Online Game Development & Business Track

Online Session 2010 The explosive growth of online games connects people across the globe within the comfort of their homes. Communities are rapidly developing around connected games and with it, opportunities for innovation, creativity, and revenue are growing for game developers and businesses alike. Online gaming has its own set of opportunities and set of challenges. From simple flash-based browser games to massively multiplayer environments the possibilities are only limited by one's imagination. Matched with increased technological infrastructure and support, online gaming will only continue to experience exponential growth and possibilities.

Online Game Development & Business Track Schedule

Room: 6304, 3F

	Sunday, November 13
	Time	Session
	9:00-9:15	BREAKFAST
	9:15-10:15	Research on Successful R & D Model of MMO Peixiong Wang (Director, GM of Woool Game Studio \| Shanda Games Limited)
	10:20-11:20	Making RPG's That Stand the Test of Time Brian Fargo (CEO \| Leader in Exile)
	11:25-12:25	Trends and Challenges Facing the Next-gen 3D Web Games like Drakensang Online Philip Reisberger (Chief Games Officer \| Bigpoint)
	12:25-13:45	LUNCH
	13:45-14:45	Fundamental Multiplayer RPG Math Sara Jensen Schubert (Design Lead \| KingsIsle Entertainment)
	14:50-15:50	Double-Coding: Making Online Games for Both the Casual and the Hardcore Damion Schubert (Principle Lead Systems Designer \| Bioware Austin)
	15:50-16:10	COFFEE BREAK
	16:10-17:10	Marvel Super Hero Squad Online Postmortem - An MMO For the Whole Family in Under Two Years Jason Robar (Vice President \| The Amazing Society)
	17:15-18:15	Capturing Children's Attention and Imagination with Investigative Play Caitlin Feeley (Project Manager/Designer\| MIT Education Arcade)

	Monday, November 14
	Time	Session
	9:00-9:15	BREAKFAST
	9:15-10:15	Designing and Implementing a Satisfying Sword Fight Michael Chang (Lead Programmer \| Subutai Corporation, Lead Designer and Programmer \| Puny Human Games)
	10:20-11:20	Global Reach and Local Limits, Paul's Personal Truths about Online Game Development Paul Barnett (Senior Creative Director \| BioWare)
	11:25-12:25	Massively Multiplayer Game Production: From Tiny Teams to Giant Projects Jeremy Gaffney (Executive Producer \| Carbine Studios)
	12:25-13:45	LUNCH
	13:45-14:45	Experiences and Thoughts on Establishing Economic System of Large-scale Online Games Yi Wang (Co-founder & Producer \| Xinyou Technology Co., Ltd.)
	14:50-15:50	Some Tricks in Building the Economic System for MMO Feng Tian (CEO and General Manager \| Shanghai Jujia Network Technology Co., Ltd.)
	15:50-16:10	COFFEE BREAK
	16:10-17:10	Retain Your Customers by Letting Go: Fixing the Short Term Tactics that Threaten Player Loyalty Scott Rigby (President \| Immersyve, Inc.)
	17:15-18:15	Building a Multithreaded Web Based Game Engine Using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript Corey Clark, PhD (Associate Professor \| DeVry University)

Track Keynotes

Brian Fargo

CEO | Leader in Exile

Making RPG's That Stand the Test of Time

Brian Fargo has been playing and making RPG games since the 1980's and is still making games to this day. He will look back over 3 decades of RPG games that began with the Bard's Tale and Wasteland and eventually onto such hits as Stonekeep Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale and most recently with Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Mr. Fargo will discuss his history with Role-playing games and how he approaches each aspect of the game creation. Topics to include storyline, character development, balance and production philosophy. What are the elements you need to make an immersive game that will stand the test of time and have people say "I spent hours playing your game when I was a kid and loved it."

