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 RESEARCH

ED TERM TO YOUR OWN PRODUCTI

ON PRACTICE?

IMAGE SUPPORT (Provide an image and/or video link of said term being used in a game)

VIDEO GAMES / VIDEO GAME TESTING

Demo “It i s my opinion that a demo in games is a demonstration of how the game

is played. It will normally tell you about how to go about playing in the game in detail and will normally take you through several boards of the game” https ://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090423022627AA9nGkS

Creating a

Demo of our concept

games helps us

understand

bugs , gives opportunity

for feedback and shows us what we can improve

http://blazekick.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/My-Great-Capture-Screen-Shot-2014-07-03-0 4-37 -

32.png

The Playstation and Xbox marketplaces recommend playing Demo’s for either a certain amount of time of to a certain point within the game, before having to purchase it digitally or a physical CD

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

2

Beta Beta testing comes after alpha testing and can be considered a form of external user acceptance testing. Versions of the software, known as beta

vers ions, are released to a limited audience outside of the programming team. The software is released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing

Beta in our case can be

used to dis tribute our game to the public or

peers to test for faults and/or bugs

http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2012/09/Steam-Greenlight-thumb.jpg

Steam Greenlight is home to many games that are in Beta and also

games within Alpha, the public votes to greenlight games that are in production, upon being greenlit, steam will talk to the retailer and

ask them to publish an early retail version

Alpha Alpha testing is s imulated or actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an independent test team at the developers' site. Alpha

testing i s often employed for off-the-shelf software as a form of internal acceptance testing, before the software goes to beta testing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing

Alpha being a very bas ic

vers ion of the game we’ve created, we

can i ron out any early

deta ils that might make

the game

better

http://www.praetoriaguard.com/index.php?/page/articles.html/_/gaming/pcgaming/

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

3

“Rust” i s a game that is in Alpha, i t has the main components of the

game integrated, but even at the current stage i s being renovated over and over ti l’ they can “Go for gold”

Pre-Alpha

There are a bunch of s tages in the gaming industry. Pre -production, pre-a lpha, alpha, beta, gold. I think I might have forgot one or two. Been a while s ince I worked in the game industry.

Pre-a lpha is basically implementing all the systems and features in the game. Once all those systems are in the game then they move on to Alpha.

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/440511.page

With a ll the basic ideas and what’s going to

be contained within the game and i t’s

concepts it’s possible to

move onto a lpha with all the in-game ideas

implemented.

http://www.mmobomb.com/review/unturned Unturned is a game which is in pre-alpha, it has most of the features and implements, but it’s still being built towards a s table

alpha game

Gold The term "release to manufacturing", also known as "going gold", is a term used when a software product is ready to be delivered or provided to the customer. This build may be digitally signed, a llowing the end user to verify the integrity and authenticity of the software purchase. A copy of the RTM

bui ld 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_cycle

After we’ve gone through s tages such

as pre-alpha, a lpha and

beta, with all

the bugs i roned out

and a ll concepts

have been perfectly displayed it’s possible to

release i t for

Link to Destiny tra iler will be embedded below post under “Gold Video” Destiny i s a Game that got released on the 9th of September 2014, i t’s

a new game that got released and so it had to go through the stage of “going gold” being released to the public very recently, thus

passing this stage

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

4

public

release Debug Debug mode is a development tool which typically a llows you to break the

rules of the game in any number of ways and to give technical information that i s of benefit to the programmers working on the games. Examples of debug are Object Debug, Night Mode and Placement Debug. http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_debug_mode_in_gaming

Often

debugging can be found in video game

makers such as unity or game maker

in order to give info on

i tems giving off bugs that can be unbeneficial

to the

Debugging is a process in coding which can give info on what isn’t working correctly within the engine causing bugs that could be fatal

