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CODA: the making of a team reliant first person shooter game

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CODA: the making of a team reliant first person shooter game

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Content CODA:
The making of a team reliant First Person Shooter game
by
Dan Qiao
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC School of Cinematic Arts
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(INTERACTIVE MEDIA)
May 2021
Copyright 2021 Dan Qiao
Acknowledgments
I am highly honored to be mentored by some of the most intelligent and talented people. I
can never express my gratitude enough to professor Jeff Waston, who had been encouraging me
and providing guidance to help shape this project. Jeff had encouraged me to keep working on
things I am passionate about and inspired me to be a more compassionate and sympathetic
person.
I would like to sincerely thank my advisors: Laird Malamend, Mike Zyda, and William
Bordonaro. Laird, thanks for constantly giving constructive feedback and helping me playtesting
the game. Mike, thanks for providing support and resources throughout the game’s production.
Will, thanks for sharing your expertise generously with me and helping me through some of the
most complicated design challenges both at work and for my thesis. Professor Maureen McHugh
and professor Carl Schnurr have also inspired me to create this project.
I would like to take the time to say thanks to my family and friends. I cherish the time
spent with you all, and without you, I would never have been able to accomplish what I have
achieved today.
Ma and pa, I can never repay you for all the love and dedication you have for me. Yimin
Zhang, thanks for helping on the project and spending time answering all my Unreal and Maya
questions. Yubing Xie, thanks for giving me advice on the project and my career path. Lingyi Ju,
thanks for being so supportive and helping me through some of my most challenging times. Wei
Su, thanks for always being such an inspirational and helpful mentor. Fan Feng, thanks for being
an incredible friend and a life mentor.
ii
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................ii
List of Figures................................................................................................................................iv
Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................v
Chapter 1: Design goals ...............................................................................................................1
Goal 1: Encourage team cooperation ........................................................................................1
Goal 2: Create traversal level/map.............................................................................................3
Goal 3: Create semi - hardcore experience ................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Scoring system ............................................................................................................9
Chapter 3: Narrative goals..........................................................................................................12
Game mechanic and storytelling..............................................................................................12
Environment storytelling......................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 4: Three stages of the game..........................................................................................14
Single-player cinematic game..................................................................................................14
Three vs. Three Multiplayer game...........................................................................................15
Our current game..................................................................................................................... 16
Chapter 5: Current status & Next steps.................................................................................... 18
Overall balancing.....................................................................................................................19
Lighting and level art...............................................................................................................20
UI/UX...................................................................................................................................... 20
Chapter 6: Conclusion.................................................................................................................22
Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 23
iii
List of Figures
Figure 1. Top-down view of Ambush map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare............................4
Figure 2. Top-down view of the Rotterdam map from Battlefield V ...............................................4
Figure 3. Screenshots of Garrison map from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War...........................7
Figure 4. Top-down view of the map...............................................................................................8
Figure 5. Map breakdown - section design......................................................................................9
Figure 6. Examples of visual indicators showing that player can’t access certain areas.................9
Figure 7. Map breakdown - spawn and route.................................................................................10
