Create A 2D Game - Part 5: Game Testing

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Create A 2D Game - Part 5: Game Testing

SEM 04.50 Komentar

This is the fifth and final section on how to design and create a 2D game. Before reading this article you should ideally have read the 2D Game Concept, 2D Game Structure, 2D Game Graphics & Audio and 2D Game Programming sections.

2D Game QA Testing

The life of a game tester is a lot more difficult than people think...

Quality Assurance (Q.A.) technicians, or testers, perform a vital role, testing, tuning, debugging, and suggesting the detailed refinements that ensure the quality and playability of the finished game. Their job involves play-testing the game in a systematic way, analysing the game's performance against the designer's intentions, identifying problems and suggesting improvements. They test for bugs in the software, from complete crashes to minor glitches in the programme. They also act as the game's first audience, reporting on its playability, and identifying any aspects which could be improved.

Testers work in teams, sometimes playing together on a multi-player game, and a team might 'own' part of a game. Testing involves playing a game over and over again, testing different levels and builds (incomplete 'development versions' of a game, sometimes with various features missing). The work can be repetitive and tedious, but Testers have to test long after the novelty and fun factor may have worn off.

So 2D game testing is effectively the equivalent of quality assurance for the game. There are two main types of game testing, 'in progress testing' and 'in situ testing'. 'In progress' testing should be conducted throughout the programming stage while the development of the game is still in progress. While 'in situ' testing should be conducted once the game is deemed to be complete and has been published in its final form, whether that be online, on CD or DVD for a console, as an app or on a mobile device.

TIP: It is vital to keep notes while testing to ensure that an identified glitch or suggestion is not later overlooked or forgotten.

Each type of testing will check a variety of different things as shown in the lists below...

'In Progress' Testing will check...

• Whether the style and size of game graphics are suitable
• That charcter costumes portray smooth movements
• Whether game audio and sound effects are suitable
• If Programmed actions are occurring as they should
• That in game controls are working correctly
• Any changes or updates in graphics or programming

'In Situ' Testing will check...

• If the game loads correctly on its selected platform
• That the game plays correctly from start to finish
• All possible game-play scenarios - this may be very tedious
• How long it takes to play the game
• What the re-playability level is
• The learning curve and overall game difficulty
• The quality of graphics and audio
• If there are glitches of any kind - are there any jumpy parts/missing elements etc.
• If the game is interesting or fun

Test Your Testing...

Test out your testing skills on the sample games below (which do have errors/glitches/areas for improvements). When your done write your results in a notepad and then remix the game yourself to improve  or fix it based on your testing notes.

• Asteroid Evasion
• Shark Attack

You can also test out a world of games on the Scratch website and especially the OnlineDesignTeacher Scratch Channel. Once testing is complete upgrades to graphics or audio, repairs/changes to the programming code or even an overhaul of the general game structure may be necessary.

That brings to an end our 5 part series on how to create a 2D game. We hope you found it useful and that you managed to use the guide to create a 2D game of your own. You might now be interested in creating a 3D game.

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Create A 2D Game - Part 3: Graphics & Audio

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Create A 2D Game - Part 3: Graphics & Audio

SEM 15.40 Komentar

A character sprite sheet for a 2D game

Once you have completed all the previous steps in the 2D game development process you should be armed with a series of drawings, sketches, plans and notes on exactly what you need for your 2D game - now all you have to do is make them!

But even before then there is one final decision to be made, what style is your game going to be...? You should know what genre the game is and how it will work but there are a variety of graphic styles in which a game can be presented and it is important to  choose a style appropriate for your game. With that said, let's look at our options.

Game Graphics Styles:

The detail of your graphics can range from stick-man drawings to photo realistic or anywhere in between. A selection of possible graphic styles is shown below.

Game Graphics Styles

The list below documents some game using each of the graphics styles...

• Ultra Basic Graphics - such as stick-man character game - stick-man.
• Hand Drawn Graphics - Harold, Shank, Closure, Castle Crashers etc.
• Cartoon Style Graphics - Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Mario, Sonic etc.
• Geometric Graphics - Pong, Tron, Pacman, Tetris, Bubble etc.
• Quirky Graphics - Little Big World, Wego, Rhythm Heaven Fever etc.
• Anime Graphics - Street Fighter, Pokemon, Suikoden, Tales Series etc.
• Photo Realistic Graphics - LA Noire, Beyond Two Souls, GTA, Heavy Rain etc.

Can you think of any more? What category would your own games fall into?