Automati

on

Automation or automatic control, is the use of various control systems for

operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching in telephone networks, s teering and s tabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have been completely

automated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation

Automation

in an engine l ike unity could mean repeating a

script over and over,

such as change in daytime

Lapping over scripts can create a consistent feature to continue looping, in this process we can see the repeat of a cycle of starting

the editor to place a scene and player

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

5

White-

Box Testing

White-box testing (also known as clear box testing, glass box testing,

transparent box testing, and s tructural testing) is a method of testing software that tests internal structures or workings of an application, as opposed to i ts functionality (i .e. black-box testing). In white-box testing an internal perspective of the system, as well as programming skills, are used

to des ign test cases. The tester chooses inputs to exercise paths through the code and determine the appropriate outputs. This is analogous to testing

nodes in a circuit, e.g. in-circuit testing (ICT).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-box_testing

White box

testing will be require in order fix l ines of code

that are fragi le In the

coding

Bug Gl i tches/bugs are software errors that can cause drastic problems within

the code, and typically go unnoticed or unsolved during the production of sa id software. These errors can be game caused or otherwise exploited until a developer/development team repairs them. Complex software is rarely bug-free or otherwise free from errors upon first release.

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

Finding and

fixing bugs means that in the future of the games

productionsmal l issues that aren’t correct won’t be an

i s sue

Video can be found under “Bug video” Embedded below

This video shows coding bugs from popular games, such as sims or Assassins creed, which could be errors caused by AI not responding correctly or mechanics not working to par

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

6

GAME ENGINES GAME ENGINES

Vertex

Shader

Vertex shaders are run once for each vertex given to the graphics processor.

The purpose is to transform each vertex's 3D position in vi rtual space to the 2D coordinate at which i t appears on the screen (as well as a depth value for the Z-buffer). Vertex shaders can manipulate properties such as position, color and texture coordinate, but cannot create new vertices. The output of

the vertex shader goes to the next s tage in the pipeline, which is either a geometry shader i f present, or the rasterizer. Verte x shaders can enable

powerful control over the details of position, movement, l ighting, and color

in any scene involving 3D models. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Vertex_shaders

Things such

as casting shadows on objects and make them

look realistic in relations

to l ighting,

other objects or

l ight sources

Showing clear vertex shading, adding more detail and response of

l ighting to the small indents of the shape Pixel

Shader

Pixel shaders, also known as fragment shaders, compute color and other

attributes of each fragment. The simplest kinds of pixel shaders output one

screen pixel as a color va lue; more complex shaders with multiple inputs/outputs are also possible. Pixel shaders range from always outputting

the same color, to applying a lighting value, to doing bump mapping, shadows, specular highlights, translucency and other phenomena. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Vertex_shaders

Pixel shades

can be used

to draw larger

effects onto terra ins and things like backgrounds

With pixel shading it Is possible to create a realistic looking image with much less attention to detail than i t may seem.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

7

Post

Processing

The term post-processing (or postproc for short) is used in the video/film

bus iness for quality-improvement image processing (specifically digital image processing) methods used in video playback devices, (such as stand-a lone DVD-Video players), and video players software and transcoding software. It is also commonly used in real-time 3D rendering (such as in

video games) to add additional effects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_post-processing

By post

processing i t’s possible to improve the image

and quality of the game

being

improved with

additional effects

Video can be found under “Post Processing Video” Embedded below

Post processing can be the difference in making the game look like Borderlands with cell shading or CoD with humid lighting on the character

Renderin

g

Rendering is the process of generating an image from a 2D or 3D model (or

models in what collectively could be ca lled a scene file), by means of computer programs. Also, the results of such a model can be called a rendering. A scene file contains objects in a s trictly defined language or data s tructure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the vi rtual scene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(computer_graphics)

If we were

to create a 3d model we would need to render it to show the

geometry and shading

information

Rendering this image shows that smoothing out the polygons to be

joined, flattened and curved in order to mould into a more realistic image for inside a game.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

8

Normal

Map

In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", i s a

technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents – an implementation of bump mapping. It is used to add details without using more polygons. A common use of this technique is to greatly enhance the appearance and details of a low polygon model by generating a normal map

from a high polygon model or height map. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping

By us ing

normal mapping it’s possible to add co-

ordinates us ing the

shape and

hue of each area

With the difference of hue within the image, i t’s possible to map co -

ordinates onto the image in relation to the colours in the game Entity An enti ty i s something that exists in itself, actually or hypothetically. It need

not be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are

usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an enti ty i s animate.

