GAMEFEST 2007 PRESENTATIONS AND AUDIO RECORDINGS

Please note that due to technical issues, audio recordings for select presentations are not available.  Also, some presentations and audio recordings are not available by request.  

System Programming for Windows and Xbox 360

Graphics

Quality Assurance and Certification

Producer and Business Development

Audio

LIVE

XNA Game Studio

Games for Everyone

Visual Arts

 

SYSTEM PROGRAMMING FOR WINDOWS AND XBOX 360

Making today’s multi-core architectures work effectively is becoming more interesting with each generation. This track focuses on getting the most out of profiling and performance tools, exciting new features of the Xbox 360 SDK, lessons we’ve learned over the last two years of real world title development for Xbox 360, and tips and tricks for making sure your Windows Vista title is ready for prime time.

 

Presentation	Speaker	Description
Profiling Tools and Techniques: New Guidelines for Finding Where Your Time is Going	Bruce Dawson	Effective CPU performance tuning allows you get the best gaming results on Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 profiling tools continue to expand and improve. This talk explains how to use the new profiling tools and libraries effectively, with an emphasis on CPU performance.
Performance Update and Optimization Case Studies	Bruce Dawson	The Xbox 360 compiler has added new features and fixed old problems, so the state-of-the-art in writing quality Xbox 360 code has changed in many ways. This talk explains the changes and shows new solutions to CPU performance problems.
Effective Game Disc Usage: Compression & Caching	Zsolt Mathe	The new lossy and lossless codecs available in the latest versions of the Xbox 360 XDK enable titles to greatly improve disc usage and streaming performance. The new automatic caching feature provides seamless HDD caching integration into titles. This talk covers integration of these features, best practices, and achieving optimal performance.
Just Make Windows Work	Jason Sandlin	Windows supports a huge number of hardware and software configurations. As a result, authoring and deploying a game with a great user experience on Windows can be tricky. This talk examines the most common trouble spots encountered when developing games on the Windows platform. Topics include installation, patching, security, and the file system.
VMX Optimization: Taking it up a Level	Ian Lewis	The Xbox 360 VMX vector unit holds the potential to speed up floating-point calculations by several hundred percent. But for many developers, a move to VMX yields lackluster results. Why? Frequently, it's because optimizations are done at too low of a level. In this talk, we discuss some of the pitfalls of VMX programming, including pipeline latency and data-alignment restrictions. Then we demonstrate how to move VMX optimization up a level or two, out of low-level math libraries and into higher-level algorithms where its power can truly shine.
Multicore Programming, Two Years Later	Ian Lewis	Two years ago, the games industry was dominated by single-core machines and haunted by the necessity of going multicore. To help smooth the way for Xbox 360 developers, the Xbox performance team rolled out a set of recommendations for getting the most out of a multicore processor. How well have those recommendations stood up over the last two years? What have we learned since unleashing the Xbox 360 on the world? This talk discusses threading models we've seen in shipping titles, suggests an updated set of best practices for multithreading, and presents some techniques for moving multithreaded code from the console to the less predictable world of multicore computers.
Building High-Performance Data Pipelines Using the .NET Framework	Andre Bremer, Electronic Arts	With the ever-increasing amount and sheer complexity of game content, developers face a constant challenge to keep data build times to a minimum. This session highlights the use of innovative techniques in combination with the .NET Framework to create a high-performance XML-based content pipeline for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.
Static Code Analysis on Game Code	Marwan Jubran	This talk covers the built-in Visual Studio code analysis parser. This parser was designed to assist in detecting code defects that lead to product instability, expose security vulnerabilities, and reveal performance bottlenecks. We share our experience and strategy conducting static code analysis, process optimization, and lessons learned specifically for the games industry.
Practical Steps in Game Security	Dave Weinstein	This talk presents a step-by-step guide to basic techniques that developers can readily integrate into the game development process. Some techniques covered include source code analysis and integrated data fuzzing.
Why Your Windows Game Won't Run In 2,147,352,576 Bytes	Chuck Walbourn	For several years now, many blockbuster Windows titles have been running out of memory—exhausting the 2 GB virtual address space of 32-bit applications, and in the process often getting strange crashes or having difficulty during content creation before final optimization. In the past year, we've reached a critical point where games need to leverage video cards with 512 MB, 640 MB, 768 MB, or even 1 GB of video RAM while utilizing 2+ GB of system RAM. Simple arithmetic shows that this is doomed to failure, and 64-bit technology with its 8 TB of virtual address space is the only way out. This talk covers strategies for managing that transition, options for getting some breathing room on 32-bit Windows, and investments required to move gaming into the world of 64-bit computing.
Visual C++ 2008: A Game Developer’s Perspective	Boris Jabes	Come discover the new features available in Visual C++ 2008. Many of these features target improving productivity in the IDE, from building faster to improving the debugging experience. Also, with the advent of the C++0x standard, the C++ language and library functionality are growing, so we present these enhancements and identify which are currently supported in Visual C++. Whether you are a seasoned developer or a novice, there is something to discover in the many new features available in VSTS that make life easier for game developers.
Magic and Technology: Migrating from One to Many Cores in Shadowrun	Joe Waters, Microsoft Game Studios	Shadowrun technology began life as a single-thread, Windows-based game architecture and now utilizes six hardware threads, task multithreading, and worker threads. This talk covers the progression of changes made to move from one to many threads, with a strong focus on debugging tools and unit testing used to expose memory overwrites and thread collisions.

