Overview | Picking a Topic | Tech Decisions | Design Decisions
Usability Testing | What Went Right | What Went Wrong | Conclusions


Picking a Topic
According to my chief advisor, Professor Chris Jackson, the most important part of the thesis project in the Computer Graphics Design program is to pick subject matter that is genuinely exciting and appealing to the author. Although breaking new ground in the field is important, exploring a technology or topic that is totally unfamiliar to the author is breaking new ground in its own right. I agree with this philosophy. Like all academic endeavors, the main goal of this thesis project should be to learn.

Game development is a significant segment of the Computer Graphics Design industry that I have always wanted to explore. Although I have had a bit of exposure to basic game development during my graduate studies, it is usually limited to small proof-of-concept exercises that are created in Macromedia Director or Flash. Although these projects are useful and fun, I wanted to explore professional grade game development engines for real-time 3D.

I have always had an interest in world history and I took a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman civilization, art and literature during my undergraduate studies. After spending a year in Italy in 1992-1993 and having the opportunity to visit Rome and Pompeii, I continued to enjoy reading and learning about ancient Roman culture.

While exploring thesis topics, I found that there may be a connection between ancient Rome and game development (as strange as that may sound). After continuing to explore both topics, I found that there were indeed many parallels in the role of violence as entertainment in ancient Roman gladiatorial spectacle and contemporary video games. Although I knew that a comprehensive study of these parallels was not suited to a thesis that was to focus on the creation of a visually intensive multimedia project, I still wanted to explore these concepts.

A Tradition of Violence
The role of violence in Roman conquest and in everyday life has always been simultaneously fascinating and a bit disturbing to me. Here was a culture that was responsible for grand achievements in architecture, language, art, politics and civil engineering that set the stage for a large part of western civilization as we know it. How could such a culture also be responsible for brutal imperialism and slavery? How could such a culture actually enjoy gladiatorial murder as entertainment of the masses?

Here is a sobering thought: maybe humans have always had a tendency towards violence. Gladiatorial games, warfare and even genocide may not be isolated aberrations of the human condition. They are the human condition, or at least a significant part of it.

Millions of years ago, as modern humans were still coming into their own, the evolutionary tree split. The Neanderthals, a very strong (if not very bright) primate group was making do with simple tools and clothing. Cro-Magnons, a slightly less imposing but far more intelligent breed was about to introduce itself to the Neanderthals. Did these two groups interact in a peaceful way? Possibly, but the evolutionary record suggests not. Some suggest that the first encounter between these two groups was similar to modern encounters between two groups of vastly different technological and intellectual capabilities. What happened when the Spanish explorers introduced themselves to the Incas? How about when our American ancestors introduced themselves to the Native Americans?

For better or worse, I do not think that contemporary humans are any less bloodthirsty or violence prone than their ancient ancestors. Technology has provided a buffer to make the human tendency towards violence a bit more obscured, but I believe it is still there. While a Roman legionnaire may have had to look into the eyes of his foe as he killed him with his sword, the contemporary soldier can press a button. The technology may make the murder more impersonal, but the killing is usually done on a massively higher scale.

Roman citizens who never saw battle were able to satisfy their lust for violence by watching Gladiatorial games that were often sponsored by the emperor himself. Action movies and video games provide a similar role today, albeit with a smaller body count.

Video Games and Film: The New Gladiatorial Games
I am not ready to dispute whether violence in video games and film encourages violent behavior in the viewer. There is evidence of mass murder in the headlines far too frequently that has eerie resemblances to certain movies or games, so to say that these forms of entertainment have no effect would be a bit irresponsible. I will make one statement though: people love this stuff. The games fly off the shelves and people line up around the block to see the movies. Publishers and producers crank out violence at an incredible rate, and the public, for better or worse, eats it up.

Violence with Context: Historical Shooters
Violence in video games has come a long way since controversial favorites such as “Doom”. As a game player, I am a biased source, but I think it is fair to say that violent video games today can be divided into those that simply portray violence for violence’s sake, and those that use violence to relate a particularly intense story. The advent of what have come to be called “historical shooters” further proves this point.

I will use a particular game as an example. “Medal of Honor: Allied Assault” (Publisher: EA Games; Developer: 2015) has come to define the genre of modern historical shooters. Using World War II as a starting point, the developers of this game endeavor to put the player in the boots of a soldier during certain key battles and moments of the conflict. One of the most memorable experiences occurs when the player lands on Omaha beach in a Higgins boat on June 6. The game is violent, to be sure, but the violence serves the narration of the story.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Image courtesy of gamespot.com

Violence without Context
The other genre of shooter is one that stirs a bit more controversy due to its explicit and graphic content. These games usually put a violent theme first and then contrive the story to fit that theme. The theme could be an occupation, such as a car-jacker/mobster in “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”, a professional killer in “Hitman 2: Silent Assasin” or a soldier of fortune in the appropriately named “Soldier of Fortune”.  

Grand theft Auto: Vice City. Image courtesy of gamespot.com

I find these games hugely addictive and fun in their own right, but I think it is fair to say that they contain themes that may not be appropriate for children, and that do little to spark interest in little else than playing more games of the same genre.

Educational Shooters
This thesis project attempts to create a new game genre of “educational shooters” by putting the user in a historically accurate setting and providing an added dimension of exposure to the history contained therin. Although the primary focus of the game is action and violent battle, players are also able to interact with objects, props and characters to actively learn more about historical trivia, architecture and foreign languages. 

The ultimate goal of this thesis is to build the environment and then determine the following:

1)     Does the user find the added information useful or distracting?

2)     Is the user motivated to find out more about Roman history?

The definitive answers to these questions are impossible to answer without being able to gain the opinion of a large number of users, but an attempt is made to gather an average opinion in Usability Testing.

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