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

Enti ties are

what i s

required to make an AI

“a l ive” and can a lso be what the player takes

control of

In UDK there are default enemies which can be given movement or

given conditions upon which i t will act

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

9

UV Map UV mapping is the 3D modeling process of making a 2D image

representation of a 3D model's surface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_mapping

The skins we

need to texture onto players, is UV mapping

This character i s produced by these textures being wrapped around the character model.

Procedural Texture

A procedural texture is a computer-generated image created using an a lgorithm intended to create a realistic representation of natural elements such as wood, marble, granite, metal, s tone, and others.

Usually, the natural look of the rendered result is achieved by the usage of fracta l noise and turbulence functions. These functions are used as a

numerical representation of the “randomness” found in nature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_texture

Procedural textures are commonly

used in games like minecraft in

order to ti le terra ins

together to imitate a landscape.

These are textures that could be repainted over terrain and be recycled

Physics Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the laws of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D

computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer. Typically, simulation physics is only a close approximation to rea l physics, and computation is performed using discrete values. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_physics

Phys ics are needed in

games as they can define whether a

character could fly, has

low gravity

Video under “Physics Video” embedded below

Porta l 2 displays tonnes of physics that would mimic that of real life phys ics with the twist of portals, being able to transfer velocity on a di fferent Axis and direction.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

10

etc.

Collision Col l ision detection typically refers to the computational problem of detecting the intersection of two or more objects. While the topic is most

often associated with its use in video games and other physical simulations, i t a lso has applications in robotics. In addition to determining whether two objects have collided, collision detection systems may a lso calculate time of impact (TOI), and report a contact manifold (the set of intersecting points).

Col l ision response deals with simulating what happens when a collision is detected (see physics engine, ragdoll physics). Solving collision detection problems requires extensive use of concepts from linear algebra and

computational geometry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_detection

Col l ision in games can

define what impact from another object with

col l ision phys ics will do to i t, i t

a lso defines how the

player i s connected to the terra in, i .e

they can walk through wal ls or enti ties.

This image shows the effects of not having Collision detection on an object, thus making it pass straight through, in which a bullet would normally make collision with the Wall within the image

Lighting High-dynamic-range rendering (HDRR or HDR rendering), also known as high-dynamic-range l ighting, i s the rendering of computer graphics scenes

by us ing lighting calculations done in a larger dynamic range. This a llows preservation of details that may be lost due to limiting contrast ratios. Video games and computer-generated movies and special effects benefit from this

as i t creates more realistic scenes than with the more simplistic lighting models used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_rendering

Lighting in our games,

more specifically HDRR or

HDR rendering

can add more rea lism in to the game as

i t can be found in special effects that emit l ighting

HDR rendering causes the light to seem more realistic, in i ts relations

to how the l ight bounces from water, how much it l ights a certain object and how the light reflects from certain types of objects.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

11

AA –

Anti-Aliasing

Anti -aliasing may refer to any of a number of techniques to combat the

problems of aliasing in a sampled signal such as a digital image or digital audio recording. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing

Anti -Aliasing

finds finds common imperfections in images

or audio recording

within the

game.

The image shows anti-aliasing smooths out the shape with gradients rather than pixelated images.

LoD –

Level of Detail

In computer graphics, accounting for level of detail involves decreasing the

complexity of a 3D object representation as it moves away from the viewer or according to other metrics such as object importance, viewpoint-relative

speed or position. Level of detail techniques increases the efficiency of rendering by decreasing the workload on graphics pipeline stages, usually vertex transformations. The reduced visual quality of the model is often unnoticed because of the small effect on object appearance when distant or moving fast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_detail

By paying

attention to the LoD in a

game, it’s possible to increase or decrease how complex the

representation of a 3D image is.

This image shows that with the lesser amount of polygons used within the model, using far more triangles to construct the shape more accurately but decrease the efficiency of the Rendering

Animation

Animation is the process of creating motion and shape change illusion by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally

di ffer from each other. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon. Animators are artists who

specialize in the creation of animation.

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

Animation in gaming is

used to l ink movements

in game

engines like gamemaker

by making a perfect loop of a sprite walking etc.