 

 

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GRAPHICS

Are you dedicated to taking full advantage of the graphics processing power available on Xbox 360 and/or Windows/D3D10? Would you like to know more about how to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of your graphics engine? Are you interested in hearing war stories about real-world development on both Xbox 360 and Windows Vista (D3D10) – and finding out what really works (and of course what doesn’t)?  Learn all this and more in graphics talks running the full range from deep exploration of platform technologies to real-world experience from other graphics experts in the field.

 

Presentation

Speaker

Description

Picture Perfect: Gamma through the Rendering Pipeline	Steve Smith	Many aspects of gamma correction in the rendering pipeline can be a mystery. This talk explores gamma as it affects content creation and rendering pipelines on both Xbox 360 and Windows. We explore exactly what gamma means to your visuals, and how and where you should tweak it to get the best results.
Xbox 360 GPU Utilization: Past, Present, and Future	Michael Dougherty	How is the Xbox 360 GPU utilized by top-selling games? We show detailed GPU utilization patterns from our top titles. Game designers and programmers can use this information to set scene complexity expectations from real-world–derived statistics. We also discuss where there is room for growth in the future and how to optimize for resource utilization at the macro level.
GPU Font/Vector Rendering and Approximating Catmull-Clark Subdivision Surfaces with Bicubic Patches	Charles Loop	Find out how to render resolution-independent text, without needing different sized bitmaps for different resolutions—all through leveraging the GPU to do text and spline curve rendering. We also explore how to approximate Catmull-Clark subdivision (subd) surfaces with bicubic patches. Doing exact evaluation of Catmull-Clark subd surfaces on the tessellator unit requires a lot of memory access and math operations. Instead, we approximate these surfaces with a much-easier-to-evaluate proxy that is visually indistinguishable from the original. This allows acceleration of common art assets on GPUs equipped with programmable tessellator units.
GPU Data Structures and Advanced Lighting: State-of-the-Art Techniques from Microsoft Research	Hugues Hoppe, John Snyder	This talk covers some of the latest advanced work from Microsoft Research. We examine compressed random-access trees for coherent spatial data—a GPU-based data structure for compressing images with large coherent regions, such as light maps and HDR luminance. We also look into texel programs for random-access, antialiased vector graphics—another GPU data structure that lets a pixel shader evaluate general vector graphics (layers of filled and stroked shapes) with very good antialiasing. Finally, we look at real-time design and rendering of inhomogeneous, single-scattering media.
From the Trenches: Xbox 360 Development War Stories	Kutta Srinivasan	This talk covers a number of different topics in CPU/GPU optimization based on experiences drawn from Crackdown, Gears of War, and Halo 3. One major topic is antialiasing (with and without predicated tiling) and its impact on performance, visual quality, and latency. Reducing render CPU usage is another major pain point for developers, but the most effective solutions—pre-compiled command buffers and caching systems—are not trivial undertakings. This talk explores issues encountered when implementing such a system. A number of other topics are also discussed, including particle system optimization and post-process optimization.
Performance Considerations for Graphics on Windows	Kev Gee	Learn how the Microsoft game performance team (XDC) applies tools and analysis techniques to identify the worst bottlenecks in games. This talk identifies common issues experienced when developing high-end graphics experiences on Windows XP and Windows Vista and outlines approaches to mitigate those issues.
