? In the game, you not only tinker with real-world vehicles, but also screw together Han Solo’s blaster pistol, put a saucer on the warp drive of the Starship Enterprise, or teach a mech walking robot how to pose in the showcase (in the neighbourhood of pirate ships, tank battalions and other air and space vehicles). If you want to add unique details to finished models, the Model Builder provides you with a range of brushes, paintbrushes and spray tools to give your miniature artwork that certain something.

What else does the Model Builder have to offer? The game even has a story mode in which you revive your grandfather’s passion for model kits. To do this, you compete against rivals from all over the world.

Click further: For 16.79 euros, you can buy the nostalgic, meditative game on Steam, which will get you into the next flow pretty quickly. Visit the game developer Moonlit and the publisher Green Man Gaming to fill your next evening with fun games.

Model Builder – Launch Trailer

The post Childhood dreams come true with the Model Builder! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

This article by Maike Thies originally appeared in DP 04 : 2014.

There really are many racing games: But in “Krautscape”, developers Mario von Rickenbach and Michael Burgdorfer give players more freedom and a say in the course of the game – thanks to procedurally generated tracks. The game project, which was created at the Zurich University of the Arts, was released on Steam.

The special highlight of “Krautscape”: By navigating his racing car, the player influences the course of the track. This is only built during the race, so the leading player decides where to go in the future. To give the whole thing even more pizzazz, the individual racing cars have been equipped with wings. This allows entire sections of the track to be skipped along with their rivals. “Krautscape” is designed as a multiplayer game that can be played in three modes. In “Snake” mode, the aim is to build as many track sections as possible in order to score points, while in “Collector” mode, the aim is to reach a floating cube, which must be collected and brought to the end of the track. In “Ping-Pong” mode, the increasingly long track is travelled alternately in both directions. For “Krautscape”, the two game designers chose a reduced visual language that combines low-poly geometry with bright colours. The sound design by Phil McCammon emphasises the gaming experience with a challenging beat.

Basic idea and concept

The idea for the project came to game designers Mario and Michael in 2009 as part of a teaching module in the Game Design specialisation at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The parameters given were “multiplayer” and “network-orientated game design”.

Under the supervision of lecturers René Bauer and Max Moswitzer, a first functional prototype was created, built in Unity. This envisaged the following arrangement for navigating the vehicle: The vehicle travelled on a small surface, at the end of each one a trigger was placed, which generated another surface in the process of driving through it, which was aligned differently depending on the position and speed of the vehicle. For example, if the car passed the area on the left-hand side, this element was rotated to the left around the y-axis (yaw), creating a left-hand bend. At the same time, the local x-rotation (pitch) of the next element was dependent on the speed of the vehicle, so that at high speed it was slowed down by the upward inclination and vice versa. This first functional prototype was built in just one afternoon on the basis of a test vehicle that had proven itself in previous physics tests – and it worked straight away. Prior to this, the two developers had built vehicles in prototypes using the Unity physics engine to test the functions of the wheel collider implemented in the engine.

Modelling in Blender

The vehicle was modelled and animated in Blender. The development team decided in favour of Blender because it corresponds to their development philosophy: a platform-independent, compact tool with all the necessary functions and easy export to Unity, which is also available free of charge. In addition, since version 2.5, Blender’s animation tools in particular have been very clearly laid out and well designed. The ease of switching between Mac OSX and Windows was a particularly important point, because Mario, who was responsible for most of the 3D models and the vehicle, regularly switched from his main computer, a MacBook Pro, to various secondary computers running Windows for testing purposes. With 3ds Max this would not have been possible at all, with Maya there could have been licence problems – with Blender it was only a ten-second download. The entire project was also designed in such a way that it could be opened at any time within 30 minutes on a newly installed system – whether Windows or Mac – with Github access to the game repository, including download and installation of all software. Blender was also new to the two developers at the start of the project, but it proved to be very reliable and flexible during the development and production of the models. There were neither import problems nor major difficulties with the programme itself, apart from a short familiarisation phase at the beginning. Mario will probably not go back to 3ds Max, which he used to work with regularly, for his next projects: “The days of cumbersome, expensive 3D programmes that only run on one platform are finally over.”

Further development of the track construction system

Although the system developed for building the racetrack worked straight away, the lack of real bends resulted in an angular track appearance, which was also difficult to drive due to the lack of transitions. The solution: a trigger was placed on a small area at the end of each bend, which generated another area as the car drove through it, which was orientated differently depending on the position and speed of the vehicle. For example, if the car passed the area on the left-hand side, this element was rotated to the left around the y-axis (yaw), creating a left-hand bend. At the same time, the local x-rotation (pitch) of the next element depended on the speed of the vehicle, so that at high speed it was slowed down by the upward inclination and vice versa.

