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: Kallum Mullen

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 An example of a product that is not yet ready

to be sold, or, an act of showing someone how

something is used or done.

Source:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

demo

A demo is used to show an audience a product. An example would be a video game demo, you are able to play the demo before the full game release and get an idea of what the game is like.

Above is an example of a video game demo being played at an event.

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

Beta A quality control technique in which hardware or software is subjugated to trial in the environment in which it was designed.Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/beta+test

A beta is usually issued to people early who may sign up for beta, with the beta, developers can get an idea of how well their games run on certain systems. This process involves a lot of consumer input.

Here is someone playing a beta test of the game halo 3.

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

Alpha

Software applications go through various

stages of development, from initial idea to the

final product. Alpha testing is one of those

stages. Alpha testing is carried out when the

code is roughly ready. The software

programmers have made initial checks to

ensure the specifications have been met. The

code then goes to a testing team that have the

task of formally checking the code.

Source:

http://www.teach-ict.com/glossary/A/alphates

ting.htm

Alpha testing is done exclusively by the company making the game and is usually only done for engineers and QA. This is the process used for ironing out early bugs.

Here is someone alpha testing a game and most likely looking for bugs and such.

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

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.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Pre-alpha

Pre alphas are basically the making of an early game; it involves a lot of design and changes in design, and is specifically to give developers an idea of the game they are creating and how they can change it.

Here is someone pre alpha testing a game.

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

Gold A game has "Gone Gold" when the final master copy has been produced at the developer and sent off for replication, packaging and shipment. The game is not yet released, but it will typically be around 2-3 weeks (sometimes less) before it begins appearing on store shelves and online pre-orders arriving at doorsteps. The term itself comes from the old practice of recordable CDs being manufactured with gold film. Hence the gold coloured CD actually being the source, with no reference to copies sold as in the recording industry.Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gone%20Gold

Gold is when a game is ready to be shipped worldwide. At this point the game is finished, and is ready to be distributed.

Games about to ship worldwide to stores.

Debug In computers, debugging is the process of locating and fixing or bypassing bugs (errors) in computer program code or the engineering of a hardwaredevice. To debug a program or hardware device is to start with a problem, isolate the source of the problem, and then fix it. Source: http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/debugging

Debugging is when you need to fix a problem with code or hardware, the best way to do this is to isolate the problem and fix it.

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

Here is a debug menu being used in a game for testing purposes.Automation The use of computers to control a particular

process in order to

increase reliability and efficiency, often

through the replacement of employees. For a

manufacturer, this could entail using robotic

assembly lines to manufacture a product.

Source:

http://www.investorwords.com/6409/automa

tion.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f084RFIepe0 is when a program or machine needs minimal user input and is designed to run independently.

Here is an example of an automated machine, without the need for human interaction.

White-Box Testing

Also known as glass box, structural, clear box and open box testing. A sof tware testing technique whereby explicit knowledge of the internal workings of the item being tested are used to select the test data. Unlike black box testing, white box testing uses specific knowledge of programming code to examine outputs. The test is accurate only if the tester knows what the program is supposed to do. He or she can then see if the program diverges from its intended goal. White box testing does not account for errors caused by omission, and all visible code must also be readable. Source: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/White_Box_Testing.html

A way to see if the program is working as intended by those who made it. It uses outputs to show any errors, which can then be fixed.

This is a flowchart of typical use of whitebox testing.

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

Bug A Bug 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.

A bug (or glitch as it is commonly called in videogames) is where there is an error in game that is hard to track down as it occurs randomly and commonly fixes itself and is therefore hard to fix.

Here is an example of a bug; the character is walking out of the map.

GAME ENGINES

GAME

Vertex Shader A programmable function in display adapters that offers graphics application programmer flexibility in rendering an image. The vertex shader is used to transform the attributes of vertices (points of a triangle) such as colour, texture, position and direction from the original colour space to the display space. It allows the original objects to be distorted or reshaped in any manner. Source: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/53754/vertex-shader

An easy way for graphics programmer to see renders and easily change them to his needs.

Here is an example of a shader program.

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

ENGINES Pixel Shader The output of a vertex shader along with texture maps goes to an interpolation stage and then to the pixel shader. The pixel shader is another programmable function that allows flexibility in shading an individual pixel. Whereas vertex shaders can be used to completely transform the shape of an object, pixel shaders are used to change the appearance of the pixels. Source: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Pixel+shader

Is another way for a graphics programmer to easily shade an individual pixel and chance the appearance of a pixel.

Above is a pixel shading tutorial, showing how it works.Post Processing Post-processing is commonly used in 3D

rendering, especially for video games. Instead of rendering 3D objects directly to the display, the scene is first rendered to a buffer in the memory of the video card. Pixel shadersare then used to apply post-processing filters to the image buffer before displaying it to the screen. Post-processing allows effects to be used that require awareness of the entire image (since normally each 3D object is rendered in isolation). Such effects include. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_post-processing

Post processing is a way to pre load a 3d rendering directly to your GPU, thus making the game run/look much smoother, as long as your GPU can handle it.