This image shows the process of drawing a model within different

pos itions and looping them together to make a walking gif file

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

12

Sprite In computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names; see Synonyms

below) is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. Initially including just graphical objects handled separately from the memory bitmap of a video display, this now includes various manners of graphical overlays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)

Game maker

uses simple Spri tes which can be used in

many di fferent

processes in

the game being

created, such as being drawn into a

character, weapon or

piece of terra in

These are sprites from the Pokémon franchise from Nintendo, it

shows how they’re used and normally comes with more frames for animation.

Scene Scenes contain the objects of your game. They can be used to create a main menu, individual levels, and anything else. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you will place your environments, obstacles,

and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/CreatingScenes.html

Scenes are the base of unity

projects, making it

possible for

us to place objects,

create a terra in and can be merged with

other scenes

This image shows a basic scene set up in Unity, required for terrains, object, rules and physics

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

13

Library Preset Libraries contain user created data and persist between sessions.

They are integrated into the Color Picker, Gradient Editor and Curve Editors. A preset is e.g a color, gradient or an animation curve that is saved by the user. A preset library i s a collection of presets saved into one file.

Preset libraries contain personal data or project data. They can be saved ei ther in the user preferences folder or in a ‘Editor’ folder in the Assets

folder. Project preset l ibraries can then be added to revision control for easy

sharing between users on a project and added to Asset Store packages. http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/PresetLibraries.html

Libraries can

be used to categorize separate things such

as object, l ights,

coding

integrated into

characters etc.

A preset library can have anything from sprites, to physics, cameras, textures, many kinds of customizable features in the game

UI The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, i s the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is effective operation and control of the machine on the user's end, and feedback from the machine, which aids the

operator in making operational decisions. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy machinery operator controls, and process controls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface

The user interface can be used in di fferent

places within game or game des ign process,

such as the display from

unity to

create the game or in-

game menus

Can a lso be referred to as Heads up display, the information the player might need which can vary based on the game, health, hunger, ammo, inventory, game options, currency, i t can go on

The image shows elements making up the user interface

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

14

Frames key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that defines the starting

and ending points of any smooth transition. The drawings are called "frames" because their position in time is measured in frames on a s trip of fi lm. A sequence of keyframes defines which movement the viewer will see, whereas the position of the keyframes on the film, video or animation

defines the timing of the movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_frame

Frames in

gaming can be the interval In which

events occur such as the

s l ight

movement of a

character, s tandard games run around

60 fps which gives plenty

of frames to add animation,

effects or events.

The image shows different frames of animation In a character doing a

melee attack, with small info and movement being put in

Concept When the mind makes a generalization such as the concept of tree, i t extracts similarities from numerous examples; the s implification enables

higher-level thinking.

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

Concept in gaming can

be an idea

that has been

generate ad could potentially be

integrated into the

game

Al though there are many different types of concepts within gaming, this shows concept art for a character from two angles, so what was

originally .

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

15

Event So, what are events? Basically, these are discreet moments in the game loop

where things are made to happen based on what you have programmed for them. You see GameMaker: Studio works with cycles of these events - from the moment a room is started to the moment it i s finished there is a game loop running where every s tep (a step is a moment in game time, governed

by the room speed setting) a series of events are run, and you can choose to place code or DnD actions in your instances that respond to these events.

“http://docs.yoyogames.com/source/dadiospice/000_using%20gamemaker

/events/index.html

Events occur

when they’re activated with their

l ine of code, for example,

running an

event for the death screen

would occur when a bul let col l ides with

the players spri te

This image shows the window for adding events to objects, in this

instance, a ball.

Pathfinding

Pathfinding or pathing is the plotting, by a computer application, of the shortest route between two points. It is a more practical variant on solving mazes. This field of research is based heavily on Dijkstra's a lgorithm for finding the shortest path on a weighted graph. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinding

Pathfinding in programs l ike unit can mean a set path in

which for an NPC to

fol low to

vary their movement,

more intricate pathfinding can show for

better rea lism in

NPCs

Pathfinding In unity and Gamemaker causes the character to go in a specific path or an estimated path similar to i t.