Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

1

Produce a glossary of terms specific to the methods and principles of Video Game Design and Video Game Terms. Using a provided template, you must research and gather definitions specific to provided glossary terms. Any definitions must be referenced with the URL link of the website you have obtained the definition. You must also, where possible, provide specific details of how researched definitions relate to your own production practice. Name: RESEARCHED DEFINITION (provide short

internet researched definition and URL link) DESCRIBE THE RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCHED TERM TO YOUR OWN

PRODUCTION PRACTICE?

IMAGE SUPPORT (Provide an image and/or video link of said term being

used in a game)

VIDEO GAMES / VIDEO GAME TESTING

Demo ‘Sales promotion method that (1) shows the performance of a product in actual use conditions, or (2) encourages trial purchase and

use of the product for evaluation by the customer.’

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/demo

nstration.html

‘It i s sample code/graphics/audio that demonstrates key elements of the proposed game. Depending on the genre of the game this could be an entire game level or part of one (FPS), a single race track with a couple of cars (racing) or a few locations/rooms with puzzles (point and click adventure game).’

http://www.obscure.co.uk/articles-2/preparing-a-game-demo/

Demos are very important in production practice as i t is what i s used to display the qualities of the product to a party that is not

di rectly privy to the production of the game i tself. When showing a game to a third

party, the s implest way to communicate the

deta ils of a games design and content is to show them directly.

Demos may a lso be used as a way to di rectly test a section of a game for bugs, a lthough for this purpose open betas are more common.

Demos used to be commonly distributed by

companies via ‘demo discs’ that would be included with video games magazines.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

2

Beta ‘A beta test refers to the distribution of pre-release

game software to a select group of people so that they can test the game in their own homes. The beta vers ion of a game is as close to perfect as the company can make i t, but any bugs, glitches or other

i ssues discovered in beta testing will usually be addressed before the game's official release.’

http://www.techopedia.com/d efinition/27136/beta-test-gaming

The term beta refers to a part of a games

development where it is considered feature complete, but i t still may contain bugs and gl i tches. The testing aspect of a beta is important in order to find and remove as

many unwanted bugs as possible and fix any mistakes in any aspect of the games levels,

game features or UI to reduce the chances of

an unintended negative experience for the player.

During the battlefield 3 public beta test, a

gl i tch was discovered that caused the models of the players to grow in size randomly, this was fixed in the release of the games.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

3

Alpha ‘Borrowed from traditional (i.e. non-games) software development, Alpha designates a key stage in a game's

development. The definition of Alpha for traditional software is, according to Wikipedia: Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. [...] The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be feature complete. In game development, the definition is a bit more blurry. Yes, the exact definition of an Alpha may (and often will) vary from one developer to another, and also from one publisher to another. The Alpha build being a key deliverable when you've got a publisher deal, you better be crystal clear with the publisher about what needs to be implemented in that build. This will avoid any surprises. A game's Alpha build usually complies with the following points:

The game is playable from start to finish.

All the game's features are implemented to at least first pass quality.

Some art may still be place holder.

Crashing bugs may be present.

The important thing after is that after the Alpha build has been approved, the developers should stop adding features. However that's theory, and as projects tend to be late, Alphas are usually not what they should be. As such, feature implementation might still happen after the delivery of the Alpha.’

http://technicalgamedesign.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/

alpha.html

Al though video game alphas are somewhat

inconsistent in their definition, alphas are important to a game’s development, as it i s the fi rst intermittent stage between conception and release of the game where

the game is considered to be ‘playable’ and therefore all progress to the game is added

to and built upon from this s tage.

Priori ties in this s tage include thorough

testing and improving game stability, features and mechanics, and removing particularly major bugs and glitches that hamper gameplay considerably (e.g. bugs

that impede progress, crashes, etc.).

DayZ as a standalone game was released on Steamworks as an ‘early access’ title as an open alpha game.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

4

Pre-Alpha ‘Pre-Alpha i s a standard term to denote a number of

interim milestones between prototyping and alpha,

each of which includes new functionality and/or game content. Pre-alphas often mandate

incremented improvements on a number of parallel areas in a project, but rarely expect any one of those areas to be complete. The exact content of each pre-a lpha is often an ongoing discussion between

producers on the team and those at the publisher.