This first functional prototype was built in just one afternoon on the basis of a test vehicle that had proven itself in previous physics tests – and it worked straight away. Prior to this, the two developers had built vehicles in prototypes using the Unity physics engine to test the functions of the wheel collider implemented in the engine. Modelling in Blender The vehicle was modelled and animated in Blender. The development team decided in favour of Blender because it corresponds to their development philosophy: a platform-independent, compact tool with all the necessary functions and easy export to Unity, which is also available free of charge. In addition, since version 2.5, Blender’s animation tools in particular have been very clearly laid out and well designed. The ease of switching between Mac OSX and Windows was a particularly important point, because Mario, who was responsible for most of the 3D models and the vehicle, regularly switched from his main computer, a MacBook Pro, to various secondary computers running Windows for testing purposes. With 3ds Max this would not have been possible at all, with Maya there could have been licence problems – with Blender it was only a ten-second download. The entire project was also designed in such a way that it could be opened at any time within 30 minutes on a newly installed system – whether Windows or Mac – with Github access to the game repository, including download and installation of all software. Blender was also new to the two developers at the start of the project, but it proved to be very reliable and flexible during the development and production of the models. There were neither import problems nor major difficulties with the programme itself, apart from a short familiarisation phase at the beginning. Mario will probably not go back to 3ds Max, which he used to work with regularly, for his next projects: “The days of cumbersome, expensive 3D programmes that only run on one platform are finally over.” Further development of the track construction system Although the system developed for building the racetrack worked straight away, the lack of real bends resulted in an angular track look, which was also difficult to drive due to the lack of transitions. The solution: curved elements that fitted together exactly at the seams. Mario and Michael generated the track elements by extruding cutting moulds/shapes along a line. They each produced both a high-resolution mesh, which acted as a collision object, and a lower-resolution object with fewer extrusion steps, which could be displayed in the distance using Unity’s level-of-detail system to save performance.

To increase the fun of the game, the two game designers implemented the option of switching between different shapes. This means that the track has small walls on the outside at certain points to prevent the racing car from crashing. Manually designed elements are used for the transitions, which make the change from one shape to the next drivable.

The students also used special elements and obstacles that can be activated by the pursuers so that the leading player is slowed down – similar to “Mario Kart”. The obstacles are activated by switches on the ground, which regularly appear on the track. The obstacles include specially shaped elements such as loops or lanes as well as normal track sections with attachments, such as walls.

The two game designers also implemented automatically generated supports, which are occasionally built at the bottom of the track elements to give the game environment more structure. For time reasons, the aim was to create the entire environment with as little handcrafted content as possible throughout the track production process. At the same time, they were also able to deepen their knowledge of procedurally generated game content. In particular, the manual generation of the track meshes by code via the Unity Mesh API turned out to be a very powerful tool. The team was unable to use any ready-made libraries or engines because the generated track had to fulfil very specific conditions as it has a major impact on the gameplay and driving physics.

Networking & Server

A major technical issue was the development of a network-based game such as “Krautscape” at server level: How are the players connected to each other? How is the gameplay synchronised? What happens when players want to play online? Are there already existing servers or do players have to start their own? As “Krautscape” is entirely focussed on multiplayer mode, Mario and Michael decided to design the system so that the servers are provided by the game. The aim was to ensure an optimal gaming experience and performance and to minimise the usual problems with firewalls and port sharing.

The team encountered problems early on in the development of the network architecture: although Unity supports network-based projects, the tools offered proved to be rudimentary and limited in comparison with other engines. For example, it is not possible to easily start and control several instances of a game in parallel, which is necessary for the simultaneous races.

During their research into alternatives, they became aware of the possibility of building a network using the Photon framework. This server offering initially proved to be easily scalable and scored points with its integrated lobby system, which enables parallel game instances. However, the two game designers ultimately decided against it, as the server runs completely independently of Unity. As a result, they would have had to program and synchronise the entire physics calculation of the track separately on the server. This was clearly too time-consuming and costly for them, so they finally decided in favour of uLink & uLobby from MuchDifferent. The server platform offers an excellent mix of good scalability and practical application. In terms of their network structure, the system built into Unity and uLink & uLobby are very similar. Nevertheless, extensions such as the uLobby Server and the uZone Instance Manager as well as a login system with an attached database are convincing.

When switching to the uLink library, the game could almost be left in the structure of the already implemented Unity Networking. However, Mario and Michael had the extended features of the framework at their disposal with this variant – a big plus. With this solution, an instance of the actual Unity-based game could be started for each race. The race was now controlled by the uLobby server in cooperation with the uZone Instance Manager. This variant worked satisfactorily for the two game designers, although the framework is not equally well developed in all parts.

Workflow Patcher

Mario and Michael were confronted with a fundamental workflow problem in multiplayer games with online servers during their game development. During the first test phase of “Krautscape”, the question quickly arose as to how new game versions could be easily sent to testers to ensure that everyone was always playing the latest version. Of course, the servers also need to be updated regularly. The two game designers tested various options: For example, they produced a build at regular intervals and ensured that the testers downloaded this latest version immediately. In this case, the correct version had to be uploaded to the server at the same time. In principle, this variant worked well, but it took a lot of time and was anything but flexible.

Finally, Mario and Michael developed an extended automatic patcher based on the M2H patcher from the Unity Asset Store. From then on, they could create a new build for all platforms (PC/Mac/Linux) and generate patches for all versions at the touch of a button, upload them accordingly and update the respective version number online. With the help of this tool, all testers can simply restart “Krautscape” after an update and automatically find the latest version. The same applies to the server: Here, too, the version is always updated to the latest version, as this is also updated when the game is started. The patches take into account all changes to the previous version, which the “bsdiff” programme calculates for each file when generating the patch. The changes to all files are packaged together with a list of all changes in a zip file and released for download as a patch.