Windows to Reality: Getting the Most out of Direct3D 10 Graphics in Your Games	Shanon Drone	This talk delivers stories from the trenches based on experiences developing D3D10 engines for shipping games. We examine common performance and architectural issues, along with content development and other issues we encountered when moving high-end D3D9 engines to D3D10.
Mapping the Dark Corners: Creating a Flexible Framework for Dynamic Shadowing	Dan Amerson, Emergent Co-Written by: Matt Bailey, Emergent	Real-time shadowing is an important graphical feature for modern games. As algorithms and graphical processing power increase, interactive applications must support an increasingly diverse array of requirements to support modern shadowing techniques across a variety of hardware configurations and scene arrangements. Using the shadowing system developed for Gamebryo, this talk focuses on the design and architecture of a shadow map–based system supporting arbitrary shadowing algorithms across arbitrary scenes. The discussion does not center on the implementation of specific shadowing techniques. Instead, we focus on the design of the supporting structures and data flows to enable the culling, post-processing, and shading techniques necessary to support any combination of shadowing algorithms for any type of game. This discussion assumes attendees are familiar with common shadow mapping algorithms.
Windows Vista Graphics Development Drilldown: Direct3D 10 and 10.1	Sam Glassenberg	Learn how to make Direct3D 10 do your bidding! Discover how to take advantage of new hardware, API, and effects-system features to construct rapid-fire Direct3D 10 material systems that blast way more unique content into your scene. This talk focuses on practical usage of the Direct3D 10 API—driving the latest hardware with maximum efficiency. We also explore the enhancements provided by the upcoming Direct3D 10.1 interfaces.
Xbox 360 GPU Performance Update	Matt Lee	Effective graphics performance optimization is a key to getting your title running smoothly with ever-increasing content requirements. Learn about the newest graphics performance analysis tools in PIX, and get a recap of the most effective graphics profiling techniques. The talk also discusses performance pitfalls commonly seen by recent titles and how you can detect and eliminate them from your own games.
Advanced Xbox 360 Graphics Techniques Using Command Buffers and Predicated Tiling	Matt Lee	Two holidays after the launch of Xbox 360, title developers are still squeezing graphics performance out of the Xbox 360 CPU and GPU using the powerful and often daunting predicated tiling and command buffer Direct3D APIs. In this talk, we examine the inner workings of commonly misunderstood APIs so you can make best use of their functionality. Come see tricks from real game titles, such as how advanced state inheritance can allow render target flexibility with command buffers.
Graphics Futures: Direct3D 11 and Beyond	David Blythe	Direct3D 10 has paved the way for vastly more complex processing on the GPU. This talk discusses where graphics processing is heading next with D3D11 and how it will affect the way game engines and content are designed. We discuss possibilities for how rendering pipelines may change in the future and cover the growing adoption of GPU processing into other parts of the game engine, from physics simulations to AI processing. This talk is designed for beginners and experts alike.

 

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QUALITY ASSURANCE AND CERTIFICATION

As the complexity of games increases, so does the complexity of game testing and certification. Quality Assurance professionals, it’s time to arm yourself for the next generation!  Learn about a variety of advanced technologies and testing techniques that will improve game quality and reduce the certification costs of both Xbox 360 and Windows game titles. Explore unique approaches to address the significant challenges teams face today in TCR compliance, security testing, test automation, and more.