Pre-a lphas are usually followed by a lpha, beta, release candidate and gold master milestones.’

http://www.whatgamesare.com/pre-alpha.html

Pre-Alphas give developers the opportunity

to increment their designs, giving them a greater ability to observe and test individual mechanics and game elements to ensure that they are implemented into the game as

intended.

This pre alpha gameplay of ‘The Avengers’

was used as a reveal tra iler for the game whi le i t was in development.

Gold ‘The term "release to manufacturing", a lso known as "going gold", i s a term used when a software product

i s ready to be delivered or provided to the customer. This build may be digitally signed, allowing the end user to verify the integrity and authenticity of the software purchase. A copy of the RTM build known as

the "gold master" or GM is sent for mass duplication. RTM precedes general availability (GA), when the

product i s released to the public.’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_c

ycle#Release_candidate

When a game has ‘Gone Gold’ this means that the game is now considered suitable for

release, and therefore means that the developer is internally confident that it has successfully completed i ts game’s features and removed the vast majority of bugs and

gl i tches in game.

It may be considered to be the final s tage of

the primary development of the game (further support may later be included such

as game updates and downloadable content release).

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

5

Debug ‘Debugging is the routine process of locating and

removing computer program bugs, errors or abnormalities, which is methodically handled by software programmers via debugging tools. Debugging checks, detects and corrects errors or

bugs to allow proper program operation according to set specifications.’

http://www.techopedia.com/definition/16373/debugging

Games often have debug modes included in

the code at some point, even up to and including release versions of the game. This i s useful for a production process because it a l lows a developer to instantly interface with

code from within the game to investigate and remove bugs without being constrained

by the l imitations that the player of the final

vers ion.

This is an image of the debugging console of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, accessed via outside software.

Automation ‘Automation enables an application's command operations to be manipulated from outside that application. The Cl ient for Windows provides

automation objects that can be manipulated from programs built using programming environments such as Microsoft Visual Basic (Version 3.0 or above), Microsoft Visual C++, and Sybase PowerBuilder.

Important: The Cl ient for Windows OLE APIs are tested using Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual C++ and the examples in this document are

Visual Basic and Visual C++ language examples. You can use other languages but the syntax and

techniques will differ. Check your language documentation for OLE automation implementation specifics for your environment.

To manipulate the Cl ient for Windows objects, you need to know the properties and methods for each object.’

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cmx/v8r3m0/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.cliwin.doc%2Fdcmp

o012.htm

Automation a llows for easier preliminary testing of game software, and can mean that a developer can detect bugs and glitches via

obvious errors and breaks in the game code that occur during an automated test. Automation does not necessarily allow for testing extensive enough to detect certain

bugs and glitches that can occur in-game, such as clipping through parts of the map, so

human testers will s till be needed to more

deeply experiment with faults in the game software.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

6

White-Box Testing

‘White Box Testing (a lso known as Clear Box Testing, Open Box Testing, Glass Box Testing, Transparent Box

Testing, Code-Based Testing or Structural Testing) is a software testing method in which the internal s tructure/design/implementation of the item being tested is known to the tester. The tester chooses

inputs to exercise paths through the code and determines the appropriate outputs. Programming know-how and the implementation knowledge is

essential. White box testing is testing beyond the user interface and into the nitty-gritty of a system.’

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/White_Box_Testing.html

Because White Box Testing involves a savvy development member, i t has the advantage

of the tester being able to recognise how the game functions, and therefore is more likely to understand the underlying cause of a bug or gl i tch that occurs during testing, and is

capable of resolving the i ssue themselves.

Bug ‘In several usages in information technology, a glitch (pronounced GLIHTCH ) is a sudden break in

function or continuity, sometimes of a transient nature, with a varying degree of seriousness.’

‘ In a computer program, a glitch can be a bug that i sn't encountered very often, resulting in a problem that sometimes goes away because next time the combination of events i s different.’

