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Subject: The Art of Computer Game Design- Chapter 8
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<UL>
<DIV align=3Dright>
<P><A name=3Dtop></A><FONT size=3D+3>The Development of=20
Excalibur<BR></FONT><B>Chapter Eight</B></P></DIV></UL>
<P>
<HR width=3D"100%">
<P></P>
<CENTER>
<TABLE cellPadding=3D10>
<TBODY>
<TR vAlign=3Dtop align=3Dleft>
<TD width=3D"50%"><B><A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter8.html#=
BEGINNINGS">BEGINNINGS<BR></A><A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter8.html#=
EARLY WORK: JANUARY-APRIL,">EARLY=20
WORK: JANUARY-APRIL, 1982<BR></A><A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter8.html#=
THE LONG HAUL: MAY-DECEMBER">THE=20
LONG HAUL: MAY-DECEMBER =
1982</A></B></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>
<UL>
<P><B><FONT size=3D+2>I</FONT></B>n Chapter 5, I presented an =
idealized game=20
design sequence. I attempted to describe a general purpose method that =
properly recognized the concepts developed throughout this book. It is =
a sad=20
truth that the practicality of the schemes we devise is inversely =
proportional=20
to the idealism they embody. I have never designed a game in complete=20
accordance with the system described in Chapter 5. My real designs =
have=20
followed considerably rockier courses. In this chapter, I will =
describe the=20
development of EXCALIBUR, a recent design. The contrast between the =
real=20
process, jerky and mistake-prone, and the ideal process should help =
the reader=20
bridge the gap between theory and practice. <FONT size=3D-1><A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter8.html#=
top">Top</A>=20
</FONT></P>
<P><A name=3DBEGINNINGS></A><B>BEGINNINGS</B></P>
<P>In December of 1981, I began working for Alan Kay in his new =
Corporate=20
Research unit at Atari. Given total creative freedom, I resolved to do =
a game=20
worthy of the vast faith that Dr. Kay had invested in me. I wanted =
this game=20
to be grand and glorious, a game so lofty in its goals and play that =
it would=20
put all others to shame. Since marketing considerations were not =
significant=20
to the game, I resolved that this game would run in a 48K disk-based=20
environment. This afforded me plenty of computer resource with which =
to=20
work.</P>
<P>My background is in wargames, and I naturally thought in terms of a =
wargame. War is the most extreme expression of human conflict, the =
greatest=20
evil of human existence, and the highest tragedy of our species; it is =
therefore an obvious starting point for a serious artist. I wanted to =
break=20
away from the conventional treatment of war in wargames, which either=20
glorifies war as an expression of misconceived heroism, or trivializes =
war as=20
a fascinating intellectual exercise. I wanted something more than a =
wargame,=20
something that placed war in a meaningful context. My game would =
include war=20
as a viable option that must sometimes be exercised, but not =
frivolously. I=20
wanted a game that warmongers would inevitably lose, because I deeply =
believe=20
that peaceful strategies are often the most practical ones. This game =
would=20
address statecraft as a human enterprise; as such it would necessarily =
focus=20
on leadership. Another fundamental goal I established was that the =
game would=20
actually consist of a number of games linked together. This would =
allow me to=20
show policy, statecraft, and war at a variety of scales, from the most =
strategic and indirect level to the most tactical and direct =
level.</P>
<P>My next task was to determine the fantasy context for the game. I =
boiled=20
the possibilities down to two contenders: a game dealing with the USA =
after a=20
major nuclear war, and a game about Britain in the Dark Ages after the =
collapse of Roman authority. Both contexts deal with societies =
attempting to=20
reorganize themselves after a calamity. I decided that the first =
fantasy was=20
too morbid for my purposes. Furthermore, the second fantasy context =
was=20
shrouded in the legends of King Arthur, an intrinsically interesting =
subject.=20
I therefore chose the Arthurian context.</P>
<P>The player in this game would be King Arthur, and his goal would be =
to=20
unify Britain and bring peace to the troubled land. The challenge of =
the game=20
would arise from the unwillingness of the other kings to submit to =
Arthur's=20
authority. The player would be required to use a variety of techniques =
to=20
establish his authority, only one of which would be military action. =
Indeed, I=20
resolved that overuse of military methods would brutalize the nation =
and=20
result in endless insurrections and anarchy. With these noble goals=20
established, I began serious design work on the game. <FONT =
size=3D-1><A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter8.html#=
top">Top</A>=20
</FONT></P>
<P><A name=3D"EARLY WORK: JANUARY-APRIL,"></A><B>EARLY WORK: =
JANUARY-APRIL,=20
1982</B></P>
<P>I first turned to the question, what is leadership? The answer to =
this=20
question is central to the game. It was essential for me to determine =
the=20
essence of leadership at the national level and reduce this essence to =
a form=20
manageable in a game. I needed to extract the central decisions of =
leadership=20
and design a form for expressing them. The military aspects of =
leadership are=20
the most obvious and easiest to work with. I would have had no =
difficulty=20
designing a game in which the player must make all the correct =
military=20
decisions. Yet, this was not satisfactory to me: I wanted to address =
wider=20
issues. My game had to address the social, diplomatic, and =
interpersonal=20
aspects of leadership. How was I to represent and manipulate these =
factors in=20
the course of the game? These problems vexed me for months.</P>
<P>I quickly grew impatient with the struggle with such fundamental =
problems.=20
The child in me wanted immediate gratification. To satiate these =
impatient=20
impulses, I wrote the title and ending scenes for the game. These were =
not=20
crucial to the structure of the game, but they. gave me an opportunity =
to=20
explore some interesting graphics techniques without compromising the=20
integrity of my design. The ending scene posed some interesting =
