Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

C H A P T E R 1
Effects add definite visual pop and excitement and help to tell us something about
our frozen beasts’ recent “confrontations.” These kinds of visual details can be handled
programmatically in a number of ways, but for previsualization purposes, we
need to think about which effects we must create and how the game engine we’re
working with will handle them.
Scripted Events
We’ve made some solid previsualization progress! We have our topographic map,
early texture and prop ideas, and effects breakdowns—and we’re cross-checking
them to our visual anchor point. This is why a flurry of conceptual drawing needs to
take place very early in the production cycle.
Now we have to consider scripted events. Scripted events are actions or behaviors
that we want to include in our environment to set up play possibilities, make story
points, elicit behavior from nonplayer characters (NPCs—like the talking castle gargoyle),
and build up action.
For our cathedral example, we might want enemies to come crashing through the
roof once a player trips an action trigger on the floor. We might want the busting or
shooting of an altar icon to prompt a mini-attack by cathedral minions. We might
want a switch on the organ to reveal an area that is a hidden treasure trove. These are
all script-based actions. We’ll talk a lot more about scripting in future chapters (such
as Chapter 6). The important point here is that we need to consider scripting events in
the previsualization phase so that we can determine what additional art assets will be
required to support script ideas. Do the scripted events create extra character models,
props, or effects? Usually they do. To what degree will these scripted events require
additional resources? How are these resources connected to the visual reference
points established?
As previously stated, any previsualization work that you do up front can save time
and help to avoid confusion among developers all along the development path.
CASE STUDY COMMENTS ON
PREVISUALIZATION
In 1996, a development team I worked with was asked to complete an action/RTS
(real-time strategy) title for the Sony PlayStation on a timeline of approximately 15
months. Production had to begin immediately on this licensed title, which was set in
an elaborate futuristic world. Licensed games, like Spongebob Squarepants or The
Scorpion King II, have to be built quickly because they often piggyback on a companion
TV show or film that makes them known, popular, and attractive for purchase:
“You saw it! Now play it!” (or so the thinking goes).
In our case, no aggressive previsualization sequence could “seemingly” be completed
due to the already aggressive development schedule. Our team settled the design
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Previsualization