Paul Barnett

Senior Creative Director | BioWare

Global Reach and Local Limits, Paul's Personal Truths about Online Game Development

How online is changing the way we design, build, distribute and think about games. Lessons from the old British Empire, via American to the new emergent powerhouse of China. Global reach with local limits, how culture matters. It's all the same, it's just different.

Online Game Development & Business Track Sessions

Experiences and Thoughts on Establishing Economic System of Large-scale Online Games

Yi Wang
Co-founder & Producer | Xinyou Technologe Co., Ltd.

A reasonable economic system is essential for keeping stable and continuous development for a relatively long time of an online game, which can be considered a virtual society. Where shall we start to build such an economic system? What are the concerns? What are the next changes after the transition of the charging system of the large-scale online games from time-based charging to "Free+IB" several years ago? The speaker will share the experiences on establishing economic system during the development and operation process of JX Online and JX World, and the thoughts on future development of the charging system in current large-scale online games.

Some Tricks in Building the Economic System for MMO

Feng Tian
CEO and General Manager|Shanghai Jujia Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Since its launch of third-generation business model, Journey 2 has attracted wide attention not only for its 400,000 online players at the peak, but also for the success of the new business model, which has become a hot topic among game players as well as industry insiders. This presentation uses Journey 2 as an example to systematically explain how developers can build an effective economic system. It also covers the evolution of the business model of MMO games, explains the key factors for different phases of game development, shares with the audience how to accurately predict economic trends for game development, and how to create more effective economic system according to the ever changing situations. The speaker also shares the procedures and patterns in creating the economic system for Journey 2, and some tricks employed in the process.

Research on Successful R & D Model of MMO

Peixiong Wang
Director, GM of Woool Game Studio | Shanda Games Limited

The purpose of the speech is to introduce R&D innovation, brand promotion and model improvement of MMORPG via sharing best practices & lessons learned in project Legend of Immortal. The speech mainly focuses on the following:

Adaption from literature into game, and brand promotion;
Emphasis on MMO market segment with micro-innovation focus;
Introduce community-based MMO via Legend of Immortal community;
Introduce open MMO via all platform strategy of Legend of immortal;
Interactive R&D with users.

Trends and Challenges Facing the Next-gen 3D Web Games like Drakensang Online

Philip Reisberger
Chief Games Officer | Bigpoint

Drakensang Online is now the most successful 3D web game developed by Java and in the Diablo art style. Join Bigpoint Chief Games Officer, Philip Reisberger, as he discusses the opportunities and challenges of 3D online game development in regards to Drakensang Online. Attendees will gain insight into how they can develop 3D online games from general streaming strategies, cloud gaming to full control through new engine technology. NEBULA the engine developed by the Drakensang team is the key to quality and performance. High creative competence and discipline are the fundament of the technical streaming solution and the high quality of the graphics. The isometric game play is key for the streaming decision. Discover the importance of integrating high-quality game content that gamers will engage, and learn the advantages (and risks) of expanding a company's game portfolio beyond purely 2D web game titles.

Massively Multiplayer Game Production: From Tiny Teams to Giant Projects

Jeremy Gaffney
Executive Producer | Carbine Studios

Are you a producer? Do you want to be a producer? Have you ever worked for a producer and wondered what they were thinking? Learn about how to become a respected and effective producer of triple-A MMO titles with industry veteran Jeremy Gaffney, co-founder of Turbine and now Executive Producer at NCsoft's Carbine Studios. Jeremy will lead a candid discussion about the qualities a good producer should have, some of the challenges MMO producers face during the MMO production life cycle, and how to navigate the studio/developer relationship on the way to - and through - launch.

