University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

On the shoulders of giants

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On the shoulders of giants

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Content ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS A Thesis submitted in fulfillment/partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of INTERACTIVE MEDIA, May 2015 at The University of Southern California By Evan George Stern P a g e | 1 Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Inspiration and Prior Art ............................................................................................................................... 3 Project Goals ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Changes during Production ......................................................................................................................... 13 Playtests and Feedback ............................................................................................................................... 15 Focus and Development Changes ............................................................................................................... 19 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 21 P a g e | 2 Evan G. Stern On the Shoulders of Giants Thesis Paper 31 st March 31, 2015 Introduction On the Shoulders of Giants is a game that puts the player in the pilot seat of a giant, walking, tank also known as a mech. Players then are able to fight enemies and destroy an abandoned city. What P a g e | 3 is so important about On the Shoulders of Giants is that it is taking realism as far as possible. The game is played in a booth outfitted with physical components, lights, and speakers all with are linked to the game for the players to be completely surrounded by the world of On the Shoulders of Giants. The original concept of On the Shoulders of Giants (or Titans, as it was originally called) was to create a second screen game that rather than have the player or multiple players using different screens, to have a single player utilize both screens for better control and information conveyance. It was inspired by games like Steel Battalion and the “arcade cabinets”-like, Battletech Pods. By separating players from the their main monitor, and giving players an additional interactive device, the project hoped to have players feel like the game was happening outside of a player’s normal circle. Similar to how Steel Battalion had players envisioning themselves as pilots though a large and complex controller, the second screen intended to take that thought and push it further, adding not only additional controls but a screen that could be used as a realistic HUD. Inspiration and Prior Art Five influential games were critical to the development of On the Shoulders of Giants, the first two being the aforementioned Steel Battalion and Battletech Pods, MechWarrior, LHS Bikeshed, and a student project called Anamnesis. P a g e | 4 Figure 1: Steel Battalion Steel Battalion was released in the US in 2002 for around $200 on the Xbox. It received somewhat average to poor review based on its gameplay, however it remained a cult hit because of its packaged unique 40 button controller. This controller had buttons that lit up, toggle switches, a dial that changed radio frequencies, two joysticks, a throttle, and an eject button complete with protective cover. What this massive, awesome, and ultimately unreasonable controller did was give players a great deal of physical sensation of controlling a mech (or Vertical Tank as Steel Battalion called it). A problem with Mech genre in general or at least a gap of uncanny dissonance was that games like MechWarrior or Heavy Gear give players so many control options that most typical joysticks would lack the number of buttons for all the controls available, while just using a keyboard was unfulfilling in both precision and reaction speed. This made players have awkward control schemes combining keyboard, joysticks and often a piece of paper reminding of key mappings to important but rarely used buttons. Steel Battalion abolished this issue with its amazing yet pricey controller. Later, an iteration of Steel Battalion called Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor released using the Microsoft Kinect as a replacement to the 40 controller lowering the price to the normal cost of a game but ultimately flopped because of poor detection and controls. P a g e | 5 Figure 2: MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries MechWarrior is considered the father of Mech games. It was one of the earliest and has received more acclaim and sequels than any other Mech game out there. MechWarrior had the players as the pilots of giant mechs that acted as part of a military group in the Battletech universe. This game capitalized on the popularity of flight simulator games at the time by including controls for joysticks. Because most gamers had already purchased joysticks for flight simulator games, the MechWarrior franchise had a huge boost in that it could sell a product at normal price and still the game design could focus and flourish on breaking the barriers that a traditional controls and keyboards limits. Player could better feel attached to being a pilot in a mech because of the controller’s roleplaying element. This was a very important feature that was a basis for On the Shoulders of Giants. That players feel closer to the game because they felt like the controller was realistic to what they would imagine while piloting a mech. P a g e | 6 Figure 3: BattleTech Pod, Interior (Left), Exterior (Right) The Battletech Pods, and Battletech Centers where they resided, were testaments to the popularity of big budget “arcades.” Battletech Pods were large simulators that placed players in an enclosed cockpit with joysticks and multiple screens. These pods then played an iteration of MechWarrior that was built to be played in these pods. Players would come to a Battletech Center and from the