Michael Hughes - Y1 GD ngine_terminology

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:
Michael
Hughes
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)
`1VIDEO
GAMES /
VIDEO
GAME
TESTING
Demo A game demo is a free (usually
shortened) version of a game. This
demo is not the full game however
lets the people accessing it look at
what the in-game content is like
and for the developer, allows him
to get reviews of the game or
public opinion.
A game demo can be used
in order to give the public
opinion of the game and
make any last minute
touches on the game; a
game demo is usually to
give the public a quick
portion of game play. This
al lows a user to make a
final judgement of whether
they would like to purchase
the game. The reason
demos are free is so it i s
not only more convenient
for the us ers but also
because i t is a small
proportion of the game.
Thi s picture shows the game watch dogs i n two forms of demo’s. For PC on the left and PS4
on the right.

IG2 Task 1
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Beta The beta stage of a video game is
usually the third s tage of
development in any video game
bes ides alpha and pre-alpha. This
s tage can sometimes be given
access to by a developer for testing
purposes.
https ://uk.answers.yahoo.com/que
s tion/index?qid=20081019143302A
AIBseY
A beta stage is usually the
thi rd or fourth
development of any game.
Developers will usually
re l e ase a “beta-test” of
perhaps a multiplayer or
s ingle player section of a
game. This is so the public
can find bugs or glitches in
a game that may cause
game play disturbance. This
i s a beta stage so usually all
progress is reset however
some game companies
such as EA (Battlefield)
al lowed you to keep
progress after beta.
I
wann
a be
the
boshy:
The
beta
vers io
n of
the
final
bos s
fight
which
has
s ince been improved and re-tested.
Alpha The alpha stage of a video game or
piece of software is where
developers test their product
thems elves to ensure the software
runs as efficiently and as smoothly
as they wanted it too.
https ://answers.yahoo.com/questi
on/index?qid=20110119184650AAf
wy7x
The alpha stage of
development is the 2nd
s tage of development, I
know this because there
are 4 s tages in total (pre-alpha,
alpha, beta, gold)
The alpha stage is for
developers to play test
thei r product in order to
tes t for bugs, play for
general enjoyment and see
how long the content they
have created will last in
terms of duration.
The ga me “Mi necraft” in i t’s alpha development stages. With the cre ator a nd s ound producer
in-game testing.

IG2 Task 1
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Pre-Alpha Pre-alpha is before the alpha stage,
i t i s where the core of the
game/mechanics are developed
such as the engine, textures,
sounds etc. After these basic
sys tems are put into place, the
game development stage
progresses to alpha.
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/post
s /l ist/440511.page
The pre-alpha stage of
development is the primary
s tage of developing a game.
The pre-alpha stage is
where the entire main
features such as physics,
graphics etc. are
implemented, and this is
introduced because these
are the main building
blocks for any game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgrrcJb_BaE
The l ink shows a video of a standalone game known as Day Z, at which point was being played
in pre-alpha stages, s howing generic functions of the game’s engine.
Gold
When a game has gone gold, it
means that they have finished the
final release build and i t can now
be sent for production.
http://www.neowin.net/forum/top
ic/85622-what-does-gone-gold-means/
Gold is referenced to be a
finalized version of the
game. When a game is
a nnounced “gold”. It should
be released and ready to
purchase fairly close to that
time. Gold is really the final
product that i s produced
from al l stages of
development.
The ga me “GTA V” a nnounce d to be in “gold” by the cre ators: Rockstar.

