Monday 12 November 2012
Art In Games Task
Photorealism
- Heavy Rain
- La Noir
- Crysis
Crysis 2 is (in my opinion) one of the most detailed and most photo realistic game at this moment in time.
Everything that you see in the game crysis look so realist, almost like it had been filmed or even photographed, while playing the game you come across even more that is real, one good one is water and the way that it splashes when you walk acorss it or even swim in it. Another big one is the way that plants move around you rather then through you like in other games, this gives a more realist atmosphere making you feel more involed in the game and making you feel like you are actually in the game, the physics of the game are also extrodinary, the way that building crash and barrels roll, gives the game it unquie and realist design techinque. Compared to some other games like battlefield 3 the game really does out do itself in the grahpics and pysics department which really makes it such a good game to paly.
Realism
Realism is where a world look realist, as though you are there, as though you are seeing the world through a window or a helmet. Realism is one of the most popular genres to put games into this is because people want to have a game where they actually feel like they are playing for real, like they are actually in the game. Realism has been round for many years, in photograph and especially paintings (before modern art) and this has brought on some very famous artists such as Di Vinci with his Mono Lisa. Realism uses expersions and movement to make the subject have more life, these thing would give the character more emotion giving across a more realsit point of view.
Cell Shading
- Boarderlands
- Afro Samurai
- Battlefield Heroes
Boarderlands has to be the most famous game for cell shading and is the most reconizable at this time. Cell shading is where the game used lines to theyir entent where a line isnt thing and unseeable like in a game such as crysis but is more potant and seeable from a long way off, this give the game a very cartoony effect yo the game making them somewhat more friendly and make you feel more relaxed while in the environment, and this would be used on more childish games but boarderland has taken it a put it into a shooter game which you wouldnt really see and I think this is what makes the game very successful.
Cyber Punk
- Deus Ex
- System Shock
- Metal Gear Solid
Deus Ex is a cyberpunk game, and is quite an old but popular game but uses quite an unsal style which all game from a book names cyberpunk, this style was adpated and but into its own way, and became its own genre. Cyberpunk is where everything is macanichel and the world relys and machiences this could be the human body being more adanvanced and even become a cyborg. The style of cyberpunk us very dark, most things will be of a black or grey nature but they will have something that defines them, may that be some bright colour in their hair or a small light coming from their eyes or other body feautres. Cyberpunk hasnt been used quite a lot but has the potential to have many different stlyes within itself and isnt really ristricted.
Steampunk
- Bioshock
- Final Fantasy
- American McGee's Alice
Bioshock, one of the most reconizable game names in history, and this doesnt just come from the amazing story line but from the style of the game itself, Bioshock uses the style of steampunk, which is the use of macanical things that would run off steam or are made from scrap, this can really be seen in the game when yuo see a big daddy, a man made if metal and cloth (a diving suit) and the weapon that are made from chairs, this really gave bioshock its amazing look and really had the audience going, steampunk wasnt really so reconizable to many people and only started to become more reconziable when the game was realsied, this took the game market by storm and start to influence other games and also influenced and sequal tot the game.
Surrealism
Surrealism is where a certain thing uses things that are real, like watches or the human face and transforms them into something that is out of the ordinary, some that looks really but not real at the same time and this is known as surrealism, surrealism has been around not that long and only start a couple of years ago.
Pixel
- McPixel
- Sonic
- Minecraft
Of course we all know of the pixels and how they were used a lot in early games, when games frist started coming out they were all in the pixel form, this ranged between many games such as the very first sonic the hedgehod to mega, but as time went on so did the grapics and many game developers decided that they would head away from the idea of pixels and make the game more realist, but some decided that they want to stay this way and develop some games, the main game that almost everyone has heard about is the game minecraft, this game uses the pixel art scheme but makes it 3D, the pizels really make the game have a friendly enbironment to it and this what makes the game very popular, it a game that anyone can play and have a good time.
Black and White
- Limbo
- Pokemon Red
- " Blue
We dont see a loy of black and white games anymore because they have become out of date and we only really saw them when a consel couldnt really hold the capacity to have colour such as the very frist gamebou and its pokemon games, but one game decided to give a game the black and white gaming style another game and this is where the game Limbo came from, Limbo is a game where you are walking the world as a little boy and you come across many challenges that test your skill, but the world isnt a really such a nice place, and by simple having the different shades of black and white it really starts to give the game a very scary atmosphere and make the player become more engrossed in the game, and become more scared of what lyes ahead.
Exaggeration
- Gears Of War
- Final Fantasy
- Little Big Planet
This has become one of the biggest game idea that is around today, this is where it takes thing and basically oversizes them, so such as in the game Gear Of War where the mens bodys are the size of trees but their head is tiny, this should certain parts that the game desiger what the play to see and this could range from the strength of a person such as in gears of war or even how cool and awesome their weapons are which can be seen in the game final fantasy where litterally every monster you come across will be so deteail and also be three thousand times the size you are.
- Heavy Rain
- La Noir
- Crysis
Crysis 2 is (in my opinion) one of the most detailed and most photo realistic game at this moment in time.
Everything that you see in the game crysis look so realist, almost like it had been filmed or even photographed, while playing the game you come across even more that is real, one good one is water and the way that it splashes when you walk acorss it or even swim in it. Another big one is the way that plants move around you rather then through you like in other games, this gives a more realist atmosphere making you feel more involed in the game and making you feel like you are actually in the game, the physics of the game are also extrodinary, the way that building crash and barrels roll, gives the game it unquie and realist design techinque. Compared to some other games like battlefield 3 the game really does out do itself in the grahpics and pysics department which really makes it such a good game to paly.