moment they walking in the door they were treated like pilots in training for a deeply powerful world-building experience. This experience translated into something like a Disney World ride or attraction. This was the closest influential experience that was inspiration and a goal of On the Shoulders of Giants. On the Shoulders of Giants is very much a Battletech Pod for the new generation with updated multi-touch screens. However, one thing that the Battletech Pods lack was a physical problem-solving component that is an important part of On the Shoulders of Giants. On the Shoulders of Giants started humbly, with it only consisting of a second screen and a joystick. The original game design document had multiple players fighting each other as well. There were to be multiple interactive pages on a single tablet screen. It was an attempt to take the roleplaying P a g e | 7 that was given from the Battletech Pods and the complex controller of Steel Battalion and give it to players in their homes. This was to be accomplished using just the second-screen and a joystick (or keyboard and mouse). The thought was that many households already have at least one type of tablet. In the same way MechWarrior capitalized on the prevalence of joysticks, On the Shoulders of Giants would do the same with tablets to make a mech game that is a fuller experience. Using a tablet as both and additional screen and an additional controller could relay extra information to the player and since the “buttons, dials, and switches” were all virtual they could contextually change and provide players with even more immediate feedback on their options and actions. For example, if an enemy had fired a missile at a player, the tablet could have a popup appear and warn the player, or a button could appear on the screen to fire countermeasures. There would be no memorization of certain keys on the keyboard like “press C for countermeasure” or an unlabeled joystick button that is different for each type of joystick. These quick, informative player options were important to On the Shoulders of Giants because the more information you can convey to the player while they can still react, the more complicated and simulator-like the game can become. However, the team lead’s work over the summer at Disney Consumer Products, helped develop new and interesting ideas about expanding and building an entire cabinet cockpit that players could sit in. Working with people who had built rides and attractions and physical-virtual interactions gave inspiration into further developing the project into a full-fledged arcade cabinet complete with physical component that could be interacted with and would affect or be affected by gameplay. P a g e | 8 Figure 4: LHS Bikeshed, Interior What was an inspiration as a physical problem-solving component was the LHS Bikeshed. The LHS Bikeshed is a starship simulator built inside of a caravan. It includes three stations, engineering, navigation, and weapons. Each station has its own controls, own monitor, and its own puzzles to solve to keep yourself and your crew alive. This engages players in new ways of thinking and old (as in childhood) ways of play. Taking the cover off your controls and manually connecting to wires to reroute power to the shields for example has the players playing several different ways, problem-solving, dexterity, and still the element of fantasy and roleplaying are all still present. However, the entire experience is actually controlled by a game master at this point. This allows the LHS Bikeshed to be more forgiving as players will not know what to do with all the information they are given, however it can also take away from players power fantasy since they are forgiven for some mistakes (of which they make many). P a g e | 9 Figure 5: Anamnesis, "Detective"-mode Lastly, Anamnesis, was a USC student created game that had players using the Oculus Rift as a prop while playing. A Player would use a monitor in around half the gameplay but when they raise the Oculus Rift to their eyes the game would shift into a “detective-mode” which would convey a different set of information to the player. On top of that the Oculus Rift was written into the game as the player’s character used a set of goggles to enter the “detective-mode.” This parallelism between the player character’s use of goggles and the player’s use of Oculus Rift as goggles gave the player a deeper roleplaying experience and reduced the barrier between the real world and the virtual fantasy. On the Shoulders of Giants drew from each of these prior works and many others. A complex and slight less daunting controller similar to that of Steel Battalion’s. Giving the player a more physical and fantasy-realistic interaction with the world in which they are involved. An enclosed simpler cockpit like the ones that the Battletech Pods had. Physical component that players can plug and unplug to reassign power to different parts of their mechs. Finally, a setting and theme of the Mech genre that can successfully utilize all these different, interesting, and fun interactions. P a g e | 10 Project Goals The goals of On the Shoulders of Giants were, simulation over simplification, second screen/physical component interaction, and promoting a greater roleplaying experience. Each of these were important to the team and the development of the project. Simulation over simplification, was an important goals because it influenced both of the other goals and the overall design process. What it means by simulation over simplification is that the project is pushing for a more realistic interaction and gameplay of controlling a giant mech over making it similar to know control schemes. For example, many recent Mech games like Titanfall or Hawken have taken to the Mech genre of games. Players hulk around in giant walking tanks that obliterate enemies with missiles, machine guns, piston-fists, and flamethrowers but all of this is done by pressing the “A button.” There is no complexity to controlling a giant war machine, it is the