Let us appreciate Randy Pausch

I just learned that my friend, Randy Pausch, has pancreatic cancer and is not expected to recover.

Randy caught my attention in 1991 in New Orleans. At the CHI ’91 conference, he was the talk of the town after his presentation, “Virtual Reality on $5 a Day”. Keep in mind that in 1991, a modestly usable VR system cost a cool quarter million, so Randy’s demonstration of building a system on the cheap was mind blowing.

Here is what I wrote in CyberEdge Journal #3, May/June 1991:

The next speaker was Randy Pausch, who excited the audience with his explanation of a home-brew VR-based system which cost only $5.00 per day. Lacking an adequate budget to purchase a VR system, Pausch built his own. He combined two mechanically linked Private Eye displays, a Mattel PowerGlove, and one Polhemus 3Space tracker. The system provides 720 by 280 spatial resolution and displays wire-frame graphics generated by a 80386-based, 2.5 MIP, PC clone system. Including the voice input which he intends to add, Pausch calculates the total system cost at under $5000, which when amortized over the typical three year life of the equipment, equals a cost of about $4.55 per day. He is now soliciting support to build 10-20 such systems, providing access to VR to an entire graduate class.

Here's Randy at CHI '91, demonstrating his home-made HMD.

In my effort to be a calm and cool journalist, this meager mention hardly reflects the excitement Randy stirred in the CHI crowd, and through the fledgling VR industry. While SGI and NASA were struggling to build systems that would fit into one room and cost less than a couple of houses, Randy built a usable system for less than $5,000. It was amazing, and he was the toast of the conference.

This was just a precursor of what Randy’s imagination and energy would enable him to do. He became quite the celebrity from the $5 a day VR system, and was able to leverage that fame to a position where he was able to lead the development of ALICE, an easy-to-use world-building package. He moved from the University of Virginia to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, where he established a well-respected lab, and continued to great work.

Drop Randy a line and let him know that he made a difference. I know I’m going to miss him.

---

You may have heard about Randy's inspiring "Last Lecture." Find it here: Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

To make a donation to help conquer pancreatic cancer, make donations payable to UPCI/Pancreatic Cancer Research/Liver Pancreas Institute. Add a memo to note that your gift is given in Randy Pausch's honor and to support the research of Dr. Herb Zeh. Mail to: Development Dept., UPMC Cancer Pavilion, Suite 1B, 5150 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15232. You can also contact Kambra McConnel in the Development Dept. for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute at 412-623-4700.

Dassault Systèmes Acquires Virtools

Dassault Systèmes Acquires Unique 3D Behavioral Technology with Purchase of Virtools

DS to provide interactive 3D experience platform to give life to 3D

Paris, France, July 26, 2005 - Dassault Systèmes today announced that it has acquired Paris-based Virtools SA, a team of experts in 3D interactive web applications that give live behavior to 3D content, for approximately 12 million euros.

Virtools' applications allow users not familiar with 3D modeling to quickly and easily add life experience to any 3D object. As an example, using the company's technology, users can experience the shopping behavior of a typical consumer in a supermarket or visualize the ergonomics of a driver as he or she drives a car through a city.

Virtools' comprehensive software solutions enable companies to give life to 3D by creating applications with rich game-like 3D interactivity. Virtools has many production customers in industrial design, marketing, 3D web-based CRM applications, and multimedia applications as well as in video game development. Customers include Procter & Gamble, L'Oréal, Microsoft Game Studio, Electronic Arts, PSA Peugeot Citroen, and EADS.

"We chose Virtools several years ago to build our 3D real-time interactive applications, such as spatial mission experiences and the virtual cockpit," said Nicolas Chevassus, Corporate Research Center, EADS. "The combination of Virtools and Dassault Systèmes reinforces our strategic partnership."

With this acquisition, DS is adding to its R&D force a core team of expert pioneers in 3D Interactivity. Virtools brings to DS breakthrough technologies that will accelerate the use of 3D for all types of real-time, interactive consumer applications on the web. As a development platform, Virtools provides next-generation solutions for developing highly realistic 3D experiences with game-like" interactivity, as well as distributing and running 3D applications on the web. These solutions range from browser-based applications to large-scale 3D visualizations.