Graphics Creation & Set-up:

Once you have decided on the style of graphics that you want for your game the next thing is to create them! If you need help with creating your 2D game graphics see our series of Photoshop Tutorials for guidance. The tutorial on how to use the pen tools are especially useful for creating suitable game graphics. If you do not have Photoshop then try the online photo and image editor Pixlr, it is an excellent and free alternative to Photoshop and has most of the same tools so you can also use it to follow the Photoshop tutorials we provide.

Create Graphics In Scratch...

When creating graphics it is important to know the best file size, file type and colour system to set them up in. As mentioned previously for this series of tutorials we will are recommending the freeware game engine Scratch as the best place to create your first 2D game. Scratch has a large library of graphics to choose from as well as an in built graphics editor which allows the creation of both bitmap and vector graphics. The interactive guide below (made using Scratch) explains how best to make graphics for your 2D game in Scratch.

Create Graphics In Photoshop or Pixlr...

If you still want to use a separate software such as Photoshop or an online editor such as Pixlr to make and import your own graphics to Scratch it is important to know uses a game screen size of 480 x 360 so all graphics should be created with this ratio in mind. For side scrolling, vertical scrolling or top down games graphics can be made in multiples of the 480 x 360 dimensions and then spit into sections before being imported into the game. See the example below.

The level graphics for a 2d side scroller game

Tip: Like with the character sprite sheet at the top of the page, some game objects will require multiple graphics in order to achieve the illusion of movement.

As games are made for display on screen they should be set up using the RGB (Red Green Blue) Colour System as opposed to the CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow Black) Colour System which is for printed graphics. In terms of file types, scratch will accept all the major file types so you need to consider which file type is best suited to each individual graphic. For example .JPG files are best for photographs while .GIF files are best for line drawings.

To help get your started here are 3 websites where you can source copyright free images/graphics to use in your 2d game.

• freeimages.com
• Pixabay.com
• Pexels.com

Game Audio:

The game audio editor in Scratch

In gaming the Audio Engineer creates the soundtrack for a game. This might include music; sound effects to support the game action, such as gunshots or explosions; character voices and other expressions; spoken instructions; and ambient effects, such as crowd noise, vehicles or rain. The soundtrack helps to create a more immersive experience for the player by reinforcing the mood of the game. It can also enhance game play by affecting the tempo and adding emotional depth.

The importance of audio in games should not be underestimated. Background music will set the atmosphere in a game, while in game sound effects can shock or surprise the player, make us laugh or giggle, guide us to as whether an object is useful or harmful, to confirm an action has been processed, warn us of threats or hazards or just add to the in game experience.

Working to a creative brief, the Audio Engineer produces a sound design for the game and, when this has been agreed, realises it. This might involve the composing, scoring and recording of music. They are responsible for sourcing any sound effects that are needed, improving or creating them where necessary. These might be real or imaginary sounds, depending on the type of game. The Audio Engineer then edits, mixes, and masters the music and sounds to produce the soundtrack for the finished game.

Scratch allows for the recording of sounds through a microphone directly into the game and it also has a collection of audio songs and sound effects in it's media library but if what you need cannot be easily recorded or if something suitable in not available in the audio library then try one of the following audio download websites...

• SoundJay
• FindSounds
• FreeSound.org
• Sound Dogs
• Free SFX

Next Up

Once you have created and/or gathered all the graphics and audio files that you need it is time to get programming your 2d game.

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Create A 2D Game - Part 2: Game Objectives and Structure

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Create A 2D Game - Part 2: Game Objectives and Structure

SEM 15.14 Komentar

Once you have settled on all the details of your 2D game idea you should next look to map out how the game will work. This will include listing the game objectives, identifying game controls, game menus and options, user interface layout, number of level, level maps, enemy A.I. and more.

All of these things must be clearly identified in order to be aware of the graphics you will require, the variety of sound effects you will want and the programming elements that will be needed in the next stages.

Main Game Objective:

You need to settle on the game's objectives as they are the driving force for the player in the game

First clearly and definitively write down the main objective of the game - you may already have done this using the worksheets in the previous section - and then outline how the player can achieve these objectives.

For example if the aim of the game is to collect coins, a la Sonic, then you also need to map out the location of these coins, the amount of coins, the number of coin types or costumes (for graphics), will there be a coin counting system, where will the counter be displayed, will that require a graphic, will there be a sound effect...? There are lots of questions to be answered so I recommend the use of quick annotated sketches to help make this process easier and faster.