same simplified controls that first-person shooters have used since the dual-stick controller crawled out of its primordial ooze. This gameplay and controls are not wrong, they appeal to a larger audience, which is important to triple-A game companies, and they don’t take away from the power fantasy of controlling a huge death machine. The reason for the project not following this line of thinking is that holding a controller breaks the roleplaying of being a mech pilot completely. Unless, future mechs can be controlled by eight buttons and two thumbsticks it doesn’t feel like the player is the pilot, more like the player is the embodiment of the mech. That everything the mech does is very complicated inside the pilot’s cabin but the player gets the simplified results. There is very little room for thinking and roleplaying. P a g e | 11 The second screen goal is what started the whole idea. Using an interactive screen to convey information and options to the player quickly. So many amazing things can be done when a second screen is implemented as an additional controller. Already a second screen has a multi-touch interface, capable of taps, zooming, rotation, and gestures. It also has speakers which can convey additional information. Getting a players attention on the second screen is as easy as making it ping or a sound effect that isn’t coming from the common computer speakers but from a component on the desk or table. Lastly, it has the ability to be moved to a location the player prefers. Above, below, to the side of the screen, on the player’s lap, or even given to another player for a co-op experience are possibilities. There was even preliminary work done to allow the second screen to be an individual device to provide content and storyline to players when they were in the pilot’s seat. It was also a prop for the use of roleplaying. Players could feel like they are the pilots in the cockpit because they actually had the experience leave their single monitor and reach out into the real world space. Originally, in the fiction of the world the second screen would be something of an individual’s pilot license. It would retain mech configurations, settings, scores, game world history, tactics, as well as other useful information or applications for the pilot. Pilots could even build their mech configurations on the second screen then when they connected it to the full experience their mech would reflect the schematics of their second screen mech. The physical component goal was started because it was something fun and compelling to learn about and apply. Much in the same vein as the second screen, the physical components were to further the experience of roleplaying. When a player gets a chance to actually dig through components and adjust wires or toggle switches they engage in a very different way of play that harkens back to childhood. Lots of kids could sit for hours in front of a device with nothing but switches, buttons, and imagination. There is something that inherently that feels good, that gives good feedback, when we P a g e | 12 throw a physical switch or turn a real dial. It was what Steel Battalion hoped to emphasize and utilize with its giant controller. Figure 6: Cardboard Prototype to test for size with Lead Designer for scale The most important goal was Roleplaying. On the Shoulders of Giants set out to make an experience that players felt like they were mech pilots. So many examples of the Mech genre show that the pilots were grunts, or that the mech moved with the pilots body like the Jaegers from Pacific Rim, when in reality F-16 pilots, or space shuttle pilots, are highly trained, very dedicated, and intelligent when it comes to their precisely calibrated vehicles. Now, in most cases, hopefully, a real-life pilot would never need to dig into the console to fix something or jury-rig a component but this is often used in mech genre and this feeling of mastery over your mech was important to the project as well. Players can P a g e | 13 be given a chance to act out their fantasy over being a mech pilot genius, or prodigy, or highly-trained individual because we don’t sell the experience short instead On the Shoulders of Giants gives complexity with space to experiment and recover. Changes during Production This project started with very lofty goals, multiplayer, multiple scenes for second screen, multiple physical components, lots of systems that alter gameplay. Multiplayer started out as a chance for players to out-perform each other. A criticism for the original On the Shoulders of Giants prototype was that players felt like they were at a disadvantage when they took their hands off of the controls or looked away from the main screen. As a way to resolve this issue both players would need to deal with the same issue. Like playing a card game with the same deck, or chess where both players are constricted by the same rules. This could also help with very tense decision making moments, like “can I power up my shields or my weapons faster, if I do will he flank me?” On top of all that, competition breeds fun (most of the time). Two players duking it out to be the better pilot creates exciting moments and as long as both players have a fun attitude results in joking rivalry outcome. Although the project took a great deal of time preparing and building a working foundation that could incorporate multi-player it was ultimately eighty-sixed from the project. The reason being two- fold. First, was although we structure the project so that multi-player could be added, the interface to have people join a game, start at the same time, spawn in opposite parts of the map, and then just balancing it between multiple players and multiple playtests with multiple players proved to be an enormous undertaking. It is unfortunate but ultimately for the better. Instead players have a chance to wreck a city and destroy wave after wave of incoming smaller drones. This actually helped when it came P a g e | 14 to the power-fantasy side of gameplay, because it was no longer