"The visionary R&D team at Virtools will be an immediate asset to DS as we execute our strategy of democratizing 3D," said Bernard Charlès, president and CEO, Dassault Systèmes. "By combining our assets, we will deliver the next-generation 3D web platform that will enable a wide range of users to imagine, share, and experience in 3D."

"I am delighted that Dassault Systèmes has chosen Virtools as a foundation of its 3D democratization strategy," said Bertrand Duplat, founder and CTO of Virtools. "We share the vision of market convergence with DS for extended use of interactive 3D."

"I look forward to the contribution that Virtools will bring to Dassault Systèmes," said Hervé Yahi, CEO of Virtools. "We will continue to serve our customers and will enhance and improve support worldwide."

Kelly Dove named Editor-in-Chief of Computer Graphics World

Longtime Editor, Phil LoPiccolo moves to new position

July 11, 2005 Nashua, NH -- PennWell is pleased to announce the selection of Kelly Dove as Editor-in-Chief for Computer Graphics World magazine. The announcement of Dove comes after a two-month search to replace Phil LoPiccolo, who moved to the Chief Editor position at Solid State Technology, another PennWell title.

Ms. Dove brings both publication and client experience to her position at CGW. As Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief for 3D Design magazine, she was instrumental in the successful launch of this title for CMP. In addition, she developed and managed the corresponding website, the conference and exhibition, creating a unified media brand in the high-tech trade space. Most recently, Dove was the Director of Public Relations for a Boxx Technologies, a workstation manufacturer focused on the entertainment and digital content creation industries.

“I have been a fan of Computer Graphics World for many years,” says Dove. “It is a well-respected title among trade publications as well as the companies they serve. Karen Moltenbrey, Courtney Howard and the excellent team of contributing editors continually put out a top-notch magazine as the recent ASBPE Gold Award proves. I look forward to working with such a dynamic team.”

“We are thrilled to have Kelly join our team,” notes Associate Publisher Randy Jeter. “Her in-depth knowledge of the market, combined with her relationships and previous editorial experience in print and online publishing, will be instrumental as we continue to expand our leadership position.” Senior Technical Editor Karen Moltenbrey concurs. “I have known Kelly for quite some time, both on a personal and professional level, and I look forward to working with her. Her energy and knowledge of the industry certainly will be an asset to our publication. I anticipate exciting things ahead.”

CyberEdge On-line, First VR Website, Redesigned For Ease Of Use.

CyberEdge Information Services celebrates 10-year anniversary of website by re-launching with new content, navigation, design

The first, and longest continuously published website covering virtual reality (VR) and visual simulation (VizSim) was re-launched today with a new look, new content, and new navigation designed to make finding information faster and easier.

CyberEdge On-line went live in 1995, and since then has served hundreds of thousands of pages to visitors from around the world. The site features articles, links, a glossary of VR terminology, a Health and Safety Section, reviews of VR books, many illustrations, and much more. It provides one of the richest stores of VR and VizSim information on the Web, and all of the content is free of charge.

Said Ben Delaney, President of CyberEdge Information Services, Inc., “We are thrilled to see the newest incarnation of CyberEdge On-Line go live after several months of development. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our website. The new design by CK Kuebel (www.kuebel.com) is outstanding, with easy to use navigation, and a clean, modern look that is attractive and functional. I think our new site will be even more useful to the thousands of visitors we welcome every month.”

CyberEdge On-Line also provides detailed information about CyberEdge Information Services, one of the leading sources of market data and marketing services for VR and VizSim companies. Publishers of the much-cited annual market study, The Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality Systems, CyberEdge Information Services has provided consulting services, presentations, market research, and other communications services to an international who’s-who of VR and VizSim companies. Their clients include EDS, HP, IBM, Kodak, KPMG, LG Electronics, SGI, Siemens, SONY, SUN Microsystems, and many other well-known organizations.

