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 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 di fference 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 chal lenge. 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 s tage of a

level in a

game and a lso to show

key features which will be ava ilable in the full

game.

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 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

s imilar to demos only there i sn’t a time l imit on

the playability.

Betas will

have some bugs whilst

being played and fixed whi le i t is running.

Alpha Alpha is the s tage when key gameplay functionality i s implemented, and assets are partially finished. A game in

a lpha is feature complete, that is, game is playable and conta ins 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 s tage is

before the Beta s tage. This stage i s host to a lot of bugs

which are fixing while

being

played.

Pre-Alpha Pre-a lpha refers to a ll 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. Mi lestone versions include specific sets of functions and are

released as soon as the functionality i s complete. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Pr

e-a lpha

The Pre-

Alpha is before the

Alpha and is coming up to a s tage

where it i s playable, but

s ti ll has many bug. Pre-Alphas

are used the

show minor

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

3

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

s tage is when developers use the term

‘Gone Gold’, this means that the final

bui ld i s 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 a lso 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.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

4

Automati

on

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 a lready in place, or add additional testing that would be difficult to perform manually.

Automation

is when to game plays i tself and checks

whether i t runs

smoothly or

not.

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 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 ci rcui t, e.g. in-circuit testing (ICT).

White-box testing can be applied at the unit, integration and system levels of the software testing process. Al though

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, i t has the potential to miss unimplemented parts of the specification or missing requirements.

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

White box testing i s

used to test whether or

not a engine i s working properly.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

5

Bug A gl i tch is a short-lived fault in a system. It i s often used to

describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore di fficult 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, a lthough

i t i s applied to all types of systems including human organizations and nature.

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

Bugs are

a lways present in games and developers

wi l l usually release

patches to

get rid of gl i tches

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 pos ition in vi rtual space to the 2D coordinate at which i t

appears on the screen (as well as a depth va lue for the Z-buffer). Vertex shaders can manipulate properties such as pos ition, 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. Vertex 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

Vertex

shaders would be

used to makes i tems within games to

make them look

smoother.

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

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 a lso 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 i f multiple render targets are active. In 3D graphics, a pixel shader alone

cannot produce very complex effects, because i t 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 i f 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 a lso be applied in intermediate

s tages to any two-dimensional images—sprites or textures—in the pipeline, whereas vertex shaders always require a 3D

model. For instance, a pixel shader i s the only kind of shader that can act as a postprocessor or filter for a video s tream after i t has been rasterized. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Vertex_shaders

Pixel shading

i s used to do many tasks l ike outputting

colours , bump

mapping and

l ighting va lue.

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 i s used as after effects. It makes the

game look better by

adding lens

flares and other

effects.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

7

Renderin

g

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 conta ins objects in a s trictly defined language or data

s tructure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, l ighting, and shading information as a description of the

vi rtua l 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 s tored in a scene file are

outl ined 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 vi rtua l lighting, the rendering software should solve the

rendering equation. The rendering equation doesn't account for a l l 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", i s a technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents – an implementation of bump mapping. It i s 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

l ighting for bumps and

dents. This is

when the model is

being created in

modelling

software.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

8

Entity An enti ty 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 i s 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 i t would allow for the entity to be destroyed without leaving dangling pointers. It helps for saving state externally. When the s tate i s loaded again, there i s no need for pointers to be reconstructed.

Data can be shuffled around in memory as needed. Enti ty 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

Enti ty are AI

within the game and are given multiple

tasks to do l ike move to

a pos ition or

to fi re.

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 i s when a 2D

image is

made to show how a

3D model surface.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

9

Procedur

al Texture

A procedural texture is a computer-generated image created

us ing 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 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

rea l 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. Typica lly, simulation physics is only a close approximation to rea l physics, and computation is performed using discrete va lues.

There are several elements that form components of

s imulation physics including the physics engine, program

code that i s 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

Phys ics in an

engine can vary from

how a player reacts within the environment

to the destruction

of a building.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

10

Collision Col l ision detection typically refers to the computational

problem of detecting the intersection of two or more objects. Whi le 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 a lso calculate time of impact (TOI), and report a contact manifold (the set

of intersecting points).[1] Collision response deals with

s imulating what happens when a collision is detected (see phys ics engine, ragdoll physics). Solving collision detection

problems requires extensive use of concepts from linear a lgebra and computational geometry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_detection

Col l ision is

used so that models do not s tarted to cl ip 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. Al ternatively, the simulation can simply be inspired by l ight phys ics, as i s the case with non-photorealistic rendering. In

both cases, a shading model i s used to describe how surfaces respond to light. Between these two extremes, there are

many di fferent rendering approaches which can be employed

to achieve a lmost any desired visual result. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_graphics_lighting

Light i s used

so that the environment

made in a game looks more rea listic.

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. Speci fic topics in anti-aliasing include:

Anti -aliasing filter, a filter used before a s ignal sampler, to

restrict the bandwidth of a s ignal

Spatial anti-aliasing, the technique of minimizing aliasing when representing a high-resolution image at a lower

resolution Supersample anti-aliasing, a method of smoothing images rendered in computer-generated imagery Multisample anti-aliasing, a type of anti-aliasing, a technique

used in computer graphics to improve image quality Temporal anti-aliasing, techniques to reduce or remove the

effects of temporal a liasing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing

Anti -aliasing i s 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 i t moves away from the viewer or according to other metrics

such as object importance, viewpoint-relative speed or pos ition. Level of detail techniques increases the efficiency of

rendering by decreasing the workload on graphics pipeline

s tages, 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 Deta il in a model

depends on how many

polygons are

being used for example

to the polygons a model has, the more

deta iled it wi l l be.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

12

Animatio

n

Animation is the process of creating a continuous motion and

shape change illusion by means of the rapid display of a sequence of s tatic 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 i s used to give an enti ty l ife l ike giving i t

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 i s integrated into a larger scene. Initially

including just graphical objects handled separately from the memory bi tmap of a video display, this now includes various manners of graphical overlays.

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

Spri tes are

character made up of

pixels. Spri tes are popular in

games like Legend of Zelda and Mario

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

13

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

a lso 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 i tself) 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_Librar

y

A l ibrary i s

where games can be s tored and a llows access with

multiple types of

control lers.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

14

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

a ids 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 i s 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 i s most often expressed in frames per second (FPS) and is a lso expressed in progressive scan monitors as hertz (Hz). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

Frames per second depends on

what i s going on in the game, l ike, for example, in

Minecraft if too much

TNT is blown

up, i t 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 i t is put into the final product. Concept art i s also referred to as visual development and/or concept des ign. This term can a lso 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, wri tten

descriptions or mind maps.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

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

15

Event In computing, an event is an action or occurrence detected

by the program that may be handled by the program. Typica lly 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 i ts 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

l ike cutscenes in which the player does

nothing or it can be a

quick time

event

Pathfindi

ng

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

i s based heavily on Dijkstra's algorithm for finding the

shortest path on a weighted graph. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinding

Pathfinding

i s used for AI to make sure

that they

don’t s tart walking into

wal ls.