Realism
Realism is where a world look realist, as though you are there, as though you are seeing the world through a window or a helmet. Realism is one of the most popular genres to put games into this is because people want to have a game where they actually feel like they are playing for real, like they are actually in the game. Realism has been round for many years, in photograph and especially paintings (before modern art) and this has brought on some very famous artists such as Di Vinci with his Mono Lisa. Realism uses expersions and movement to make the subject have more life, these thing would give the character more emotion giving across a more realsit point of view.
Cell Shading
- Boarderlands
- Afro Samurai
- Battlefield Heroes
Boarderlands has to be the most famous game for cell shading and is the most reconizable at this time. Cell shading is where the game used lines to theyir entent where a line isnt thing and unseeable like in a game such as crysis but is more potant and seeable from a long way off, this give the game a very cartoony effect yo the game making them somewhat more friendly and make you feel more relaxed while in the environment, and this would be used on more childish games but boarderland has taken it a put it into a shooter game which you wouldnt really see and I think this is what makes the game very successful.
Pop Art
Popart was something strange that just suddenly happened in the art world, where the artist defied what art trally was and came up with the idea that it should all be brightly colour and unusal, in the sense that you would print the same pciture multipply time and then take the image filling the foreground image with one colour and the background with another, and do this repeativly and then take all the image and place them together, another idea from a different artist was the idea of turning paintings into comic book style and adding a speach to them, and this really started to kick off and vecame really popular, and many years later this art idea would spread to games.
Cyber Punk
- Deus Ex
- System Shock
- Metal Gear Solid
Deus Ex is a cyberpunk game, and is quite an old but popular game but uses quite an unsal style which all game from a book names cyberpunk, this style was adpated and but into its own way, and became its own genre. Cyberpunk is where everything is macanichel and the world relys and machiences this could be the human body being more adanvanced and even become a cyborg. The style of cyberpunk us very dark, most things will be of a black or grey nature but they will have something that defines them, may that be some bright colour in their hair or a small light coming from their eyes or other body feautres. Cyberpunk hasnt been used quite a lot but has the potential to have many different stlyes within itself and isnt really ristricted.
Art Deco
Art Deco is a very Artistic style it shows of the slightistic of details like shading and colours, this style is a very interesting one, i really like this style because it really shows of the shading and i feel that it is what art is all about and i feel that most games should be designed around this
Steampunk
- Bioshock
- Final Fantasy
- American McGee's Alice
Bioshock, one of the most reconizable game names in history, and this doesnt just come from the amazing story line but from the style of the game itself, Bioshock uses the style of steampunk, which is the use of macanical things that would run off steam or are made from scrap, this can really be seen in the game when yuo see a big daddy, a man made if metal and cloth (a diving suit) and the weapon that are made from chairs, this really gave bioshock its amazing look and really had the audience going, steampunk wasnt really so reconizable to many people and only started to become more reconziable when the game was realsied, this took the game market by storm and start to influence other games and also influenced and sequal tot the game.
Surrealism
Surrealism is where a certain thing uses things that are real, like watches or the human face and transforms them into something that is out of the ordinary, some that looks really but not real at the same time and this is known as surrealism, surrealism has been around not that long and only start a couple of years ago.
Pixel
- McPixel
- Sonic
- Minecraft
Of course we all know of the pixels and how they were used a lot in early games, when games frist started coming out they were all in the pixel form, this ranged between many games such as the very first sonic the hedgehod to mega, but as time went on so did the grapics and many game developers decided that they would head away from the idea of pixels and make the game more realist, but some decided that they want to stay this way and develop some games, the main game that almost everyone has heard about is the game minecraft, this game uses the pixel art scheme but makes it 3D, the pizels really make the game have a friendly enbironment to it and this what makes the game very popular, it a game that anyone can play and have a good time.
Black and White
- Limbo
- Pokemon Red
- " Blue
We dont see a loy of black and white games anymore because they have become out of date and we only really saw them when a consel couldnt really hold the capacity to have colour such as the very frist gamebou and its pokemon games, but one game decided to give a game the black and white gaming style another game and this is where the game Limbo came from, Limbo is a game where you are walking the world as a little boy and you come across many challenges that test your skill, but the world isnt a really such a nice place, and by simple having the different shades of black and white it really starts to give the game a very scary atmosphere and make the player become more engrossed in the game, and become more scared of what lyes ahead.
Exaggeration
- Gears Of War
- Final Fantasy
- Little Big Planet
This has become one of the biggest game idea that is around today, this is where it takes thing and basically oversizes them, so such as in the game Gear Of War where the mens bodys are the size of trees but their head is tiny, this should certain parts that the game desiger what the play to see and this could range from the strength of a person such as in gears of war or even how cool and awesome their weapons are which can be seen in the game final fantasy where litterally every monster you come across will be so deteail and also be three thousand times the size you are.
Wednesday 31 October 2012
Game Engine
Assignment 1
A game engine is a creation that allows the Creator of a game have an easier opportunity to create there game easier and quicker. These engines contain engines within themselves to make working and creating a game even easier, this stop the old way of writing a script for everything, instead the script has already been pre-made for you, like such things as rendering engine for 2D and 3D graphics, physics engine/collision detection, sound, scripting, animation, A.I, networking, streaming, scene graphics and many more. These engines contain elements that are reusable, this is very useful for game designers that want to make a sequel/prequel to a game they would take the element that they have already created in the previous game, take the elements and important them into the new game, this saves a lot of time and helps them to produce the game and get it out on the market quicker.
