Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming: More gaming Web 2.0 ...

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Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

More gaming Web 2.0 ...

Folks have been hitting me up over the whole "Web 2.0 / video game intersection" mini-post I did.

(Oh, and I'm not the 'techno-geek screaming, "F***ing get with the times, game industry!"' He probably wouldn't appreciate me giving out his contact info; he actually works in the games industry.)

Anyway, some folks wanted some more concrete examples of Web 2.0 and video game intersection.

First, a review:

Web 2.0, to oversimplify, is that intersection of getting desktop-application-quality ("rich") functionality from your browser, and user-generated content that draws people in droves.
And since I used a Halo example last, I'll use another one.

First, as an additional caveat, consoles have a ways to go to catch up to PC gaming in user-generated content. So to get to this Web 2.0 intersection about which I'm talking, they need to leapfrog the stuff they're currently not doing that well, and get with the Web 2.0 times. Recent changes from Microsoft with regards to (for example) allowing Xbox Live user-generated content means this may actually happen sooner than later. If someone capitalizes on it.

Back to the example.

At its simplest, think about being able to create player customizations, user skins, game types, and map changes, and share them -- from your browser -- with your Xbox Live friends list.

(Here's where I tick off game devs again.)

This is easy.

(What? It is. You know how stuff like this gets done? A development manager says, "We need to do X." And, hopefully he's got a management style that's built a dev team that want to work to make that happen for him, rather than being made up diva devs that will spend the week explaining why it can't happen. Because, conceptually, everything's doable. We get to shop online with credit cards, for crying out loud. You're welcome, by the way.)

So, think about how Halo 3 is going to support multiple player models and more variation in armor customization than the previous 2 Halo games.

There are a definable set of fields for customization. That's begging for a data-driven web page that takes your little radio and checkbox selections for armor types, colors (probably via a slick picker widget), symbols, and so on, and sticks them in your table in the user database. Then, Bungie gives me the field names and technical specs for each (type, length, key, allowable values, binding, etc.) and the output configuration file (or segment of a file it belongs to a larger config file), and I can convert that to a Halo 3-consumable input.

And it's not just colors and armor types. I should be able to upload symbols and skins (in pre-defined templates), and those should likewise be able to be batch converted to consumable input (Hey, it worked for Rune 8 years ago; they just didn't have the batch process).

Game types are even "easier" -- given the process for customization of game types is already defined for Halo 3, the high-level context and user flow has already been defined -- it's just about adapting it to the Web medium (and the creation of the additional conversion conduit).

And if you're concerned about being invaded with obscene or otherwise undesirable symbols, skins, and the like (and you should be), this whole functionality can be constrained to your friends list -- just like the personal gamer pictures or the Xbox LIVE Vision camera's output. Mostly.

But think about it. Think about a friend of yours creating an amazing Star Wars Stormtrooper skin, and 16 of you showing up in a Big Team Battle variant. Halo has red and blue armor (and for that we're grateful). Halo 3 has more colors, and multi-team battle. Halo 3 would rock with uniform-motiff team armor. Stormtroopers (but not clone troopers). Cobra troopers. Hydra or A.I.M. troopers. My Little Ponies (What? Girls gotta represent!).

Have you seen the Forza 2 paint community? Think of that applied to Spartan models (or the Puma, but that's probably asking too much).

Anyway, yet another example of Web 2.0 servicing our gaming. And to be honest, these are pretty tame examples. I have bigger stuff about which I'm thinking ...

UPDATED: Again, if you're a professional in the industry and in Austin for the Austin Game Developers Conference, there may be some off-schedule discussions of Web 2.0 and video game intersection. Let me know if you're interested in that, and I'll try to connect you with like-minded folks.

Labels: Halo, indie development, media intersection, Xbox 360