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/glitch

Bugs are an unwanted, but to a degree inevitable part of any game’s development

process, where elements of the game code may s top functioning as intended, or may

negatively affect gameplay. Generally speaking, the larger the scope of the game being developed, the more bugs are likely to occur, and extensive testing has to be done

by the developer to ensure that as few bugs as possible exist in the final version of the game (in particular, bugs that impede

progress of the game).

In Heavy Rain, there was a prompt that a l lowed you to ca ll out for another character

in the game. A glitch allowed you to activate the prompt during the in game cutscenes.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

7

GAME ENGINES GAME ENGINES

Vertex Shader ‘A vertex shader i s a graphics processing function

used to add special effects to objects in a 3D environment by performing mathematical operations on the objects' vertex data. Each vertex can be defined by many different variables. For instance, a

vertex i s always defined by i ts location in a 3D environment using the x-, y-, and z- coordinates.’

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/feature_vertexshader.html

Vertex shaders give a game developer the

abi lity to add a large variety of visual effects, which are directly applied to objects. This is useful in expanding the creative freedom of the designer, and giving an opportunity for

the game to have a more distinctive visual s tyle.

In this image, OpenGL is transforming an

rendering an teapot via a vertex shader pipeline.

Pixel Shader ‘A Pixel Shader is a graphics function that calculates effects on a per-pixel basis. Depending on resolution,

in excess of 2 mi llion pixels may need to be rendered, l i t, shaded, and colored for each frame, at 60 frames per second.’

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/feature_pixelshader.html

Per i ts namesake a pixel shader renders the in-game environment pixel by pixel, which

grants the pixel shader the ability to be used in 3d model based games and sprite based 2d games, the latter being unable to be

rendered by a vertex shader due to a lack of vertices.

This image is comparing visual fidelity of a

render between different pixel shader configurations.

Post Processing ‘A post-processing effect is an effect that you want to apply to the entire window after you have drawn the enti re scene. For instance, a common post-processing

effect i s to make your scene black and white, give it a sepia tone to look l ike an old photograph, or blur the

screen or to create a bloom effect.’ http://rbwhitaker.wikidot.com/post-processing-

effects

Post processing effects are used to add visual fla ir to a video game’s visuals. There are a wide variety of post processing effects and

they are often used in tandem for specific purposes (for example, depth of field and

motion blur are often used to create a more rea listic environment, while bloom is used to create a more ‘cinematic’ visual style).

This is a comparison of two views in the free to play MMO World of Tanks, showing a view through a scope, one with a post processing

effect (depth of field) and one without.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

8

Rendering ‘There are two major types of rendering, their chief

di fference being the speed at which images are computed and finalized.

Real-Time Rendering: Real-Time Rendering i s

used most prominently in gaming and interactive

graphics, where images must be computed from 3D information at an incredibly rapid pace.

Offline or Pre-Rendering: Offl ine rendering is used in situations where speed is less of an issue, with ca lculations typically performed using multi-

core CPUs rather than dedicated graphics hardware.’

http://3d.about.com/od/3d-101-The-Bas ics/a/Rendering-Finalizing-The-3d-Image.htm

Rendering is a core element of any game, as

i t i s the process that provides a vi sual element to the game, a llowing any sort of human-computer interaction to occur.

In video games, any gameplay i s rendered in rea l -time, because in each frame what the

player sees i s determined by what the player

inputs into the system, such as camera controls, or an action key. Some cut scenes

are a lso real-time rendered (also ca lled in-engine cut scenes). Pre-renders are used a lmost exclusively for

‘cinematic’ cut scenes, which depict events that occur within the continuity of the game

that the player does not interact with.

This picture shows two pre-renders of a car model made in a modelling animation and rendering software program ca lled 3DS Max. One is of the base model, and the other is of

the model with textures and normal maps applied.

Normal Map ‘A normal map is a way of adding high-resolution deta il to a game ready (low resolution) model,

without drastically affecting the game's performance. Normal maps are applied to an object exactly the

same way that you'd apply a two-dimensional diffuse (color) map to your model, however instead of conta ining simple color information a normal map is

conta ins information that can accurately describes the surface slope of a 3D model with millions of polygons.