IG2 Task 1
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Debug In computers, debugging is the
process of locating and fixing or
bypassing bugs (errors) in computer
program code or the engineering of
a hardware device.
http://searchsoftwarequality.techt
arget.com/definition/debugging
Debugging is generally for
de ve lopers. This “mode” of
the game is created in
order to seek out bugs that
may occur during
gameplay, why they occur,
how they occur and what
can be done to fix said bug
when developing the game
further. It can be used
however in games such as
Minecraft with open source
code to modify or “mod”
the game to their liking.
The debug interface for Minecraft for PC, showing variables and block regions that otherwise
coul d not be s een, the crosshair a lso shows the game’s dimensions.
Automation
The process of making an apparatus
or object operates automatically.
Automation i s the process
of making objects move
automatically. This gives
the game a real feeling that
mos t objects could not
naturally do, it can also be
used in horror games to
show doors opening by
thems elves
Are any s imilar concept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-AafWkwtao
The video shows how to implement moving platforms with coding. The automation in this
video it the platform itself.
White-Box
Testing
White Box Testing i s known as
Code-Based Testing. White box
tes ting i s the software testing
method in which internal structure
i s being known to tester who i s
going to test the software.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM
/W/White_Box_Testing.html
White box testing can be
used in order to allow
developers the testing they
need along with code so
they can alter any issues
they may have, i t is
conve nient because i t’s a
vi ta l role in a games
development and also
saves the developers a lot
of time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CHRUAMIrVE
Thi s FPS game is being white box tested for the first time the entire length of the video for
l ighting and geometry purposes.

IG2 Task 1
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Bug A bug i s a technical failure in a
game that causes an unpredicted
result. In games they can crop up
with each feature that is added
which is why bug fixing is crucial. -
me
A bug i s an error with code
and can cause in most cases
minor or even major issues
with a games performance.
The performance of a game
i s vi tal, if bugs continue to
occur i t can be a real issue
for the developers as they
need to contribute more
time into making the game
more smooth and fixing
bugs .
http://hydramedia.cursecdn.com/minecraft.gamepedia.com/c/cc/12550821line.png
Thi s shows a minecraft bug ca lled the “farlands” where the game has a ge neration e rror and
runs extremely slowly at 12.5million blocks in 1 di rection.
GAME
ENGINES
GAME
ENGINES
Vertex Shader In computer graphics, shades are
commonly used in game engines.
They are a computer program that
calculates what to shade defending
upon the co-ordinates i t gives to 3D
objects. Vertex shades run once
along a vertex and can manipulate
properties like position, lighting and
colour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade
r#Vertex_shaders
Vertex shaders are put into
place to make objects look
s l ightly more realistic. It
al so gives 3D models 2D co-ordinates
in a virtual world.
For ins tance, if developers
need to change the models
of an object when level
des igning a developer could
make a mountain terrain by
s tretching some of these
vertices.
The images here show a tea cup but vertex shaders have been put into place i t makes the
object look much more realistic.
http://web.media.mit.edu/~gordonw/OpenGL/images/teapot_vertexShader.jpg

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Pixel Shader Pixel shades can be used for detail.
The more complex pixel shades can
use mathematical functions to
calculate what is needed to be
blurred amongst the terrain.
Pixel shaders are most
commonly put into place to
primarily bring objects
forward in a game (basically
giving them more detail).
Thi s allows for the terrain
and objects within a game
to appear more suited to
thei r surroundings. For
ins tance, the statue on the
right appears to have detail
in the face and hair,
including a couple of cracks
within the torso, whereas
without the pixel shader,
the detail has been
removed from the s tatue
and the s tatue looks quite
bland and simple, therefore
showing how detail can be
affected by the pixel
shaders.
Thi s pixel shader shows detail to one side where the pixel shaders have been used, however
without the pixel shader, the model is limited to detail and s carce of colour.
http://assets.overclock.net.s3.amazonaws.com/4/4e/4e776cf7_vbattach2843.jpeg

IG2 Task 1
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Post Processing
“Addi tionally, post-processing is
commonly used in 3D rendering,
especially for video games. Instead
of rendering 3D objects directly to
the di splay, the scene is first
rendered to a buffer in the memory
of the video card. Pixel shadersare
then used to apply post-processing
fi l ters to the image buffer before
di splaying it to the s creen. Post-processing
allows effects to be used
that require awareness of the
enti re image (since normally each
3D object i s rendered in isolation).
Such effects include: High dynamic
range rendering, Bloom ,Motion
blur ,Screen Space Ambient
,Occlus ion, Cel shading, Crepuscular
rays , Fi lm grain simulation, Depth
of fi e ld, Shadow mapping”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video
_pos t-processing
Pos t processing is used
when a game needs such
effects such as shadow
mapping and depth of field.
Thi s is why a loading screen
i s put in place instead of
seeing the map render with
pos t processing, i t appears
more pleasant to a player.
The reason why developers
put pos t processing in is
because usually each object
i s i solated and would not
have shadows depending
on other objects, making i t
appear with different
shadows than normal
making the game feel more
realistic because of correct
l ighting and shadows that
depend on the terrain
around i t.
Thi s image shows the middleware games development e ngine and i t’s post processing when
enabled and disabled.
http://gamingdead.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/vlcsnap.jpg