Each time the game is started, the system checks online which of the available versions is the latest and searches for the appropriate patches so that the latest online version can be played. Mario added that this scanning phase for minor updates would take place so quickly that the player would hardly notice it.

Programming effort

Despite the obviously well-developed basic functions of the M2H patcher, the two game designers did not show themselves to be alThe team deliberately focussed on a fictitious and eccentric environment in order to set “Krautscape” apart from realistic racing games. The project is named after a certain Dr Konrad von Krautkopf. It must have been around 1880, Karl Benz would still need a few years before he would bring his first motorised car with an internal combustion engine onto the market, when a pioneering idea sprang from the whimsical mind of inventor Dr Konrad von Krautkopf. He imagined a machine that would not only drive on the road with a high number of horsepower, but would also be able to fly over short distances. Krautkopf called this vehicle the “Krautomobile” or “Krauto”. He also envisaged a system that would equip the vehicles with a simple control mechanism that would have enabled the drivers to build roads while driving. Dr von Krautkopf conceived his system as an efficient and practical alternative to existing means of transport. He also toyed with the idea of generating unusual routes with the system for specific occasions, such as car races. If the explanations on the “Krautscape” website are to be believed, the two game designers Mario von Rickenbach and Michael Burgdorfer have realised Krautkopf’s never-realised vision in virtual space based on the highly detailed original plans. The story behind “Krautscape” The first prototype was still very rudimentary, but worked surprisingly well. Depending on where and at what speed the vehicle passes through the trigger at the end of the track, the subsequent element has a different orientation. They were missing some features that were important to them, which they ended up developing themselves: Release channels, patcher updates and various other improvements.

With the basic version, it was not possible to release builds from different computers and there was only one release channel. However, different release types with different options were planned as part of the “Krautscape” project: A beta version for testers, the internal test version for the development team as well as a special master build for the uLobby master server were planned. All of these builds are configured differently, but are based on the same Unity project.

Mario and Michael also developed a way to update the patcher programme themselves. These patcher updates ensured that the patcher application itself was updated at regular intervals, greatly increasing the flexibility of the project work. Bug fixes are possible in this variant for the patching system, which means that players never have to download the game again completely. This made it possible to release a new version of the game in just a few minutes. This solution is particularly helpful for small bug fixes and online test sessions.

Project progress

The first trailer for the game was completed in 2010 after a relatively short phase of further development following the end of their studies. in 2011, the two game designers submitted their project to the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia’s Call for Projects and were successful in the competition with “Krautscape”. It was only thanks to the funding that the two were able to continue the project after completing their studies. During the one-year production period of the Call for Projects, they reprogrammed large parts of the game. There were structural problems with the networking and driving behaviour in particular, which were easier to solve by reprogramming these parts based on the new conditions instead of improving them with incremental changes.

During this phase of the game, the two game designers benefited from project pitches and conversations with experts at industry meetings and festivals. This enabled them to gradually approach the marketable character of the game. From mid-2012, Mario and Michael were invited to festivals and exhibitions with “Krautscape”. for example, “Krautscape” was shown at the Gaîte Lyrique (Paris) as part of the Play Along exhibition and was also honoured with the Best In Play Award at the GDC Play (San Francisco). A game presentation at the Tokyo Game Show proved to be particularly profitable. There, an audience with an affinity for games engaged with the games and gave constructive feedback.

At the end of 2012, Michael left the team for professional reasons and Mario continued working on the project alone. It was only during the finalisation process of the game that he brought in fellow student Flurin Jenal as an assistant in summer 2013 to ensure the early completion of the game. At the end of summer 2013, “Krautscape” went online on Greenlight and was accepted by the community. This step brought “Krautscape” to the attention of publisher Midnight City(www.midnightcity.com). As of April 2014, you can now play the game on Steam via Early Access(store.steampowered.com/app/268360).

Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

The Zurich University of the Arts(www.zhdk.ch) offers a six-semester Bachelor’s programme and a three-semester Master’s programme in Game Design that focuses on the conceptual, creative, technological and practical application of computer game design.

The Game Design specialisation focuses on the culture and design of interactive games. Within the programme, students acquire fundamental subject-related knowledge in the context of game development projects and deepen their knowledge by studying analysis, planning and implementation techniques. The aim of all projects is generally the development of fully functional games or game prototypes. The BA programme has a generalist structure. The central components of game design are covered by offering learning modules that build on each other thematically.

The Bachelor of Arts in Game Design programme is a six-semester full-time course. The curriculum offers modules and courses in the following subject areas: Game Culture, Storytelling, Game Mechanics, Programming, Usability Design, Game Conception, Game Analysis, Game Business, Media Management, Visual Techniques, Game Engine Programming, Game Design Projects, Character Design, 3D Modelling & Animation.