two equal mechs dueling to see who was superior but one giant mech destroying many smaller weaker enemies. The second reason was that the task of building two arcade cabinets was too much to handle in the period of time and would cost a great deal. It would’ve been possible to have one player in the cabinet and one player on a computer with the physical component but that would take away from the one of the most important goals of roleplaying. Removing the multiplayer component gave the project some much needed breathing room when it came to adding polish and making On the Shoulders of Giants mechanics, enemies, and gameplay much more contained. Because the multi-player element was removed, enemies were added as well as a simple AI for the enemies, spawning points, and a navigable mesh that gave both pathfinding to the enemies and better controls to the player. The second thing that had to be changed was the ambitious plans for the physical components. Originally, there were plans to have several components each with different uses. Switches for start-up, some buttons, and a box of cables that could be interconnected in different ways, there were even ideas to add vibrations to the seat, and flashing lights. However, all of this had to be cut down to something more manageable as the Uniduino, a plugin for Unity that allows communication between Arduinos and Unity, was limited to the number of port on an Arduino board. In the end it was settled that the project would keep in the wires box that “reroutes power” to different part of the mech. This was a good compromise as it still represents the physical components originally thought to be added, and although it was one of the more complicated components still was able to be built at a reasonable cost and in a reasonable amount of time. Lights are still being included but will only represent when the mech takes significant damage by flashing red. P a g e | 15 The last drastic cut was limiting the number of scenes that would be available on the second screen. This cut was another less content in favor of a tighter experience. The original game design document called for over 6 scenes, systems, weapons, armor, hijacking, radar, emergency, and more. At halfway through productions we had radar and armor nearly to completion. Also, the systems scene was replaced by the wires box physical component as the functionality of the wires box fit very well with powering and disabling different parts of the player’s mech. Cutting the other scenes meant not only could the team focus more on the key features of the main gameplay but also improve upon the scenes that were already built. All these changes and cuts were determined and finalized at the halfway point of the semester based on the rate of progress that had occurred and the approximate equal time remaining. However even with the cuts, every aspect that was originally intended to be part of the experience was still retained, with the exception of multiplayer competition. Playtests and Feedback Two events that occurred during the first semester of the thesis year gave extra insight into the development thus far and the development of the project in the future, these were the Mid-Semester Open and the Winteractive. The Mid-Semester Open gave the students and faculty of the Interactive Media and Games Division a chance to give their two-cents about the projects progress and what they felt was going well or what needed iteration upon. The Winteractive was a single-night showcase open to the public that took place at the end of the semester. Here, developers could view and take notes on how their games were received and played. During the Mid-Semester Open, most of the students were in support of On the Shoulders of Giants and enjoyed the theme however they were often more enthralled by the purchased joystick than P a g e | 16 that of the content of the game at the time. This was understandable as at that time the project was still meant to be multiplayer but that feature had yet to be (and will not be) included. It did, however, influence where the rest of the project was meant to be developed. With so many fun buttons on the joystick that did little to nothing, it was quickly realized that there would need to be feedback for every button available. The joystick was originally purchased with the mindset that more is better and if the team didn’t need or want to use a button or switch it would be fine, this was not the case. Nearly every player spent time trying to test each and every button to see which had results and which did not. Sometimes players would think a button did nothing when it was and sometimes players would be lost because they couldn’t remember which buttons did nothing and which buttons did something. This was worsened by the fact that players could not interact and destroy buildings or an enemy at the time. Another issue during the Mid-Semester Open was that most players did not use or notice the second screen. At the time the second screen was only a radar and was slightly broken in that is did not rotate with player rotation. With very few objectives to accomplish that needed the radar and an ultimately confusing interface, most players ignored the second screen. P a g e | 17 Figure 7: Project layout during Winteractive By the Winteractive, there was the addition of enemy turrets that could be found using the radar however the radar’s rotation was still not completely implemented. Many additions had been made to polish the level and stylize it more. Also the addition of a prototype physical component was added. Lastly, more buttons on the joystick were used. The overall response from the Winteractive was much more positive. Players were enjoying stomping around a city and destroying enemy turrets. Players especially enjoyed the physical component prototype. Powering different parts of their mech and seeing how it affected gameplay. Also, in a few circumstances a player would ask a friend to handle the physical component, essential establishing, a role of pilot