That “s lope information” i s cleverly s tored in each of the normal map's three color channels (R,G,B), which,

when translated at render time, will tell the game-

engine which direction any given face i s “pointing” in 3D space. Directionality is determined according to

the surface normal of a face, which i s a term you may have heard in high-school geometry. (In case you've forgotten, the term surface normal refers to the directional vector that is perpendicular to any

Normal maps are useful for adding visual deta il to objects without greatly affecting

performance; otherwise, adding details to a model would involve increasing the number

of vertices on the model and manipulating the xyz coordinates of the points. Therefore, when the object would be rendered in game,

the engine needs to calculate the placement of visual objects and textures based on a greater number of coordinates, increasing how long it takes to render.

A demonstration image showing the di fference between various states of a 3d

model of a head – from left to right, a low

poly vers ion, a high poly version, and a low poly vers ion with a normal map applied).

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

9

geometric surface.’

http://3d.about.com/od/3d-101-The-

Bas ics/tp/Current-Gen-Gameart-Workflow-What-Is-Normal-Mapping.htm

Entity ‘In programming, engineering, and probably many other contexts, the word is used to identify units,

whether concrete things or abstract ideas, that have no ready name or label. In some usages, an entity i s close in meaning

to object as it is used in object-oriented programming . ‘

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/entity

Enti ties are the base of each individual in game ‘object’ (such as non-player characters,

projectiles, and physical objects such as boxes) that are assigned properties by the developer in the game engine. This is important in games, as it allows for individual

‘objects’ to function consistently in game, and for each object to be able to behave relative to each other.

UV Map ‘In case you're wondering, UV mapping stands for the technique used to "wrap" a 2D image texture onto a 3D mesh. "U" and "V" are the name of the axes of a plane, since "X", "Y" and "Z" are used for the coordinates in the 3D space. For example: increasing your "V" on a sphere might move you along a

longitude l ine (north or south), while increasing your "U" might move you along a line of latitude (east or

west).

Another explanation can be gleaned from the Blender manual. Imagine a paper 3D model of an

object, e.g. a sphere, that i s to be laid flat on a table.

Each of the 3D coordinates of the sphere can be mapped to the 2D coordinate on the flat piece of

paper. Blender provides another view of the vertices (coordinates) in the UV/Image Editor. You can select and edit these 2D vertices just l ike in the 3D Editor window. The purpose of this unwrapping of the

coordinates is just to map these coordinates to images/pictures so that the 3D image can have a

rea listic looking surface with textures derived from

UV maps are a useful tool for making objects

appear much more detailed than they actually are (the detail coming from

additional vertices added to and manipulated on the model). By using UV maps on models,

a developer can give those models any

des ired s tyle or appearance without sacrificing performance, as the more ‘actual’

detail is added to an object by the vertices, the more points that an engine has to ca lculate to render the object in real time.

An image showcasing the application of a UV map to a model. The UV is in the lower right corner, and the green lines show how the

application of the UV map to model is a ffect by the shape of the model.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

10

these images.’

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/UV_Map_Basics

Procedural Texture

‘When someone thinks of a texture, they probably think of an image used to 'paint' a model in order to

give i t a certain appearance. This refers to bitmapped textures, because the texture is made of pixels from an actual bitmap image. These can be very realistic, especially i f taken from photographs of actual

surfaces. However, one major restriction applies to bi tmapped textures: a bitmapped texture has a fixed amount of detail. It cannot be scaled larger without

looking softer, i t will never yield any more detail than what i s already captured in the pixels.

