Ahmed Saker Indie Game Developer

Ahmed Saker
Indie Game Developer

http://a-saker.blogspot.com
Outline
• Define “Video Game”
• Video Game Industry Overview
• Game Development Process :
– Game Design
• Game Genres
• Design Documents
– Game Art
• 2D
• 3D
– Programming
• Game Engines
• Programming sub-disciplines
– Audio
– QA
• The Community
Define “Video Game” ?!
• What’s the Difference between these three ?! :
A Software A Game A Movie

Here’s the difference
• An Interactive Medium :
– Interactivity is what makes games differ from
Movies and other art forms .
– The content of the game as a Medium is what

makes it differs from other software .
– And obviously they are more fun .

GAMES HAVE GOT IT ALL
Art
Game
Trivia
Science
Business
& Tech
Technically ,
Game Structure
• Games have a different structure than any other software
– Start up
– Introductory Movie
– Front End
• Game Options
• Sound Options
• Video Options
– Loading Screen
– Main Game
• Introduction
• Gameplay
– game modes
• Pause Options
– End Game Movie
– Credits
– Shut down
Game Loop
// a simple game loop in C++
int main()
{
Initialize();
while (true)
{
Process();
Update();
Render();
}
ShutDown();
}
What actually happens
While(true)
{
/* Process controller input : Checks for player’s input .. For example ,
if the player hits spacebar then make the character jump … etc*/
Process();
/* Update entities : this is where the game reacts to the changes the
player’s made as well as updates the game state */
Update();
/*Update Graphics : draw the background, draw sprites, update

HUD elements, etc */
Render();
}
Now , That we know what games are ,
let’s talk Business.
Games VS Movies (in terms of sales)
Vs
$239 million $500 million

First Week Revenue First Week Revenue
Source : Video Game Industry Trends by Ferrarra
Games Market
Source : Video Game Industry Trends by Ferrarra

Game Development Map
Game Development Scene in Egypt
A brief History
1972 : Pong (Hardware)
Classics : Atari , NES , SNES , Commodre64 , NeoGenesis ,…ets
1993 : Doom (idTech 1)
1995 : Software-Rendered Engines (CPU-only)

2007 : Unreal Engine 3
1998 : Unreal (Hardware 3D - GPU)
Two decades of GPU dependence

Indie Scene
• Obviously Independent :D .
• No publishers , may come later though.
• Low-Budget and sometimes no budget at all .
• Individuals and small teams .
• Simply , It’s the opposite to mainstream games .
• You’re your own boss .
• Seeks Innovation and explore new aspects in

game design and storytelling and even art forms .
Why indie ?!
• Though it’s very time consuming process .

• There is really no reliable financial return .
• It could drive you crazy , you do all the job .
But let’s look at the bright side :
• You’ll be working on something you really want to do .

• You’re your own boss .
• If you’re creative enough you’ll make a hit sooner or
later like this guy called “Pixel” from Japan and his hit
“Cave Story” .
Game Development Process
Game Development Process
Pitch Prototype
Pre-production (Concept GDD Project Plan (Proof of
Document ) concept)
Art Audio
Production Design Programming
Production Production
QA (Testing)
Costumer Patches and

Postproduction Maintenance
Services updates
Three Main Milestones
Gold
Beta Master
version
Alpha
Protocol
Three Categories ?!
Game Design
• The Content and Rules of the
Game .
• You describe what the game

will look and act like .
• Game Design is very critical and

requires experience and
knowledge .
Game Genres
• Can be used to describe : Gameplay , Story
and even the perspective … e.g. (FPS , RPG..)
Describes the Story Describes the Gameplay Describes the Perspective

Game Art
• 2D Art :
– Concept Art
– Sprites
– Texture Art
– UI Artist
Game Art :: 3D
Modeling
Wrapping & Texturing

Concept Art
Animation
Game Programming sub-disciplines
• Gameplay Programming
• AI Programming
• Tools Programming
• Graphics Programming
APIs and SDKs
• The difference between APIs and SDKs .
• API (Application Programming Interface) :-

– Software interfaces that OS, libraries, and services
provide
– You can take advantage of their particular features.
– XNA , DirectX and OpenGL .
• SDK (Software Development Kit) : Collection Of

libraries , APIs and tools .
Game Engines
• In-house Game Engines .
– Scimitar (Assassin’s Creed)
• Two types of Game Engines :-
– Full tool chain (UnrealEngine 3 ,Unity )
– Middleware & Integrated libraries (SDL , OGRE3D)

Programming Tools
• Unity .
• UDK .
The Community
• IGDA
• CMP :-
– Gamasutra.com
– GameCareerGuide.com
• GameDev.net
• Tigsource.com

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Ahmed Saker

Indie Game Developer

A Software A Game A Movie

– The content of the game as a Medium is what

– And obviously they are more fun .

/*Update Graphics : draw the background, draw sprites, update

$239 million $500 million

Source : Video Game Industry Trends by Ferrarra

Classics : Atari , NES , SNES , Commodre64 , NeoGenesis ,…ets

1993 : Doom (idTech 1)

1995 : Software-Rendered Engines (CPU-only)

1998 : Unreal (Hardware 3D - GPU)

Two decades of GPU dependence

• No publishers , may come later though.

• Low-Budget and sometimes no budget at all .

• Individuals and small teams .

• Simply , It’s the opposite to mainstream games .

• You’re your own boss .

• Seeks Innovation and explore new aspects in

• Though it’s very time consuming process .

But let’s look at the bright side :

• You’ll be working on something you really want to do .

Costumer Patches and

• You describe what the game

• Game Design is very critical and

Describes the Story Describes the Gameplay Describes the Perspective

Wrapping & Texturing

• API (Application Programming Interface) :-

• SDK (Software Development Kit) : Collection Of

• Two types of Game Engines :-

– Full tool chain (UnrealEngine 3 ,Unity )

– Middleware & Integrated libraries (SDL , OGRE3D)

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