2D Game Engines
Adventure Game Studio
Allegro library
Box2D
Cocos2d
Construct Classic
ENIGMA
Exult
FLARE
2D games have developed a lot over the past couple of years, the first ever games to come out were all in 2D and these were the most advance thing at the time, this contained game such as pac man and pong this required mouths of programming just to get a simple game, this was just consisted of just codings and no designing meaning that they didnt have the technology that we use today such as game engines, making it take a considerable amount of time to come out with a new game. To us now that is consider old and boring graphics and its all about 3D graphics now-a-days, but till this very day we still see 2D graphics everywhere, one famous game that is still 2D is the mobile game called Angry Birds, even though it is a simple game you can see how much the graphics has improved in the game, the items within the game such as the birds have clear colouring and are very smooth, comparing it back to early 2D game, the games were very blocked and made from cubes, making it look very tacky to todays standards.
2.5D Game Engines
Aleph One
Build engine
ClanLib
Delta3d
DimensioneX Multiplayer Engine
id Tech 1
2.5D graphics was the next big thing after 2D graphics this provided a 3D environment but 2D NPC/Characters, and this was the cheat way of producing a somewhat "Fake" 3D game and cutting corners to get the game produced and out fast. At the the time this was such a big development, one of the most famous game to use a 2.5D graphics was the game Doom, and this was also the start of the big Doom franchise which also later lead to the quake series..
3D Game Engines
id Tech 4
ioquake3
PixelLight
WorldForge
Wire3D
Irrlicht Engine
3D is the best graphics that we can produce in this moment in time, and even though that they have started out very standard, such as water being very motionless to now where water has an almost life like comparison. Everything has come very far since the very first game where we saw simple 2D graphics and to now where the technology gets better and the graphics improve by a lot each year, the more relaistic the game company can make the game the more people will by and the more the player starts to feel towards their character. And whats to say that 4D wont becoming along soon.
A game engine is a creation that allows the Creator of a game have an easier opportunity to create there game easier and quicker. These engines contain engines within themselves to make working and creating a game even easier, this stop the old way of writing a script for everything, instead the script has already been pre-made for you, like such things as rendering engine for 2D and 3D graphics, physics engine/collision detection, sound, scripting, animation, A.I, networking, streaming, scene graphics and many more. These engines contain elements that are reusable, this is very useful for game designers that want to make a sequel/prequel to a game they would take the element that they have already created in the previous game, take the elements and important them into the new game, this saves a lot of time and helps them to produce the game and get it out on the market quicker.
2D Game Engines
Adventure Game Studio
Allegro library
Box2D
Cocos2d
Construct Classic
ENIGMA
Exult
FLARE
2D games have developed a lot over the past couple of years, the first ever games to come out were all in 2D and these were the most advance thing at the time, this contained game such as pac man and pong this required mouths of programming just to get a simple game, this was just consisted of just codings and no designing meaning that they didnt have the technology that we use today such as game engines, making it take a considerable amount of time to come out with a new game. To us now that is consider old and boring graphics and its all about 3D graphics now-a-days, but till this very day we still see 2D graphics everywhere, one famous game that is still 2D is the mobile game called Angry Birds, even though it is a simple game you can see how much the graphics has improved in the game, the items within the game such as the birds have clear colouring and are very smooth, comparing it back to early 2D game, the games were very blocked and made from cubes, making it look very tacky to todays standards.
2.5D Game Engines
Aleph One
Build engine
ClanLib
Delta3d
DimensioneX Multiplayer Engine
id Tech 1
2.5D graphics was the next big thing after 2D graphics this provided a 3D environment but 2D NPC/Characters, and this was the cheat way of producing a somewhat "Fake" 3D game and cutting corners to get the game produced and out fast. At the the time this was such a big development, one of the most famous game to use a 2.5D graphics was the game Doom, and this was also the start of the big Doom franchise which also later lead to the quake series..
3D Game Engines
id Tech 4
ioquake3
PixelLight
WorldForge
Wire3D
Irrlicht Engine
3D is the best graphics that we can produce in this moment in time, and even though that they have started out very standard, such as water being very motionless to now where water has an almost life like comparison. Everything has come very far since the very first game where we saw simple 2D graphics and to now where the technology gets better and the graphics improve by a lot each year, the more relaistic the game company can make the game the more people will by and the more the player starts to feel towards their character. And whats to say that 4D wont becoming along soon.
Monday 15 October 2012
Game Engine Components
Assignment 2
PhysX
PhysX is an advanced particle system developed by Nvidia. This system will allow a game to have a lot more particles to be on the screen at once, giving the game a more realistic look to it. This has it so more effects can be active at one time without slowing down the performance of game and its running speed. Graphics cards without PhysX support will make the game run at a slower fps than one with it.
World Navigation
World Navigation is becoming more and more popular in games, this is because the game world are ever expanding in size and like in the real world people can get lost and need something to tell them where they need to go and what direction, this is were the world navigation comes into play, world navigation is a small thing in a game that helps the player find the quickest way or to help them to find their way and there are many forms of this, one way is a mini map that will be placed in the corner of your screen, which will follow your character around, this sometimes will have lines on it to show how the player can get to their next objective, another one is a normal map, this is normally triggered when the player press' a certain key normally "M", this will bring up a big map of the area of the game or even the world, and from this you can zoom in and out, this will sometimes show lots of location into which you can do activities, find people and so on. The other one which is very popular is the top mid arrow which points you into the direction into which you need to go, this type of arrow would be find in open street racing games, although they do not show you short cuts but take you the main way in which the AI will be taking.