Game Structure:

With the main objective of the game now fully explained and planned you can begin mapping out the structure of the game (how it will progress). The list below outlines a possible game structure....

• Intro Scene  ↓

• Game Menu  ↓

• User Interface Layout - Health, Score, Timer, Inventory etc.  ↓

• Level 1  ↓

• Level 1 Boss Battle  ↓

• Cut Scene  ↓

• Level 2  ↓

• Level 2 Boss Battle  ↓

• End Scene  ↓

• Game Credits

Note: Within your game structure certain sections will require more detail, planning and/or mapping out.

Game Menu:

A sample 2D game menu screen

The game menu will be the first point of contact for your players, it is important to provide them with all the information they need about the game in order to begin playing. This should involve creating a section in the menu where the game controls are explained. A section explaining the game story/plot is also recommended to help the player relate to the character they are playing as. A page in which the game options can be altered is also advisable to allow for things such as editing difficulty level, turning sound on/off or choosing a character to play as.

From a design point of view you should also identify the menu graphics and sound effects you will need. For example will you need a different background image for each menu section? How many buttons will you need? Will they have mouse over effects or sound effects? How will the game name/title be displayed?

From a programming point of view any editable options your menu allows for will have to be programmed into the game, this may involve the creation of extra variables or a different programming approach so they need to be decided upon at the outset as they may be very difficult, time consuming or even impossible to add into the game at a later stage.

For now you only need to sketch out possible layouts/designs for your game menu. The creation of and programming of it will be covered in the next sections.

User Interface:

A sample 2D game interface for a shooter game

After the game menu the next point of contact for the player is the game itself. At all points during the game the G.U.I. (Graphic User Interface) should be visible to allow the player to view important information associated with their status in the game. You must decide what this information should be and how it will be represented. For example the players health could be represented numerically, as a value between 0 and 100, or graphically ,through a health bar where red and green represent health or damage amounts. Below is a mock up of a possible user interface layout alongside a list of information which could be displayed on a User Interface...

• Player Lives
• Enemy Lives
• Health
• Score
• Collected Items
• High-score
• Time
• Ammunition
• Selected Weapon
• Inventory Items/Pack
• Position/Map

As with the game menu, for now you only need to sketch out possible layouts/designs for your game's user interface. The creation of and programming of it will be covered in the next sections.

Level Map:

Once created the level map is a very useful document to have at your side throughout the rest of the 2D game design process. Your level map should be a detailed outline of your level including the 'landscape' of the level in terms of platforms, terrain or basically whatever the player is standing on or flying through. The position of enemies and obstacles and hazards should also be outlined on the level map to see potential impossible areas or to ensure there are no areas too hard/easy/boring. It should be possible to view the potential route the player will need to take or the actions the player will need to complete. It may be necessary to create 2 or 3 versions of your level map until you are happy that what you have created is interesting, appropriate and achievable.

The two examples below are from http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexteryy

Sample Level Map Version 1.0

Sample Level Map Version 2.0

Next Up...

Once you have completed the 2d game objectives and structure you should move onto the next step - 2D Game Graphics & Audio

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Create A 2D Game - Part 1: Concept Development

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Create A 2D Game - Part 1: Concept Development

SEM 14.42 Komentar

Some random game concept development notes

The first step in creating a 2D game is to first settle on the idea for the game. It seems obvious but sometimes people waste a lot of time and effort by jumping into creating graphics and programming elements without knowing exactly what their game is actually about. The game idea - known as the concept - is extremely important and must itself be developed in great detail before progressing to the next stage. The concept stage can be broken down into three parts, idea generation, idea development and idea visualisation. Remember, the great thing about games is that anything you imagine is possible so set your imagination free!

Generate The Idea:

First things first then; you need to come up with an idea for your game. Idea generation is often called brainstorming but in reality brainstorming is just one type of idea generation. Brainstorming involves simply writing down as many ideas as possible as quickly as possible without considering their merit (whether they are good or bad). It is important not to think too much while doing this as logical or analytical thinking will restrict your creative mind.

Another idea generation technique is 'the random game' which involves creating headings of time, place, object and person/animal. You then give yourself a minute to write down as many things as possible under each heading. For example, under the 'time' heading you may write things like Jurassic period, iron age, 1960's, 2012, 2233, yesterday...etc. So after 4 minutes you should have 4 full categories which you can use to create a game idea, "but how?" you ask. The next part is the random part, simply take one word from each category at random and force yourself to put them into a scenario. Once again do this as quickly as possible without thinking to engage only the creative part of your brain. Remember, games are not real so anything goes!

