Engineering Fun: A Game Developer's Perspective
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay
The following is the 'writers cut' version of the article that appeared in the 2010 National Engineering and Geosciences Month supplement in papers such as The Evening Telegram.
To set the context for the following discussion let us start with a few basic definitions from definr.com:
- Engineer
"a person who uses scientific knowledge to solve practical problems" - Engineering
"the practical application of science to commerce or industry" - Fun
"activities that are enjoyable or amusing"
Often to the average person a quick game of 'One of these things does not belong' would quickly eliminate number three, 'Fun', from the running. This is not necessarily the correct answer, and in the case of the game development industry in particular it is exactly at the intersection of the three that the most exciting things take place.
Before we delve into the exciting things that go on in the game development industry a little background is in order. To become an Engineer one needs to study things like Algebra, Calculus, Statistics and Physics; exciting subjects for any prospective student to be sure. While being both scientific, and in their application very practical, most laypeople would not consider them fun. Proficiency in many of these Engineering "languages" requires hours in the lab, or at the desk, practicing and learning formulas, or absorbing procedures. How could these activities possibly be directly connected to enjoyment or amusement?
Once mastered, or at the very least understood, it is in the application of these subjects that lead to fun within the game development industry. There is some truth that great game players can make great game developers, but at least within my area of expertise, software development, it is most often great engineers that make great game developers. One could say that great engineers apply engineering principles to make great games, and this would connect the first two of the three concepts… But what about the fun?
Many game players can relate to playing the role of a sniper in a modern infantry combat game. Let us say that the game player has been assigned the mission of “taking out” a terrorist who is holding a hostage inside an urban building. The player camps out on an adjacent roof waiting for the opportunity to fire through a window to hopefully remove terrorist while saving the hostage. Opportunity isn't long arriving when the terrorist walks in front of a closed window with blinds open. The trigger is pulled setting into motion…
From the game players perspective the gun fires, the glass breaks, the terrorist is hit and crumples to the floor. Mission Success!!
From the game developers perspective what happens is a little different. A brief overview would be; statistics used to determine the percentage of maximum projectile velocity based on the guns condition, physics used to calculate and produce convincing projectile motion, trigonometry and calculus used for collision detection between the bullet/window and bullet/terrorist character combinations.
In the game, the player had 'FUN' due to the application of engineering principles by an engineer to create the simulation of the situation the player participated in. While the intersection of the engineer, the engineering, and the fun is not always as obvious as it is in the above contrived example, within the game development industry it most often is. It is for that reason that I consider what we do at Binary Dawn Interactive to be 'Engineering Fun'.