Anti aliasing
Anti aliasing is an in game feature, this feature will smooth the jagged edges of objects so that they look more natural and look more realistic although this is what players want it also comes with a downside, this is where it lowers the performance of the game and also lowers the frame rate, this created the game to run a lot less smoother and also slows down the overall game making it seem more slow and laggy. Gamers are now given the option in most up to date game weather they want the anti aliasing on or off, in a simple tick box, this gives people with lower ended hardware the opportunity to play the game as well.
Shadowing
Shadowing is something that is quite new into the game world, shadowing creates a better atmosphere within the game and also created depth and size, this could be shown for the size of a cliff, or even the size of a person. Shadow is there to create further realism to a game, although this is a good thing to have it is also an option to have it or to not, shadowing may look good but it will slow down the frames and the performance of the game and you have the option to lower the shadow or even remove it completely.
Level of Detail
Level of detail is a very important aspect of games, especially ones that want to create realism within their games, one game that really takes this to the max is Crysis 3 (Created on CryEngine) everything in this game is so detailed, from the people to even the smallest piece of grass. Although this feature is breathe taking and amazing, it doesn't work at a certain distance, by this I mean that although the closer you get the more detailed it become but the further away you are from a certain object the less detailed it will be, this makes the game run fast and also means the game doesn't have to load unnecessary things that you aren't going to look at or have passed, this makes the game run smoother and faster, and once again you can have the option to lower the detail of the game, not only that but you have the opportunity to lower the distance into which you can see, all this will make the FPS run faster and the overall performance of the game to run more smoothly.
Lighting
Lighting can be seen as one of the most important components to a game, because light can really effect the mood in which the game want you to feel, for example you know when you're in a bright place in a game the chances are you are most likely in a safe area when nothing bad is going to happen, but when you're in a dark area, this creates the atmosphere of being scared and foreshadows what is coming next, such as a monster chasing you or someone trying to kill you. There are many different lights that can create different looks, things such as point light which might be to point at a certain character or coming from a build, to area light which would be seen as lighting in a house or the light coming from a candle.
Fogging
Fogging was quite a big aspect in game a few years again this was because this was the point before you could see everything in front of you, fogging was there to create a wall in front of you where you could not see past, this gave the game a chance to load up any items that you were heading towards, but fogging wasn't only put into games for that purpose but to create atmosphere, a foggy place would create suspicion and tension in a game, because players would not know what could be lurking in the fog.
Graphics Rendering
Graphics rendering is quite an important part in a game, this is where things such as colour, texture, lighting, shading and more are added on while you are playing a game. This includes things such as when you are heading to a certain objective, the game will start to adding the colour, texture and so on while you are heading to this certain point, this can prevent loading screens being seen constantly and can also help the game to run faster, instead of running slow because its trying to render the game when you are in a certain zone.
Collision Detection
Collision Detection is another thing that has been used in games for many years, and this has been used in space invaders, pac man and more. Such as in space invaders, when the invaders start shooting at you and then they hit you, there in a collision happening there where its telling the computer that something has collided with a certain object and that certain object will perform a certain task, so when you get hit in space invader you character get destroyed and you have to start the game again when you lose your three lives. This has been updated a lot now-a-days, such as in car games when you are driving and you lose control of your car and crash into another car or barrier, this collision is the start of the reaction that will be made by the car when you have hit something, so when you hit another or car or barrier you car will have damage done to it, may that be a scratch or you car has become mashed up, this is the reaction to the collision of the car. This has been used in nearly every game that we play now, and it may not just be when something hits you, it can also be when you are playing a war game and you pick up some ammo for your weapon, when you walk over the pack this is counted as a collision and this will be known to the game cause your character to pick up the ammo and adding it to you.
A.I.
Artificial Intelligence is becoming more and more popular in games to this day. A.I. is intelligence that is made and put into a specific thing to make it do certain tasks, some can maybe predict a move like the computer game of chess where it predicts what moves that you will take so that it can out smart you and win the game against you, and an A.I. was made for the chess game, and this A.I. had to out perform the world chess champion and in the end the A.I. got the chess player to check mate.
A.I. agents
A.I. agents are used throughout most game now-a-days, one use can be seen in the game on Witcher where you can see how the characters in the village react to what weather is happening, so when its raining all the villager go inside the house but when its sunny they go out of the house and this also works with the time of day as well day and night. A.I. have a quick interaction and therefore can out do the human abilities in most game so in an FPS game such as Call Of Duty the NPC ability to aim would be much faster and more accurate than the human ability. A.I. can help a gamer learn the rules and techniques of a game, which will help them out when they come across something that they need to do during the game, such as practising shooting or learn certain button bring up certain things.
AI Behaviours
Another thing that an A.I. contains is something called Bodily behaviour, and these things are of high priority, this contains such things such as resting, sleeping and eating, and these would be chosen at random throughout the game, so an A.I. could be eating in the middle of the day or at the beginning. When these fail the root selector falls back to a thing called active behaviours, these are the simpler actions such as walking or running, but if this behaviour fails then we come to the final one called passive behaviours, this contains actions such as sitting or standing, but after this one there are no more fall backs for the A.I.
Physics
Physics in game has always been there in some way or another, even in such a simple game as space invaders when the invaders started to shoot at you and then would head to the ground, to the game of Doom 3 where barrels can be launched across a room and then suddenly hit the ground due to gravity. The main thing about physics is that it is a software that tries it best to produce the laws of physics in a game. Creators will use physics in their games to make the game as real as they possibly can but they also have the change to do what they want with the physics so they can have things falling slowly, rapidly and even just floating around. A game such as quick will use the physics of gravity to make the weapons that you pick up, the weapons will hover in mid air. But this will depend on the environment in which the game is based, or where they player is e.g Different planet/universe. But as all things they do have their limitations, these can be things that have set paths that get caught up in other things and therefore get put out of place, but these things we can enjoy and laugh about. And no matter how good we get it, no one has perfected the gravity system and there will always be muck ups, but from the point where it was very simple it has progress a vast amount and has improve a lot.