If you still can't come up with anything, try out the following resources...

• 101 Level Design Ideas Worksheet

• The Game Idea Prompter Worksheet

• Video Game Name Generator

Develop the Idea:

Once you have your main idea the next step is to work out the details. For example, lets say you game idea is to play as...

A robotic turtle sent back from the future to the Jurassic period to find the first turtle and save him from assassination by your future enemies the golden kangaroos using a magic fork

Well I did say anything was possible. Despite having this brilliant idea in the bag there are still numerous questions that need to be answered. What will the game genre be, how many levels are there, what will the obstacles be, what will the game options be...? In order to help you develop your game idea we have developed some worksheets...

• 2D Game Concept Development Stage 1

• 2D Game Concept Development Stage 2

Visualise the Idea:

When creating a game you are often working as part of a team or working for a client or your boss. In any case you will need to create a game pitch to portray your game idea to someone else. As part of your game pitch you should also have some images to help visualise your idea. This may be through research images or photos showing the type of landscapes in which the game will be set, concept art or drawings showing what the characters will look like or internet images from existing games which are similar in style to what you are hoping to achieve. Whatever form you choose to use to represent your ideas visually does not matter the important thing is that you do represent them visually. Here are 3 options...

Create sketches and drawings to show your game concept

Find or take photographs to explain your game concept

Use Photoshop to create concept art for your game

It is not vital to have excellent drawing skills (although it wouldn't do any harm), the important thing is that you get your idea out of your head so you can show it to other people in order to get feedback or even just for yourself to see your idea in a physical form.

Career As A Concept Artist ...

Artists create the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, props, and even user interface components. Artists also create concept art and storyboards which help communicate the proposed visual elements during the pre-production phase.
Concept artists usually begin with traditional materials (eg pen and paper) and progress onto computer software.

The Concept Artist sketches ideas for the game worlds, characters, objects, vehicles, furniture, clothing and other content. They also suggest level designs, colour schemes, and the mood and feel of the game. They are usually very good at perspective drawing and architecture. Although not involved in creating the actual game art, their concept will determine the look of many aspects of the game.
For more information about concept artists click here.

Next Up...

Once you have completed these three parts of the 2D game concept development stage you should move onto the next step - Game Objectives & Structure

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Create A 2D Game - Introduction

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Create A 2D Game - Introduction

SEM 14.22 Komentar

This is a screen shot from a 2D game made using scratch by a user called GriffPatch

How To Design And Create A 2D Game

This 5 part series will guide you step by step through the stages of developing a 2D game. Two-dimensional games were most frequently developed in the early years of video games with the main reason for this being that the technical limitations of game hardware prevented the ease of creating three-dimensional graphics. When technology developed sufficiently to allow easier and more effective use of 3D graphics there was a temporary decline in 2D gaming. ( For more on games design history click here)

The wheel has now turned full circle however and the rise in popularity of mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone and Android Phones are now mainly populated with easy to play 2D games. This renaissance in 2D gaming is partly due to the sentimental memories of early gamers joyously reliving their youth on their new gadgets. In reality though it is mainly a decision by developers to meet the demands of the consumers for quick, easy to play, fun games that they can pass 5 or 10 minutes with on the bus or train to work that 2d games are the ideal format.

These 2D games and Apps are made in a variety of ways including the Apple or Android SDK (Software Development Kit), Adobe Flash, HTML5 etc. However, if you are a games design student and are just starting out or you only want to make a game for fun or one to share with your friends then the best option is Scratch. Scratch is a simple, freeware game engine software that is easy to use, edit and publish so it can be easily shared with your friends.

The Scratch website hosts all the games made using it's editor and can sometimes put people off because of this as some of the games can appear childish or low quality (because they are made by children!). The reality is it is an excellent games engine for 2d game development and if you would like to see some examples of quality 2D games using Scratch then click here.

The Scratch Game Engine Interface

Lets Get Started...

There are 5 main stages in the 2D games design process and this series will guide you through each one step by step. We will start with stage one - Game Concept Development.