Procedural textures ta ke an entirely different approach. Instead of creating an image by defining a

large, unchanging block of pixels, procedurals create the texture from the ground up. This is where the

term 'procedural' comes from. The texture is defined only by the procedure needed to create it. You only need to give the computer a (relatively) small formula, instead of a huge block of pixels. With this

formula, the computer is able to create the texture at any scale, in any orientation, extending as far as you need.’

http://www.upvector.com/?section=Tutorials&subse

ction=Intro%20to%20Procedural%20Textures

Procedural textures are common in modelling and mapping software, as they are

versatile for many objects. The advantage of procedural textures is that they do not need to be created exactly to the s ize and shape of the model that they are applied to, which is

especially useful for models that are liable to be modified and edited at any point, since the texture is calculated by the dimensions of

the model.

This image is showing a variety of simple shapes with procedural textures applied to them; in this case they are all using similar

wood-based procedural textures. This showcases how the textures use formulas to ca lculate how the texture will apply to the surface of the model.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

11

Physics ‘A physics engine i s general used to describe a

software program that is used to simulate physical phenomena. One of the first uses of a physics engine was for simulating where artillery shells would land based on their weight, force behind the firing of the

shells, and angle of the firing. Since then, it has also been used to help in the design of aircraft and

watercraft, as well as vehicles.

A phys ics engine is also used in computer video

games for s imulating various actions and reactions in the game. Unlike physics engines used for vehicle and a i rcraft design, however, the physic engines in video games are used for more real time s imulations

instead of replicating physics encountered in the real world. In other words, video games aren't concerned

with real-life simulations as much as they are about being perceptually correct. In first person shooter games, this can lead to cases where a player is shot in

the leg and dies, instead of just being injured. A phys ics engine is designed to simulate the perception

of shooting and killing a target, not so much in where the target is hit or if it was a mortal wound or just a flesh wound.’

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/physics-engine.htm

Phys ics are one of the most important

elements of any 3d game (and a good number of 2d games). Physics engines in games are necessary to give the world bel ievable interactions between the game

world, the player, and objects in game. Understanding the way that physics interact

i s vi tal in the designing stage of games, as the

developer always wants to avoid making progress impossible for the player, which can

happen in particular when the game features puzzles involving objects affected by physics.

This is a demonstration of a physics engine in

action, based on a pyramid of stacked boxes. One of the boxes near the base is removed,

caus ing the above boxes to fall and collide with each other.

Collision ‘With the advent of 3D technologies in the past several years, programmers have made radical

changes in how they program applications, especially when regarding computer games. Collision detection

is an essential part in 3D games. It ensures that the

game physics are relatively realistic, so that an object does not cut through other objects or hovers when it

should fall. How well a game can detect collisions is an integral part of the believability and enjoyment of

the game. A poorly implemented collision detection

system can be a bane to a product, whereas an

Col l ision can be considered to be an extension of the physics, as they both

influences each other. Collision in its most bas ic form ensures that the player character

does not move ‘through’ objects in the

game, the floor, or through other players (in the case of some multiplayer games).

Col l ision also influences the ways that in game objects with physics properties

influence each other. For example, a group

of wooden boxes hit by an explosive may

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

12

excel lent implementation can produce amazing

results. The two main parts in collision detection are detecting whether or not a collision has happened,

and i f so, responding to the collision. Discovering if a col l ision has occurred is the basis of this problem.

Whi le responding to the collision is computationally much easier than discovering a collision, it can still

pose several problems in how objects are going to react to each other. In modern computer games, if the character runs into a wall, then the character will ei ther s top or will continue 'sliding' along the wall.

However, if this character comes up to a movable box, then the character might s tart pushing the box

instead. Or consider a ball bouncing around in a room. The ball is going to behave quite differently than a person walking around in a room. ‘

http://www.edenwaith.com/products/pige/tutorials/col l ision.php

break and fly off in various directions,

bouncing off of walls and other objects.

This is an image of a collision occurring in

engine between two objects, the wall and a model of a truck. The collision interacts with the phys ics engine, causing the truck to be deformed in areas where it has touched the

wal l.

Lighting ‘Working under the supervision of the lead lighting artist, this person creates lighting and shading

elements within game environments and scenes. Us ing software such as Maya or Lightwave, he or she applies lighting effects to completed environment and character art that is consistent with i llustrated

concepts and level designs and ensures consistency across all concurrent scenes. The artist is concerned

with matching the lighting to interior environments,

noting where the artists have placed objects like lamps, windows, or other sources of illumination.