CyberEdge Information Services invites you to visit CyberEdge On-Line at www.cyberedge.com. For more information, visit the website, email to “info at cyberedge.com”, or call 510 419-0800.

Update on Immersion's Touchsense technology

I just got back form a visit to Immersion to take a look, er, feel, of their new TouchSense system, which I wrote about last week.

Mike Levin, VP Industrial and Gaming, showed me the system. In a word, or two, it works. I was amazed at how the touchscreen buttons felt like real objects when I pushed them. The demo was simple, based on a control panel for an automobile. Each button had a distinctive feel. Some were used to select functions, such as the heater or radio, which opened a second-level screen. The second-level screens replicated controls – volume, channel, temperature, etc. Each of these controls had a slide with detent feel, and they also signaled end of range with a different vibration. The system is slick and obvious, and to me, seems like an excellent application for haptic feedback.

While I was there, Mike also showed me a VibeTonz-equipped cell phone. This system replaces the simple vibration common in cellphones with tunable vibrations that can be attached to ring tones, used in games, or assigned by the user to different numbers, just as one assigns different rings. This system also works well, and seems definitelyy useful. The first Samsung phones with VibeTonz were released in April by Verizon Wireless.

(Disclaimer: I own a bit of Immersion stock and have consulted with them in the past.)

Annual market study seeks participants

We are about to start the survey for the 7th Edition of our annual report, the Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality systems. We are actively seeking members of the VizSim/VR community to join our research panel. People who complete the 49-question survey will receive a free copy of the Executive Summary of the report, which we expect to complete in late fall. Participants also receive a discount on their purchase of the full report. Signup closes 15 June.

If you wish to participate sign up here: Join the Research Panel

Touch Me, Feel Me

Immersion Announces Haptic Feedback for Touchscreens

Imagine that. Immersion has just announced a touchscreen with haptic feedback. My first thought was, how'd they DO that?

(Disclaimer: I own a bit of Immersion stock and have consulted with them in the past.)

I spoke with Mike Levin, Immersion's VP in the Industrial Control Group, and learned how TouchSense works.

Most of us have all used touchscreens at some time. They appear on ATM machines, Lotto kiosks, museum displays, and a lot of other places. They work in a variety of ways, but the bottom line is that you touch the surface of a display system, and that system senses where your finger (elbow? nose?) is and reacts. Many systems provide audible feedback to let you know they have reacted to your touch.

But no touchscreen had any tactile feedback. That is, you could not feel a button depress, or a slider move. Immersion has addressed that problem.

Immersion developed TouchSense® technology that allows touchscreens to "touch back." The system is composed of actuators, controllers, and software.Touchscreen manufacturers, integrators, and product OEMs can now design these components into their touch-enabled systems to easily add tactile feedback.

The TouchSense system is based on vibrotactile feedback. In other words, there is no motor that applies forces to your hand. What there is is a group of devices that vibrate the touchscreen surface up and down, side to side, or both ways. When you push on the image of a button, the touchscreen tells the TouchSense system, and a suitable feedback vibration is created. Because your finger is in a single location, it feels like the button is responding,though in fact the entire screen is moving. Instead of feeling just the hard surface of the screen, graphical buttons can seem to depress and release. This responsive action supplies a more intuitive, natural, multisensory experience.

Levin told me that he thinks this technology will be especiallyy useful in loud and distracting locations, like the cab of a HUMVEE, or a service station in a noisy bar. He also thinks that TouchSense will have medical applications, because gloved doctors need feedback when they press the keys of a virtual keyboard displayed on a washable touchscreen in the operating room.

Immersion claims that clarity and accuracy of the feedback are unaffected for flat touchscreen sizes ranging from 2 to 19 inches, and the technology can be applied to all types of touchscreens including capacitive, resistive (4-, 5-, and 8-wire), surface acoustic wave, and infrared. The TouchSensee system will cost OEMs anywhere from $5 per unit for small screens, up to around $50 per unit for a 19" display.

