Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Arst
MATT
Source Control
Standalone PC
Database
Xbox 360
Asset Viewer
Figure 3.1. Relationships in automated asset metric gathering.
those values along with a screenshot of the asset to the stand-alone PC. The screen-
shot showed the asset at the identity orientation at the origin of the scene, zoomed
in to accommodate variable asset size. The asset-tracking machine then submited
the screenshot and all associated data directly to the database. If there was an
error, the machine did not submit the asset and instead emailed a description of
the error to the asset creator.
Even with this system in place, we had no existing method to easily interpret
the database information we were automatically gathering. While the Asset Viewer
and asset-tracking PC were being set up, we began work on a tool to cleanly present
the contents of the database to an end user. This database viewing tool was our first
step toward implementation of an actual asset-tracking interface and was called the
Mega Asset Tracking Tool, or MATT. Written in Python, MATT communicated
with the database and display information such as an asset's source file of origin and
any data recorded by the Asset Viewer. We incorporated into it the ability to search
for specific assets and browse the asset screenshots that were taken by the Asset
Viewer. The intent was to provide easy access to the database without negatively
impacting the workflow of artists, outsourcers, or coordinators. By writing our own
interface, we maintained full control over how our end users would experience and
interactwiththeassettrackingsystemwehadconstructed(see Figure3.1 ).
3.4 Rapid Development of the MATT Tool
Using Python
The MATT tool immediately accomplished the initial goal criteria that had been
established during the problem analysis phase, but we understood and expected
that additional unforeseen features would eventually be requested and incorporated
well after the planning stage. For this reason we chose to write the majority of the
user interface using wxPython. This turned out to be a wise decision and allowed
us to combine partial or existing stand-alone Python tools into the MATT tool
 
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