The Master’s programme Game Design is a focus within the Interaction specialisation, which specialises in training versatile and innovative experts in the fields of interaction design and game design. The Master of Arts in Design programme offers four subject areas – Collaborative Worlds, Game Production, Ludic Game Art and Serious Games – which guarantee an in-depth practical and academic examination of areas of contemporary game design over three semesters

The post Making-of Krautscape first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

The team at Naughty Dog attached great importance to authentic textures for the end-time game “The Last of Us”. 20 years after a pandemic, the main characters, 14-year-old Ellie and smuggler Joel, fight their way through the now ruined cities. In a world without electricity, the developers deliberately emphasised the lighting and ensured outstanding gameplay, not least with an elaborate MoCap. This year, Naughty Dog won the animago AWARD for Best Game Design.

The global pandemic is triggered by a fungus. Naughty Dog based the game on a model from nature, the Cordyceps fungus, which causes insects to mutate into mindless zombies. The player controls Joel in the year 2033 through a decaying world with dangerous living creatures and no less life-threatening infected. Up to 120 artists worked on the “survival action” game for three and a half years, including motion capturing, for which the movements of actors Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Tom Baker (Joel) were captured. DP spoke to Game Director Bruce Straley, Technical Artist Christophe Desse, Mocap Pipeline Technical Director Damon Shelton, Lead Cinematic Animator David Lam, Lead Gameplay Animator Mike Yosh and Lead Character Artist Michael Knowland.

DP: Where was the MoCap made?

Damon Shelton: The motion capture was done in Culver City and was done by Sony San Diego. The system is a near-infrared Vicon mx40 system consisting of 94 cameras. Of these, 55 are responsible for a real-time preview. Together with the other 39 cameras, higher quality data is captured for post-processing. The stage measures 13.5 by 9 metres and captures at 59.94 fps.

DP: How long did the shoot take?

Mike Yosh: Over three years in total. We shot 121 shots, including previs, cinematics, in-game cinematics and systemic gameplay.

DP: Were the facial expressions also captured?

David Lam: No, the facial animation was completely keyframed by hand by the Cinematic Animation team. It was the best choice for us at the time to mimic the look and feel of our actor performances. It allowed us to better emphasise certain moments. A good example of this is when David reveals his true intentions to Ellie. The scene takes place by a fire pit in a barracks, after a fight with the infected. We wanted to dramatise the tension and slyness in David’s eyes and his movements around his nose and mouth. Another good example is the final cinematic where Ellie wants to find out the truth from Joel. The emphasis was on the subtle movements of the eye performance to show the uncertainty and the search for confirmation.

DP: How does the workflow work?

David Lam: Once we have a few animations on a rig based on Maya, we create an in-game animation asset using our proprietary tool. We use this to adjust the in-game frame rate and determine whether it’s a full-body or partial animation. If a movement is a new in-game function, our programmers or scripters take care of it. However, if it is simply an animation for a new character that behaves exactly like another character, then we replace important animations, play them on the new character and leave the rest as it is. These could be resting poses, running and racing movements, for example. In this way, we don’t have to constantly generate completely new movement sets and we can create many characters with a small animation team that are as different as possible.

DP: To what extent does the MoCap improve efficiency and lead to better results?

David Lam: For the cinematics, MoCap gives us a great first animation pass that sets the stage for the scene and creates subtle, nuanced moments. There’s no other way to realise this with our tight production schedule. This MoCap data forms the basis for further work. We improve the performance of our characters and thus the effect of a scene. We can make characters hit harder or bring more weight into play when interacting with characters or props. Sometimes we simply have to change the pose of characters to show more violence in a fight, for example. However, improvements can also involve keyframing new performances if, for example, an existing MoCap is not wanted because there have been changes to the design or animation.

DP: What is the relationship between MoCap and keyframe animation?

Mike Yosh: For gameplay, we probably use around 80 per cent MoCap. But since almost all of the MoCap is extensively processed to make the movements look better and to work with real-time animation layering, I can’t assign a ratio here. The point is: the pure MoCap neither looks good in the game, nor does it feel right. Our game isn’t hyper-realistic, so the movements shouldn’t be either. But we have helped out a little here and there or amplified something. As the gameplay, which is in a constant state of flux, is so closely linked to the in-game cinematics, these also had to change constantly.

DP: Hello Bruce, to what extent did you have to adapt your engine for “The Last of Us”?

Bruce Straley: Fortunately, we started the development of the game on an engine that had already gone through several iterations while working on the “Uncharted” games. Nevertheless, we had to make some adjustments to the rendering engine. Our AI system, for example, was completely unusable for the game we had in mind.

DP: What did you have to consider when rendering?

Bruce Straley: It was clear that in the world of The Last of Us, electricity wouldn’t play a very big role. It was also clear that the player would spend a lot of time inside buildings, in environments with a strong ambient light component. So we had to light the rooms indirectly using bounce light, which is very aesthetically pleasing. The shadows are softer and the light shines further than usual. The Uncharted rendering engine was designed to showcase Nathan Drake outdoors in daylight jungle environments. We had been working with Global Illumination since Uncharted 1, but the engine was primarily optimised for dynamic shadows and direct lighting. So we had to build a much more robust lightmap-based pipeline to generate these soft ambient shadows for the indoor areas.