Sound
Sound plays an important part in games today, sound started out very simple and would just be a sudden burst of sound like a breaking noise from a car, to the shooting laser from space invaders but as time went on sound became every better, sounds became longer and more clear, and now sound has improved so much, we can now start hearing distance sounds at a very low volume and as we get closer to our objective the sound becomes louder and more clear, and this starts giving the game a more realistic atmosphere. But as we get better and better at producing sounds for game, people are starting to find new ways to tell the story of a game just through sounds and music and containing no dialogue one such game is Limbo, the tells the story of a boy and the way that it uses it sounds is quite amazing a really captures the audiences attention One game that has come out was battlefield 3 and this game contain a lot of different sounds, from simple music, to complicated explosions and this gives the game a very real atmosphere, and this type of sound that makes the game seem more realistic, really drags the players into the game and become more engrossed.
Networking
PhysX
PhysX is an advanced particle system developed by Nvidia. This system will allow a game to have a lot more particles to be on the screen at once, giving the game a more realistic look to it. This has it so more effects can be active at one time without slowing down the performance of game and its running speed. Graphics cards without PhysX support will make the game run at a slower fps than one with it.
World Navigation
World Navigation is becoming more and more popular in games, this is because the game world are ever expanding in size and like in the real world people can get lost and need something to tell them where they need to go and what direction, this is were the world navigation comes into play, world navigation is a small thing in a game that helps the player find the quickest way or to help them to find their way and there are many forms of this, one way is a mini map that will be placed in the corner of your screen, which will follow your character around, this sometimes will have lines on it to show how the player can get to their next objective, another one is a normal map, this is normally triggered when the player press' a certain key normally "M", this will bring up a big map of the area of the game or even the world, and from this you can zoom in and out, this will sometimes show lots of location into which you can do activities, find people and so on. The other one which is very popular is the top mid arrow which points you into the direction into which you need to go, this type of arrow would be find in open street racing games, although they do not show you short cuts but take you the main way in which the AI will be taking.
Anti aliasing
Anti aliasing is an in game feature, this feature will smooth the jagged edges of objects so that they look more natural and look more realistic although this is what players want it also comes with a downside, this is where it lowers the performance of the game and also lowers the frame rate, this created the game to run a lot less smoother and also slows down the overall game making it seem more slow and laggy. Gamers are now given the option in most up to date game weather they want the anti aliasing on or off, in a simple tick box, this gives people with lower ended hardware the opportunity to play the game as well.
Shadowing
Shadowing is something that is quite new into the game world, shadowing creates a better atmosphere within the game and also created depth and size, this could be shown for the size of a cliff, or even the size of a person. Shadow is there to create further realism to a game, although this is a good thing to have it is also an option to have it or to not, shadowing may look good but it will slow down the frames and the performance of the game and you have the option to lower the shadow or even remove it completely.
Level of Detail
Level of detail is a very important aspect of games, especially ones that want to create realism within their games, one game that really takes this to the max is Crysis 3 (Created on CryEngine) everything in this game is so detailed, from the people to even the smallest piece of grass. Although this feature is breathe taking and amazing, it doesn't work at a certain distance, by this I mean that although the closer you get the more detailed it become but the further away you are from a certain object the less detailed it will be, this makes the game run fast and also means the game doesn't have to load unnecessary things that you aren't going to look at or have passed, this makes the game run smoother and faster, and once again you can have the option to lower the detail of the game, not only that but you have the opportunity to lower the distance into which you can see, all this will make the FPS run faster and the overall performance of the game to run more smoothly.
Lighting
Lighting can be seen as one of the most important components to a game, because light can really effect the mood in which the game want you to feel, for example you know when you're in a bright place in a game the chances are you are most likely in a safe area when nothing bad is going to happen, but when you're in a dark area, this creates the atmosphere of being scared and foreshadows what is coming next, such as a monster chasing you or someone trying to kill you. There are many different lights that can create different looks, things such as point light which might be to point at a certain character or coming from a build, to area light which would be seen as lighting in a house or the light coming from a candle.
Fogging
Fogging was quite a big aspect in game a few years again this was because this was the point before you could see everything in front of you, fogging was there to create a wall in front of you where you could not see past, this gave the game a chance to load up any items that you were heading towards, but fogging wasn't only put into games for that purpose but to create atmosphere, a foggy place would create suspicion and tension in a game, because players would not know what could be lurking in the fog.
Graphics rendering is quite an important part in a game, this is where things such as colour, texture, lighting, shading and more are added on while you are playing a game. This includes things such as when you are heading to a certain objective, the game will start to adding the colour, texture and so on while you are heading to this certain point, this can prevent loading screens being seen constantly and can also help the game to run faster, instead of running slow because its trying to render the game when you are in a certain zone.
Collision Detection
Collision Detection is another thing that has been used in games for many years, and this has been used in space invaders, pac man and more. Such as in space invaders, when the invaders start shooting at you and then they hit you, there in a collision happening there where its telling the computer that something has collided with a certain object and that certain object will perform a certain task, so when you get hit in space invader you character get destroyed and you have to start the game again when you lose your three lives. This has been updated a lot now-a-days, such as in car games when you are driving and you lose control of your car and crash into another car or barrier, this collision is the start of the reaction that will be made by the car when you have hit something, so when you hit another or car or barrier you car will have damage done to it, may that be a scratch or you car has become mashed up, this is the reaction to the collision of the car. This has been used in nearly every game that we play now, and it may not just be when something hits you, it can also be when you are playing a war game and you pick up some ammo for your weapon, when you walk over the pack this is counted as a collision and this will be known to the game cause your character to pick up the ammo and adding it to you.
