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: Paulina Kucharska

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 Demo software is a trial version of a software program which allows people to use it for free while they decide whether or not to buy it.wisegeek.com

Demo stands for ‘demonstration’, it contains all the visual aspects of the final version of the game, but we can play only a little of it, usually one or few missions/events which occurs at the very beginning. It is available for free, so people can try the game and decide whether to buy it or not.

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

Beta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to try under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as a result.pcmag.com

Beta versions resemble the final game, but people testing them still can advice little details which may make the final version a bit more enjoyable.

Alpha Alpha software is computer software that is still in the early testing phase. It is functional enough to be used, but is unpolished and often lacks many of the features that will be included in the final version of the program.techterms.com

Alpha version becomes released before the final version. It doesn’t contain all the aspects of the game, but have just enough to try the game and decide whether to buy it when game will be complete.

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

Pre-Alpha A development status given to a program or application that is usually not feature complete, and is not usually released to the public. Developers are usually still deciding on what features the program should have at this status. This status comes before the alpha version, and is the first status given to a program.wiktionary.org

The most early stage in game development. It used to show potential customers a game and help to imagine how it will look like when improved. It’s brief and the major decisions take place.

Gold In software and application development, a gold version is the final stage of software development and follows the alpha and beta testing cycles of software development. The gold version is the final version of the software as it will be released to the public. Most or all known bugs prior to release are fixed, and all intended functions for final release are implemented.webopedia.com

When the game goes gold, it means its completed and it will be released but hasn’t been yet.

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

Debug To find and remove errors (bugs) from a software program. Bugs occur in programs when a line of code or an instruction conflicts with other elements of the codewebopedia.com

Simply to just remove bugs you noticed during the game testing and repairing them.

Automation Automated software testing is a process in which software tools execute pre-scripted tests on a software application before it is released into production.searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.combenefits of automated testing

People let machines do the testing, as they work faster than a human, and can also spot the imperfections people omitted.

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

White-Box Testing It is a software testing method in which the internal structure/design/implementation of the item being tested is known to the tester. The tester chooses inputs to exercise paths through the code and determines the appropriate outputs.This method is named so because the software program, in the eyes of the tester, is like a white/transparent box; inside which one clearly sees.softwaretestingfundamentals.com

It’s one of the testing methods alongside with black- and grey box testing. It deals with internal parts of the game and checks if they work.

Bug A defect or imperfection, as in a mechanical device, computer program, or plan; glitchdictionary.reference.com

It occurs when some aspects in a game collide with each other. Some of them are seem funny, but most serious ones can affect the gameplay.

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

GAME ENGINES

GAME ENGINES

Vertex Shader A programmable function in display adapters that offers a 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.pcmag.com

It allows the programmers to give their creations/assets different textures.

Pixel Shader The pixel shader is another programmable function that allows flexibility in shading an individual pixel. Pixel shaders are used to change the appearance of the pixels.pcmag.com

They create the colour appearing on objects and take care of each independent pixel.

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

Post Processing Final touches done after completing a map. These are the special effects making the game looks better, film-alike. It may include intensifying a colour, adding the depth to a scene, showing light strokes, etc.

Applying little details (such as sunlightning, mist/fog, the weapons’ glow etc.) to the final work what makes the game feel like a film.

Rendering In 3-D graphic design, rendering is the process of add shading, colour and lamination to a 2-D or 3-D wireframe in order to create life-like images on a screen. Rendering may be done ahead of time (pre-rendering) or it can be done in on-the-fly in real time. Real-time rendering is often used for 3-D video games, which require a high level of interactivity with the player.whatis.techtarget.com

Rendering is a process with which an artist creates graphic images step-by-step for a game.

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

Normal Map Rather than having a colour range of black to white, like a bump map uses, normal maps consist of red, green, and blue. These RGB values translates to x, y, and z coordinates, allowing a 2D image to represent depth. This way, a 3D application is able to fake lighting details based on the colour associated with the 3D coordinate.gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com

It is applied to the 3D objects so the light and shade will appear on them more realistically.

Entity An entity is something that exists in your game world. Again, an entity is little more than a list of components. The entity is an implicit aggregation of the components tagged with its ID. If you want, you can allow components to be dynamically added to and removed from entities.www.gamedev.net

Every object (and non-objects) in the game is classified and has a role given. This and the special object’s name/number help with identifying it by the game.

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

UV Map It is the 3D modelling process of making a 2D image representation of a 3D model's surface. The letters "U" and "V" denote the axes of the 2D texture.wikipedia.org

Every three dimensional object in the game has a thin upper layer which is first separated from it and flattened, so we can access every part of it and add colours and shades.