Here is a picture showing post processing (processing on the right)

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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 model, by means of a software program. The model is a description of three dimensional objects in a strictly defined language or data structure. It would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture and lighting information. The image is a digital image or raster graphics image. The term may be by analogy with an "artist's rendering" of a scene. 'Rendering' is also used to describe the process of calculating effects in a video editing file to produce final video output. Source : http://graphics.wikia.com/wiki/Rendering

Rendering is a way of showing an image from an in game model with the use of software. Sometimes we use the term “Artist’s rendering” which depicts the artist’s work in a way where we can see an image instead of the 3d model.

Here is a rendering of a face made in a new NVidia program.

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

Normal Map A normal map is a 2D image used to replace or modify the normal of a 3D surface. A surface's normal is essentially the direction that the surface faces. If you nailed a piece of paper to a wall, then stood directly in-front of that paper, the default 'normal' of that paper would be facing you. By default, the normal shoots out perpendicular to the three edges of the triangle which possess it, but the normal is a value that can be altered. A normal map will replace the surface's normal with an RGB colour, the 'R', 'G', and 'B' channels acting not as colours in an image, but as numeric parts of a vector. Essentially, what this does is 'trick' the eye into thinking a single surface is many, thus it adds detail. Even though a normal map may look like a pretty, abstract painting: it is actually raw vectors burned into an image. This sort of map cannot be drawn by hand; it must be rendered via mathematics device (aka computer). Source: https://forums.epicgames.com/threads/677015-What-exactly-is-a-normal-map-a-specular-map-etc

A normal map is a 2D image which is made to look 3d, it will have layers which are made to look like a certain texture, like on a person, and their clothing may have creases.

Here is example of different maps being used.

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

Entity Entity-component-system (ECS) is a software architecture pattern that implements concepts from Composition over inheritance using a database-like structure. Common ECS approaches are highly compatible with Data-driven programming techniques, and the two approaches are often combined.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity_component_system

Entity is a program used for linking things together much more easily, so velocity can tie in with position and both be calculated together.

UV Map When you do UV mapping, you are remapping the XYZ coordinates of your object in a new 3D space. The coordinates of this space are renamed UVW to distinguish from XYZ, and since our texturing is usually in 2 dimensions we use the UV coordinate axes and ignore the W. Source: http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-173777.html

UV mapping in short is putting a flat texture onto a 3D object. Like wrapping skins details and a face around a 3D head.

Here isa picture of UV mapping.

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

Procedural Texture

An algorithmic way of describing a texture. Unlike a bitmapped texture, in which the texture is represented as a bitmap, a procedural texture describes the texture mathematically. Although not widely used, this method is resolution independent and can create more precise textures, especially if there is great and varying depth to the objects being textured. Procedural textures may be 2D or 3D. Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/procedural-texture

Uses maths to make a texture, this method is not really used but is a better way to make more accurate textures.

Here is an anvil that has been made using this method; you can see the smaller details very easily.

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

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.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_physics

Physics in games are now common place, it comes down to the type of game, for instance, you might have an explosion and things would move appropriate to the explosion in the radius of said explosion.

The game shown in the picture (Portal 2) relies heavily on physics to get through levels.

Collision Collision detection algorithmically calculates impact time by identifying two or more object intersection points. Collision detection is also a virtual interface that determines user and object distance for collision prevention. Collision detection is a key 3-D component associated with robotics, video games and physical simulation. Source: http://www.techopedia.com/definition/4778/collision-detection

Collision is when two objects hit each other whether that be a car or two heads, and act appropriately to the collision, so if two cars hit each other they maybe spin out thus bringing physics into the mix.

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

Here is a new collision engine being used in a test environment for a videogame.

Lighting Lighting is one of the most important and influential elements in environments. It has the power to make or break the visuals, theme and atmosphere.Lighting is often forgotten or underestimated. Designers often add it quickly and without much love. While in the past that was partially excusable by the weak hardware and game engines, these excuses just won't hold up anymore. Lighting is just as important as geometry. Without lighting there is no environment but just a group of 3 dimensional objects. Lighting has the capacity to bring life to a group of objects and take them to the next level of quality. Its purpose goes further than just giving the players the ability to see where they are going. Source: http://www.moddb.com/tutorials/lighting-in-game-environments-the-hows-and-whys

Lighting in video games is important for atmosphere and comes under another form of rendering. Lighting can make an environment scarier or cosier, thus adding more effect to the game.

Here is lighting in a videogame, as you can see it gives more of a feel for the environment.