Figure 8. Map breakdown - the open area in the middle................................................................11
Figure 9. Screenshots of CODA’s level art....................................................................................13
Figure 10. Screenshots of Frontier map from Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare...............................20
Figure 11. Iteration of UI...............................................................................................................21
iv
Abstract
CODA is a 3v3 Sci-fi multiplayer First Person Shooter project featuring a new game
mode, "death mission.” This game is developed for the PC platform with the Unreal Engine 4.
In "death mission" mode, the player will play either on the Escort team or the Bandit
team. Players from the Escort team need to escort a deadly radioactive beacon to a certain
checkpoint on the map within the given time limit. The package will drain the carrier's health, so
players from the Escort team need to pass the beacon around and work together to finish the
escort mission. Meanwhile, the Bandit team player needs to halt the escort progress by either
interrupting the escort or eliminating the Escort team’s players.
There are two checkpoints on the map. After the Escort team players move the beacon to
the checkpoint, they will need to deploy it in the checkpoint’s deploy center and hold the point
for extra 30 seconds to unlock it. After unlocking the first checkpoint, the Escort is rewarded
with extra time, and they can then proceed to unlock the second checkpoint on the map.
Players will play two rounds for each game: one round as Escort team and one round as
Bandit team.
v
Chapter 1: Design goals
There are several design goals that I want to archive in CODA. It is designed to be a
highly team-reliant tactical shooter.
Goal 1: Encourage team cooperation
This project is an experimental project to test how team cooperation and team bond is
formed in multiplayer competitive games.
I have been researching the type of methods modern competitive games use to encourage
team cooperation during my graduate study. Usually in modern competitive games, players will
have one or multiple goal(s) throughout the game. To achieve these goals, players need to take
on different roles and work as a team. I have found out that typically there are two ways of role
assignment: fixed role assignment and flexible role assignment.
1. Fixed role assignment: In games with a fixed role assignment, each class/role
will often have unique strengths and weaknesses. This type of design encourages players
to work together to utilize their classes’ strengths and avoid their weaknesses.
In Overwatch, there are three classes for players to choose from: support, damage
dealer, and tank. Support class does not have decent loadout or ability to deal significant
damage to the other team, and they usually contribute to the team indirectly by healing
allies. Their skill kit makes them very valuable yet vulnerable. The typical playstyle for
support players is to position themselves behind the team in the backline and avoid direct
clashes with the enemy team.
1
This kind of role/class specification helps create a strong bond between players as
each of them can not excel and succeed in the game purely on their own. But at the same
time, it can also be disastrous if players of specific roles are not performing their duties
during a match.
Also, from my personal experience, in games with a fixed role assignment, there
is always a winning formula or META (Most Effective Tactic Available) for players. It is
hardly possible to win a game with only one specific class/role. For example, in
Battlefield V , a team is likely to lose the fight if they have too many recon class players
because the recon class player can not effectively apply pressure in the front line as well
as other classes.
2. Flexible roles assignment: In games with a flexible role assignment, for each
player, there are usually multiple sets of loadouts and abilities for them to choose from.
Players can fully customize their kit based on their playstyles. Their choice will influence
how they play the game and further define their roles.
In those types of games, the game’s goal usually ties players together. For
example, in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s search and destroy mode, each player will
have a chance to customize their loadout. In this game mode, players will be divided into
two teams: the counter-terrorist team and the terrorist team. The terrorist team needs to
escort and detonate a bomb in certain areas of the map, while the counter-terrorist team
needs to stop the detonation. Players will also choose either to be the bomb carrier or not,
which will change their tactic/playstyles a lot.
2
From my personal experience, this type of game is less likely to be one-sided
because players can always fill in roles when their teammates are eliminated or not
performing their duties. However, there are also downsides from this type of design;
players are less willing to cooperate as a team as they can impact and contribute directly
as an individual.
We want to create a project of a manageable scope, so my team and I decided to make an
FPS project with flexible roles instead of fixed roles. To reinforce the idea that players need to
work together to archive the game’s goal, I added the health-draining mechanic to the game, so