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Games Design Process

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Games Design Process

SEM 05.50 Komentar

The Games Design Process

The computer games design process is based on the general design process but has a process which is solely focused around the area of computer games. The headings differ from those in the general design process but they are effectively the same steps just broken down further and retitled for a particular task. The overall process takes on the form of 3 major stages with each containing a subset of more specific stages. The stages are called pre-production, production and post-production. As the names suggest the processes central objective is the creation of the game. The stages are discussed in theory below and the application of this theory is explained through text and video tutorials on this website. Just use the search bar to find what you need.

Pre-production:

Analysis of Brief/Sector:

If you are designing a game for a client or for a college project you will be given a brief (set of instructions) that you will need to follow. Read these carefully and identify the key requirements that you need to fulfil. If you are designing the game for yourself then you will need to analyse the existing market, identify a gap or choose a game genre, engine and target audience. In this way you are creating your own brief.

Research:

Research is an important part of any design project and it will help you to identify possible software to use, genres to choose, ideas to develop, characters to animate and much, much more. It is also important to familiarise yourself with games already on the market as these will be the competition for your game and they will have set the standards that you need to meet or beat for your game to be successful.

Brainstorming: 

This is just a buzzword for idea generation and although the process may sound simple coming up with an idea for a game that is both original and interesting is very difficult. For example a FPS where a senile granny goes on a shooting rampage in a local park wearing a hospital gown, carrying two bags of shopping and shouting "quiet down!" may well be original but is it interesting to your target audience or even politically correct? I think not. This stage needs time and consideration; For help and assistance visit our article on idea generation.

Game Concepts/Objectives: 

Once you have decided on the basic idea for the game you then need to develop it further. What is it called? What are the characters called? What are they like? What is the objective of the game? How many levels? Where is it set? In what time is it set? All these questions and more need to be answered in order to develop a fully working, feasible and interesting game world that the player will want to get involved with and interact with.

Concept Art: 

Having decided on all the details, you then need to develop the style of the game. You will do this through concept art. Concept art demonstrates how the characters, terrains, building and objects will look. They may be in a cartoon style, a photo realistic style or anywhere in between.

Map development: 

Now that the details are in place and the style has been chosen, the layout of the game world must be considered. Is it a free roam map? Is it broken into territories or sections? Is it an island? These choices are yours to make (unless specified in the brief). This stage does not need to be too detailed and is merely intended as a basis for the main structure of the game.

Sketched Level Design: 

This stage develops on the level/game map and breaks it down into more detail. In these sketches you will sketch building plans, and map plans, level paths and more. These sketches will include the positioning of enemies, objects, pick-ups etc. It is a vital stage in the game design process as it the first and last time that you should be making actual game layout decisions which will directly affect the gameplay. You should base these decisions around the previous stages and the outcomes of your work during them.

Production:

Scale and Proportion:

Any game or level can appear huge or tiny depending on the scale of things relative to the character. As soon as you begin the production stage of your game, regardless of the software or game engine being used, you should place a character template or similar in the level to guide you in the correct scaling of your level.

Blocking out the Level:

This process is used to quickly layout the main sections and areas of a level. Each block may represent a building or cliff or vehicle or object etc. and doing this will allow you to quickly and easily get a sense of the environment you have created and make any necessary positional changes. It is also an ideal way to break down a large level into more manageable areas/blocks which can be detailed one at a time.

Adding Textures:

Textures should only be added after a level has been blocked out and all static meshes have been added. This is because textures are easier to edit and change than meshes and it is therefore better to match textures to meshes than vice versa. Most game engines will have a library of ready-made textures but creating your own is recommended as it will give your game a more original feel.

Adding Lighting: 

Lighting is one of the most important elements to a 3D game. Good lighting creates atmosphere, hides enemies, build tension for the player and makes a game look more realistic. Subtle changes and constant lighting rebuilds will take a lot of time so allow for that in your planning. Poor lighting cheapens a game, makes it look false and boring. Put in the time the time to get the rewards.

Adding Functionality and Interactivity:

As good as quality textures and feature lighting will make you game look unless it also has interesting and challenging elements for the player to interact with or use then it will not be successful. Things as simple as adding light switches and sliding doors add so much to a game by keeping the player constantly active as they roam around. More complex elements like elevators, vehicles, countdown clocks etc. will further enhance the player's experience.

Adding A.I.:

Artificial intelligence refers to elements in the game which can react to the players' movements, actions or decisions. They may be enemies or friendlies or other. Although complex to programme, once one is programmed correctly the same code can be used on an infinite amount of the same characters or only subtly edited for different characters.