 

Presentation

Speaker

Description

How to Break Game Security	James Whittaker, PhD	Online security is getting a great deal of attention these days, and traditional targets such as e-commerce vendors and online banks are going to extraordinary lengths to secure their applications. As these targets become more secure, attackers are methodically seeking new online assets to replace them. One of their favorite new targets is game software. Some games are themselves high-value targets with their own online economies to exploit. Games are also widely installed, representing a potential entry point for installing spyware or adding new machines to an existing botnet. Like it or not, game developers have no choice but to pay close attention to their attack surface and threat model. This talk discusses game security from the point of view of the attacker, including attack vectors, threats and exploits that impact design, and development and testing of game software.
Five Hundred City Blocks of Pure Destruction: Adventures in Testing Crackdown	Jami Johns	When games scale up from simple levels to teeming, towering, highly-detailed cities, how can test teams keep pace? See some of the strategies and techniques developed by the Microsoft Games Test Organization to test the content in Realtime World’s open-world sandbox game Crackdown. Using examples from the game, the talk covers concepts that testers, developers, and artists can use to maximize their test team’s effectiveness, limit the time lost to bad bugs, accelerate bug regression turnaround, and generally test more games in less time. The talk also presents some lessons learned about strategies worth avoiding.
Serving Multiple Masters with Build Instrumentation	J McBride	Is your test team frequently over-tasked and divided between design, development, and production activities? Do you need to gather data to analyze test coverage, how your game behaves, or how people play your title? Find out how a little bit of code can produce a lot of meaningful data for your test team and other disciplines. This talk showcases how the Games Test Organization within Microsoft Games Studios has successfully implemented build instrumentation as a method for finding bugs, reporting coverage, providing game-balance feedback, and more.
The Xbox 360 Diaries: A Collection of Test Solutions Utilizing the XDK	Andrew Marthaller	As with any toolset, the more familiar you are with it, the more you get out of it. The Xbox 360 XDK is no exception. The Microsoft Games Test organization has been engineering solutions with the XDK as long as anybody, and they would like to share their accumulated knowledge. This talk focuses on important XDK features for test engineers, including console automation, debuggers, save-game tactics, and more. Come see how Microsoft teams are using the XDK to their advantage to increase test coverage.
XSim – How to Find Bugs with Simulation of XInput	Steve Dolan	Microsoft Game Studios has used controller simulation to find bugs in games dating from the original Xbox console through to the Xbox 360 console. Intelligent use of controller simulation has added thousands of hours of test coverage for every Microsoft Games Studios title. Starting with the August 2007 XDK, this functionality will ship to the development community at large in a new API called XSim. This talk discusses the features of the XSim API and then dives into how teams at MGS are currently using it.
Passing the First Time: How Activision Successfully Navigates the Submission and Certification Process	James Galloway, Activision	Passing Microsoft certification on your first submission significantly improves your chances of keeping your product on schedule and increases your ability to stay within budget. Presented by Activision, this session provides information on the testing, submission, and certification process. Topics include planning, organization, communication, structure, testing methodologies, and the submission of games. This talk is particularly relevant to new and veteran producers, test managers and directors, test leads, and testers of games.