when a player in the Escort team picks up the beacon in my game, they will lose health
gradually. This way, players will constantly pay attention to their own health and teammate’s
health.
Goal 2: Create traversal level/map
From my preliminary research and personal experience as an FPS gamer, I have found
out that there are usually two kinds of map designs in competitive shooter games: linear map
design and traversal map design.
Linear map/levels can still have multiple paths and routes for players to reach certain
points on the map, but the linear map usually lacks verticality, and there are fewer chances for
players to traverse around the map to either flank or ambush the enemy. Players are directed to
either the center of the map or where most attrition happens. Linear map design is widely used in
all sorts of FPS games because of its simplicity and clarity.
3
The Ambush map from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare adopts the very successful
“three-lane” linear map design. There are roughly three lanes on each side of the map. Players
can predict where the enemy will show up because of the limited number of lanes and routes.
Figure 1. Top-down view of Ambush map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Like most other Battlefield maps, the Rotterdam map from Battlefield V provides many
traversal opportunities. There is a massive steel bridge in the middle of the map, which divides
the middle part of the map into two different play spaces with distinct cover density and line of
sight. This design adds a layer of complexity and verticality. Players can either position
themselves to be on the top of the bridge or below the bridge.
Figure 2. Top-down view of the Rotterdam map from Battlefield V
4
The primary reason why I chose to have a traversal map in our game is that it could
provide a better game flow and replayability.
The map size limitation is another reason we need to adopt the traversal level design. Due
to our unfamiliarity with Unreal Engine’s map streaming ability, we decided not to make any
map that is larger than 200m x 200m, which is a relatively small size for an FPS game. And I
believe the best way to make a small map fun is to add traversal elements such as verticality.
Goal 3: Create semi - hardcore experience
CODA is intended to be a game that can provide slow-paced semi-hardcore FPS
experiences. From my research and gameplay experience, most shooter games fall into two
categories from my research and gameplay experience: tactical shooter or arcade shooter. Game
rules, theming, and map design differentiate a lot in those two types of games.
Tactical shooter often features slow-paced gameplay and realism setting. In tactical
shooter games, resources are usually limited. Decision-making is of crucial importance when it
comes to using those resources.
Player Life: In a tactical shooter, the player either has one life or a limited amount of
lives per round. Dying is a harsh penalty for both the player and the team that player plays on.
Gadgets: In most cases, bullet counts and gadgets are not infinite. Spamming bullets and
gadgets can cause unnecessary waste of resources.
Time: Time per round could be short or long, depending on the game size and the map
size. Like Rainbow Six: Siege and Counter-Strike: Global Offense, tactical shooters have a
5
relatively short round per round. Players are forced to make decisions quickly and tactically
based on the game’s status.
Compared to the tactical shooter, an arcade shooter is far more fast-paced and casual for
most players. The theming of the game, map design, and game rules usually move away from
representing realism. The skill floor for arcade shooters is also lower.
The key of map design for arcade shooters, in my opinion, is to make sure players do not
need to pay full attention to their environment and surroundings when they are navigating around
the map. I would like to expand a little bit on map design for arcade shooter games.
1. Maps of arcade shooters are generally smaller. Its small size and simplicity make it
easy for players to remember the map.
2. Most arcade shooters will have very distinct landmarks and good signposting.
3. Entrance and exit to each space are limited. Lanes and routes are well defined.
4. There will always be enough cover and space for players to maneuver around. Even
in open areas, there will still be a strict line of sight check to make sure players are
not getting overwhelmed.
a. Since the franchise launched in 2001, Call of Duty has always been the most
famous and beloved arcade shooter. Figure 3 is one screenshot from Call of
Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Garrison map. In the Garrison map, we can see
that although the player is in an open area, there are still lower covers (the
water tank) and huge blockers (the oil rig in the center) placed to ease the
player from getting targeted by the enemy team from every angle.
6
Figure 3. Screenshots of Garrison map from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
CODA has adopted some design principles from tactical shooters. The player’s life and
time are the two most valuable resources in this game. Although both Escort and Bandit teams
have infinite lives, they are still spending time waiting to respawn if they are eliminated by the
other team. Death in this game is punishing, but it does not demolish players’ chances of winning
the game.
CODA’s level design is deeply inspired by the game Rainbow Six: Siege. The map of
