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Several game development methodologies have been proposed by previous researchers. Un-like existing methodologies, AOAB formulates the requirement of game design and translates this into a general game development methodology suitable for different game genres. In this research, we have answered the following questions to conclude our work:
What I have done?
A new game development methodology has been created for both academic and industry sectors. AOAB has the ability to function in generic game genres. AOAB methodology based on adaptive and predictive approach.
Why New Methodology?
Game development has evolved to incorporate large multidisciplinary projects employing hundreds of people and a development time measured in years. Furthermore, a major issue negatively affecting the game development industry is that many companies adopt existing enterprise system development methodologies that do not fully match the requirements of gaming systems.
Why I have done it?
Most famous commercial games have more than one version, and it is for this reason that AOAB is presented. The current GDM are designed to solve specific problems and mostly suitable for specific game genres. Current GDM focuses on design and implementation phase and finally, to close the gap between in the existing GDM.
What I have found and what are the implications of these?
It is not easy to find a “ common solution for common problem in games” AOAB facilitate the game creation by following sequential and standard steps. Actually, AOAB make easier to incorporate extra team members in short notice and make communication between devel-opers easier. Furthermore, documentation more understandable, easy to follow and covering all the game elements.
AOAB is proposed as a hybrid methodology combining an adaptive and predictive approach.
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This combination is generic and systematic, and generates complete and consistent docu-mentation and impledocu-mentation for games. Chapter Five of this thesis details the full life cycle of and guidelines for AOAB. The research includes a full textural example describ-ing each phase in details. This is supported by unique sets of diagrams relatdescrib-ing to the MaSE methodology that facilitates the work. In Chapters Six, Seven and Eight, the work is demonstrated and evaluated using a case study, experiment and workshops. Throughout the research period, every effort has been made to create a systematic, generic and standard methodology to offer an easy starting point for game developers across different sectors. As AOAB is configured based on MaSE and Agile methodology, it is easy to integrate with another type of application, such as robotics or a distributed system.
10.1 Thesis Contribution
This section will consider the original contributions discussed in Chapter One, and address them individually.
• Create a novel game development methodology which is a hybrid of adaptive and predictive approaches.
• Evaluate AOAB using different evaluation methods to arrive at a general and standard methodology.
• AOAB should be suitable for industrial and academic use.
• AOAB must cover the full game creation life cycle and pay greater attention to the evaluation phase of the methodology.
• Create a generic GDD template that is suitable for different game genres and for all game developers.
The primary aim of this research is to fill the game development methodology gap between the industry and academic sectors. The research outcome is a set of steps, processes and
diagrams to guide game developers and designers throughout the game design process. This thesis enhances current game development methodology by providing a generic methodology that meets most game requirements. Furthermore, a GDD template is provided that covers the mandatory and majority of requirements for different game genres. A heavier focus is on the evaluation phase, as this is an important part of game creation and helps to solve any problems early in the process, before final game release. Furthermore, the game development life cycle provides all required Agent-UML (AUML) diagrams in order to facilitate the work, as well as easy documentation, which is needed for game updates or the creation of new versions of games.
The agent structure of AOAB can behave in an autonomous mode, and the game goal for each agent is easily defined. This research represents a new trend in the field, which opens the door to integrating and implementing more agent features within the games field. The proposed AOAB game development methodology is evaluated in many ways, in order to determine its strength and weaknesses. The results provide a possible outline for future work.
10.2 Future Work
In regards to future work, we have planned to do the following:
1. An extended version of AOAB is planned, to be used not only for game creation, but for the creation of different distributed systems that deals with agents.
2. To work in detail with agents and game metrics, which is a new field and requires more research. Metrics could provide a quantitative measurement, which is important to achieve accurate results, as is mentioned in the evaluation phase of AOAB.
3. Further research regarding game evaluation should also be carried out, as currently there is a need to compare games to identify games with the highest fun factor, as well
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as many other issues. Most famous commercial games have more than one version, and it is for this reason that AOAB is presented.
4. Further research regarding re-engineering concepts, which could be implemented in the games field.