Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 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 Within the computer subculture known as the demo scene, a non-interactive multimedia presentation is called a demo (or demonstration). Demo groups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modelling. The key difference between a classical animation and a demo is that the display of a demo is computed in real time, making computing power considerations the biggest challenge. Demos are mostly composed of 3D animations mixed with 2D effects and full screen effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demo_(computer_programming)

A demo would be used to show off the stage of a level in a game and also to show key features which will be available in the full game.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Beta Beta is feature and asset complete version of the game, when only bugs are being fixed. This version contains no bugs that prevent the game from being shippable No changes are made to the game features, assets, or code. Beta occurs two to three months before code release.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development

Betas are similar to demos only there isn’t a time limit on the playability. Betas will have some bugs whilst being played and fixed while it is running.

Alpha Alpha is the stage when key gameplay functionality is implemented, and assets are partially finished. A game in alpha is feature complete, that is, game is playable and contains all the major features. These features may be further revised based on testing and feedback. Additional small, new features may be added, similarly planned, but unimplemented features may be dropped. Programmers focus mainly on finishing the codebase, rather than implementing additions. Alpha occurs eight to ten months before code release.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development

The Alpha stage is before the Beta stage. This stage is host to a lot of bugs which are fixing while being played.

Pre-Alpha Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, and unit testing. In typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions. Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Pre-alpha

The Pre-Alpha is before the Alpha and is coming up to a stage where it is playable, but still has many bug. Pre-Alphas are used the show minor

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

features at conferences.

Gold Gold master is the final game's build that is used as a master for production of the game.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development

The Gold stage is when developers use the term ‘Gone Gold’, this means that the final build is complete and is ready for putting onto discs and boxing up the games.

Debug Debug is a command in DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows (only in 32bit) which runs the program debug.exe (or DEBUG.COM in older versions of DOS). Debug can act as an assembler, disassembler, or hex dump program allowing users to interactively examine memory contents (in assembly language, hexadecimal or ASCII), make changes, and selectively execute COM, EXE and other file types. It also has several subcommands which are used to access specific disk sectors, I/O ports and memory addresses.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debug_(command)

Debug is a command that can be used to clear bugs from a current game.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Automation

In software testing, test automation is the use of special software (separate from the software being tested) to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes. Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or add additional testing that would be difficult to perform manually.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_automation

Automation is when to game plays itself and checks whether it runs smoothly or not.

White-Box Testing

White-box testing (also known as clear box testing, glass box testing, transparent box testing, and structural testing) is a method of testing software that tests internal structures or workings of an application, as opposed to its functionality (i.e. black-box testing). In white-box testing an internal perspective of the system, as well as programming skills, are used to design 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).

White-box testing can be applied at the unit, integration and system levels of the software testing process. Although traditional testers tended to think of white-box testing as being done at the unit level, it is used for integration and system testing more frequently today. It can test paths within a unit, paths between units during integration, and between subsystems during a system–level test. Though this method of test design can uncover many errors or problems, it has the potential to miss unimplemented parts of the specification or missing requirements.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-box_testing

White box testing is used to test whether or not a engine is working properly.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Bug A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, and in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems including human organizations and nature.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch

Bugs are always present in games and developers will usually release patches to get rid of glitches found.

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 virtual space to the 2D coordinate at which it 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 stage in the pipeline, which is either a geometry shader if present, or the rasterizer. Vertex shaders can enable powerful control over the details of position, movement, lighting, and color in any scene involving 3D models.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Vertex_shaders

Vertex shaders would be used to makes items within games to make them look smoother.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

GAME ENGINES

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 value; 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. They can alter the depth of the fragment (for Z-buffering), or output more than one color if multiple render targets are active. In 3D graphics, a pixel shader alone cannot produce very complex effects, because it operates only on a single fragment, without knowledge of a scene's geometry. However, pixel shaders do have knowledge of the screen coordinate being drawn, and can sample the screen and nearby pixels if the contents of the entire screen are passed as a texture to the shader. This technique can enable a wide variety of two-dimensional postprocessing effects, such as blur, or edge detection/enhancement for cartoon/cel shaders. Pixel shaders may also be applied in intermediate stages to any two-dimensional images—sprites or textures—in the pipeline, whereas vertex shaders always require a 3D model. For instance, a pixel shader is the only kind of shader that can act as a postprocessor or filter for a video stream after it has been rasterized.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Vertex_shaders

Pixel shading is used to do many tasks like outputting colours , bump mapping and lighting value.

Post Processing

The term post-processing (or postproc for short) is used in the video/film business for quality-improvement image processing (specifically digital image processing) methods used in video playback devices, (such as stand-alone 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

Post processessing is used as after effects. It makes the game look better by adding lens flares and other effects.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Rendering

Rendering is the process of generating an image from a 2D or 3D model (or models in what collectively could be called 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 strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene. The data contained in the scene file is then passed to a rendering program to be processed and output to a digital image or raster graphics image file. The term "rendering" may be by analogy with an "artist's rendering" of a scene. Though the technical details of rendering methods vary, the general challenges to overcome in producing a 2D image from a 3D representation stored in a scene file are outlined as the graphics pipeline along a rendering device, such as a GPU. A GPU is a purpose-built device able to assist a CPU in performing complex rendering calculations. If a scene is to look relatively realistic and predictable under virtual lighting, the rendering software should solve the rendering equation. The rendering equation doesn't account for all lighting phenomena, but is a general lighting model for computer-generated imagery. 'Rendering' is also used to describe the process of calculating effects in a video editing program to produce final video output.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(computer_graphics)

Rendering is when you have a finished model and then you render it for the final model.