Here are a few of the key features, from Immersion's press release:

• Graphical buttons can provide the familiar up and down forces of physical buttons
• Menu items can supply a pulse sensation when lightly touched and a confirming push-back response when pressed
• A rocker switch can exhibit increasing or decreasing vibrations corresponding to motor or fan speed, magnitude, or other parameter
• Enter, Next, and other major and minor functions can supply a consistent feel throughout an application
• Scrolling displays can provide a stop sensation when the first or last items have been reached
• Switch controls can exhibit a pop effect
• Levers can offer a click response for each possible setting.

Immersion assists manufacturers with product configuration and prototyping, and supports its partners from integration through manufacturing.

Great stuff, I think. Demo systems areavailable now, and developer kits will be out in the next few months. TouchSense will probably be seen first in automotive systems, followed by public displays, assuming that the technology is robust enough. Public uses, such as kiosks and gaming machines are the places where the least informed users are, and those users are the ones who will most benefit from tactile feedback.

Another good application would be for persons with disabilities, especially those with low vision or motor-control disfunctions. For those people, haptic feedback could greatly facilitate computer use. However, Levin tells me that this market is limited, and Immersion would need to find a partner already active there.

I love cool gadgets and I certainly think this qualifies. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I look forward to getting my hands on Immersion's Tactile Touchscreen. I'll report when I do.

New website provides guidance on disruptive technologies

BenDelaney.com offers articles, essays, and presentations

Oakland, Calif. --Because the accelerating rate of technological change will have profound impacts on society, Ben Delaney has launched a new website to address this issue. Delaney has spent the past thirty years observing and shaping technology. He is a leading expert in virtual reality, visual simulation, and other advanced technologies. President of CyberEdge Information Services, Inc., his ability to explain complex concepts in plain language have made him an internationally respected speaker, writer, and advisor.

The website, www.bendelaney.com, designed by the award-winning Ck Kuebel (www.kuebel.com), includes articles, essays, and presentations.

Delaney addresses many aspects of high technology, especially how it is leading to a “Beyond Darwin World”, in which human beings assume control of their own evolution and, through the widespread use of cybernetic prosthetics, attain supra-human powers.

The technologies leading to the “Beyond Darwin World” include nanotechnology (the technology of the very small), medical/bio technology, computing and communications technology, and energy technologies. By the time today’s kindergartners are starting families, these disciplines will have arrived at “tipping points” leading to major changes in nearly every aspect of society.

Delaney explains, “the convergence of these tipping points will lead to a fully virtualized world, in which real and virtual experiences are almost indistinguishable. People will have cyber-telepathic powers, enabling them to communicate simply by thinking of information and where they need to send it. Likewise, they will be able to access vast amounts of information by simply posing a mental question. Communications will be facilitated by wireless, computerized devices, implanted in their bodies.”

Much of this technology is already being developed. “The social issues need to be addressed now”, Delaney says, “to prepare us for the inevitable disruptions they will cause by the mid-21st century.”

Ben Delaney is available to discuss these ideas in public presentations or private briefings. He offers advisory services for senior management that facilitates planning to address the serious impact of advanc

At GDC 05: Get the phone, there’s a game calling!

10 March, 2005, San Francisco – I was amazed that they could fill a good sized room at Moscone Center at 9:00 AM at the Game Developers Conference. That speaks to the fact that the hottest part of the white-hot game market these days is on mobile platforms, primarily cell phones. After my surprise of the day before – I had seen only one skateboard-toting punk in a full day on the exhibit floor – I should have realized that GDC has grown up a lot since I last attended. Games are no longer kid stuff, and the GDC this year was populated by far more people in suits than people with their tattoos and piercings showing.

It was the serious folks filling the room on Thursday morning to hear about the International Game Developers Association’s (www.idga.org) latest whitepaper, The State of the Mobile Games Industry. Brian Robbins, of Fuel Industries, chairperson of the Online Games SIG, introduced a panel of five for an hour-long session. Moderating the panel was Don Wisnewski, Superscape’s Senior Vice President, Publishing and Marketing, who described the 60-page whitepaper as a labor of love by dedicated people who are eager to see the success of gaming on the PC and console platforms replicated on mobile devices. Considering the work it takes to create this sort of document, he was certainly right. He went on to characterize the greatest problems of mobile game development as stemming from the increasingly rapid development cycle. PC and consoles hardware typically has a 18-24 month lifetime, while mobile phone platforms are going through substantial revisions every 4-12 months. And when every new handset hits the market, the phone companies expect classic and new games to be ready – running, debugged, and ported to dozens of platforms.