Likewise, for exterior locations, the artist i s cognizant of the time of day within the context of the story, appropriately applying lighting effects to correspond with the position of the sun, moon, or outdoor

sources of light.’

Lighting i s one of the most major aspects of des ign to consider when creating locations

and objects in a game. The application of l ighting to an in game location can influence the atmosphere, the believability, and the flow of the game level. Lighting is also used

as a gameplay element, as developers can manipulate the location and directions of

l ighting elements in game to direct the player

to where they can progress.

This image shows a number of different l ighting entities that can be used to illuminate 3d renders, including point lights, ball l ights, spotlights, etc.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

13

http://getinmedia.com/careers/lighting-artist

‘In a game design context, s imulated i llumination is embedded in the vocabulary of the 3D modelling software (Maya, 3D Studio Max, etc) used in game

production (Manovich, 2001)… ‘Each software product contains a lgorithms that establish simulated

i l lumination. These algorithms have their own set of

assumptions concerning how lighting is established or s imulated, including shadow appearance and colour.’

http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/elnasr_niedenthal_knez_almeida_zupko

AA – Anti-Aliasing ‘Anti -Aliasing is a method of fooling the eye that a

jagged edge is really smooth. Anti-Aliasing is often referred in games and on graphics cards. In games

especially the chance to smooth edges of the images

goes a long way to creating a realistic 3D image on the screen. Remember though that Anti-Aliasing does

not actually smooth any edges of images it merely fools the eye. Like a lot of things they are only

des igned to be good enough’ http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/index.php?pageid=antialiasing

Anti -aliasing is often an optional element

that can be toggled to improve a games graphical fidelity, though they can also

drastically affect a game’s performance.

Generally speaking, a developer will want to ba lance the amount of AA used in a game

with i ts performance.

An example of anti-aliasing using a text character as an example. Where the ‘blocky’

sections of the ‘a’ are visible on the a liased character, there is the anti-aliasing effect applied on the other.

LoD – Level of Detail

‘One important component of this "language" is the level of detail -- or the specificity required for a

particular element at a particular s tage of the project. The level of detail for a BIM model must correspond

to the needs of the modeler, the project engineer, and the estimators and schedulers. LOD identifies how much information is known about a model

element at a given time. This "information richness"

grows as the project comes closer to breaking

The Level of Detail of an object is one of the most important things to communicate

between a games designer and a modeller, as the detail of an object needs to be

appropriate for the rest of the game, or it wi l l risk looking out of place, or negatively affect performance. Some games have

multiple LoD versions of models that can be

toggled in an options menu, to improve

Examples of the usage of LoD, using several

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

14

ground.’

http://www.vicosoftware.com/BIM-Level-of-Deta il/tabid/89638/

performance. vers ions of a barrel. From left to right, is the

highest level of detail model to the lowest.

Animation ‘The animator uses a computer to generate a sequence of s till images, that give the i llusion of motion through three dimensional space when you

play them. You require a 3D animation software, such as 3DMax or Maya, and a good computer.

Instead of drawing every detail in the frame by hand,

you draw every frame using a computer! The animator gives the software a set of parameters that describes how the elements should look and move, something along the lines of:

"At frame #1 (a point in time) place the ball at coordinates X1,Y1,Z1 (a point in space)." "At frame #25 (1 second later) place the ball at coordinates X2,Y2,Z2 (a second point in space)."

http://www.the-flying-animator.com/how-does-computer-animation-work.html

Any object that is intended to move using i ts own properties and scripts will need animations to make its movements appear

feasible to the player. There are many methods of creating animations and applying them to objects, but the most important

thing to consider when creating an animation is how i t appears in real-time.

These are some animation stages for a 3d model from the game Postmortem. The animation is focused on making the model appear to fly by flapping it's 'wings'.