Normal Map

In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", is 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

Normal mapping is used to create lighting for bumps and dents. This is when the model is being created in modelling software.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Entity An entity only consists of an id and a container of components. The idea is to have no game methods embedded in the entity. The container doesn't have to be located physically together with the entity, but should be easy to find and access.

It is a common practice to use a unique id for each entity. This is not a requirement, but have several advantages:

The entity can be referred using the id instead of a pointer. This is more robust, as it would allow for the entity to be destroyed without leaving dangling pointers.It helps for saving state externally. When the state is loaded again, there is no need for pointers to be reconstructed.Data can be shuffled around in memory as needed.Entity ids can be used when communicating over a network to uniquely identify the entity.Some of these advantages can also be achieved from using smart pointers.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity_component_system#Game_example

Entity are AI within the game and are given multiple tasks to do like move to a position or to fire.

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

UV mapping is when a 2D image is made to show how a 3D model surface.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Procedural Texture

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

Usually, the natural look of the rendered result is achieved by the usage of fractal 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

These are computer made textures to represent real life textures.

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 real physics, and computation is performed using discrete values.

There are several elements that form components of simulation physics including the physics engine, program code that is used to simulate Newtonian physics within the environment, and collision detection, used to solve the problem of determining when any two or more physical objects in the environment cross each other's path.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_physics

Physics in an engine can vary from how a player reacts within the environment to the destruction of a building.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Collision Collision 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, it also has applications in robotics. In addition to determining whether two objects have collided, collision detection systems may also calculate time of impact (TOI), and report a contact manifold (the set of intersecting points).[1] Collision 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

Collision is used so that models do not start to clip into each other.

Lighting Computer graphics lighting refers to the simulation of light in computer graphics. This simulation can either be extremely accurate, as is the case in an application like Radiance which attempts to track the energy flow of light interacting with materials using radiosity computational techniques. Alternatively, the simulation can simply be inspired by light physics, as is the case with non-photorealistic rendering. In both cases, a shading model is used to describe how surfaces respond to light. Between these two extremes, there are many different rendering approaches which can be employed to achieve almost any desired visual result.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_graphics_lighting

Light is used so that the environment made in a game looks more realistic.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

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.

Specific topics in anti-aliasing include:

Anti-aliasing filter, a filter used before a signal sampler, to restrict the bandwidth of a signalSpatial anti-aliasing, the technique of minimizing aliasing when representing a high-resolution image at a lower resolutionSupersample anti-aliasing, a method of smoothing images rendered in computer-generated imageryMultisample anti-aliasing, a type of anti-aliasing, a technique used in computer graphics to improve image qualityTemporal anti-aliasing, techniques to reduce or remove the effects of temporal aliasinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing

Anti-aliasing is used to

make a pixelated

surface look smoother.

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

The level of Detail in a model depends on how many polygons are being used for example to the polygons a model has, the more detailed it will be.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Animation

Animation is the process of creating a continuous motion and shape change illusion by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ 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 is what is used to give an entity life like giving it a walk cycle.

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)

Sprites are characters made up of pixels. Sprites are popular in games like Legend of Zelda and Mario

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Scene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, strengthen the main character's development, introduce characters, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues. Cutscenes often feature "on the fly" rendering, using the gameplay graphics to create scripted events. Cutscenes can also be animated, live action, or pre-rendered computer graphics streamed from a video file. Pre-made videos used in video games (either during cutscenes or during the gameplay itself) are referred to as "full motion videos" or "FMVs". Other cutscenes can simply just be text interludes with speech bubbles over the characters' faces.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutscene

A scene is used in a game for cinematic sequences.

Library The Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL) is an open source Java software library for computer game developers.

LWJGL exposes high performance cross-platform libraries commonly used in developing software games and multimedia titles. It exposes OpenGL (Open Graphics Library), OpenAL (Open Audio Library), OpenCL (Open Computing Language) and allows access to controllers such as gamepads, steering wheels and joysticks in a platform-neutral way.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Java_Game_Library

A library is where games can be stored and allows access with multiple types of controllers.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

UI The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is 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. The design considerations applicable when creating user interfaces are related to or involve such disciplines as ergonomics and psychology.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface

The UI is an interface where the user can interact with multiple settings.

Frames Frame rate, also known as frame frequency and frames per second (FPS), is the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS) and is also expressed in progressive scan monitors as hertz (Hz).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

Frames per second depends on what is going on in the game, like, for example, in Minecraft if too much TNT is blown up, it can cause a low frame rate.

Concept Concept art is a form of illustration used to convey an idea for use in (but not limited to) films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design. This term can also be applied to retail, set, fashion, architectural and industrial design.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_art

Concept can be shown is multiple ways with art, written descriptions or mind maps.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Event In computing, an event is an action or occurrence detected by the program that may be handled by the program. Typically events are handled synchronously with the program flow, that is, the program has one or more dedicated places where events are handled, frequently an event loop. Typical sources of events include the user (who presses a key on the keyboard, in other words, through a keystroke). Another source is a hardware device such as a timer. Any program can trigger its own custom set of events as well, e.g. to communicate the completion of a task. A computer program that changes its behavior in response to events is said to be event-driven, often with the goal of being interactive.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_(computing)

Events are what happens when you press a button, for example if you press the space bar your character would jump.

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 algorithm for finding the shortest path on a weighted graph.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinding

Pathfinding is used for AI to make sure that they don’t start walking into walls.

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