Better, Faster, Smarter: Using Tools for Certification Testing	James Jacoby	Have you been looking for ways to make your certification testing more efficient and effective? Find out about the latest tools used by the XNA Game Quality team when certifying Xbox 360 titles. Explore the use of existing tools to create custom certification test solutions. See hands-on demonstrations and learn valuable tips and tricks. Find those nasty non-compliant issues before submitting for certification, and help get your game to shelf on time!
TCR Failures, Taxes, or Death: Which One Can You Prevent?	Darin Metzler	Come find the answer to this question and many others such as which TCRs are often roadblocks to getting a game to market? Why does a specific TCR exist anyway? How is a TCR created, and how does it expire? The information you gain from this talk will enable you to walk away with the confidence you need to properly assess TCR issues specific to your game and prevent the extra expense of resubmission.
Submission Pitfalls and How to Avoid the Crocodiles	Jay Blanton	Are you submitting an Xbox 360 game for certification? Before your title can enter testing, it must be submitted and pass a set of checks. Learn about the top reasons for rejection from the Mastering Lab and how to avoid them. Review tools and techniques to identify these problematic issues that can affect full game, Xbox LIVE Arcade, demo, and title update submissions. Ensure a painless submission and path into certification!
Are Your Games “Games for Windows” Ready?	Chris Wilson, Mark Rabold	What are the gotchas that most commonly happen to Windows titles? What do I need to do with my patches to maintain compatibility? What tools are available for me to use to validate my game? Where do I get the technical requirements for Games for Windows titles along with the test cases that go with them? If you are asking yourself these questions, then this is the talk you need to attend. Come and learn what the top five technical requirement failures are and how to avoid them in your Games for Windows title. See how to use tools such as application verifier, MT.exe, and more.
What Is Games for Windows – LIVE?	Mike Gamble	Imagine a world where a single online identity allows you to find your friends across Windows and Xbox 360 platforms, earn achievements on Windows-based computers, and enable cross-platform gameplay. Now imagine going through the Games for Windows – LIVE certification process. Come hear a comprehensive introduction to Games for Windows – LIVE certification so you can get your PC-based titles ready for the next generation of gaming on Windows. Get the scoop on Mastering Lab signing, Service Level Agreements, and Technical Certification Requirements (TCRs) specific to Games for Windows – LIVE.
Medic!!! First aid for games hemorrhaging packets (and other common-networking problems)	Dan Tunnell	Networking bugs can degrade the performance and playability of any network-aware game. Lag and frame-rate spikes are common in multiplayer games. Have you ever wondered if these occurrences were caused by the networking code instead of the game code? Sometimes these bugs and others like them are difficult to pinpoint from within the game, and external tools must be used to identify the source of the problem. This talk addresses networking basics, capturing data via Microsoft Network Monitor (NetMon), analyzing the data, and identifying common problems found in many online games. The focus is primarily for titles developed on the Xbox 360 platform.