Cinematics: 

These are short "movie" like interludes in the game used to inform the player on the game mission or objectives, give character information, hand out clues, show dialogue between characters etc. The reasons for using them are up to you but they are undoubtedly a great feature and add a sense of professionalism to your game while allowing the player a short respite from the action.

HUDs and Menus:

H.U.D. stands for heads up display and refers to the on screen game information which is displayed to assist or inform the player of what is happening. Items commonly displayed in the HUd are ammo, time, game map, health etc. The HUD needs to provide this information without intruding into the view of the player while playing the game, in most games the HUD can be toggled on/off. The menu is the first thing the player sees so it is great if it is interesting and enticing however the main function of the menu is of course to provide options for the player. Be sure your menu is clear and easy to use above all else.

Post-Production:

Testing: 

Once the game is packaged the process would appear to be complete but rigorous testing through gameplay is still required. Testing the game in the UDK editor as you go along is not sufficient to guarantee the game will be bug or glitch free. Many glitches are obvious after a few plays of the game and even if glitches are absent it is important to sure the game does not lag or freeze during certain elements of play.

Redesign: 

Based on the findings during the testing process various elements may need to be fixed or redesigned.

Packaging: 

Packaging the game refers to the act of compiling the game folders and files into an executable version of the game that others could download, install and play. Although this is one of the last stages its success is dependent on the correct set up of the level map and related files in the early stage of the production stages.

Promoting: 

Any game needs to be well promoted through eye-catching disc covers, DVD box packaging, internet ads, posters etc. Without good promotion, no matter how good the game is nobody will ever hear about it and therefore will never get the chance to play it. For help and assistance in creating the promotional graphics for your game visit our Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials.

What Next...

Now that you understand the theory why not try to apply this theory using the text and video tutorials in the UE4 section to guide you along the way. If you enjoyed this article then perhaps our articles on the web, graphic, interior or furniture design processes may also be of interest.

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A Brief History Of The Computer Games Industry

3d games game design games games design process games history gaming gaming history history of gaming onlinedesignteacher

A Brief History Of The Computer Games Industry

SEM 02.56 Komentar

Evolution of computer games characters T-Shirt

Recently the global video game market was said to be valued at approx US$70 billion, but the modern video game industry had a very humble beginning. This short but concise article will guide you through the main events in the evolution of gaming.

By the 1970s, improvements in computing made widespread development of video games possible. The video game industry began in 1971 with the release of the arcade game, Computer Space. The following year, Atari, Inc. released the first commercially successful video game, Pong, but no one at Atari was prepared for the game that would put the new company on the map. It all started when computer scientist turned entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell hired a young engineer named Al Alcorn and gave him an exercise to build a video game that was the simplest possible thing he could think. So he went to Walgreen's Drug Store and bought a $75 black-and-white TV. Bushnell and Alcorn called the game Pong and installed the first Pong machine for a trial run at a bar in Sunnyvale, California, then known as Andy Capp's Tavern. What happened next made Andy Capp's the ground zero of the video game industry.

Soon companies like Midway, an old-line maker of equipment for amusement parks, started getting into the gaming industry. The coin-op company that brought Space Invaders to America had invaded the space of Atari, then the industry leader, in a big way. Rather than fight it, Atari CEO Ray Kassar took a gamble with the game by licensing the home rights. The gamble paid off and sales of the Atari VCS console doubled.

The arcade game industry entered its Golden Age in 1978 with the release of Space Invaders by Taito, a success that inspired dozens of manufacturers to enter the market. In 1979, Atari released Asteroids. Color arcade games became more popular in 1979 and 1980 with the arrival of titles such as Pac-Man. The Golden Age had a prevalence of arcade machines in shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants and convenience stores. The 1980's saw a shift in the context of gaming with a move towards home consoles.

The evolution of gaming consoles

Home Consoles

The early part of the decade saw the rise of home computing, and home-made games, especially in Europe and Asia. At this time the range and variety of games grew rapidly with new games of all types even leading to the creation of new game genres. This time also saw the rise of video game journalism. In 1983, the North American industry crashed due to the production of too many badly developed games (quantity over quality), resulting in the fall of the North American industry until the industry was eventually revitalized by the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which resulted in the home console market being dominated by Japanese companies such as Nintendo.

Before long, Nintendo had a whopping 90 percent share of the video game market. In 1989, the company's domination of the industry got even bigger when it introduced its video game equivalent of Sony's Walkman, the Game Boy. The game boy featured a puzzle game called Tetris, created b a Soviet computer engineer named Alexy Pajitnov. Thanks to Tetris, the Game Boy became an instant hit, selling 32 million units in its first three years. Nintendo seemed unbeatable.