CODA is designed solely for a CQB (close-quarter combat) experience. The longest engagement
distance in this game is less than 40 meters. There are some decent amounts of cover for players
to utilize. However, there are many narrow spaces and hallways on the map that require players
to constantly remain vigilant and check corners while entering or exiting a space.
Players need to be vigilant in narrow spaces because, in First Person Shooter games, mid
and long-range engagements are usually more manageable than short-range engagements. There
are more factors determining if players can win a gunfight in short-range engagements: reflex,
tracking, map knowledge, etc.
7
Figure 4. Top-down view of the map
8
Chapter 2: Scoring system
CODA is a score-based game. Both teams will play two around as a rotation. After the
first round, both teams will switch sides. Teams with higher scores will win the game.
The map of CODA can be divided into two parts, part 1 and part 2. Only part 1 is
accessible for the player when the game just starts—visual indicators on the map will show
players that they can not access certain areas. The Escort team needs to escort the beacon to
checkpoint A, plant it there, and defend the site for a certain time to unlock checkpoint B. Part 2
is unlocked at the same time. Players can now access the entire map.
Figure 5. Map breakdown - section design
Figure 6. Examples of visual indicators showing that player can’t access certain areas
9
The Escort team and the Bandit team spawn at the same time. The routes that lead the
Bandit team to the checkpoint are shorter and more straightforward. So they will always be able
to arrive at the checkpoint earlier and start defending the site before the Escort team shows up.
Figure 7. Map breakdown - spawn and route
There will be certain choke points near the checkpoint for players to hold, but since the
map is designed to be traversal, players still need to be aware of their surroundings and react
quickly.
My goal is to embody the idea of “risk and reward” at my level. The middle of the map is
left open, surrounded by structures and buildings. If players want to take the shortcut and use the
open lane in the middle, they will be able to arrive at the checkpoints earlier, but at the same
time, they are more likely to expose themselves to the enemy fire.
10
Figure 8: Map breakdown - the open area in the middle
11
Chapter 3: Narrative goals
Game mechanic and storytelling
CODA is set in the near future because it can best fit the game mechanic. I genuinely
believe that game mechanics are powerful storytelling tools. The “health-draining” mechanic is
designed to reinforce the game’s theme: self-sacrifice. I could use cinematic or dialogues in my
game to show the theme “self-sacrifice,” but I believe conveying the theme through game
mechanics can reinforce the idea even more.
I am greatly inspired by the game Blackwell Epiphany. In this game, the player controls
two characters: human detective Rosa and ghost Joey. Ghost Joey is not restricted by real-life
physics, and he can easily enter spaces without unlocking doors or alerting guards. Rosa, on the
other hand, can interact with people and objects. Even when players are not familiar with the
storyline, they can already sense the game’s fantasy theme by controlling the two characters with
their different abilities.
Environment storytelling
Environment storytelling is of crucial importance when it comes to world-building. The
keyword for CODA’s environment art is believability and functionality. CODA’s art style is
greatly inspired by Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
There are three guidelines that I used to create CODA’s environment.
1. The environment looks clean, neat, and high-tech.
i. Panels, structures, and props are of high-tech look.
2. The environment should not be overly ornamented.
12
3. The environment needs to meet visual affordance.
i. Walls and structures need to be clear to the player if they are penetrable.
b. Metrics for ledges and covers are consistent.
Figure 9. Screenshots of CODA’s level art
13
Chapter 4: Three stages of the game
In retrospect, we have made several crucial changes and scoped down the game multiple
times to deliver an aesthetic and playable experience during the process of making CODA. One
thing we did successfully is that we still managed to maintain the high-level creative vision with
all those changes.
Single-player cinematic game
CODA originates from a single-player game idea I had. The previous experience goal
was to let the player have a sense of progression and determine the strategic way to play the level
themselves.
The theme for the original game is “trust.” The mechanics are inspired by a military tactic
peeling maneuver used by small fire teams in combat environments. When a small fire team is
suppressed and trying to retreat in an open area, they will take turns to engage and maneuver out
of the enemy's effective range. This tactic requires trust, coordination, and communication.
In the original level of CODA, the player plays as a soldier who needs to retreat from an
open area with an AI companion. The health and ammo of the player and the AI companion are
not infinite.
When one of them, or both of them, shoot at the enemy who targets them from far away
for a certain amount of time, the enemy will be temporarily suppressed and hide behind cover.
The enemy has infinite health and magazines; thus, suppressing the enemy is the only way to
create the time window for them to retreat.
14
