Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

C H A P T E R 1
Before committing large resources to the project, one can save a substantial amount of time and
money and also try out numerous avenues of story, and look before committing resources. With the
increase in production costs, this has become almost a standard in production rather than the rarity it
was just a few years ago.
This has all trickled down to games. As the costs, complexities, and cinematic quality of games
has increased, so has the acceptance of previz. In fact, it’s almost become a necessity with tighter
production cycles. Previz is usually done by going from script to storyboard and then converting
that storyboard to a 3-D re-creation. Characters can be rough geometric shapes as can be the
environment. The important thing is to create an understandable feel for what the project will be.
If you can make a rough previz exciting, then the rest (adding textures, higher quality models,
environments, lighting, audio) will just be the icing on the cake.
TM: What’s the best way to build up visual reference for environmental work?
AH: Photographs from the Web as well as from such great sources as National Geographic are
all my favorites. Also, it’s good to just troll the library and bookstores for interesting material, such as
the book Dead Tech: A Guide to the Archaeology of Tomorrow [Manfred Hamm, et. al].
The other key resource is a digital camera that you carry with you at all times. You never know
when you’ll see a grain silo or a rust-covered industrial tank that will just excite your imagination. One
should also always have a sketch book and pen handy…so you can draw what you see and play with
variations on a theme.
TM: What kinds of art skills relate to building successful 3-D environments?
AH: I started out as an architect, and so that has been a very good training ground for seeing the
environment around me in a more complete fashion. I think any training such as drawing, sculpture,
and photography are bedrock skills that give one the foundation for the creation of 3-D environments.
Also, just educating oneself visually by seeing movies of all types, but especially visually compelling
films like sci-fi and fantasy, and just religiously going to museums and theatrical presentations are all
important to help you create a 3-D visual vocabulary that you will use knowingly and sometimes
unknowingly in your work.
TM: How does traditional architecture relate to “digital” architecture?
AH: There is a great similarity, but traditional architecture is held back by the realities of client and
gravity. Digital architecture is unfettered by these things. A certain reality has to be present or else the
game can fall apart.
Gravity is an important thing to have working when you are developing a driving game, for
instance…but you can stretch a lot farther with digital and develop environments that just wouldn’t
be practical in the real world.
TM: How have you used your background in architecture for 3-D game work?
AH: I have used it to create city plans. Mos Eisley in Shadows of the Empire comes to mind.
And using the conventions of computer-aided design [CAD] that are pretty commonplace in
architecture … layers for different objects.
I’ve also used my architectural knowledge about how the shape of a space (a tunnel verses a room
with a high ceiling) can influence one unconsciously.
TM: How do you approach building architecture for game levels or arenas?
AH: First, I try to get a grasp of what the designer is going for in the game … what is the feel? Then it
becomes more like film set design. First, rough out the environments based on the script and the concept
19
Previsualization