Sprite ‘Spri tes are 2D bitmaps that are drawn directly to a render target without using the pipeline for

Spri tes are the visual element of a 2d game engine (similar to how models are the visual

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

15

transformations, lighting or effects. Sprites are

commonly used to display information such as health bars , number of lives, or text such as scores. Some games, especially older games, are composed entirely of spri tes.’

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-

gb/l ibrary/bb203919.aspx

element of a 3d game engine), although they

can be applied to 3d games via ui elements. Unl ike models, sprites are not a consistent element that i s modified directly to create movement, but instead the sprite is replaced

in each frame of movement by another spri te attached to the same object for each

frame of animation of the object.

This is a series of still sprites for the main character of Chrono Trigger. There is a separate set of sprites for any individual action that the main character can perform

during gameplay. Scene ‘A scene graph is a tree s tructure that tries to

s tructure the objects in a scene accordingly to transformations, textures, materials and much more instead of just the geometrical representation of

objects l ike for example a quadtree does. All games does contain a scene graph in some way, in the most

s imple form it could just be a root node and all other rendered objects as child nodes to the root node.’

http://www.gamerendering.com/category/scene-management/

Scenes are the method by which a game has

i ts locations and levels separate from each other, with their own assets such as models, textures, particles and scripts. Using this

method means that the ga me engine has less information to load when the player enters

each particular scene of the game.

This is a screenshot of a level being designed in a game engine. The drop down menus

l i sted on the right of the window make up the scene.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

16

Library

‘In computing, a library i s a collection of s imilar

objects that are stored for occasional use - most frequently, programs in source code or object codeform, data files, scripts, templates, fonts, and phys ical storage units such as tape cartridges. Here

are some common types of libraries.

1) A program library is a collection of (usually)

precompiled, reusable programming routines that a programmer can "call" when writing code so that the programmer doesn't have to write i t. A dynamic l ink

l ibrary (DLL) is one type of program library. Another type of program library is a class library, whose s tored routines are class definitions in object-oriented programming (OOP). Graphical user

interface (GUI) components such as scroll bars, buttons, and windowing routines are generally s tored

in a class library.

2) A s torage library i s a collection of physical storage

media such as tapes or disks and a way to access them. A tape l ibrary, for example, contains tape cartridges and a mechanism that moves them into

and out of the drive(s) where their content is read or updated.

3) A data library i s the area of a data center (a centra lized area housing computer systems and

equipment) where storage media are archived.Online service providers also sometimes refer to

a di rectory on a server containing files for downloading as a data library.’

http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/definition/libr

ary

Libraries are commonly associated with the

scripting elements of game engines, such as the use of Java or C# scripts. These l ibraries speed up development by containing information or routines that the developer

may not necessarily be inclined to create or program themselves, and instead may make

use of libraries to bring up code elements

from storage to use for a particular script or enti ty property.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

17

UI ‘The way a person interacts with a computer, tablet,

smartphone or other electronic device. The user interface (UI) comprises the screen menus and icons, keyboard shortcuts, mouse and gesture movements, command language and online help, as well as

phys ical buttons, dials and levers. Also included are a l l input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, touch

screen, remote control and game controller.’

http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/53558/u

ser-interface

User interfaces are important for allowing

the player to even play the game, as without a medium between the players control systems (such as a gamepad or a mouse) and the game engine there is no way of actually

control ling the game. UI elements are also a useful way of communicating arbitrary

information to the player, such as tutorials or

the health bar.

This is a screenshot of Sid Meiyer's Civi l isation V, a turn based strategy game.

The game features an extensive User Interface, in the form of the buttons and

windows featured around the edge of the screen.

Frames ‘One of the most common benchmarks used in measuring graphics performance of video game is the game's frame rate or frames per second. Frame rates

in a video game reflect how often an image in the game is refreshed to produce or give impression of

motion and is typically measured in frames per

second or FPS. There are many differe nt factors that go into determining a game's frame rate, but the

result of a low frame rate is is often the same, choppy, jumpy movement or frozen screens that make it difficult to interact with a game. ‘

http://compactiongames.about.com/od/Overclocking-and-Performance/a/Understanding-And-

Optimizing-Video-Game-Frame-Rates.htm

Frames are the individual renders that the console makes of the game based on information relevant to the player, such as

where they are looking in game. The amounts of frames that occur in a given time

frame are the most commonly used method

of measuring the performance of a game. Frames don’t just affect the visual flow of

animation in games, but also the gameplay aspect, as each frame also represents an individual moment where the engine i s capable of inputting an action from the

player, so the ability of the player to react to game events is directly l inked (for example, a

game with an fps count of 30 has 30

opportunities per second to input a command).