DP: Did that work smoothly?

Bruce Straley: Yes and no. During the realisation, we noticed that the characters didn’t quite fit into these softer lit scenes and we weren’t getting the quality of materials we wanted for the background surfaces. Everything looked totally flat. We had to develop a dynamic ambient shadow technology for the characters and what we called “Dominant Directionality” for the environments to store dominant light vectors. These are passed on to the material shaders so that surfaces appear well lit, specular flickers from the optimal direction and normal maps get reasonable shadows. The same vectors are forwarded to the ambient shadow system. This ensures that the shadows cast by the characters are correct. In addition, the opacity of the shadows is modified based on the values saved in the dominant directionality.

These two technical achievements and a few changes in the pipeline and mindset have completely changed the entire look and feel of the environments. I am proud that we were able to achieve such a look.

DP: The textures are well done. If you’re not being chased by the infected, you’re happy to look around a little longer. How did you proceed here?

Bruce Straley: It was clear that this world was doomed to decay. But when everything falls apart, nothing stands out any more. It also quickly leads to a problematic “surface noise”, as every centimetre of a surface in a scene is excessively weathered. We therefore focussed heavily on the contrast between “negative” and “positive” space when texturing the surfaces. Another point was the “story” of decay. The artists were instructed to think about how things might have decayed over time, rather than just quickly adding a few stains or letting something flake off here and there.

DP: Do you have an example of this?

Bruce Straley: I would love to. Did a stain appear because a water pipe burst? Or perhaps the gutter was simply blocked, causing the water to back up? Aesthetically speaking, we were fascinated by this beauty of decay. Mould infestation or water seeping into a dry wall creates chaotic patterns. These created these beautiful textures that we wanted to capture.

DP: Did the Dominant Directionality technology also come into play here?

Bruce Straley: Yes, it also helped us with texturing and surfacing. It allowed our artists to emphasise the different surfaces of each material in an environment. In addition, we’ve also revamped our spec component to add contrast in dimly lit areas. This stylised realism sets “The Last of Us” apart from other post-apocalyptic games.

DP: Would you go so far as to say that the environment is a separate character in the game?

Bruce Straley: I would sign that statement immediately. The concept of the game was that environmental storytelling would play a big role. It bridges the gap between what’s happening now and what might have happened in the 20 years after the outbreak. We have scattered small vignettes, a kind of “forensic” moments in the environments, also to motivate the player to explore the settings. Aesthetically, the environment creates a contrast between the beauty of nature reclaiming human space and the unspoken horror one feels in an abandoned space. Both together add another level of tension, despair, fascination and a certain beauty found in few games.

DP: Enivronments are also sometimes destroyed – which tool is used?

Christophe Desse: We work with Havoc. It gives us the best toolset and is perfectly integrated into our engine. We use it to create interactive elements such as destructible ceilings, objects that fall down, dynamic plants, clothing and other destruction effects.

DP: Michael, what were your biggest challenges as Character Lead?

Michael Knowland: Achieving an almost photorealistic look within the PS3 while trying to make the whole project artistically appealing. I’m a firm believer that the key to making things look interesting and alive is to do a lot of things by hand and judge them with the human eye. Another challenge for me was actually finding my way around game development at Naughty Dog – it’s quite open and iterative. It’s like a big sandbox. Towers can collapse at any time, but it’s also extremely fun. You can create and move an amazing amount here.

DP: So you haven’t been working here very long?

Michael Knowland: That’s right, I joined in the last two and a half years, just as they were starting to work out the main characters. At that point it was just me in-house on the project and I was working off-site with Sony San Diego. I had a lot to do with Neil Druckmann, the creative director, and Hyoung Nam, the concept artist. Together we designed the main characters as the team gradually grew. In the end, there were five character artists in my team.

DP: How did you actually design the characters’ hair?

Michael Knowland: I’m glad you brought that up, because the hair was a huge challenge. All the hair in the game was modelled and textured by hand. Maybe that’s why there are so many bald guys in games? In my opinion, it depends on the hair whether a character’s look is complete. We experimented a lot to make the geometry and textures work well together. We wanted to find the right balance between saving the texture resolution and individual strands or tufts of hair. We also played around with this a little: We try to reflect as much texture space as possible. At the same time, we wanted to keep the style as natural as possible. We often painted over the 3D heads to plan how to create them or to get a basic look for a character artist.

DP: How often were there correction loops?

Christophe Desse: Towards the end of the game, we move into a “polishing phase” where we correct shaders and geometry to keep the game in frame rate. In my opinion, it’s this period at the end of production that makes our games so successful, because we check and optimise a lot of elements again in detail.

DP: What software do you use for your work?

Christophe Desse: In addition to my dynamic work, I also model some weapons. I personally work with the following tools: I create high-poly models in Maya, sometimes also in Zbrush, and the low-poly models are created in Maya. The baking of the normal maps and other derived maps is mostly done in xNormal, texturing is done in Mudbox, the generation of the shaders is done with our proprietary tools.