IG2 Task 1
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Rendering
Rendering is a process which
generates 2D and 3D models and
des igns. In the gaming industry, the
rendering process gives actions,
models and animations their final
touch.
Rendering is used in games
to generate the game itself.
For example: levels in
games are made through
thi s technique and are
fluently made both with
rendering, post processing
and spawning to create the
ga me ’s level or world. This
ensures the world works as
i t should and all the entities
and RNG related data is
created as realistically as
pos sible.
http://i .telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02681/Minecraft-Poole-Ha_2681157b.jpg
Rendering in minecraft is constantly happnening when a player vi sits an unexplored region of
the loaded world, i t will generate new terrain upon arrival.
Normal Map A normal map is a 2D image
repl icating a 3D map model used to
determine surface normal. (Surface
di rection) etc.
https ://forums.epicgames.com/thr
eads/677015-What-exactly-is-a-normal-
map-a-specular-map-etc
Normal mapping is used
when designing an object
that i s not adapting well o
the environment
surrounding i t, or to give an
object a better look or feel
in a game. For instance; the
‘fa ke ’ lighting and bumps
that can be included can
make an object stand out
or generally have more
deta il. http://media.indiedb.com/images/games/1/14/13050/NormalAddition.jpg
Thi s shows normal mapping to a game character.

IG2 Task 1
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Entity An enti ty i s anything that exists
wi thin the game’s development
that appears to be alive. Usually
NPC’s or movi ng objects ca n be
portrayed as entities.
Enti ties are very important
to a game, they make up
the world around the
landscape and make any
NPC’s , obje cts, and a few
more us eful features in
games such as vehicles or
weapons. An entity has its
own set of unique
characteristics, for instance
one NPC could walk around
whi lst another could s tand
in place.
The l ist of entities valve released for the environment of some of their games. Mainly to
“modi fy” the game. (This image was uploaded to screenshot by mys elf).
UV Map UV mapping is the process of
creating a 2D image, from a 3D
map, i t is the process in which can
be seen the whole of the terrain
through a single flat image and is
us e d well for “maps” a nd guides of
the game.
UV mapping is used when
maybe showing a map of
the landscape to a player,
rather than having a globe
that i s s crolled around. If
the map for a game is flat it
makes the terrain easier to
navigate and find particular
places. It can also be used
by developers to see which
part of the game they need
to add or take away from.
The gori lla character has been UV mapped to show a flat face.
http://www.uvmapper.com/uvmp035a_big.png

IG2 Task 1
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Procedural
Texture
Procedural textures are algorithms
that are used in order to generate
real life like nature texture such as
wood, plants and water; they use
languages in programming that
grasp colour well enough to do so.
Prodcedural textures are
used in a game too
generate a more realistic
type of graphics in specific
objects, including things
made from wood, metal
and s tone.
The wood in this image has procedural texture showing different
Types of wood in the design.
http://www.inear.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wood1.jpg
Physics The Phys ics engine is a computer
program that detects life l ike
phys ical attributes in a game such
as gravity, body dynamics etc. it i s
useful when creating first person
shooters and RTS games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physic
s_engine
Phys ics are used in
videogames in order to
generate far more realistic
properties and attributes to
a video game. Personally I
bel ieve that physics are
important to any aspect of
a game as it really does
make the game come to
l i fe and act certainly l ife
l ike. A game I liked with a
s trong access of physics
wa s “Portal 2” a s shown on
the right. In this game i t
really does make a
di fference because of the
puzzl ing aspect of the game
and trying to figure out
how to solve i t using the
phys ics applied in the
game.
Phys ics are shown here from the blue gel being fire from the opening and the gel falling down
to the ground (gravity) and through the orange portal below it then falls from the blue portal
to the top.
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/199581-header.jpg

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Collision Col l isions or “colliding” i s when two
objects in a game touch and have a
reaction after colliding, this is used
in order to make certain functions
such as triggers work.
Col l isions are used in games
to mainly make two
di fferent singularities or
objects interact with each
other in such a way that
they would have some form
of outcome when colliding.
For ins tance; the ball in the
video reacts with each
block of the wall. This
showing the colliding
objects and how important
i t i s for objects to interact
with each other. Take into
account that this collision is
too apply the laws of
phys ics to the game too
and to make the objects
react as they would in real
l i fe. I think this is important
to any game as all games
(even small and simple
games such as pong)
requi re this interaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue_zs0CY9fk
The video shows a test for the collision of triangle mesh with ball and cubes in blender 2.5
engine.