If both our playable character and the AI companion are engaging the enemy, they will
run out of bullets and die in the enemy's heavy fire before reaching the end of the level. If one of
them stays and suppresses the enemy while the other retreats, then the one who provides
suppressive fire will eventually run out of bullets and get killed by the enemy. The best practice
is that the player and the AI take turns to suppress the enemy and retreat. And on certain
occasions, they need to act as human shields to tank the bullets for each other.
Although CODA’s genre and game mechanics have changed, the core storytelling
remains the same. I want players to build trust and bond with either the AI companion or the
other players as the game progresses.
Three vs. Three Multiplayer game
My team and I underestimated the level of complexity to produce a single-player game
when we started the preproduction phase a year ago. The AI system, animation system, audio
feedback system, and environment art need to be polished to present a meaningful aesthetic
experience.
The project later evolved into a multiplayer game based on the overall scheduling and our
team’s development capacity. After the development pivot, I started to work on a set of expected
players’ experiences and looking for similar games for reference.
When we first started to work on the project, my teammate and I were not familiar with
Unreal Engine and its capabilities of asset streaming for multiplayer projects. We decided to
shrink down the map’s size to ensure the best performance. The game size, correspondingly,
became smaller. The most challenging part of the project was developing a solution to encourage
small teams to work together.
15
Our current game
Our game mode is a variation of the classic Search and Destroy mode. The early
iterations of CODA have more features than we have right now.
In the first month, we had several brainstorming meetings to come up with a list of
features for our game. In the follow-up meetings and later prototyping phase, we started to
prioritize features and cut unnecessary content.
While directing CODA, I researched and read some articles about multiplayer games and
player behavior in MP games. They are directly and indirectly related to the project I am
working on.
From one article
1
, I have learned how to measure and predict destructive and constructive
behavior in online gaming communities. The measurement itself has some flaws, as the author
mentioned, but still could be a good reference for designing MP games. This article inspires our
health-draining mechanics: I want to provide a constructive, team-building experience for
players.
Upon learning player behavior, I came across another article writing about herd
behavior.
2
It is not directly related to my project’s gameplay aspect, but it is a very good
reference for further usability tests. In this article, the author Abhijit V . Banerjee studied herd
behavior and how one person’s or a group of people’s decisions influence the other persons’
decisions.
2
Abhijit V . Banerjee. “A Simple Model of Herd Behavior.” The Quarterly journal of economics 107, no. 3
(1992): 797–817.
1
Hughes, Chelsea M, Brandon J Griffin, and Everett L Worthington. “A Measure of Social Behavior in
Team-Based, Multiplayer Online Games: The Sociality in Multiplayer Online Games (SMOG) Scale.” Computers in
human behavior 69 (2017): 386–395.
16
Another article also inspired our core mechanic’s design (Passion and Intrinsic
Motivation in Digital Gaming)
3
. This article examines the motivations involved in digital
gaming. The authors carried on research with gamers of unique passion profiles. It is worth
pointing out that the player profiles mentioned in this article are different from the classic
specification we used to classify gamers (the explorer, the destroyer, etc.). There is no specific
agreement reached in this article, but it provides a different aspect for me to learn how intrinsic
motivation influences a player's mindset and mentality.
3
Wang, Chee Keng John, Angeline Khoo, Woon Chia Liu, and Shanti Divaharan. “Passion and Intrinsic
Motivation in Digital Gaming.” Cyberpsychology & behavior 11, no. 1 (2008): 39–45.
17
Chapter 5: Current status & Next steps
The current build for CODA only contains minimal content that can support our
experience goals, including a stable networking system, the core features, and a test level.
During the one year and a half production time, we have made 30 game builds for
playtesting, and in total, we have had 20 external playtest sessions and over 50+ internal playtest
sessions. We have been using all those valuable playtest data as references to add alter game
mechanics and certain parameters.
In our current version of the game, we have met most of our experience goals, and it is
exhilarating to see some of the expected player behaviors in playtests. With the shared goal and
risk in CODA, players are more likely to work together as a team, and I noticed that playtesters
have been developing their own strategies in the game.
Some playtesters are more straightforward, objective-oriented, and they like to peer up
with other players in their team to deliver the beacon or stop the enemy. Some players are more
strategic and forward-thinking. Their goal is not to guarantee kills or win a team fight. They are
constantly trying to find the best timing/opportunity to deliver the beacon or stop the beacon
escort.
The traversal levels design goal is also met, but I noticed that players tend to neglect