You want how many versions?

The multi-platform issue was the challenge most often mentioned by the panelists. Jon Estanislao, Senior Manager, Business Development and Platforms for Activision, made the point that while there were many areas of game development for mobiles that are similar to other platforms, such as planning and design, playability issues, prototyping, development and approvals, there are also significant differences. These include porting to dozens, if not hundreds of platforms, submitting finished games to service providers, and obtaining certifications from those providers. Lou Fasulo, Senior Product Manager, Games and Applications, at Cingular Wireless, concurred, adding that he deals with six or seven new handsets every month, and that at any given moment, Cingular must support over 100 different models. Estanislao said that this impacts developers in several key areas. First, developers must themselves have dozens to hundreds of phones in-house for testing. Phones come in families, which make the chore slightly less burdensome, but each phone may also be localized to dozens of locations, each requiring a different language, unit of currency or measurement, or other customization. Successful developers quickly learn to write clean, modular code to facilitate porting and localization, and to reduce the testing regimen to manageable levels. But no matter how well the code is written, he cautioned, obtaining certification from the carriers (service providers) is still a major hassle, because each has its own expectations and requirements. But what they all want are tight code, with file sizes ranging from 64K to 300K, adherence to naming conventions and menu standards, and accepted techniques for dealing with those annoying voice calls and messages that interrupt the important gaming experience.

Another item that differs from console games development is the billing model. Games for mobiles are sold in a variety of ways, including one-time purchase (most like console games), subscription, pay-per-play, and micro-payments. Each of these payment methods is based, at least partially, on player perceptions. This is an impulse-driven marketplace. There are no store shelves, and potential buyers do not linger over their decisions. So the initial presentation must convey the value of the game quickly, and the payment structure must be consistent with the user’s general impressions of the game. One positive angle is that there is no competitive shopping – if you want a particular game to play on your Nokia N-Gage on the Verizon network, you have only one place to buy it.

Quick reactions are not only a requirement for the players, Fasulo added. Because the pace of phone development is so fast, and the carriers so twitchy in a highly competitive landscape, the game developer must be ready to turn on a dime and give 8 cents change. He felt that key issues, in a addition to those cited by Estanislao, include the ability to quickly port a game to a new handset, the ability to present new concepts well – that means fast and compelling – and the ability to consistently deliver good product on time. However, he, as did every panelist, emphasized over and over that porting is the key, and that the most successful game publishers are the one who can move their titles to new platforms quickly. As he put it, “learn to port, port, port!”

Another issue he emphasized, from what sounded like personal experience, is that the market will not wait. “Late”, he said, “equals dead.” Delivering great product, on time, and running well on dozens of handsets requires a professional and disciplined process. Aside from the rapid turnover of hardware, the software itself tends to have a short lifetime, especially movie tie-ins, which may be dead in months, but must arrive as the picture hits the theaters.

Other issues mentioned regarding development include the expectation of increasing bandwidth in the next six to twelve months. This will allow for larger games, enhanced sales presentations, and improved game play, especially for multi-player titles. Branding is important, all agreed, and Fasulo noted that the top-selling titles are movie tie-ins, sequels to other popular games, and sports games. Solid branding can boost sales, both through publisher name recognition, and through connections to console games and other well-known properties. He advised publishers to put more energy into branding.

The mobile game biz
The two other panelists, Oliver Miao, President of Centerscore, and Greg Ballard, President of Sorrent, addressed the business of game publishing. Miao emphasized the difficulties of building and running a game development business. It sounded like he has been through the wringer, but maybe he just had too much fun the night before. He told us that the publishing business was hard, that most developers struggle to stay cash-flow positive, and that, since not many people actually seem to like porting titles, that may be a good business model. Since getting financing is so hard, one way to succeed, he suggested, is to win a contest. This was just as valuable as it seems here.

