Project Spark Levi D. Smith Knoxville Game Design April 2014 @GaTechGrad / levidsmith.com 

Background • Debut at E3 2013 • Based on Kodu Game Lab • Windows 8 and XBoxOne only • Still in beta 

Kodu Game Lab • Windows and XBox 360 • Microsoft FUSE Labs • Released June 30, 2009 

Basic Navigation • XBoxOne Controller – Left stick – move cursor – Right stick – tilt cursor – Y: move cursor up – X: move cursor down – A: change tool – B: cancel – RT: perform action – LT: reverse action (erase, subtract, etc) – View button: undo – Menu button: pause menu – D-pad up: select options (models, materials, etc) – LB – object options – RB – camera options – Left stick click – insert – Right stick click – camera zoom 

Creating Your World • Sculpting Terrain – Expand / Erode – Add / Subtract – Smooth / Roughen – Plateau / Tunnel – Cubify / Decubify • Options – Scale – Shape – Intensity 

Painting the World • 15 material slots • Changing a material changes all terrain previously painted with that material • Brush options: Scale, shape, intensity • Biomes: Paints terrain with objects, lighting, etc 

Objects • Objects – Static – Generally no AI – Rocks, trees, etc • Characters – Players – Enemies – Creatures – NPCs – Most have movements and combat animations • Champions – Same as characters – Marketing ploy? • Effects – Particle systems – Fireball, smoke, explosions, etc • Sound Effects – Music and sound effects • Assembilies – Grouped objects • Special objects – Logic cube (hidden by default) – Light bulb – Path – Camera Gizmo – Floating water pool 

Object Properties • All objects have some basic properties – Brain • Starting page, Template – Appearance • Visible, shadows, color – Movement • Speed, acceleration, jump, fly, swim – Combat • Attack damage, health, defense, team – Sound – Physics • Collidable, density, mass, friction, bounciness 

Advanced Object • Multi-Edit – Glue (good for moving things around) – Create assembly • Power – Switches, levers • Attach 

Character Studio • Customize character body features • Customize character clothing • Many color options (maybe too many) • HSV or RBG color picker 

Brains • Similar to Scripts in Unity • Logic built by stacking tiles • When [something] Do [Something] • Can group “Do” statements under “When” • “Once” – Similar to Init method • Page – Similar to Update method • Brain has zero or more pages • Can call other pages by name or index 

Tiles • Objects – Me, Player, Gallery Picker, In World Picker, Equipment, Inventory • Values – Variables (Number, Boolean, Object, Text, Vector, Color), Constants, Global • Sensors – Detect, See, Bump, Trigger Zone • Movement – Walking, Flying, Swimming • Combat – Health, Attack, Shoot • Appearance – Visible, Scale, Color • Logic and Timing – Loops, Not, Once, Until, Ignore • Controls – Controller button presses, mouse input, Keyboard • Math – Algebraic functions, Random numbers • Teams • Brains • Physics • World settings • Campaign – Level switching 

UI Items • Text • Other game objects – No custom objects, but color can be applied • Relative screen positioning • Coordinate system – 0,0 is center – x: -1 to 1 – y: -1 to 1 (not always) 

World Settings • Sky (time of day) • Sun angle (for shadows) • Water level • Water type • Background Music 

Spark Level • Gain experience points and levels as you complete game tasks – Timed: Daily and weekly challenges – Milestones: Tier objectives – Goals: Mostly one time objectives, some repeatable • Statistics – Total number of downloads, Highest creation rating, Average creation rating, Follower count 

Marketplace • Purchase new assets (materials, models, sounds, etc) • Two monetary systems – Credits: Earned by completing tasks – Tokens: Purchased with real money • Some items are level locked • Spark Time – Removed • Content packs 

Kinect • Can capture custom animations for your character • Good idea, buggy implementation 

World Limitations • Object Count – Can dynamically create game objects • Music and Sound • Kinect Capture • Terrain Voxels – Remove default underwater land mass to free up terrain voxels 

Sharing Your World • UGC Community – 5 slots initially, can purchase more – Tracks number of downloads – Rated by community • Green: 75% and up • Silver: 30% and up • Red: below 30% – Resharing world loses download and rating statistics – Team Dakota Featured – Followed Creators – Can get lost in the shuffle – Tags • Twitch – Project Spark Twitch Channel • Game DVR – Only 5 minutes – Poor voice-over quality with Kinect • No current way to share outside of Project Spark app 

Remixing World • Anyone can remix anyone else’s world – Must own all content in world to remix – Lineage (coming soon) 

Crossroads • Create your game as you play • Standard set of game choices • Creates a complete Project Spark game world after your quest is over • Standard Cycle – Land features – Biome type – Time of day – Town square – Hero – Objective – Enemies – Side quests – Boss 

Coming Soon • Level linking • Assembly sharing • Multiplayer • Leaderboards 

References • Official Site – projectspark.com • Twitch channel – www.twitch.tv/project_spark • Twitter – twitter.com/proj_spark • Kode Share – kodeshare.com • Fan sites – projectspark.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Spark_Wiki – project-spark.org – projectsparknation.net