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.wikipedia.org

Procedural textures are easy to make, as we don’t need artistic skills to generate them – we are selecting commands in special programmes. Making them this way of them is definitely fasted than painting them digitally, it’s also easy to change the size of an object and it will still have the right looking pattern.

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

Physics The subject most applicable to realistic game content is the subject of mechanics, which is really what’s meant by “real physics.” By definition, mechanics is the study of bodies at rest and in motion and of the effect of forces on them. The subject of mechanics is subdivided into statics, which specifically focuses on bodies at rest, and dynamics, which focuses on bodies in motion.books.google.co.uk

By adding physics, even the cartoonish game feels more realistic. They indicate a motion, how the character falls, what will happen if someone gets smashed. Without the physics the game wouldn’t be interesting at all and confusing.

Collision A collision hull is usually some form of simplified duplicate mesh of a 'parent' object, a simple cylinder that surrounds a complex Gothic pillar for example. This reduced version acts on behalf of its parent object, which in turn is used by game engines for the detection of impacts, collision and physics - in effect optimising the amount of prioritisation a computer has to do to calculate player and user interaction within the game environment.katsbits.com

Collision is used to prevent objects and characters wander out of the map level or going through the walls like a ghost (unless you intend to do that) .

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

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. It creates atmosphere. It makes places look scary/cosy or warm/cold. It augments the three dimensional feel of objects and it creates composition and balance to lead the player's eyes around.moddb.com

Good use of lightning can improve the gaming experience. If the light would be the same during the night or in the dungeon (or place radiating evil force) it would be just boring and not convincing enough.

AA – Anti-Aliasing Anti-aliasing is a technique of blending bitmap-based images and text to reduce the stair-stepping or jagged appearance. In areas of transition, the edge pixels are blended to give a smoother appearance.graphicssoft.about.com

Anti aliasing soothes the overly pixelated look of graphics by adding shades inbetween the colour borders.

LoD – Level of Detail

It is a general design term for video game landscapes in which closer objects are rendered with more polygons than objects that are farther away.techopedia.com

Level of Detail sets how much the object is simplified while being at the certain distance from our character. Object far away of us appear more angular, since we are not focusing on them. It helps with better game performance.

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

Animation A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures, or frames. Animation starts with independent pictures and puts them together to form the illusion of continuous motion.webopedia.com

Nobody likes if the game would contain only still figures (even if it’s a board game played on computer). With animation we can give objects a life and motion. 3D animation is made of setting the pose, size or sometimes structure of a single object, then allowing to skip from one onto another creating smooth movement. 2D images are made by drawing an object in several different poses (depending how smooth you want it to move) and placing them one after another.

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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 single graphic image that is incorporated into a larger scene so that it appears to be part of the scene. Sprites are a popular way to create large, complex scenes as you can manipulate each sprite separately from the rest of the scene. This allows for greater control over how the scene is rendered, as well as over how the players can interact with the scene.gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com

2D games are made from hundreds of sprites. It’s much easier to create small parts and join them together rather than drawing the same thing again and again but with few little differences. Sprites of the same object are put on the same file next to each other. It’s called a sprite sheet and it reduces the amount of memory used by the game. Sprite sheets are then combined to create a 2D animation.

Scene A non-interactive portion of a game. A Cut Scene normally divides the action of a video game up a bit, and allows the story line to be presented more clearly. Areas of the game referred to as Cut Scenes are non-playable segments of the video game.vgstrategies.about.com

A short video which appears at the beginning of a game (introducing shortly to a world and main character), before any important events, and at the end informing what happened after.

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

Library A collection of assets for a game. Folders helping to classify, sort and manage graphic images as well as handling every component and game aspect for 2D and 3D engines. Well organised library allows us for the easy access to things.

UI (User Interface) It is everything designed into an information device with which a human being may interact -- including display screen, keyboard, illuminated characters, help messages [etc.]searchsoa.techtarget.com

It’s what player sees when playing a game. User Interface tells him things like a character’s health and mana, lvl; basis the player needs and wants to be aware of. UI also allows him to interact with objects it sees.

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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.techopedia.com

Larger number of frames per second gives better quality of an animation.

Concept An idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct.thefreedictionary.com

Every game starts from a small idea (the concept), then it’s expanded more and details are put, when people are satisfied with what they thought of, they can start creating it. The concept is usually a brief imaginary, and it relies on team’s skills how well the game will be presented at the end.

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

Event Anything that happens when a player does/interacts with something in a game world.

Anything that happens in the game world, whenever a player does something (for example talking with NPC) or goes to a specific place (maybe a castle).Events can affect the storyline either a little or completely change the final outcome.

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

Pathfinding Pathfinding is a game term used to refer to the way units will move between to given points in the game environment.metaboli.co.uk

It determines which way should a character go to reach the goal. It also shows the shortest way to it (though not always the easiest).

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