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PRODUCER AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Learn everything a producer or business development attendee needs to know for Microsoft gaming platforms. Learn about recent developments in the Games for Windows and Games for Windows – LIVE program. Hear about our marketing and retail efforts. Get updates on Xbox LIVE, DirectX 10, Marketplace, Dashboard updates, in-game advertising, and much more! You’ll leave the conference with a solid understanding of how to be successful building games for all Microsoft gaming platforms.

 

Presentation

Speaker

Description

Games for Windows: A Deep-Dive into the Program, Process and Technical Requirements	Brian Benincasa	The Games for Windows program is much more than a branding and marketing effort; it’s an entirely new way to approach game development, testing, and user experience on the PC. This talk walks you through the process by which you plan for, develop, test, brand, and market your Games for Windows title successfully. The talk covers new details for those who are already somewhat experienced with the Games for Windows program as well as the basics for those who wish to learn more about it.
Third-Party Marketing: Process, Priorities, Partnership	Katrina Strafford	You know how to take advantage of your internal resources to create and execute great marketing plans, but do you know how to partner with Third-Party Marketing to create go-to-market plans that are even more effective and that take advantage of Xbox and Games for Windows platform opportunities? In this talk, we discuss how the Third-Party Marketing team is organized and how they work. We discuss how the team establishes priorities, and how you can better partner with them to create successful product launches. This talk is designed for anyone who wants to better understand how the Third-Party Marketing team works and all the opportunities that exist to partner with the team.
PANEL: How to Engage the Community, Without Outraging Them	Moderator: Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb	Panel Members: Liz Loverso, Director of Product Development, Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. Robert Bowling, Community Manager, Infinity Ward Jeff Pobst, CEO, Hidden Path Entertainment David Weller, XNA Community Manager, Microsoft Working with the community, and especially being the public face of the community, has its own challenges and rewards. Larry Hryb, “Major Nelson,” leads a panel on building and keeping community credibility through podcasting, blogging, community events, forums, and community programs. This talk also covers how to get your community noticed and how to deal with the inevitable negative attention that will come with it. This talk is intended for community managers and anyone interested in the power and perils of community.
Bend Microsoft Project to Your Will	Mike McShaffry	Almost everyone agrees that scheduling game production with Microsoft Project is somewhere between difficult to impossible. This talk demonstrates some tricks in Microsoft Project learned over ten years of consistent use. Come learn how to organize your schedules and how to schedule milestones; learn the difference between using priorities and links; understand how to use custom working schedules; and see how to enter extra data into your schedules to keep everything in order. The talk also shows how to keep your schedule up to date, making it a consistent and near-perfect picture of your project’s current state.
A Producer’s Guide to Games for Windows – LIVE	Drew Johnston	Learn more about what it means to bring your Games for Windows title to the Microsoft LIVE Gaming and Entertainment Network. With the recent release of Games for Windows – LIVE, Microsoft has extended the Xbox LIVE network to the Windows platform. We’ll put to rest some of the myths and misconceptions around Games for Windows – LIVE and get the facts on how you can enable your titles to be LIVE titles. This talk covers the features available on Games for Windows – LIVE, including support for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, DirectX10, integrated voice, cross-platform play, achievements, List Play, dedicated servers, and what it takes to get approved to be a LIVE title. This talk is for producers or business development team members interested in cutting through the confusion and getting to the bottom of what it takes to make a Games for Windows – LIVE title.
The World Beyond Retail: Maximizing Your Game with Connected Consumers	JJ Richards	You’ve made a great game. You’ve hit all the usual suspects to deliver a successful launch at retail. Now what? If it’s a runaway hit, how are you going to capture the upside? If it’s underperforming, what are your contingency plans to hedge the downside? Have you thought about any of this yet, or were you planning to do that after the post-ship vacation? There’s a lot more to your game than the $60 retail box, but you have to think about that stuff early if you want to take advantage of it later on. Come learn about all the opportunities that connected consumers can bring to your game, including advertising, free and paid marketplace downloads, promotional tie-ins to music and video, events and programming, feedback and viral marketing, and so on. Come learn what connected consumers want in your game and what keeps them connecting. Learn how to manage the entire lifecycle of your game, not just its birth at retail.
The 10 Things You Should Be Thinking About for Your Next Game	Michael Maston	February, April, June... It seems like the Xbox 360 XDK and DirectX SDK are coming out all the time and they seem to be filled with new things you have to know about and consider using in your next game. Which new features are most important and will help you get your next release out on time and looking spectacular? Which ones are going to save you from those sleepless nights and let your team spend more time putting the “fun” in the game? This talk walks you through the key new enhancements and tools and tells you why your studio should be looking at them for your next project.
Developing Games for Xbox LIVE Arcade	Mark Coates	In this session, whether you’re a seasoned developer or brand new to the platform, we provide an overview of the Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing process from concept submission to product release. The Xbox LIVE Arcade team has some new best practices to aid in the development of high-quality, successful games for Xbox LIVE Arcade. We identify core platform features and share advice for building these features into your game design. Discover what we’ve learned from publishing 70+ games over the past few years. This talk is intended for anyone who is interested in publishing or developing games for Xbox LIVE Arcade—especially producers and designers who drive the overall creative vision for their products.
A Producer’s Guide to Xbox 360 Certification	James Jacoby	Getting through the Xbox 360 certification process is one of the final steps in releasing a game to market. Learn about the Xbox 360 game certification process end-to-end. Find out about the biggest challenges around TCR compliance, certification scheduling, and the title mastering process. Explore opportunities to identify problems early and pass certification on your first try—get your game to shelf on time! This talk is intended for producers of Xbox 360 games.