A.I.
Artificial Intelligence is becoming more and more popular in games to this day. A.I. is intelligence that is made and put into a specific thing to make it do certain tasks, some can maybe predict a move like the computer game of chess where it predicts what moves that you will take so that it can out smart you and win the game against you, and an A.I. was made for the chess game, and this A.I. had to out perform the world chess champion and in the end the A.I. got the chess player to check mate.
A.I. agents
A.I. agents are used throughout most game now-a-days, one use can be seen in the game on Witcher where you can see how the characters in the village react to what weather is happening, so when its raining all the villager go inside the house but when its sunny they go out of the house and this also works with the time of day as well day and night. A.I. have a quick interaction and therefore can out do the human abilities in most game so in an FPS game such as Call Of Duty the NPC ability to aim would be much faster and more accurate than the human ability. A.I. can help a gamer learn the rules and techniques of a game, which will help them out when they come across something that they need to do during the game, such as practising shooting or learn certain button bring up certain things.
AI Behaviours
Another thing that an A.I. contains is something called Bodily behaviour, and these things are of high priority, this contains such things such as resting, sleeping and eating, and these would be chosen at random throughout the game, so an A.I. could be eating in the middle of the day or at the beginning. When these fail the root selector falls back to a thing called active behaviours, these are the simpler actions such as walking or running, but if this behaviour fails then we come to the final one called passive behaviours, this contains actions such as sitting or standing, but after this one there are no more fall backs for the A.I.
Physics
Physics in game has always been there in some way or another, even in such a simple game as space invaders when the invaders started to shoot at you and then would head to the ground, to the game of Doom 3 where barrels can be launched across a room and then suddenly hit the ground due to gravity. The main thing about physics is that it is a software that tries it best to produce the laws of physics in a game. Creators will use physics in their games to make the game as real as they possibly can but they also have the change to do what they want with the physics so they can have things falling slowly, rapidly and even just floating around. A game such as quick will use the physics of gravity to make the weapons that you pick up, the weapons will hover in mid air. But this will depend on the environment in which the game is based, or where they player is e.g Different planet/universe. But as all things they do have their limitations, these can be things that have set paths that get caught up in other things and therefore get put out of place, but these things we can enjoy and laugh about. And no matter how good we get it, no one has perfected the gravity system and there will always be muck ups, but from the point where it was very simple it has progress a vast amount and has improve a lot.
Sound
Sound plays an important part in games today, sound started out very simple and would just be a sudden burst of sound like a breaking noise from a car, to the shooting laser from space invaders but as time went on sound became every better, sounds became longer and more clear, and now sound has improved so much, we can now start hearing distance sounds at a very low volume and as we get closer to our objective the sound becomes louder and more clear, and this starts giving the game a more realistic atmosphere. But as we get better and better at producing sounds for game, people are starting to find new ways to tell the story of a game just through sounds and music and containing no dialogue one such game is Limbo, the tells the story of a boy and the way that it uses it sounds is quite amazing a really captures the audiences attention One game that has come out was battlefield 3 and this game contain a lot of different sounds, from simple music, to complicated explosions and this gives the game a very real atmosphere, and this type of sound that makes the game seem more realistic, really drags the players into the game and become more engrossed.
Networking
Networking is when multiple computers are connected to a network that can send and retrieve data from each other. Some use Ethernet which is a wire from port to port which gives a clear and fast connection without any disruptions and some may use wireless connection, this can either be an internal device or external and this connects through that, this give you the ability to use the device that you have any where in the area in which the connection can reach. In games, networking would be used for the multiplayer option, where people can join one another to either help or compete.
Animation
Animation is what brings a game to life, what makes it a game and what makes it appealing to the player, an animation is a short cycles of a series of different images that when combine create motion.
Path Based
Path based animation used different frames onto a fix background, and this creates the animation of movement within an object. The main point of the path bases is that the animation follows a fixed path that it has to follow, until it reaches the end. These types of path based animation is use mostly in games for the NPC's this could be the movement in the mouth of a character or even the path that it has to walk on.
Kinematics
Kinematics is quite a hard thing to explain without including a lot of equations to understand but the main point in Forward Kinematics and Reverse Kinematics is to get an item or object to move forward (Forward Kinematics) and back (Reverse Kinematics), this would be mainly focused on the movement of the arms and legs of a character.
Particle Systems
Some big that is becoming more and more popular in all game is the use of a particle system, this system adds realism and excitement to the game, the particle system is anything that will move for a period of time that isn't a fix object but an object that's meant to be like dust, by this I mean something like fire or an explosion, these particle systems are created through a sprite sheet, a series of still images that create a short animation to put within the game, all of these will have a birth rate and a death rate, these two together determine how long a certain animation will last before its completely gone or has gone to its birth stage again.
Middleware
Middleware allows developers to use a different software from the one they are using and become able to add it to the game engines, so this 3DS Max, an item that you made in this software and then import it into unity. Middleware can be seen as being a way to glue things together.
Ray tracing
Ray tracing is the way that dynamic shadows are made. This reads where the lighting effects are going to be placed and creates a shadow of the object depending on where the light is hitting the object, so if it was from th side of a box at a low a positioning then this would create a long shadow, and this could be applied to any object within a game. This knd of thing would be seen in most game now-a-days, this sort of thing gives a game the realism look.