Michael Knowland: I love Zbrush for sculpting. It’s incredibly flexible and has all the tools I need. It helps me achieve my results and improve my workflow. Another favourite tool for me for texturing is Mudbox. Occasionally I also use Photoshop to touch things up, adjust levels or contrast, or paint out tileable alphas. Max and Maya are also great tools and I use both equally often.

DP: What will future games look like?

Christophe Desse: Looking at that aesthetic realism we achieved on The Last of Us, I think next gen will be even more about lighting effects and shaders. Maybe we can even add more dynamic elements that react to the player. This will be largely thanks to the impressive processing power of the PS4.

Michael Knowland: I hope we can achieve a new level of realism and artistry in games. And ideally we won’t all be replaced by scanners! If we can create far more realism, we need a greater technical understanding of how things work on the inside – we can’t just look at the surface. We still need to keep an eye on what feels right and looks good.

Founded in 1984, the company specialised in console games early on. The four instalments of the “Crash Bandicoot” series alone sold 22 million copies. in 2001, Sony, until then a publishing partner, took over the studio. With the PlayStation 3, the three “Uncharted” games set new standards in storytelling, the quality of graphics and cinematic elements. “The Last of Us” was released in June 2013 and the company currently has 170 permanent employees.

We asked Eric Monacelli and Arne Meyer, both Community Strategists at Naughty Dog(www.naughtydog.com and www.thelastofus.com), what it’s like to work for the Californian developer.

DP: How did the name Naughty Dog come about?

Eric Monacelli: Originally, Naughty Dog was known as JAM (Jason and Andy Magic) Software. When the co-founders Jason Rubin and Andrew Gavin signed a deal with EA in 1989, it turned out that the name was already protected in Australia. So a new one had to be found quickly. The name Naughty Dog goes back to doodles by co-founder Jason Rubin. They show a dog on a surfboard wearing sunglasses and hanging out with women on the beach. This name was radically different from all the Micro, Vision, Electro, Play, Intelli, Soft and so on combinations of the time. It stood out and was remembered, even though Trip Hawkins from EA was not so enthusiastic at the time.

DP: Why should you work at Naughty Dog?

Arne Meyer: Our company is flexible and efficient, and we work in a team-orientated and iterative way. We encourage our employees to share their ideas. Because at the end of the day, the best ones are considered – the ones you’ve worked hard on to move a game project forward. To meet our personal benchmark, we work very long and hard. But we still maintain a dynamic and beautiful working environment – we’re in beautiful, sunny Santa Monica, after all. There are core times when everyone has to be there. You can still organise your working hours flexibly. The important thing is that the work gets done – and of course at Naughty Dog’s level of quality.

DP: How can an artist get further training with you?

Eric Monacelli: Our artists have the opportunity to attend courses in nude drawing almost every week. There is a fitness room in our building, and we also encourage and support professional training on a case-by-case basis. There is a company wiki in which we record our ideas. In most cases, however, we simply go to a colleague’s desk and talk. That’s how we do our work here: there is a personal and helpful atmosphere.

DP: Which employees are you looking for?

Arne Meyer: Our vacancies are listed on our company website. Just take a look at www.naughtydog.com/work to get a clear picture of what we expect from an employee. You can apply for one of the advertised positions via jobs@naughtydog.com. But if you have a truly exceptional portfolio, you can of course also contact us.

DP: How is your workflow organised?

Eric Monacelli: For our games, we make our technical libraries available to the entire studio. This means that everyone can see what everyone else is doing and work on solutions. Our development workflow is very agile. We really do have a unique and very iterative approach to game development that is hard to find anywhere else in this form. We also don’t have any producers. You can organise your own time and just have to make sure that you get the work done. We do have department leads who oversee everything. But if someone is working at a certain level and wants to take on a leadership role, we are happy to support them once we have a functioning team.

DP: What software do you work with?

Arne Meyer: OpenGL, DirectX, C , Maya, Adobe Creative Suite, various scripting tools and recently we started using Scaleform – just to name a few. What is used and how varies from department to department. We usually find the best tools for our work. If something doesn’t exist, then we build that functionality ourselves. We have a proprietary shader engine and a lot of other proprietary technology in our Naughty Dog engine that gives our games their own unique look and feel – we always try to make something unique.

The post Historical Decay first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

How was your 2012? Good? With small gaps? The holes in the schedule were originally reserved for “Bioshock Infinite”, which was unexpectedly delayed. At the final launch, the DP didn’t miss the opportunity to find out why it all took so long, what changed and what the process was like. After speaking to producer Ken Levine last year, this time we asked Bill Gardner, Design Director and User Experience Specialist at Irrational Games.

Bill Gardner, who studied at the renowned Boston Film School and then worked at Universal Studios, has had the classic dream career of a game developer: first working at GameStop, meeting Ken Levine there by chance and then joining one of the most creative studios, Irrational Games.

He started with the Unreal Editor, then worked his way up from QA to Assistant Producer. As a User Experience Specialist, he is practically the first player to provide the feedback loop to production. As he doesn’t directly programme, model or texture the game himself in this role, he is the one who decides what gets thrown out – something that is part of the corporate culture at Irrational Games.

DP: Mr Gardner, what have you actually been doing over the past year? “Bioshock Infinite” was as good as finished, wasn’t it?

Bill Gardner: Apart from the underlying story – the player between two extremist, fanatical parties – we touched everything at least once more. We completely rebuilt a lot of things, both technically and in terms of gameplay and aesthetics. One of the most important changes was the realisation of Elizabeth, the player’s counterpart. You rescue her from a sticky situation and play the rest of the game with her. The character continues to develop. At the beginning, we perhaps underestimated how much work it takes to make the character believable, realistic and likeable. Both in terms of the gameplay and the story.

DP: In the first hands-on of the beta version, we noticed that you included the religious right of the USA as one of the enemies in the game. How violent could the resulting storm of outrage be?

Bill Gardner: We have two factions in the game: The “Founders” (alluding to the mythology of the creation of the United States) are led by the inventor of the flying city of Columbia. He appears to be a prophet, predicting certain events. However, Columbia breaks away from society and disappears completely from the scene for a few years. When the player enters the city, society there is divided, roughly comparable to the suffragette movement that spread across America at the turn of the century. The counterpart to the “Founders” – called the “Vox Populi”, a labour movement – picks up momentum and develops into extremists to the same extent as the “Founders”.

This conflict is caused by the player: He is the catalyst that escalates the situation by freeing Elizabeth. It remains to be seen how these obvious allusions and categories will be received by the public.

DP: Within the game, you often come across various propaganda scenes that were also shown in the trailers. Were these specially produced or were they created from the graphics and assets of the game engine?

Bill Gardner: The former – even if we had to create some of our own scenes within the engine as a stage for the propaganda. Capturing the in-game assets as a film, with titles and post-production was a lot of fun and a different approach to the visual language. The propaganda films of the period around 1900 were something special in many respects: short film segments with an extreme message that was also conveyed directly: “This is good, this is evil. Evil is evil because we say so. If you do something evil, you’re an evil person. The End.” You rarely have the opportunity to design something like that in games. It’s a great pleasure to produce something like that.

DP: How much research and reference to the period and its view of the previous era, the 17th and 18th centuries, was necessary to set the tone of the first “nostalgia wave”?

Bill Gardner: We collected an almost unmanageable amount of material – also in order to be able to depict the overall culture of the time, with its allusions and absurdities. Within the game, our aim was to show a 21st century player the mindset of the time. At the same time, we wanted to give people who were already familiar with the era enough overt or hidden references and clues to make it feel culturally real and not like a wild fantasy. In addition, some of my colleagues – including Ken Levine – are amateur historians and are interested in such topics. They have infected almost everyone with their enthusiasm for the subject.

DP: But equipping a boss as a machine gun android with the face of George Washington is something you don’t find in normal American imagery ..

Bill Gardner: The Motorised Patriot comes from the fact that we wanted a robot-like character that moves through the city. And then one day a colleague arrived with mannequin faces, which were used for the funfair machines at the time. Combine that with the cracks in the porcelain and the broken corners on the mask? On a three metre tall robot? With the face of George Washington barking propaganda and attacking with a Gatling gun? We couldn’t pass up an opponent like that. That’s what makes a Bioshock game: with an accurate “look and feel” of the time, there’s also room for enemies and characters that work really well in the context of the story.

DP: Given that the game is now not a completely open-world game, how much did the underlying engine need to be adapted to meet the design requirements?

Bill Gardner: Especially at the beginning of the game, there is a lot of information for the player: Story, items and general controls. That’s why we took the player more by the hand at this point than in the rest of the game. For example, we haven’t included a classic tutorial, instead the player walks through a fairground with stalls and gets to know the various weapons and special powers. Later on in the game, the paths become more open and players have to find their own way. So it’s not a real open-world game, but rather different arenas in which the player moves around. By building the flying city of Columbia, however, we were able to develop each area, or rather each flying island, individually. These islands as well as zeppelins, ships and so on move independently and in relation to each other. They orbit each other, dock and much more.

DP: That’s certainly not easy for the development of the game, is it?

Bill Gardner: Indeed. Apart from the cut scenes, you can’t get people to look up in a shooter. But with this moving backdrop, we’ve built a shooter that doesn’t feel like a linear experience, but much more open and free. But it was also a real challenge for the design department: how far can you let the player jump from rooftops, or how long can they run along the floor of the island? How vertical can a game become before it becomes confusing? The additional dimension increases the technical challenge in terms of streaks and loading speed enormously.

DP: How many assets had to be created due to this verticality and the custom design?

Bill Gardner: Too many (laughs). It feels like we’ve gathered enough assets for another three games. There are countless details, especially when it comes to the interior, i.e. the furnishings of the bars and living rooms as well as the everyday objects. In one of the bars, for example, we modelled and integrated all the drinks with their respective bottles and their special shape. Thank goodness we were able to generate or procedurally create most of the buildings and architecture – including window placement and the like. If we hadn’t pulled ourselves together with the size of the world, the story and the development of the main characters would have been neglected. Long story short: I don’t know exactly. There were rumours in the studio that one level in “Bioshock Infinite” was as big as the entire first Bioshock part in terms of assets and dialogue.

DP: Has Irrational considered releasing the FloatingIsland technology as software or an SDK?