Ballard, on the other hand, had some useful information. He said that the carriers see a need for higher quality, that the move to quality began in 2004, and he sees the trend accelerating in 2005. That trend is causing carriers to bring game development in house, often by acquiring independents. He suggested that developers start looking in the mirror and asking if they want to be part of a big organization or stay smaller and independent. Applications other than games are starting to appeal to carriers, who, like sharks, need to keep moving to survive. There is no killer app yet, he said, but the developers who think about non-game tie-ins and apps are more likely to succeed. Such content might include ring-tones, wallpaper, or other branded content.

Publishers who deliver a suite of related games and apps will get a better reception from the carriers. He expects mobile development costs to double in 2005, mostly due to porting requirements, localization, the increasing use of 3D graphics, and a general increase in complexity.

In the open discussion, a few more interesting ideas were voiced. Extending the franchise of a successful PC/console game could be key to a popular mobile game, Estanislao pointed out. New games will make use of cell phone cameras, Miao prophesied, and developers should start thinking about how to make games that relate to where the user is, and make use of the imaging capabilities of the cameras in phones. Multiplayer games are very popular in Korea, Ballard told us, but have not caught on in the US at all. He expects this to change soon, and cited on-line poker games as an example of a concept that may lend itself to mobile development.

Ballard and Miao both talked about the market and demographics of the mobile game player. Miao sees the market splitting in two: high-end, largely 3D games, and simpler, less expensive and less immersive 2D titles. Ballard though, sees the market somewhat differently. The breadth of the mobile gaming market will require imagination and hard work to satisfy. There will be many types of games that will succeed. Keep in mind the basic demographic of the mobile game player, he said. It corresponds roughly to the demographics of those who have indoor toilets.

The whitepaper on which this panel was based will be available at no charge from the IGDA website by early April. Look for it at www.igda.org/online.

On the Game Developers Conference

GDC 2005: An Educator’s View
By Jeffrey R. Abouaf

March 2005, San Francisco --- Last week I attended my tenth Game Developers’ Conference, this year held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center West. Still a conference by and for game developers, I’m struck how sophisticated it’s become in such a short time. The Visual Arts Track (where I spend most of my time) has advanced from generic and some specialized techniques for making lightweight models, textures and animation, to translating high end film assets and effects to a next-generation interactive medium with negligible change in quality. This raises fundamental issues across design and production spectrums.

The Faculty Summit

Electronic Arts conducted a Faculty Summit the first day of the Conference at it’s Redwood City facility. Attending were faculty from many colleges and universities, some of whom were partners with EA in their game development curricula; others had created such programs or were in the process of doing so. The candid presentation by EA concerning what and how it is preparing to face the next seven or so years, together with faculty descriptions of their programs, goals and challenges offered a surprisingly coherent picture of what to expect. Both likened the game industry to the film industry of the 1930’s. The “Next Gen” consoles will appear within a year, offering a 5-10x increase in computing power, and five years thereafter expect the generation after that. By 2012 the following hardware generation will be out. Developers will be producing titles inhabited by photoreal interactive characters, at HD resolution, using movie special effects on consoles with no noticeable power limits, (at least in today’s terms). Co-Founder and current head of EA Bing Gordon remarked that what EA seeks most from aspiring designers and developers are proposals for new features for existing games, not new game concepts. At gross revenues of about ¼ industry gross, EA wants to build the next blockbuster title (often inspired by feature films), and sequels for their current line up. With average budgets of $10 million and development teams of 200 in house, EA resembles the film studio models during Hollywood’s Golden Age.

EA is concerned with growing talent for Next Gen and Next Gen2 games. By 2012 they anticipate all their current assets and technologies will be replaced. To that end they have partnered with many universities and colleges, and are actively recruiting graduates. For example, they are involved with Carnegie Mellon’s recent MET program (Masters of Entertainment Technologies, presented by faculty head Randy Pausch), USC’s schools of film and television (where EA hopes to recruit new writers to interactive entertainment) and the University of Central Florida (where EA helped to convince the state to fund $5M for a new game curriculum and facility, and have pledged ongoing funding.) The more than 100 representatives and faculty present either have or are implementing their own game curricula. Their main concerns were (1) how to leverage their current resources from computer science and entertainment disciplines to a new program, and (2) how to guaranty the new courses or degree programs in game development will represent the same quality as their product from other fields.

Bandwidth, budgets, and believability

Not surprisingly, this large developer-institutional collaboration dovetails nicely with the Microsoft keynote, where they described a next generation Xbox aimed at HD interactivity. Likewise consistent was the session named “The Negotiation”, a quick presentation of a hypothetical deal between a large developer and a major publisher/licensing firm. Again, the example was a $10M budget and 10 month development period. The surprise is always how little remains for unfunded, however creative, talent, and how this result is explained by fixed expense and general risk-reward analysis. What emerges from all this is that Next Gen titles, while bigger, badder, more photoreal and complex, require enormous budgets, an army of talent, and consistent with the movie industry they are emulating, funding from deep pockets. The willingness to take risk decreases in inverse proportion to budget – only a handful of titles succeed.

Of course the art-related presentations focused on advanced techniques and production issues facing those working on “Next-Gen” titles. As computing power of platforms increase to remove graphical limitations, new issues arise: i.e. how to portray real-time photoreal interactive characters in HD resolution? How to populate these spaces with enough hi-res content? An obvious result is to generate characters procedurally. How does this effect the artist? PS1 titles restricted polygonal budgets to 800-1200 per main character and PS2 raised the bar to 5K – 8K polygons. I heard one artist on a Next Gen title comment that his character budget hadn’t increased that much, but now he has 8 characters in the scene at all times. It’s all speculation, as the hardware isn’t even out yet.

The technique classes followed what you’d expect from a film production advanced 3D seminar: edgeloop modeling to assure realistic skin deformation and believable animated nuance (Derek Elliot); advanced rigging to portray accurate inter-bone influences in skeletal movement (Paul Neal); scripting techniques that facilitate animation or even generate entire rigs and characters; making and reducing hi-definition digital sculpture to normal maps for added detail; authoring and deploying DirectX 9 shader technology within your 3D creation tool; and a favorite, Tips and Tricks by Kelsey Previtt, which always pop my eyes. In other words, bringing film techniques to real-time, but with all those added problems – oops, “challenges”. For the working artist, learn human anatomy like you never learned it, and draw, draw, draw.

Ed Hook’s put his finger on the problem with one hour on “You can’t MoCap the Soul – the problem with Eyes”. This subject, which easily could have spanned the entire day, raised the question of what happens as games include photoreal human characters. (I’d heard the EA art and technical directors describe this as “beyond photorealism” to “believability”). Hooks showed me that what sounds so obvious is much more complicated. He is the author of “Acting for Animators” (a must for the library for anyone serious in this area), an actor and teacher for 30 years, and a consultant to major game companies these last years. Personally unfamiliar with basic acting theory, I was struck by his analysis. For a character to connect with the audience, it must evoke empathy, meaning we understand the feelings – as opposed to sympathy where we may feel badly for the plight, but not feel the character’s experience. He then stated that in acting, “thinking leads to conclusions but feelings lead to action” That is, we experience the characters feelings by how he/she acts. Not so with games: the character looks, then acts – thinking leads to action. We can feel sympathy, not empathy. Without empathy, we cease suspension of disbelief. He also suggested player control is a factor: if our thoughts control the action (and not character feelings) we don’t empathize. This is exacerbated as characters become photoreal, because our “primate brain” shifts from fantasy-based to reality-based interpretation and reaction. The greater the realism, the more precise and less forgiving our scrutiny.

Solutions? Where independent feelings can’t drive the character, consider evoking empathy through other characters or the environmental cues. Create MoCap files using actors working from a script. After all, they are trained to portray feelings through action. For example, consider the difference between telling someone in a MoCap suit to get out of their chair quickly vs. instructing an actor they are sitting in a chair, which someone has just set on fire.