Double-Coding: Making Online Games for Both the Casual and the Hardcore

Damion Schubert
Principle Lead Systems Designer | Bioware Austin

Mainstream success does not mean sacrificing the hardcore for the casual, but understanding the deep, symbiotic between the two markets. Double-coding is a design concept talking about designing games and concepts for both casual and hardcore markets - designing games that are approachable, yet offer depth and aspirational goals. This talk discusses how to straddle that divide, how to rethink what value casuals and hardcore players bring to your online game, how to leverage the hardcore to build your casual market, and how to convert your casual players into online devotees.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online Postmortem- An MMO For the Whole Family in Under Two Years

Jason Robar
Vice President | Amazing Society

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, The Amazing Society's AAA browser-based online game launched in April of 2011. Jason Robar, Studio Manager, the co-founder of the development studio shares his perspective 6 months after launch. Working with Marvel, using Unity3D as the client engine, running a large scale Agile project, capturing the fun in two weeks, launch challenges, and more will be presented. How do you make a game that works for kids and their parents? What key monetization decisions drove the game design and how is it working out 6 months later? The session will be highly interactive, full of humor, war stories and audience participation. Join him as he shares his know-how and passion for creating online games for the whole family, not just the core.

Capturing Children's Attention and Imagination with Investigative Play

Caitlin Feeley
Project Manager/Designer | MIT Education Arcade

In Vanished, a modified ARG for middle-schoolers, over 6000 players participated in an online community for 8 weeks in order to solve a large-scale scientific mystery. During the game, players were so invested that even when they found cheats, they avoided using them because they cared about the game and the community and were unwilling to ruin the game experience. This session will discuss how we encouraged greater participation, squashing the ARG triangle, set up a complex, cascading mystery, and conducted an online game with children still covered by COPPA, all the while creating an edge-of-your-seat experience.

Building a Multithreaded Web Based Game Engine Using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript

Corey Clark, PhD
Associate Professor | DeVry University

As hardware developers push away from creating faster processors in lieu of multicore architectures, game developers have to leverage multithreading technologies to capitalize on these new devices. With multicore mobile devices, the need for a multithreaded web based game engine is a reality. This talk will discuss design of various multithreaded web engine architectures that allow for dynamically processing request in threads by using a thread controller. Utilizing HTML5 and JavaScript APIs such as WebWorkers, WebSockets, and WebGL allows for a new standard in 3D browser-based games that are full featured, truly cross-platform supporting mobile and desktop devices without plugins.

Fundamental Multiplayer RPG Math

Sara Jensen Schubert
Design Lead | KingsIsle Entertainment

RPG-style character stats and progression are now common in all sorts of games, from FPSes to social games. But where do all those numbers come from? Learn to create flexible frameworks for basic RPG systems, like character and NPC attributes, items, cash economies, and experience curves. The lecture will include special emphasis on creating data-driven spreadsheets that allow for easy visualization and iteration of the data.

Designing and Implementing a Satisfying Sword Fight

Michael Chang
Lead Programmer | Subutai Corporation,
Lead Designer and Programmer | Puny Human Games

Shooting games are firmly established since the dawn of gaming; everyone knows the basic elements, the vocabulary, and techniques in making them. The same can't be said for melee combat, a gameplay genre very much undiscovered aside from the usual beat-em-ups and Shoryukens. This session will explore the various ideas, pitfalls, and solutions in making an engaging third person melee game. Michael Chang shares his experiences building a playable sword fight, from pacing, to camera work, rigging and animating, and hopefully giving the player something unique to play with.

Retain Your Customers by Letting Go: Fixing the Short Term Tactics that Threaten Player Loyalty

Scott Rigby
President | Immersyve, Inc.

The churn rate in social & online games is staggering. We often visualize churn as a bucket with holes in it, but in reality, the numbers don’t even justify the existence of the bucket as players pour into one end and out the other. Research indicates that by focusing too much on driving short-term behavior, we actively harm long-term motivation to stay engaged. While we increasingly rely on behavioral metrics to make decisions, we often overlook motivational and psychological data that is critical to success over time. This talk reviews specific techniques for deepening meaningful motivation in the design of social and online games, as well as discussing strategies to collect quantitative motivational metrics alongside behavioral metrics to better gauge success. Multiple game examples/best practices are discussed, along with strategies for game design and testing.

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