Congdon, Spencer
8.31 MB of textual records (pdf)
Audience: Undergraduate. -- Dissertation: Thesis (B. A.) -- Algoma University, 2008. --Submitted in partial fulfillment of course requirements for COSC 4235. -- Includes figures. -- Contents: Thesis.
Today's video game industry is plagued with many of the problems the software crisis brings to traditional software engineering. The increasing complexity of game development results in projects rarely being delivered on time, within budget, and bug free. These issues are complicated by the many disciplines involved in game design and the communication gaps that exist between them. Documentation is often used to help programmers increase software quality that is demanded by the software crisis. Game design does not employ any unique documentation types despite having additional complications when compared to traditional software engineering. This thesis investigates interdisciplinary documentation as a solution to the communication problem and consequently the video game software crisis. Specifically, the communication between artists and programmers during game level design is discussed. Based on the investigation of existing documentations used by artists and programmers a new documentation called MyGameFlow is developed. The application of these new conventions to existing game levels provides a look at how this documentation can aid developers. The results show that interdisciplinary documentation can be a useful tool for improving communication and quality control in game design. By providing a set of conventions for describing a game level, MyGameFlow is able to help artists and programmers communicate.