certain routes. There can be multiple reasons behind: signposting not being clear, extra distance,
routes not being safe, etc. More concrete playtest data are needed to make adjustments and
balancing changes.
18
Overall, the experience is semi-hardcore. However, due to the small size of the map and
current fast respawning time, players are not punished enough for unthoughtful death. Tuning
respawning time and respawn point location may solve the problem in the future.
With more time and resources, I am looking forward to expanding the game by adding
features and polishing the map. I have listed some aspects of the game that might need
improvement or rework:
Overall balancing
Although we have had many internal and external playtests throughout the production
phase, we still need more concrete data to make balance changes. Below are some of the
parameters I want to make adjustments on based on playtest results and feedback:
1. The speed of player’s movement (walking, sprinting, and crouch walking)
2. The rate of health-draining
3. The amount of player’s health/armor
4. The length of the round
5. The time rewarded after unlocking the checkpoint
To make more balancing changes, we will need to develop some in-game tools to better visualize
and analyze the data. By using those tools, we will acquire the below data:
1. Heatmap of player death location on the map
2. Average kill and engagement distance
3. Average time player spent as the beacon carrier per round
19
Lighting and level art
Developing multiplayer projects requires excessive amounts of testing and tuning. So the
focus of CODA’s development has always been on the engineering side. Since last year, I have
been working on CODA’s level art, but I am not very satisfied with the current color and lighting
scheme. The current dominating color in the level is white and grey. Orange and blue colored
props are used occasionally for signposting.
Since we have already finished the tech demo, the next step is to polish the level art and
improve its visibility. In Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, when several areas are all filled with
props with similar monochrome props, lighting will be used to help differentiate each area. For
example, the two areas from the map Frontier are lit differently.
Figure 10. Screenshots of Frontier map from Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
UI/UX
Because of CODA’, communications and intel sharing are of crucial importance for
winning a game. Our current UI is fully functional but lacks a robust hint system for players. It
is not very user-friendly for players who are unfamiliar with the game rule. In most playtests, I
encouraged playtesters to use voice chat to exchange information and intel so all the playtesters
could easily understand their current goal and the game state. In the future, I need to review and
20
iterate on the current UI/UX design to make sure the UI design is self-explanatory,
straightforward, and intuitive.
We have already been iterating on the current UI several times to improve player’s
experience. For example, initially, teammates’ health bar is presented on top of the screen along
with their icon. We have found out that it is not very intuitive for most players to check the upper
corner of the screen. We later moved the teammate’s health bar to the screen’s lower-left corner.
Figure 11. Iteration of UI
21
Chapter 6: Conclusion
The project is, to some extent, my answer to any of the questions you might want to ask
about me or the 26-year-old version of me. It includes my design philosophy, my aesthetic, my
ambition, my daydreaming, etc.
Perhaps this project is just created out of the selfish intent to express myself as I am
always not good at doing so, and hopefully, people who play the game are having fun, as fun is
the least thing I can bring to people and this world.
22
Bibliography
Abhijit V . Banerjee. “A Simple Model of Herd Behavior.” The Quarterly journal of economics
107, no. 3 (1992): 797–817.
Hughes, Chelsea M, Brandon J Griffin, and Everett L Worthington. “A Measure of Social
Behavior in Team-Based, Multiplayer Online Games: The Sociality in Multiplayer
Online Games (SMOG) Scale.” Computers in human behavior 69 (2017): 386–395.
Wang, Chee Keng John, Angeline Khoo, Woon Chia Liu, and Shanti Divaharan. “Passion and
Intrinsic Motivation in Digital Gaming.” Cyberpsychology & behavior 11, no. 1 (2008):
39–45.
23

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Asset Metadata

Creator Qiao, Dan (author)

Core Title CODA: the making of a team reliant first person shooter game

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 04/28/2021

Defense Date 04/14/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag cooperative gameplay,first person shooter,level design,OAI-PMH Harvest,traversal level design

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Malamend, Laird (committee chair), Bilson, Danny (committee member), Bordonaro, William (committee member), Fullerton, Tracy (committee member), Lemarchand, Richard (committee member), Zyda, Mike (committee member)

Creator Email danqiao.design@gmail.com,danqiao@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-454896

Unique identifier UC11668662

Identifier etd-QiaoDan-9567.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-454896 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-QiaoDan-9567.pdf

Dmrecord 454896

Document Type Thesis

Rights Qiao, Dan

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA