GDC 2014 - Rachel Jones

Post date: Mar 28, 2014 5:9:32 PM

GENERAL PREPARATION 

    Everyone on the career floor has different expectations for a portfolio. Next Gen companies will expect higher poly models...and some were still surprised by our 50K boss characters. Cloud Imperium was the only company that told me their art tests consist of poly minimums, no max poly count. As for mobile games, and anyone making a MMO then you might as well prepare to have a 10K character or less because an average Ringling portfolio does not accommodate for the kind of optimizing they are looking for.

    I recommend having the best portfolio you can Junior year, and taking notes after every interview reminding yourself what that specific company is looking for. Come senior year you can make several portfolios with different combinations of your work. Some companies want to see more grey boxing and sketches, some just want finished work. Another company will tell you to have more general environment work, while in the next booth over they will only want to see hard surface. I benefited the most from being able to talk to the industry professionals and find the places I want to work for. Now the task is to research what they have made and gear my portfolio toward that goal. 

    Take notes about everything. I am not a big note taker, and I did not prepare to take a lot of notes. After my first portfolio review it hit me, "Oh God, I'm here for three days...I will never remember any of this". I got into a habit of prioritizing the critique notes on my iPad immediately after the critique. I would find a comfortable place to sit and just let myself think on the notes. The same goes for talks. during the talks I would take notes because I am paying a lot of money to go...and the goal is to take as much from this experience as I can. 

LEVEL DESIGN LEVEL DESIGN LEVEL DESIGN!!!

    My favorite talk by far was:

    "The Importance of Nothing, Negative Space in Level Design" 

    Speaker: Jim Brown

    In broad summary it was like listening to Jason and Eric talk at the same time. The talk paralleled the mindset/process of creating a digital painting and how it applies to level design. Much like watching Jason demo, silhouette plays a key role in the shape of the space. The design of a level is influenced by the positive shapes of the world and how that affects the negative shapes (or player path). If you can not differentiate the ground plane from a wall of a corridor, then it is hard for the player to navigate the space. This is much like looking at the value patterns of a painting. Reading depth relies on the overlapping of shapes and appropriate value patterns or else it just looks like mud. This same problem happens in level design. 

    When determining if an area has a strong silhouette, take a screenshot from the players perspective and run a Photoshop filter over it. If you can still read the game play areas from the architecture, then you have strong silhouettes. Shrink the picture, blur it, squint it at, a player under heavy fire has split seconds to read the space and will not have the time to ogle at your nicely sculpted barrels. If you cannot read the space quickly...neither will they. 

    Complication is not always the answer. Player path, especially in multiplayer games, is easily complicated by the other players, and the tasks the players take on throughout the game. Making the space easily navigable is key to good game flow. Do not clutter a space even when set-dressing. Lighting and set-dressing an overgrown area can destroy the easy read of an object that a player needs to orient themselves in a space. Keep it clean and simple.  

    Reducing cognitive load in layout. This was my favorite part of the talk. Remove the clutter of a level and pay special attention to scale. You want the player to focus on the game play in an area, not the architecture. The less detail the player needs to focus on, the more they retain. In large scale areas the brain takes a longer time to process the space, and will naturally fill in gaps it does not understand. Less actual detail of the space will be remembered and what the player does remember could be easily mistaken. If you keep the spaces tighter in areas of important game play then the player has less to scan and more processing can be focused on the action of the space. Save the vista for moments of low narrative/game play when the player can take the time to absorb the details properly. This keeps them from becoming overwhelmed. Fun is the goal. 

    Another talk I went to was:

    "Enhancing Sportsmanship in Online Gaming"

    Speaker: A dude from League of Legends (oops...I forgot)

    The summary of this talk was how to encourage sportsmanship by removing negative influences within the game. Winning was not the factor that decided if a player had fun, in fact, players only expect to win 50% of the games they play. A positive experience can easily be achieved after loosing if the teammates enjoyed working with each other, and felt a good sense of comradery. (This talk applied to the specific ways this positive experience was achieved in League)

    The path of least resistance to sportsmanship is achieved through:

        The best match chemistry (interaction from player to player). Pre-game good match chemistry works the  best with a group of all friends. Since this is not our reality 100% of the time the second best is one large group of friends and several new people. The new people to the team will adapt the strategies of the large group since they have the dominating personalities. If you have two equal groups of friends, say 3 and 3, then the two groups will fight among themselves to prove the winning strategy. This wastes time and efficiency and the tension can last the whole game if they cannot ever find a common ground. This leads to a negative experience in a game whether they win or loose.  

        Reform or Remove Negative Influences (What can the game design do to reduce stress on players and keep them from "butting heads"). Reducing time pressure was the answer for League. They thought it was important to players to get into the game as quickly as possible. This was not the case. It was more important for players to assess each-others skills and plan before the game, rather than be thrown in quickly and have to plan on the fly. Yay! good design. 

    Shield Players from negative behavior. Expelling those who misbehave is not the answer because they can  just sign up again under a new account. Isolate them from their group, let them know they have misbehaved (cussing, being overly aggressive), and let them back in slowly if they show good behavior. This positive incentive, rather than punishment, encourages good behavior over a longer period of time. 

    It all starts with being able to recognize the culture of your players. Players that help encourage a good game culture practice humility, and use verbiage that diverges conflict. "Well shit" "lol sry" and "My bad" show ownership of a players actions and show good sportsmanship. This is the backbone of a good game, and is not majorly influenced by winning or not. 

Turtle Backpack...Getting Contacts

    I made a contact at GDC from someone wearing a turtle backpack...I love turtles, he loves turtles, and It was enough for me to approach him and ask where he got it. My memorable experiences at GDC have come from out of the blue. You notice something interesting about someone and if you care willing to take the time to get to know them, and share your knowledge, then you will stay longer in their mind. Maybe that person will be a job outlet for you one day...you never know. 

    I have heard this before, and I bet you have too, but it's different when you are in the moment. You are aware of what you know in relation to those around you, and can quickly pick out your niche in the industry. Your extra interests in games (mine is level design) can help you open up more topics of conversation. I am so happy that I made a contact with the lead designer at Capcom in Vancouver. At the time I talked to him everyone was rushing the environment and character artists. Now I have a contact that is willing to help me get more into design (which Ringling tends to sacrifice in the name of art).