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GDC
2002: Polygon Soup for the Programmer's Soul: 3D Pathfinding
by Patrick Smith [04.05.02] One of the fundamental goals of
an AI system is to avoid making the unit appear "dumb."
At the root of this challenge lies one of the hardest problems to
overcome efficiently and believably: pathfinding. Today, 3D graphics
and sound technologies begin to reach a level of realism that is
easily destroyed by seeing an AI unit walk face-first into a solid
wall, slide along the perimeter and ultimately get stuck on an errant
polygon. This session addresses the pitfalls of attempting to pathfind
the arbitrary world we call "polygon soup." It also covers
automatic data generation and compression, a run-time distributed
algorithm, organic post-process modifiers, and solutions for tricky
situations such as doors, ladders, and elevators.
GDC 2002 Video: Fun
and Games (Requires Real Video) by John Conway [04.02.02]
Combinatoric Game Theory has progressed rapidly over the past 50
years, and Professor Conway is responsible for a number of key results
in the field. This lectures talks about a number of these theories,
and shows how they enable adults to play some well-known childish
games, such as HARE-AND-HOUNDS, DOTS-AND-BOXES, PEG SOLITAIRE/HI
Q, SPROUTS, etc., very well indeed. Applying these theories in computer
AI is still an open problem. Professor Conway is a very entertaining
speaker, and the lecture is sure to be hilarious and educational.
GDC 2002 Video: Adventures
With Inverse Kinematics (Requires Real Video) by Chris Hecker
[03.28.02] The two most common inverse kinematics techniques
used in games, analytically inverting the forward kinematics equations
and the cyclic coordinate descent (CCD) method, fall over when you
try to do anything beyond "serial-chain arm rooted at the shoulder
grabs a doorknob". More advanced and convincing animation requires
inverse kinematics with multiple branches and targets, a moving
root, joint limits both from parent to child and between children,
and more. Chris starts with analytical methods, moves to CCD, heavily
modifies the CCD algorithm, and then discusses four or five other
algorithms until finally chosing one that satisfies all of the constraints.
This lecture covers the algorithms, their features, and their advantages
and disadvantages.
GDC
2002 Video: Inside
The Xbox Launch (Requires Real Video) by Peter Isensee [03.27.02]
The development of Microsoft's Xbox was a massive undertaking that
was completed in a very tight timeframe and included creating an
entirely new hardware platform and software libraries. Design, coding,
testing, user feedback: an insider's account of the birth of Microsoft's
XBox.
GDC
2002: Science Imitates Nature at GDC by Daniel Sanchez-Crespo
[03.23.02] For multiple reasons, this year's Game Developers
Conference will be remembered for a variety of nature-related developments.
Daniel Sanchez-Crespo highlights the latest nature rendering technology
dusplayed at GDC.
GDC
2002: May Time Be with You: Level Designing Rogue Leader
by Albert Chen and Chris Klie [03.23.02]
Designing a level from concept to shipped version under a traditional
12- to 24-month period is challenging enough. Add to the mix a universally
recognized license like Star Wars and a tight development cycle
along with new technology for a new platform and things start to
get complicated. This session focuses on how the Rogue Leader
level-design team adjusted itself to an extremely tight schedule.
From changes in organizational structure, work flow, and design
techniques to simply doing things differently from the past, levels
of uncompromising quality were delivered on time.
GDC
2002 Level Design Keynote: Super Monkey Ball Creator Toshihiro
Nagoshi by Olga Zundel [03.23.02] Amusement Vision is one
of Sega's premier development teams, and Toshihiro Nagoshi is the
team lead. Today he offered lucid suggestions for preparing a game
concepts, and offered tips for improving the design process.
Deep
Thoughts By Wright, McCloud by Alex Dunne [03.22.02] What's
it like to eavesdrop on a conversation between a Will Wright and
comic book author Scott McCloud? These two kept the audience at
rapt attention as they analyzed their respective mediums and provided
glimpses at what each could achieve.
Valve
Introduces "Steam" Online Distribution System by Daniel
Sanchez [03.22.02] Thought
Valve was just a game developer? Today Gabe Newell unveiled Valve's
latest project at the GDC, an online game distribution system that
promises to give developers a better cut of game sales, prevent
client-side game hacking, and deliver content to players as needed.
 The
Medium is the Message: The Demo Scene at GDC 2002 by Everard
Strong [03.22.02] Organized
and introduced by Demo Scene Outreach Group's organizer Vincent
Scheib, the hour-long Demo Scene Reel presentation featured works
divided into different categories, including several visual-only
demos compressed to 256 bits of memory or less.
GDC
2002: Intellectual Property: The Game of Swords and Shields
by Stephen Rubin [03.22.02] In a companion piece to his GDC
2002 session, Steven Rubin offers a summary of general principles
of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret law. The areas
of intellectual property discussed are of particular relevance to
the independent game developer who seeks to enforce or defend rights
encompassed in the array of ideas, storylines, audiovisual elements,
characters, names, titles, logos, art, music, text, dialogue, software
and products that make up a video game. This summary distills the
large body of law organized under the heading of intellectual property.
 GDC
2002 General Interest Keynote: Shin'ichi Okamoto on Sony Computer
Entertainment Research and Development by Jennifer Olsen [03.21.02]
Shin'ichi Okamoto, senior VP and CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment
Inc. delivered the first keynote address of GDC 2002. In it he described
Sony's R&D strategies, offered up the rationale behind the PS2's
"crazy" architecture, discussed Sony's upcoming online
and broadband goals, demonstrated the PS2 Linux kit, and showcased
some of the intriguing game interface research Sony is conducting.
GDC
2002: The Visual Engineering of SSX by Mike Rayner [03.21.02]
Mike Rayner delves into the visual world of SSX for the Playstation2
and discusses the lessons learned from developing graphics technology
for SSX on the PS2. Topics covered include bi-cubic bizier
terrain rendering, object and character rendering, pipeline design
goals and philosophies of SSX plus future directions for
second generation PS2 titles.
GDC
2002: Beyond Psychological Theory: Getting Data that Improves Games
by Bill Fulton [03.21.02] While psychological theory can provide
insights that may alter the design of the game, it rarely gives
you concrete, detailed action items that you can use to improve
your game. Collecting data through controlled psychological research
methods (i.e., not through focus groups) can give you those action
items to improve your game. Bill Fulton explores the role that collecting
data plays in polishing games published by Microsoft.
The
Case For Game Design Patterns by Bernd Kreimeier [03.13.02]
Game design, like any other profession, requires a formal means
to document, discuss, and plan. Over the past decades, the designer
community could refer to a steadily growing body of past computer
games for ideas and inspiration. Knowledge was also extracted from
the analysis of board games and other classical games, and from
the rigorous formal analysis found in mathematical game theory.
Bernd Keimeier kicks off the discussion in advance of his GDC 2002
roundtable.
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