Computer Games Evolution Infographic

Sony Joins The Game...

But not for long. Sony launched its own game platform, PlayStation, in the mid-1990s. This new console was not without controversy however. The history of the Playstation begins in 1988 when Sony and Nintendo were working together to develop the Super Disc which was going to be a CD-ROM attachment for Nintendo's soon to be released Super Nintendo game. However, Sony and Nintendo parted ways business-wise and the Super Disc was never introduced or used by Nintendo. However SOny didn't want all their work to go to waste and in 1991, Sony used a modified version of the Super Disk as part of a new game console, the Sony Playstation. After the success of the Playstation and the emergence of the Japanese electronics giant’s plans for a next generation PlayStation, Playstation II, the gaming instincts of another technology giant, Microsoft were awakened.

Sony were saying, "this is gonna replace the PC, It's gonna replace the DVD player, it's going to be the anchor of your home entertainment experience and can go beyond that as well." Microsoft took notice as replacing the PC was not what the leading computer software maker in the world wanted to hear -- especially since PlayStation was outselling the top five PC makers combined. “The sort of messaging Sony did around PlayStation II certainly catalyzed a lot of kind of competitive spirit among people at Microsoft,” said Blackley, who really didn't particularly enjoy Sony saying that a game console was going to replace Excel, for instance, or you know, Word for Windows.

Microsoft Gets In On The Act...

The XBox was released on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia and Europe in 2002. In November 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live, a fee-based online gaming service that enabled subscribers to download new content and connect with other players through a broadband connection. Unlike other online services from Sega and Sony, Xbox Live had support in the original console design through an integrated Ethernet port. The service gave Microsoft an early foothold in online gaming and would help the Xbox become a relevant competitor to other sixth-generation consoles.

Today, the video game industry is a juggernaut of development; profit still drives technological advancement which is then used by other industry sectors. Though maturing, the video game industry is still very volatile, with third-party video game developers quickly cropping up, and just as quickly, going out of business. Nevertheless, many casual games and indie games have been developed and many have become popular and successful, such as Braid, Limbo, and Minecraft. Games are also made for mobile phones and social networking sites. For example, a Facebook game developer, Zynga, is said to have raised in excess of 300 million. Mobile gaming is also booming on the iOS and Android devices.

Today, the video game platform arms race is in full swing with Sony's new PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's XBOX One the current market leaders.

XBox One versus PS4

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How to create a Destructible Mesh in UE4.

Destructible Mesh game creation game design games gaming onlinedesignteacher UE4 Unreal Unreal Engine 4

How to create a Destructible Mesh in UE4.

SEM 04.06 Komentar

Finished Product

What is a Destructible Mesh?

A Destructible Mesh is a static mesh that can break when it comes into contact with an object.  

Step 1. Finding a Prop

Within your game map open up “Starter Content” then double left click into “Props”. Double click any object in this category. In my case I chose the sphere.

Starter Content

Props

 Step 2. Adding a collision

In the opened window choose the “collision” tab above the “Save” tab. Once clicked choose “Add 26DOP Simplified collision”. Now save and close the window.

Collision

Step 3. Creating the destructible mesh

Right click on the mesh you just edited and choose “Create Destructible Mesh”. Once created a window should open up as shown.

Creating the Destructible Mesh

Fracturing Mesh

Step 4. Fracturing the mesh

Click “Fracture Mesh”. Once clicked you should see your mesh broken up.

Fractured Mesh

Step 5. Making the mesh destructable

Go to "Destructible Mesh" > "Default Destructible" > "Damage Parameters" and change “Impact Damage” to 1.0 and “Default Impact Depth” to 1. Keep the “Cell count” default at 25. Once done Save and close window.

Details

Step 6. Physics

Drag out the new mesh to a suitable area of the map. On the right hand column go down to “Physics” and turn on “Simulate Physics”. In the “Collision Column” below make sure “simulation generate” is ticked/turned on and “Generate Overlap” is un-ticked/turned off.

Physics

Physics details

Step 7. Simulate 

When done, make sure you have a clear view of you object. Once you are happy bring down the arrow beside “Play” and click “Simulate”.

Simulate

Step 8. Finish

Watch the destruction happen.

