User Interfaces and Difference Visualizations for Alternatives in Visual Game Development

视觉游戏开发中替代方案的用户界面和差异可视化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-05921
• 负责人: Zaman, Loutfouz
• 金额: $ 1.68万
• 依托单位: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713948
• 关键词: User; Interfaces; Difference; Visualizations; Alternatives

In 2017, the game industry added CAD$3.7 billion to Canada's GDP, a 24% increase since 2015. There are 596 active game studios, a 21% increase since 2015. 40,600 direct and indirect jobs were created, an 11% increase since 2015. Recently, video games with short production times and budgets have been increasing in numbers and quality. One driving factor for this is the growing availability of middleware tools, making game development easier. VPEs (Visual Programming Environments) are partly responsible for this success. These systems allow game developers a level of control that was previously unobtainable without having some knowledge of code writing. Epic Games Unreal 4 game engine is an integrated environment for making games, which provides developers with an option to create games from scratch using VPEs and other Visual Game Asset Editors (VGAEs) only, without having to write a single line of code, making it popular among many indie studios. Although VGAEs make game development more accessible, these tools still do not adequately support conceptual designan integral part of designers' workflow. Most exploration in the conceptual stage of the design of game assets and mechanics happens with the aid of pencil and paper in the form of sketching. VGAEs are mostly used in the final stages of the design. As a result, an entire dimension of how designers actually work is largely missing from these tools, thus narrowing their scope of effective usage. This research program proposes to capture the non-linear iterative flow of the game development process in VGAEs through alternativesan important aspect of conceptual design. The solutions will be implemented as extensions to Unreal 4. This will be accomplished, among others, by integrating UIs for alternatives, design space exploration, history, revision control and difference visualizations into Unreal 4 to facilitate the creation and management of alternatives for game levels, interactive objects, construction scripts, HUDs (Head-Up Displays), material, AI behavior, sound, character animations, particle effects, UI designs, sprites, animations, cut scenes, static meshes and physics assets. This research program will define a body of knowledge through publications and by delivering an enhanced version of Unreal 4a commercially successful open-source AAA game engine. Game developers will be able to exploit the outcomes of this program directly and create more engaging and effective content for video games. This will help indie studios to pursue AAA titles. Beyond contributions to the game industry and basic science, the methods and tools developed will have wide application in the development of interactive digital media content (a key area of Canada's ICT sector), 3D modelling & architecture, city planning, the simulation industry and serious games, and the film industrykey issues for the Canadian economy.

2017年，游戏产业为加拿大GDP增加了37亿加元，较2015年增长了24%。活跃的游戏工作室有596家，较2015年增长了21%。创造了40,600个直接和间接就业岗位，较2015年增长了11%。最近，制作时间短、预算短的视频游戏的数量和质量不断增加。其驱动因素之一是中间件工具的可用性不断提高，使游戏开发变得更加容易。 VPE（可视化编程环境）对这一成功负有部分责任。这些系统为游戏开发人员提供了一定程度的控制力，这是以前在没有一定代码编写知识的情况下无法获得的。 Epic Games Unreal 4 游戏引擎是一个用于制作游戏的集成环境，它为开发人员提供了仅使用 VPE 和其他视觉游戏资产编辑器 (VGAE) 从头开始​​创建游戏的选项，而无需编写一行代码，使其成为受到许多独立工作室的欢迎。 尽管 VGAE 使游戏开发变得更容易，但这些工具仍然不能充分支持概念设计（设计师工作流程中不可或缺的一部分）。游戏资产和机制设计的概念阶段的大多数探索都是借助铅笔和纸以草图形式进行的。 VGAE 主要用于设计的最后阶段。因此，这些工具很大程度上缺失了设计师实际工作方式的整个维度，从而缩小了它们的有效使用范围。 该研究项目建议通过替代方案（概念设计的一个重要方面）来捕获 VGAE 中游戏开发过程的非线性迭代流程。这些解决方案将作为虚幻 4 的扩展来实现。除其他外，这将通过将替代方案、设计空间探索、历史、修订控制和差异可视化的 UI 集成到虚幻 4 中来实现，以促进游戏关卡替代方案的创建和管理、交互式对象、构造脚本、HUD（平视显示器）、材质、AI 行为、声音、角色动画、粒子效果、UI 设计、精灵、动画、过场动画、静态网格物体和物理资源。 该研究计划将通过出版物和提供商业上成功的开源 AAA 游戏引擎 Unreal 4a 的增强版本来定义知识体系。游戏开发者将能够直接利用该计划的成果，为视频游戏创建更具吸引力和更有效的内容。这将有助于独立工作室追求 AAA 级游戏。除了对游戏行业和基础科学的贡献之外，所开发的方法和工具还将广泛应用于交互式数字媒体内容（加拿大 ICT 行业的关键领域）、3D 建模和建筑、城市规划、模拟行业和严肃领域的开发。游戏和电影业是加拿大经济的关键问题。