This is a demonstration image of how frames work in animation. Each individual 'car' represents where a frame would be displayed in between the previous and next one to

form an image of a continuous motion.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

18

Concept ‘Every video game starts as a concept. FromSuper

Mario Bros. to Half-Life, al l of the world’s most successful games started as pen-and-paper ideas. Before you can s tart designing levels, you need to prepare a rough concept for your game.

The type of concept you’l l need to prepare depends on the type of video game you’re interested in

developing. A large-scale RPG requires a lot more planning than a basic side-scrolling arcade game or

a s implistic multiplayer fi rst person shooter.

Think of your concept as a one-page description of

your game. Your concept should outline the type of game you’re creating, i ts s tory, what sets i t apart from games that are a lready ava ilable, and the type of audience that will enjoy i t.‘

https ://www.udemy.com/blog/make-a-video-game/

Al l games are created from a concept, as a ll

concepts are the ideas that influence what the developer does with the game and how it makes i t. Concepts are the fi rst s tage of development of any game and it’s very

important to have strong concepts, because i t i s likely that without a s trong concept the

game will either fail or not start production

at a l l (this is especially true of larger companies that need to ensure that

investors in their company are happy and reassured about their investments).

This is a page of concept art for a character in

Drakengard. This is later art, nearer to the development of the game where the designs

are finalised, but there are still examples of variance in the designs (the various hilts for the sword).

Event ‘GameMaker uses what i s called an event driven approach. This works as follows. Whenever

something happens in the game the instances of the objects get events (kind of messages telling that something has happened). The instances can then react to these messages by executing certain actions.

For each object you must indicate to which events it responds and what actions it must perform when the

event occurs. This may sound complicated but is

actually very easy. First of all, for most events the object does not have to do anything. For the events

where something must be done you can use a very s imple drag-and-drop approach to indicate the

actions.

‘Events ’ as a term used in game engines is a specialised term used specifically in the

Game Maker program. In this case, an event i s an arbitrary occurrence that is recognised by the game engine, and based on how objects in the game are manipulated by the

developer, may cause other actions to occur in the game world.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games IG2 Task 1

19

In the middle of the object property form there is a l i st of events to which the object must react. Initially i t i s empty. You can add events to i t by pressing the button labeled Add Event. A form wi ll appear with all

di fferent types of events. Here you select the event you want to add. Sometimes a menu pops up with extra choices. For example, for the keyboard event

you must select the key. ‘

http://gamemaker.info/en/manual/111_00

_events

This image showcases the event system in

GameMaker. Fi rst an object in the scene is selected, then an action 'type'. The action selected can be customised via attached windows. This is classified as an 'event' by the

engine.

Pathfinding ‘Pathfinding is a complex process that we can split down into three components: the spacial representation, the goal estimation and the agent.

The spacial representation, a lso known as the graph, i s a means to describe a network of inter-connected

walkable zones (roads, floors, …). The goal estimation, known as anheuristic, is a general representation to where might be the goal. This is a

mere estimation that i s needed to speed things up. Finally, the agent is the one responsible to actually searching through the spacial representation based on the goal estimation.’

http://mgrenier.me/2011/06/pathfinding-concept-the-basics/

Pathfinding is relevant in games that feature independent npcs that move around in the game world. Pathfinding allows entities

attempting to move from one location to another to be directed around obstacles via a

series of points that are defined by a graph.

This is an image of a pathfinding graph

overlayed onto a game level. Each dot

represents a point in the space where AI recognises that approximate location as a

'va l id target', which i t will move to or from to reach a particular destination.