and a role of engineer. It was great seeing players cooperating and taking turns at different “stations.” P a g e | 18 Figure 8: Player enjoying OtSoG at Winteractive During the entire project’s development three committee members gave their time and lend their expertise to the project. Their feedback although sometimes conflicting influenced a large part of the project. Those committee members were Dennis Wixon, a USC professor, Joe Garlington, a retired Disney Imagineer, and Greg Borrud, CEO of Seismic Games. Professor Wixon gave much needed feedback on player controls, frequent testing as well as keeping the project on task and checking on development. He also was a heavy influence on what the end result of the project was to be. During playtest he pointed out what things a player may want to do or what feedback may have issues or dual reactions. Joe had worked on many attraction for The Walt Disney Company, including Toy Story Mania which was perfect as an example of virtual-physical interactive design. His influence and playtests focused more on getting the player to be interacting and feel a part of the physical space. He also P a g e | 19 recommended the use of the Architectural Graphic Standards text as a way to determine the dimensions of the physical arcade cabinet. Mr. Borrud help with determining the rate of production and the production schedule as well as prioritizing certain task to make the project resonate better with the players and traditional game developers. He was also able to invite workers from his company to test and give advice to where the game could be developed and as they worked in Unity as well could give tips and tricks to quickly improve the game or fix problems. Focus and Development Changes Halfway through production during the time of winter break, it was decided that no more content was to be added with the exception of enemies. All the pieces that were required of the goals were there in some form but they needed polish. In the case of multiplayer it was removed in favor of AI-controlled weaker enemies. This helped in many ways. First, it allowed better utilization of the radar on the second screen. Second, players could then better indulge in their power fantasy because they could dominate the battlefield. Third, the user-facing work could be simplified. Finally, only one cabinet would need to be built. In the case of the issue with too many buttons, some buttons were removed from sight and left unused, however most were given functions, whether one-off like a humorous car horn or a headlight, or something more substantial like different weapon controls or a dash. This also helps players feel like their mech is a complicated machine with many different tactical approaches and abilities. The physical components that did well stayed much the same however are built into the cabinet to limit its use to one player. The reason for this is that although people were having fun playing with the physical component on its own it had little development as a game on its own. The “engineer” could P a g e | 20 easily and quickly become the pilot’s subordinate who was told what to do. This type of exchange was not what we wanted to encourage and also the time to develop the physical component into a game of its own was too great. In the future, it would be beneficial to look deeper into multiple people acting as a team similar to the game Artemis as it creates an engaging and fun environment for more people that can feel they have specialized roles. Conclusion Overall, the project was a tremendous learning experience, an experiment, and a challenge. On the Shoulders of Giants, gave the team many opportunities to try new and interesting things that the world of game development has only touched upon. Although the entire project had to be cut down to a more manageable size, every element that was a goal is featured in the final project. Although there are many issue that were apparent with attempting to build a mech game with such a small team, the team rose to the occasion and did their very best to create On the Shoulders of Giants. As a thesis project and as a game On the Shoulders of Giants was a resounding success. P a g e | 21 Bibliography "UN Assault Mech." By Flyingdebris on DeviantArt. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://flyingdebris.deviantart.com/art/UN-assault-mech-38005281> "Steel Battalion." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Battalion>. "MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries." GameSpot. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://www.gamespot.com/mechwarrior-4-mercenaries/>. "Get In The Pods Dot Com." Get In The Pods Dot Com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://getinthepods.com/pilot-experience/>. "LHS BIKESHED - Think You Can Fly a Spaceship?" LHS BIKESHED - Think You Can Fly a Spaceship? N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://www.lhsbikeshed.com/>. Kim, Alexa B. Anamnesis. Somek Friends, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://anamnesisthegame.com/>

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Asset Metadata

Creator Stern, Evan George (author)

Core Title On the shoulders of giants

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 05/04/2015

Defense Date 03/17/2015

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

Tag IMGD,Mech,OAI-PMH Harvest,physical computing,second screen,simulator,video game

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Wixon, Dennis (committee chair), Borrud, Greg (committee member), Garlington, Joseph O. (committee member)

Creator Email egstern88@gmail.com,evanster@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-566980

Unique identifier UC11300552

Identifier etd-SternEvanG-3435.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-566980 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-SternEvanG-3435.pdf

Dmrecord 566980

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Stern, Evan George

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