User Interfaces and Difference Visualizations for Alternatives in Visual Game Development

2017年，游戏产业为加拿大的GDP贡献了37亿加元，比2015年增长了24%。有596家活跃的游戏工作室，自2015年以来增长了21%。创造了40600个直接和间接就业岗位，比2015年增长了11%。最近，制作时间和预算较短的电子游戏在数量和质量上都有所提高。其中一个驱动因素是中间件工具的日益普及，这使得游戏开发变得更加容易。vpe（可视化编程环境）是这种成功的部分原因。这些系统允许游戏开发者在没有代码编写知识的情况下获得一定程度的控制。Epic Games虚幻4游戏引擎是一个用于制作游戏的集成环境，它为开发者提供了一个使用vpe和其他视觉游戏资产编辑器（VGAEs）从头开始创建游戏的选项，而无需编写一行代码，这使得它在许多独立工作室中很受欢迎。***尽管VGAEs让游戏开发变得更容易，但这些工具仍然不能充分支持概念设计——这是设计师工作流程中不可或缺的一部分。在游戏资产和机制设计的概念阶段，大多数探索都是在铅笔和纸的帮助下以草图的形式进行的。VGAEs主要用于设计的最后阶段。因此，这些工具在很大程度上缺少了设计师实际如何工作的整个维度，从而缩小了它们的有效使用范围。***本研究计划旨在通过可选方案捕捉虚拟游戏开发过程中的非线性迭代流程，这是概念设计的一个重要方面。这些解决方案将作为虚幻4的扩展来实现。这将通过将替代方案、设计空间探索、历史、修订控制和差异可视化的UI集成到虚幻4中来实现，以促进游戏关卡、交互对象、建筑脚本、hud（平视显示器）、材料、AI行为、声音、角色动画、粒子效果、UI设计、精灵、动画、过场动画、静态网格和物理资产的替代方案的创建和管理。***该研究计划将通过出版物和提供增强版的虚幻4（一个商业上成功的开源AAA游戏引擎）来定义一个知识体系。游戏开发者将能够直接利用这个项目的成果，为电子游戏创造更吸引人、更有效的内容。这将有助于独立工作室追求AAA级游戏。除了对游戏产业和基础科学的贡献之外，所开发的方法和工具将广泛应用于交互式数字媒体内容（加拿大ICT部门的关键领域），3D建模和建筑，城市规划，模拟产业和严肃游戏以及电影产业的发展-这是加拿大经济的关键问题。

In 2017, the game industry added CAD$3.7 billion to Canada's GDP, a 24% increase since 2015. There are 596 active game studios, a 21% increase since 2015. 40,600 direct and indirect jobs were created, an 11% increase since 2015. Recently, video games with short production times and budgets have been increasing in numbers and quality. One driving factor for this is the growing availability of middleware tools, making game development easier. VPEs (Visual Programming Environments) are partly responsible for this success. These systems allow game developers a level of control that was previously unobtainable without having some knowledge of code writing. Epic Games Unreal 4 game engine is an integrated environment for making games, which provides developers with an option to create games from scratch using VPEs and other Visual Game Asset Editors (VGAEs) only, without having to write a single line of code, making it popular among many indie studios.***Although VGAEs make game development more accessible, these tools still do not adequately support conceptual design—an integral part of designers' workflow. Most exploration in the conceptual stage of the design of game assets and mechanics happens with the aid of pencil and paper in the form of sketching. VGAEs are mostly used in the final stages of the design. As a result, an entire dimension of how designers actually work is largely missing from these tools, thus narrowing their scope of effective usage. ***This research program proposes to capture the non-linear iterative flow of the game development process in VGAEs through alternatives—an important aspect of conceptual design. The solutions will be implemented as extensions to Unreal 4. This will be accomplished, among others, by integrating UIs for alternatives, design space exploration, history, revision control and difference visualizations into Unreal 4 to facilitate the creation and management of alternatives for game levels, interactive objects, construction scripts, HUDs (Head-Up Displays), material, AI behavior, sound, character animations, particle effects, UI designs, sprites, animations, cut scenes, static meshes and physics assets. ***This research program will define a body of knowledge through publications and by delivering an enhanced version of Unreal 4—a commercially successful open-source AAA game engine. Game developers will be able to exploit the outcomes of this program directly and create more engaging and effective content for video games. This will help indie studios to pursue AAA titles. Beyond contributions to the game industry and basic science, the methods and tools developed will have wide application in the development of interactive digital media content (a key area of Canada's ICT sector), 3D modelling & architecture, city planning, the simulation industry and serious games, and the film industry—key issues for the Canadian economy.