3D Graphics Development Articles

We intend to publish a range of helpful articles covering a broad spectrum of subjects relating to 3D, simulation, gaming and the development of computer graphics in general. Eventually this page will contain a series of links to the articles. In the meantime, here's our work-in-progress on the subject of the growing popularity of 'serious games'.

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Convergence of Games and Military Training Technology

Keywords: games, military simulation, training, COTS, 3D

1 Introduction

Many people might believe that computer games and military simulators could not be more different. Many games are entertaining by virtue of drawing participants into a virtual world that calls for suspension of disbelief, while military simulators seek to attain a high level of realism in order to derive meaningful simulation and training results. However, both types of software in fact share a common set of technologies, and it would be beneficial to both the game industry and military simulation community to utilise the other's innovative solutions.

 

2 Convergence of simulation and games

Military simulation systems evolved during the 19070's and 80's as sophisticated applications that run on high-powered computer workstations, while computer games were initially programmed by hobbyists to run on machines like the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. However, the widespread take-up of faster processors, larger hard disks, and graphic accelerators by PC owners enabled game developers to capitalise on advances by computer scientists in areas such as real-time 3D graphics, artificial intelligence and networking. The increasing power of the home PC heralded the extremely lucrative game industry that has produced numerous titles that have begun to rival military simulators in terms of level of detail and richness of experience.

 

3 Gaming in the Military

The potential of computer games as a cost effective medium to motivate and engage a game-savvy generation of soldiers in repetitive tactical thinking has not gone unnoticed among various armed forces.

In 1995, the U.S. Marine Corps had the foresight to take advantage of the highly popular Doom game engine in the development of 'Marine Doom', to help develop the teamwork and coordination of four-soldier fire teams. The advent of fully 3D games presented a whole new world of possibilities for military training applicationa. In the past few years the U.S. Army has pumped in millions of dollars to work with developers to create various games, including America's Army which started out as a recruitment tool but has since been used to train future officers at West Point, and Full Spectrum Warrior which aims to train squad leaders in real-life combat tactics of urban warfare

While these games developed by the U.S. Army have made the crossover into the mainstream gaming community, several COTS games such as Delta Force 2, Steel Beasts, and Falcon 4.0 have also been adapted by various armed forces to enhance their relevance to military training.

 

4 Leveraging COTS games through mods

Adapting a game for military use typically involves engaging a game developer or creative studio to create custom game content under strict licensing agreements. However, this may soon be the exception rather than the norm.

Game-development toolkits (often refered to a SDK's), once the tightly guarded bastion of game developers, have increasingly been released by developers to the delight of an emerging breed of gamers – the mod makers. With access to the very tools used to create games, these technically inclined gamers are able to create new content – characters, weapons, vehicles, maps, missions – collectively forming modifications (or mods, in gaming parlance) of the commercial game, which they then freely share with other gaming enthusiasts over the Internet.

A good mod will invariably gain plaudits from the gaming community, and the status and acknowledgement awarded its creator is motivation enough for mod makers to spend countless hours creating new content. The game developers also stand to benefit as mods become a source of new content that extends the shelf life of games. Prime examples of this trend include the popular Half-Life series of games (Counter-Strike mod), Battlefield 1942 and America's Army.

It is the symbiotic relationship between game developers and mod makers, borne out of the unique social ecology of games, that can be exploited in the modification of COTS games for the training use of the military and other civil institutions (police and emergency services).

More to come soon . . .