Modular Asset Design and Creation
By: Nathan Bolt
Supervisor: Chris Jagers
Masters of Interactive Technology degree conferred April 14, 2008
Thesis / Project completed: April 14, 2008

This project examines the growing demand for assets with the advent and subsequent popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Games, specifically those of the RPG genre. Modular assets solve many of the problems generated by this increased demand by increasing the productivity of artists along with the reusability of the assets those artists generate, allowing a small number of modules to be used to generate a very large number of final assets.

The research explores the phenomenon of modular assets in MMOs in terms of visual styles represented by past and recent games. It also examines the methods that have been used to break assets into separate modules in addition to the specific application of modular design as it applies to player control of visual assets and customization thereof.

The development of a modular vehicle clearly demonstrates the utility and benefit of using a modular design approach to asset creation by producing a wide variety and large number of configurable final assets from a relatively small number of individual modules. Additionally, the process of designing a modular asset is examined in detail. Several key concepts of modular design are discussed as well as different approaches to both designing new modular assets and understanding the underlying structures of existing modular assets.

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