problems. It=20
shows the sword Excalibur twirling through the air over a lake, =
falling into a=20
hand that abruptly rises out of the water to catch it, and then =
recedes=20
beneath the waves. I spent a great deal of time trying to add the =
lonely sound=20
of the wind whistling against the blade of the sword, but I was never =
able to=20
obtain satisfactory results. I therefore turned to the idea of =
accompanying=20
the title and ending scenes with some appropriate music. I chose as my =
two=20
prime candidates a section from Siegfried's death and funeral in =
Wagner's=20
Siegfried, and a portion of Dvorak's Seventh Symphony.</P>
<P>I also determined the fundamental structure of the game at this =
time. There=20
were to be four fundamental nested games. The first, CAMELOT, would =
concern=20
Arthur's activities within his castle. These would include the =
management of=20
his own kingdom, the conduct of diplomacy, and the preparation of the =
army.=20
The second game module, BRITAIN, would allow Arthur to travel around =
the=20
island of Britain with his army and engage in strategic military =
activity. The=20
third game module, BATTLE, would allow Arthur to fight battles with =
enemy=20
armies. If Arthur himself managed to encounter an enemy king on the=20
battlefield, then he would enter the fourth module, JOUST. This last =
module=20
was intended to be a simple skill-and-action game in which Arthur =
attempted to=20
unhorse his opponent. The game would use a full first-person view of =
an=20
advancing horseman, lance leveled, with the whole scene bouncing up =
and down=20
with the galloping of Arthur's own horse. I entertained myself by =
devising=20
clever graphics algorithms that would generate true 3D first-person =
graphics.=20
After I had expended a great deal of effort, though, I realized that =
the JOUST=20
game would take only a few seconds to play and would not provide much=20
challenge. So I started over with a new idea: a swordfight game. The =
first=20
problem I faced was, how can I simulate the motion of a sword through =
joystick=20
commands? I got out a yardstick and spent hours in my living room, =
swinging=20
the yardstick, trying to divine some sort of pattern to it that could =
be=20
represented cleanly with a joystick. My difficulties arose from the =
fact that=20
the motion of a sword in a swordfight is a very complex motion, and a =
joystick=20
simply cannot adequately express all the intricacies of such motion. I =
eventually found a reasonable system. The side-to-side motion of the =
joystick=20
controlled the angle of attack of the sword, from horizontal swing =
from the=20
left, through a vertical swing over the player's head, to a horizontal =
swing=20
from the right. Backward motion on the joystick swung the sword =
backwards in=20
preparation for a stroke; forward motion of the joystick sent the =
sword=20
forward in its stroke.</P>
<P>This problem solved, I began work on some new graphics routines =
that would=20
show an opposing swordsman in first-person graphics. This proved to be =
a very=20
difficult task. I eventually gave up on the swordfight game for much =
of the=20
same reasons that had led me to abandon the joust game. Besides, I =
didn't want=20
Arthur to be able to hack his way to victory. If swordfights cannot =
assure=20
success, what's the point of having them in the game?</P>
<P>By now it was March. I began work on the BRITAIN module. This was a =
.scrolling map with a number of embellishments thrown in. I had =
earlier done=20
.scrolling maps in EASTERN FRONT 1941 and LEGIONNAIRE, so the =
implementation=20
of this module was easy for me. Since I had lots more memory for this =
game, I=20
decided to splurge and make a gigantic scrolling map. I ended up with =
a 6K map=20
of Britain that is quite large.</P>
<P>Slowly the design was taking shape in my head, but a fundamental =
question=20
remained unanswered: was this to be a historical game or a fictional =
game?=20
That is, was this a game about Britain in the sixth century AD or was =
this a=20
game about King Arthur? I read every book I could lay my hands on =
about both=20
subjects. This research led me to conclude that Britain in the sixth =
century=20
was a chaotic and depressing place. The native Celts were defending =
their=20
homeland against invading Anglo-Saxons landing on the eastern coast of =
the=20
island. For two centuries the Anglo-Saxons slowly pushed the Celts =
westward.=20
King Arthur was actually a Celtic general who led a brief =
counteroffensive=20
against the Anglo-Saxons, winning the battle of Mount Badon and =
halting the=20
Anglo-Saxon offensive for about 50 years. But Arthur's success was =
only a=20
brief respite; in the end, the Celts lost. Thus, the historical record =
does=20
not support my needs for a society struggling to reorganize itself. =
Instead,=20
the story of Britain in the Dark Ages is the story of one people being =
relentlessly driven out by another.</P>
<P>Yet, from the dreams of the vanquished arose the legend of the =
conquering=20
King Arthur, a legend that passed through the ages and agreeably =
molded itself=20
to suit the needs of any storyteller. As I read the many incarnations =
of these=20
legends, I was struck by their surpassing flexibility. Each artist who =
took=20
them up impressed a different character upon them. They worked just as =
well as=20
religious inspiration, ribald tales, or expositions of the chivalric =
ideal.=20
Even Mark Twain turned them to good use for his characteristic =
blistering=20
social comment.</P>
<P>A major turning point in the design process came when I watched the =
movie=20
EXCALIBUR. This is a magnificent film that beautifully captures the =
best=20
elements of the Arthurian legends yet makes its own statement. I =
watched it=20
over and over, reveling in the richness of the tale. This movie shamed =
me with=20
its excellence. I realized that I had been compromising the important =
artistic=20
issues in my game in order to play with cute graphics. I climbed a =
lonely hill=20
and spent a day meditating. I rededicated myself to the lofty artistic =
goals I=20
had earlier set for myself. I also knew that I could not realize them =
alone; I=20
had to got help. I enlisted the aid of Larry Summers, and hired =
Valerie=20
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