Culling methods
A culling method is to take away polygons from a model to make a game run smoother. This sort of thing is most commonly used to an object that is not in he players sight, as this causes the game to run slower if it is not lowered, but because it has the culling effect onto it the game will run smoother and will run at a faster rate. Although with the culling effect the game will still look as good at it was supposed to be within the players sight.
Caustics
Caustics is the reflections and/or refraction of light through an object, for example light passing through cracks/gaps with boarding on windows, this created a different (Thinner) light coming through a window, another example would be water, and how the water refracts through the water create unsual shapes on the waters bed.In games this can be applied to make the game feel more authentic and look more realistic, which ingrosses the player more into the game.
Animation
Animation is what brings a game to life, what makes it a game and what makes it appealing to the player, an animation is a short cycles of a series of different images that when combine create motion.
Path Based
Path based animation used different frames onto a fix background, and this creates the animation of movement within an object. The main point of the path bases is that the animation follows a fixed path that it has to follow, until it reaches the end. These types of path based animation is use mostly in games for the NPC's this could be the movement in the mouth of a character or even the path that it has to walk on.
Kinematics
Kinematics is quite a hard thing to explain without including a lot of equations to understand but the main point in Forward Kinematics and Reverse Kinematics is to get an item or object to move forward (Forward Kinematics) and back (Reverse Kinematics), this would be mainly focused on the movement of the arms and legs of a character.
Particle Systems
Some big that is becoming more and more popular in all game is the use of a particle system, this system adds realism and excitement to the game, the particle system is anything that will move for a period of time that isn't a fix object but an object that's meant to be like dust, by this I mean something like fire or an explosion, these particle systems are created through a sprite sheet, a series of still images that create a short animation to put within the game, all of these will have a birth rate and a death rate, these two together determine how long a certain animation will last before its completely gone or has gone to its birth stage again.
Middleware
Middleware allows developers to use a different software from the one they are using and become able to add it to the game engines, so this 3DS Max, an item that you made in this software and then import it into unity. Middleware can be seen as being a way to glue things together.
Ray tracing
Ray tracing is the way that dynamic shadows are made. This reads where the lighting effects are going to be placed and creates a shadow of the object depending on where the light is hitting the object, so if it was from th side of a box at a low a positioning then this would create a long shadow, and this could be applied to any object within a game. This knd of thing would be seen in most game now-a-days, this sort of thing gives a game the realism look.
Culling methods
A culling method is to take away polygons from a model to make a game run smoother. This sort of thing is most commonly used to an object that is not in he players sight, as this causes the game to run slower if it is not lowered, but because it has the culling effect onto it the game will run smoother and will run at a faster rate. Although with the culling effect the game will still look as good at it was supposed to be within the players sight.
Caustics
Caustics is the reflections and/or refraction of light through an object, for example light passing through cracks/gaps with boarding on windows, this created a different (Thinner) light coming through a window, another example would be water, and how the water refracts through the water create unsual shapes on the waters bed.In games this can be applied to make the game feel more authentic and look more realistic, which ingrosses the player more into the game.
Thursday 4 October 2012
HCI Task
HCI Task
Screens
Screens, the main source that all platforms require for you to play your games whether that is a chunky screen from the 1990’s to the touch screen on your phone. Screens have developed over a very short space of time, and they are constantly getting better and better, we have now got the technology to take the 3D that we see on the big screen and put it into a small device such as a phone or a Nintendo 3DS. With these big improvements in technology we could reach 4D sooner then we know.
TV’s have become one of the biggest screens that are need to play consoles such as Xbox 360’s and PS3’s, including your computer, this is because it give more of the bigger and better experience in games by giving you a bigger screen giving you a more detailed game.
Computer screens are main used for the computers since these are the oldest type of screen they have been improved a lot over the years giving better advance, giving you, the player a better game experience.
Touch screens are quite new to the market, since this is a very recent advancement in technology. But gaming industries have taken this opportunity and made games that have become very successful such as Angry Bird. This is a very good advance because it gives people the opportunity to play their favourite games on their phone where ever they want and whenever they want.
The newest improvement in technology is the 3D concept, where you can experience your favourite games in 3D which is a big advancement but it hasn’t been completely successful yet, though it is a great idea it also had its fault where you would have to look at the screen at a certain angle to give the effect, but since technology is advancing very quickly in the game industry, so will the screens that will improve the experience ever more.
The newest improvement in technology is the 3D concept, where you can experience your favourite games in 3D which is a big advancement but it hasn’t been completely successful yet, though it is a great idea it also had its fault where you would have to look at the screen at a certain angle to give the effect, but since technology is advancing very quickly in the game industry, so will the screens that will improve the experience ever more.
Keyboards
Keyboards have been one of the biggest priorities of the computer or laptop, since these are what are used for everyday use on one of them. Keyboards on the computer are used in many different ways, some use it to do work, other to research or find what they are looking for on the Internet and others to have a sit back and relax playing games. Keyboards in gaming on the PC are quite important since nearly each and every key is/ can be allocated to do a certain task, may it be opening the inventory or even casting a special skill.
Other consoles like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 also take control of the keyboard but they aren't really used for the gaming, some may give you the option to play using a keyboard but mainly the keyboard is used only for contacted other players/friends or to use to find stuff in the consoles browser, to even the simplest task of name your character.
Other consoles like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 also take control of the keyboard but they aren't really used for the gaming, some may give you the option to play using a keyboard but mainly the keyboard is used only for contacted other players/friends or to use to find stuff in the consoles browser, to even the simplest task of name your character.
