DLC in Video Games: What, Why and How?

Here are the slides from a presentation I gave at a school in Coppell, TX for Middle School students in the summer of 2018. Keep in mind that my target audience here was middle school kids, the last few slides are a little text and game development heavy, but came in handy for the game development activities we did afterwards.

I would love to give more talks like this so if you are interested, let me know! Also, feedback is always appreciated!

1. DLC In Video Game What, Why and How? Scott Velasquez – Lead Programmer

2. Quick Backstory About Myself Entered the game industry in 2000

3. Quick Backstory About Myself Technology around me at your age

4. So what Is DLC?

5. So what Is DLC? DLC stands for Downloadable Content. It adds extra content and/or functionality to a video game after a game's release.

6. So what Is DLC? DLC stands for Downloadable Content. It adds extra content and/or functionality to a video game after a game's release. It can be released as a paid or free update to the game.

7. DLC Examples

8. Maybe One More DLC Example

9. And Before DLC?

10. Before DLC

11. Why DLC?

12. Why DLC?

13. Ok, So Why DLC? (Picture skills are on cooldown, incoming text!)

14. Ok, So Why DLC? The game industry has learned over the years that DLC is important for many reasons, but here are three to consider:

15. Ok, So Why DLC? The game industry has learned over the years that DLC is important for many reasons, but here are three to consider: Customer Acquisition Monetization Player Retention

16. Customer Acquisition Getting somebody interested for your game/DLC Can apply to any game, but more so towards social games Inherent game mechanics Facebook/mobile game designs Could build friend referral systems that award DLC items Announcing DLC plans early can build customer confidence

17. Monetization Getting somebody to give you money for your DLC Game prices remain the same, development costs climbing Something had to change Law of build once, sell many My favorite thing about writing software! Build more things you already support to maximize profits Listen to your community

18. Retention Keeping players playing your game Perhaps the most important! Especially for multiplayer games New content and changes will keep current customers interested And bring back some who had taken a break Free DLC, high value DLC, and addressing community issues are goodwill builders For current and future games by your company

19. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game

20. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game Ideally we plan & test ahead so we end up with something like this

21. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game Rather than an unstable and hacky thing like this

22. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (3 parts, incoming text!)

23. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (1/3) Plan ahead! Reserve some RAM during main game development Understand first party requirements Scale testing as necessary Build a simple DLC example and test before shipping main game Build it! Great care should be taken so as to not break the main game. DLC content should not be referenced by the main game Use budgets and reference the main game as needed Binaries are typically delta patched or replaced wholesale Content layout/run-time use depends on game engine

24. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (2/3) Release Engineering Typically responsible for things like: File/package/chunk management per platform Branching the game per DLC/patch and per platform release Integrating DLC team’s changes & propagating to the correct branch Uploading builds to QA and first party certification QA & First Party Certification Test for random game issues as well as certification rules they have on their end Generate reports and score issues that need addressing Eventually the DLC will pass and marked as GOLD!

25. How DLC Gets Into A Live Game (3/3) Marketing Collaboration with marketing to raise awareness and excitement about upcoming DLC Release Many switches to flip at once May want to pre-release some items or display news as well Micropatching Becoming popular way to address game issues in-between “big” patches Micropatches are tiny, typically in the single kilobyte range! Same changes should be made in DLC so micropatches can be retired eventually And a News system Text, image, video & URL support ideal for marketing’s needs

26. That’s All Folks!

27. Questions? @ thereal_scottv