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Introduction to Unreal Engine 4

3D Game blueprints Engine Game game creation game design games gaming Interface Introduction Project UE4 Unreal Unreal Engine Unreal Engine 4 User Interface

Introduction to Unreal Engine 4

SEM 02.30 Komentar

Introduction to Unreal Engine 4

In this tutorial I am going to give you a basic run down of the the user interface in Unreal Engine 4. After reading this tutorial you will be able to start your own Unreal Engine 4 project and know your way around the interface you are given to create a game.

Getting started

Create an account with unreal engine. Sign in.

Sign in screen.

When you sign in, you see the menu screen.

Menu screen.

From the Marketplace, you can download different free useful packages including characters.  From there you can add these to your project.

Marketplace.

All downloaded packages can be found in the library.

Launch button and Library location.

First time you launch the engine, you will see the unreal engine project browser.

Unreal project browser.

From here, you can create a new project or go on to the Marketplace and load an existing project. When creating a new project, there are a variety of different genres and also a choice of project type’s, blueprint or code.

New project.

Blueprint and C++ options.

 When making settings, we recommend the following. 

Recommend setting.

You then choose an appropriate location to save it and you give it a project name.
 

Choose location to save your project and name it.

Note: when naming, do not use spaces, use an underscore. Then you save and click CREATE PROJECT.
 

Create project.

User Interface

Main menu bar

Menu bar location

Menu bar zoomed in.

Pretty much any menu bar you see in computer applications, file menu, edit menu, window menu and the help menu.

File -   Here you can save what you are working on, create new projects, import and export.
Edit – You can find the standard Undo, redo, cut, copy, paste. Also here you can find editor preference and your project settings.
Window – This is where you can show and hide parts of the interface that are not shown by default
Help – Direct link to the documentation, link to initial tutorials to help get you started 

On your view port here are meshes already in place because you chose to include starter content. These meshes are not permanent and can be edited, as shown in a later tutorial. 

3D viewport.

Mode panel 

Mode panel, this allows us to change the mode the editor is currently in. You can select modes place mode, landscape, paint, foliage and geometry editing mode.

Mode panel.

Modes - Zoomed in.

Content Browser

Allow you access to any exterior generated content and special content like materials and blueprints you may have created.

Content browser.

Here you can create new folders and import different meshes, sound and textures/materials.

Scene Outliner

The scene outliner panel, shows everything that is in your level at that time. Main use is to see all the objects in your screen and select them.

Scene outliner.

It has some other functionality like here you can select, edit, parent together, hide and delete objects/actors.

Details panel

The details panel shows all editing details on a selected item.

Details panel.

Tool bar

Tool bar.

Quick and easy one click access to common tasks that you will be performing
you have your save button (but generally you can just hit ctrl+s), content to open the content browser if you don’t already have one opened. Marketplace. Your settings, control various things that you can show and hide inside of your view port and overall environment. 

When editing, make sure you save your work frequently and build when progress is made.

When you press the play button a character will appear, this gives you a good idea of how your level will look and function.

Character on screen.

To escape play mode press eject. The short cut for this on your keyboard is ESC.

Viewport navigation

Mouse navigation

If you drag with the left click, to go forward you drag up and to go backwards you drag down. Move the mouse left to right while still holding down the left of the mouse to look left and right. Right click is just looking around, you can look left, right, up and down by dragging the mouse up, down, left and right. If you click the mouse wheel you can track the camera in all directions by sliding up and down, left and right. Click the left and right of the mouse at the same time does the same thing.

You can change the speed of the camera in the upper right corner of the viewport.

Camera speed options.

Camera speed option zoomed in.

WSAD keys

While holding down the right side of the mouse:
 W – To fly forwards
 S – To fly backwards
 A – Straight left
 D – Straight right
 E – Straight up into the air
 Q - Down
 C – zoom camera in
 Z – zoom camera out

Note: as soon as you release the right mouse it snaps back to where you were

MIYA style navigation

Hold down alt to use this style of navigation.
Alt+left mouse click is going to tumble the view around.
To change pivot of the tumble you can select any object in your scene and hit “f” on your keyboard.
Now when you hold down alt and drag with the left mouse you are tumbling around the object.
alt+right mouse to dolly the camera

When duplicating an object hold down the alt+click the direction you want to go in on the anchor + hold down shift. 

You can also look at your level through different viewpoints. You can find the option to change views in the top left hand corner of your  3D viewport.

Viewpoint section location.

Viewpoint selection zoomed in.

In the dropdown, there are a variety of different views including perspective, top, side, and front.

Perspective.

Top.

Side.

Front.

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