AA – Anti-Aliasing

Anti-Aliasing is a method of fooling the eye that a jagged edge is really smooth. Anti-Aliasing is often referred in games and on graphics cards. In games especially the chance to smooth edges of the images goes a long way to creating a realistic 3D image on the screen. Remember though that Anti-Aliasing does not actually smooth any edges of images it merely fools the eye. Like a lot of things they are only designed to be good enough. If you can't tell the difference then that's fine. Let’s take a look at the example below to demonstrate the effects of Anti-Aliasing. Source: http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/index.php?pageid=antialiasing

Anti-aliasing is used for smoothing rough edges, the higher the AA (so x8) the smoother the edge.

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

Here you can see with AA off there are more jagged edges, but if you use 32xCSAA it is smoothed out.

LoD – Level of Detail

Level of detail is a general design term for video game landscapes in which closer objects are rendered with more polygons than objects that are farther away. Generally speaking, the level of detail is dictated by the game's system requirements. Given the power of modern processors, very little degradation in the level of detail is noticeable anymore. Source: http://www.techopedia.com/definition/11791/level-of-detail-lod

LoD is used for landscapes and the level of detail in said landscapes, you could have a far landscape with bad details that haven’t loaded, but then render in as you get closer.

Here we can see LoD being used with a distant landscape.

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

AnimationCreating animations for video games is much

different from creating animations for movies.

The major difference is that a movie is meant

simply to beViewed, while the purpose of a video game is to interact. For this reason, animating for video games can be much more difficult than animating for video games; however, this reason is only a broad generalization of the differences between the two genres.Source: http://animation.about.com/od/videogameanimation/a/gamesvsmovies.htm

Animation in video games can either be animation of a core character or animation in a cut scene, cut scenes tend to be pre rendered and cut apart from the actual gameplay.

Here we can see someone using a program to animate a character/creature.

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

Sprite A sprite is a bitmap graphic that is designed to be part of a larger scene. It can either be a static image or an animated graphic. Examples of sprites include objects in 2D video games, icons that are part of an application user interface, and small images published on websites. Source: http://www.techterms.com/definition/sprite

A sprite is a 2D rendering which is usually used as a character in a game; sprites can include animations which usually involve moving the colour palette around.

Here are some video game sprites which are quite detailed, with a nice array of colours.

Scene The place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred: the emergency team were among the first on the scene relatives left floral tributes at the scene of the crash.Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/scene

A scene in a video game is usually referred to as a cut scene, where your character might interact with someone in a fight; you can only watch a scene and not engage in it.

Here we can see a cut scene in a videogame, the graphics of the game don’t come close to this but it is better for a story telling purpose.

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

Library A key decision in game programming is which, if any, APIs and libraries to use. Today, there are numerous libraries available which take care of key tasks of game programming. Some libraries can handle sound processing, input, and graphics rendering. Some can even handle some AI tasks such as path finding. There are even entire game engines that handle most of the tasks of game programming and only require coding game logic.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_programming#APIs_and_libraries

Libraries are used for an assortment of things in videogames; it can be used for sound, input, graphics and AI tasks.

Example of what can be done with a library, in this particular image the program is being used for path finding.

UI Abbreviated UI, the junction between a user and a computer program. An interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. A command-driven interface is one in which you enter commands. A menu-driven interface is one in which you select command choices from various menus displayed on the screen. Source: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/U/user_interface.html

UI in videogames tend to be things like maps or a weapon cycles menu or even your health bar.

Here is the UI used in the game Metroid.

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

Frames Frames per second (FPS) is a unit that measures display device performance. It consists of the number of complete scans of the display screen that occur each second. This is the number of times the image on the screen is refreshed each second, or the rate at which an imaging device produces unique sequential images called frames. Source: http://www.techopedia.com/definition/7297/frames-per-second-fps

Games are usually described in the number of frames they have, with the standard console FPS being set at 30 FPS and PCs usually going over 60+ depending on your hardware. The lower the frames the more jumpy the screen may look, with 60+ being smooth, although 30 is acceptable.

Example of FPS.

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

Concept 1.To build or form by putting together parts; frame; devise.2.Geometry. To draw (a figure) fulfilling certain given conditions.3.Something constructed.4.An image, idea, or theory, especially a complex one formed from a number of simpler elements.Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/construct

A concept in video games is a basic idea of what you want to make, people often use concept art to get a better idea.

Example of game concept art.

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

Event A Quick Time Event is typically a form of interactive cut-scene, where main control of the on-screen action is replaced by a lengthy animation with limited user interaction. Most games that feature QTEs flash an on-screen icon to tell players which button or direction to press to successfully continue the animation. Failing to press the proper buttons in a timely fashion usually results in some form of penalty, such as failing to execute the attempted move, getting hit by incoming objects, and so on. Source: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-time-event/3015-6/

An event in a video game is just that, they usually come in the form of a quick time event where you are forced to do something in order to survive.

Here is a quick time even time event from a game.

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

Path finding Path finding 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. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinding

Path finding in videogames is used for AI, they might be patrolling an area, or there may be an event where a number of enemies will come to find you.

Above is an image of typical path finding used by AI.

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