Bill Gardner: No, we’re not going to do that. The whole process is so closely linked to the engine and assets that it wouldn’t be practical. We have linked the underlying Unreal Engine 3 with self-built lighting, physics and simulation, a completely new artificial intelligence and the Kynapse middleware in such a way that the end result is quite a “Frankenstein” (laughs). Everything docks somewhere, and individual parts can hardly be detached without fundamentally restricting their function. But when I see our customers, they would certainly do great things with it.

DP: Since you mentioned Kynapse: What software do you use? 3ds Max, ZBrush or something else?

Bill Gardner: That’s not easy to answer either. In Kynapse, we had to develop some special features so that the artificial intelligence could also handle the skyline, i.e. the connections between the buildings, and the verticality. As the characters can jump off at any time, expanding the existing intelligence was not without its challenges. The programmers, designers and gameplay people worked closely together, including with nightly builds for Kynapse and tests.

DP: The lighting turned out great, switching effortlessly between the mood of a relaxed stroll and the menacing grotto. How did you achieve this and how much attention was paid to the design?

Bill Gardner: We put a lot of effort into it. It was an intense collaboration between production, art department, level designers and the tech guys. One of the best techniques we use is Beast from Autodesk. We did a lot with light colour, mood and quantity in the various iterations. The closer you get to the “Vox Populi” or even in some threatening scenes, we controlled it at the beginning just by that. The surface, the idealised America at the turn of the century, was also created a lot with this lighting design.

DP: You also worked a lot with natural light.

Bill Gardner: Yes, that’s right. We also simulated times of day this time. So you regularly see the golden hour with its warm orange light. Then the story forces you into buildings at night, where the lighting design is similar to the underwater city of Rapture from the first Bioshock instalment. This allows you to create a certain, natural game rhythm that every player immediately recognises and understands – and in which deviations from logical behaviour naturally work particularly well, such as when you are in a dark hall during the day. When the harsh light shines through the window, a film-noir atmosphere is palpable.

DP: To what extent do you control the player’s emotions in this way?

Bill Gardner: I think you can convey an enormous amount of emotion through the lighting design. The art department also did a great job in this area in the scenes with Elizabeth.

One of my favourite scenes was the E3 demo we released a while back. Here, Elizabeth is kidnapped by a Songbird – a mechanical bird – and dragged out of the player’s reach in slow motion. In this scene, both the menace and the panic are beautifully resolved by the light focussing first on Elizabeth, then on her face and finally on a single tear. This is something that, in my opinion, is neglected in many games: Uniform lighting does not focus the player’s attention on the essential points of the respective game world.

DP: The lighting mood and its perception depends heavily on the player’s hardware. What do you test on and what do you think are the most commonly used setups for playing “Bioshock”?

Bill Gardner: I usually do it on a calibrated monitor in a dark room. I don’t have exact numbers for the players outside, just experience. We test so that the player can use as many variants as possible. The spectrum ranges from a bright living room with a small CRT screen to a dark basement with the contrast turned all the way up. The aim is to cover as many extremes as possible. Of course, you have to set yourself limits. I think a game still has to be playable on a screen three metres away with the sun behind it – that’s a real setup that we also test. But the majority of the customisation for extreme hardware – particularly large or small, for example – we intercept with the options menu. This must allow fine adjustments. We have developed our own benchmark tool for this, which can be used to determine the ideal hardware settings.

DP: Will a supplied monitor profile become the standard for graphically complex games at some point? Or are many gamers not interested in this?

Bill Gardner: We would definitely do this if gamers wanted it. But certainly not right from the start. It’s interesting to see that when a game is released, some gamers discover niches – for example, the “perfect colours”. These niches are exciting because you haven’t seen them before.

DP: Keyword jobs: What do you want from developers? Does the résumé have to be peppered with glamorous triple-A titles?

Bill Gardner: You can ask 100 developers that question and you’ll get 105 different answers. I can only speak for Irrational and we are a story-driven studio. For a level designer, it’s important that the story is developed within the demonstration and not an empty labyrinth. What matters is how the tools are used for the story, not whether you’ve helped develop three dozen indie games or been involved in five triple-A titles. DP: What do you notice when applications land on your desk? Bill Gardner: Many try to score points with a mountain of content and provide a demonstration of every development step. But it would be better to concentrate on a few skills and perfect them. Then there are the people who want to show that they have mastered one thing perfectly, i.e. quality vs. quantity. On the other hand, it has to be said that the tools and programmes are becoming easier and easier to use. In general, the field of game development almost has a glamour factor. Accordingly, there are a lot of applications, especially from the big studios. That’s why I believe that something that you can see the care and personality of the designer in is always better than just trying to fulfil the standards.

DP: Can one person still cover all the steps of a production – especially for a triple-A title? Is it even possible – even with an SDK – to get started independently without specialising from the outset?

Bill Gardner: I have mainly gained experience with the Unreal Engine. I have to say that all SDKs released by engine developers are now being used excellently. And even with assets the size of “Bioshock”, the individual can still keep an overview. Of course, it is anything but easy, but it is possible in principle.

The post Bioshock Infinite first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.