Valve, Inc.’s presentation on Half Life 2, (which won this year’s IGDA award), fit nicely with this thread. HL2 characters respond to you by looking at you, no matter how you enter a room, or what you do. Yet, things like eye contact, head, body and limb gesture, and interactions with other characters are very sophisticated, based on statistical data on human gestures, gestures unique for each character, and unique relationships between characters. HL2 animation breaks down to three components: generic animation implemented through AI, such as phonemes, general facial expressions; scripted gestures and body language movements unique to a particular character, but reusable; and artist keyframed animation, used for example to portray unique relationships between characters. The HL2 engine can blend this AI, scripted and keyframed animation non-linearly at runtime in a truly seamless way. Playing the same scene three times differently, we experienced the characters looking and talking to us, moving in their unique ways, and embracing each other – each time holding together as if uniquely keyframed, yet equally spontaneous in each instance. I found their multi-layered technological approach to Ed Hook’s intuitive, empirical observations inspiring –to say the least.

Counterpoint

The “Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant” Session offered acid counterpoint to the EA summit and other sessions about mega-title production. As articulate and passionate as well known in the community, Greg Costikyan, Chris Hecker, Brenda Laurel, and Warren Spector entertained ranting on the current state of the industry. Like all blockbuster media, mega-games take an army of great talent to produce and distribute, but unlike other media, it’s distributed through a single channel – retail -- derisively referred to as Wal-Mart). Greg Costikyan ranted such titles can only be produced by or through large corporations and distributed by like heavyweights, with prime beneficiaries including the hardware manufacturers Microsoft and Sony. This leaves little creative freedom and opportunity for the independent developer, and perhaps less for the artist in their employ. Then Brenda Laurel raised the social issue (the only time I heard this raised during the conference). What role models are set out for the primary audience, young men? Professional Athlete. Soldier. Gangster/Street Thug. Wizard – maybe that one’s positive. I’m torn – and I wish more were – over the implications here. First and foremost I believe in protecting free expression as the bedrock of a free society, and am suspect of any forces, past or present, at work to skew, limit, or otherwise chill it. Yet we see how powerful forces manipulate media, and how media complies, to move this society to a scripted agenda. This industry is no more or less complicit. Calling it “entertainment” is not a complete defense to this responsibility, and putting a cute rating tag on the box evokes the same chuckle as it does when I see it on a movie. One answer of course is more content diversity, which at least in the near term, is not part of the current commercial direction.

But then nothing stands still. San Francisco has a long tradition of bohemian artistic energy, in my lifetime from the Beats through Multimedia Gulch, to today’s independent game developer. The IGDA and Independent Festival stood in for San Francisco’s customary independent (anarchic) creative energy, and I saw a lot of work unique for artistry and gameplay. As an artist, I enjoy the blockbuster and the independent, and marvel at both the grand as well as the intimate. But as an educator I feel a responsibility to open doors, with a protective conscience to remain mindful of the costs, even when my student is not. This differs from my thoughts only a few years ago when artist-developers were more empowered in a less mature industry. The maverick is being replaced by a professional -- more technically skilled and better suited to functioning in a big organization; better equipped to invent new features. To one concerned on readying today’s students for a coveted career in game development, enlisting a young person to incur $40-$100K in loans to land a $40K job (if they’re lucky) has a sobering ring.

I hope next year to attend the Serious Games Summit, an aspect of the conference dedicated to game technologies in the training space. Unfortunately the sessions were held the first two days of the conference and conflicted with others I needed to attend. This makes the case for organizers to record sessions, and make them available. The obvious and immediate benefits of serious games, together with industrial funding which assures their deployment, make expansion of this portion of the conference a “no-brainer” That said, my sincerest thanks to all connected with organizing this conference and bringing it to San Francisco, and to my contact, Sibel Sunar for her role over the years in presiding over more than anyone can take in, yet keeping it running so smoothly.