Joysticks
Joysticks are special controllers that were design for the PC giving the player easier control in certain games such as battlefield when you're flying a jet to simply driving a tank, it was meant to make your gaming experience better and a lot more fun, though they we're getting popular among the PC users they have now become not so popular due to the new gaming consoles like the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Wii. These consoles have taken over the PC industry and become the systems for the best gaming experience, which meant that less people started using the PC, therefore meaning that the Joystick became less of an essical item that all gamers wanted/needed.
Pads
Pad are the controllers that are everything to the gaming world at this moment in time, since all the big consoles use a controller in some sort of way or the other. But the two big consoles that are using pads is the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. The pads are used for every/most games that you can play on these consoles, may that be a simple driving game to fighting in a war time situation, they have been made to be playable with any game that is/has been put out on the market today. Though they are the main controllers that we use to date they a rapidly become some what of the joy stick, when new technology comes in the old ones go out.
Touch Screen
Touch screen is associated the modern phones today, advancement in phone has rapidly increased over the past couple of years where only a few years ago you were only just being able to play music you liked on them. Touch screen is a great way to play a game that you have on your phone, it makes you interact more with the game and it make you become more indulged in playing the game more and more. The great thing about touch screen is that you can use it in basically any game that is given, may that be a shooting game where all you need to do is tap the screen or even using one side of the screen for movement and the other for your weaponry, to a driving game where one side might be the acceleration or turning and the other side for breaking, to as simple as a farming game where you can access the menus with a simple touch of a button and the same with placing an item somewhere.
Steering wheel
Steering wheels were first brought out the PC, to make certain games become better and these games were the facing type such and the big franchise of the day "Need For Speed", this was the game of the time and everyone wanted it, and having a steering wheel made your game play ten time more exciting and fun, you felt like you were actually driving the car, and this was the experience that the makers wanted to give you. Steering wheels are such a success with any racing game they started to make them for the gaming consoles such as Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 where they made the steering wheel like the PC style, with the wheel being a separate device from the controller, to even the Wii where you simply put you remote into a steering wheeled plastic object.
Pointing Devices
Pointing devices have been around for quite a few years now, they were first introduced when the console the Wii came out, this was a big hit and this got the Wii console selling out within a few day making it hard for anyone else to get. Since this the Playstation 3 thought that it would be a good idea to introduce their own Wii handset which wasn’t such a big success as the Wii was. Pointing devices are a way that the person can literally point with the controller at the screen and have the ability to move your cursor to the exact position you want to. For the Wii this controller was used for the Wii sports games such as bowling and tennis and for the Playstation 3 it was for sword fighting and archery, both platforms would require you to perform the movements you would actually to in a game of bowling or archery to be able to play the game.
Motion detectors
Motion detectors are starting to take over the gaming pad in every consoles in the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 to even phones, they are become the new controllers of the modern day, they are a better way of interacting with a game, it makes you feel like you are needed/wanted in the game and it gives you an all new gaming experience, where your body is the controller. Every motion you make will cause an action within the game, may that be that you move your hand to selected or grab an item, to holding moving you hands like you were shooting a bow, to actually shoot a bow. Also motion detectors have started to come to the gaming world of phones where tilting your phone to the right would cause you character to move to the right and holding your phone flat would cause you character to move forward. The way that we are being able to play games is constantly changing and improving, its only a matter of time before this technology was is outdated and even better technology comes in a creates the better gaming interface.
Headsets
Headsets weren't really part of playing a game, they are more for contacting/interacting with fellow team mates online, to get the upper hand in a game to a simple chat. But someone decided it was a good idea to remove the head set and put it into a deceives such as the Xbox Kinect where it will recognize what you are saying and perform that command. Though this technology hasn’t caught on as well as other technology such as the motion detectors (Which are also found in the Xbox's Kinect) it is become something that is being developed, and being considered for the more casual player, in a game where you actually have to talk to interact with an NPC.
Camera
The camera is sort of an old device, that has been out done by better technology. Camera's were the old motion detectors, where your action would cause and certain action to happen, but they weren't so good, some actions couldn't be picked up some of the time and the quality of the games seemed to be very poor and it wasn’t very exciting to play a game like this excluding the fact that there was so little gaming verities that were available for the camera gaming, though this is amongst the consoles such as the Playstation 2.
GPS
GPS is more for the actual gamer who like to go out and about exploring the world and having fun doing it, by playing games. Smartphones came up with the idea of a GPS a few years ago, such a game called "Geocaching" where the gamer would be given coordinates to a certain location, and there mission was to get to this spot and then they would find a case such as a lunchbox or ammunition case which would be full of items that previous people who have found and items that they have placed in the case, because once you find the case you take one item from it and replace it with something you have.
Compass
Augmented reality
Augmented reality is where the user uses, their controller and can use it in real time. A good idea is of this thing is the 3DS, they have taken a game where you look around the room and then you can place down a a card to show that you want to start a battle with this monster, this kind of game is very new, but the franchise hasn't really caught on well because its very limited and cannot offer as good a gaming environment as other games can.
Compass
A compass is generally used to guide people round places by using north, south, east and west, but a compass can be used in a game such as a game on a ds where you move the ds around and on the bottom screen there is a compass and on the top there is a environment where if you find a monster you have to kill it but to move you have to use the compass. A good design for a compass would be something that is small so that it doesn't take up too much of the screen, and also big enough so that it is easy to see.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality is where the user uses, their controller and can use it in real time. A good idea is of this thing is the 3DS, they have taken a game where you look around the room and then you can place down a a card to show that you want to start a battle with this monster, this kind of game is very new, but the franchise hasn't really caught on well because its very limited and cannot offer as good a gaming environment as other games can.
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