IG2 Task 1
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Lighting Lighting Is used in order to make
dark places in the game appear
brighter, i t gives dark places such as
houses and other large buildings
within a game visibility when
entering, i f the l ighting was not
Implemented into the engine, then
the room would appear black.
Light i s a very important
factor in games. This
includes any form of
darkness that should be lit.
Lighting is given to an
object to make i t appear
brighter, correct to the
terrain and shadowing.
Lighting i s (in my opinion)
one of the most important
attributes of a game, it i s
used in dark places in order
to make them appear more
realistic to weather or just
to make the player actually
vi s ibly see what they are
looking at during game
play.
Thi s image shows runescape’s “high detail” s etting with the torches that show light being
emi tted from them within the terrain.
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121014193750/runescape/images/1/1a/Taverley_Du
ngeon_lava.png
AA – Anti-
Aliasing
“Antialiasing i s a way of smoothing
edges. Computer monitors display
pixels, but real objects have curves
and l ines. In order to display these
on a computer monitor, the edge i s
often jagged. Antialiasing helps
reduce the problem by s lightly
blurring edges to the point where
jagged lines don't show easily or at
a l l.”
http://compreviews.about.com/od/
PC-Gaming/a/What-is-antialiasing-in-
PC-games.htm
Anti -aliasing is the process
of smoothing edges in a
computer game. But
because edges are
di splayed in pixels, i t blurs
the edges to reduce the
problem of jagged lines.
Thi s is attention to detail
when creating a game. In
my opinion, Anti-aliasing
i s n’t as important as some
other features, especially
when making a cell shaded
game.
Thi s image shows anti-aliasing because on the enabled AA (right side) the wooden beams
appear smoother around the edges than the left image (without AA).
http://solidlystated.com/content/2011/06/divinity2-anti-aliasing.jpg

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Level of Detail The LOD (level of detail) is the
amount of detail that has been put
into terrain of a game. This includes
objects and sprites, as well as
animations. The level of detail in a
game can be important most of the
time as most game developers
want to capture real l ife s cenarios.
The level of detail in a game
i s the amount of detail in a
game. Based on graphics,
l ighting and a few other
settings. However level of
deta il in games
(s ometimes) isn’t a n
important issue. For
e xa mple, “mine craft” i s a
very pixelated game
although i t is popular,
showing that level of detail
i s n’t eve rything. But, l evel
of deta il can be very
important when developers
want there games to be far
more realistic. For instance,
the ga me “destiny” re ally
tries to emerge a player in a
futuri stic setting with i ts
vas t level of detail.
http://s tatic.gamespot.com/uploads/original/152/1525982/2371525-9614057941-longi.jpg
Thes e weapons for a game in progress are showing the amount of detail between a s imilar
shape with some more details added each time it has been modelled.
Animation Animation is the process in which
something moves, the steps it takes
to walk, or the arms it moves when
throwing an object, these
animations are important to give a
character movement and actions.
Animation in games is an
extremely important
aspect. This is because a
vas t vast majority of games
wi l l require animation
(especially modern day
games). The reason
animations are used so
much i s because i t brings
forward life like game play
due to entities, objects and
NPC’s movi ng instead of
being fixed in place the way
they are designed. Too me,
thi s is probably the most
important factor when
creating games.
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130701134137/2007s cape/images/3/37/TzTok-
Jad_Animations.gif
Thi s .gif shows animations of an NPC within Rune-Scape that has different animations for the
specific attacks, showing i ts relevance in the game.

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Sprite A spri te is the design of a character
and i s used on a 2D basis.
A spri te is a 2D image that
moves on a flat screen, this
i s particularly popular in 2D
platformers or s ide
s crol lers, it can also be used
in very very bas ic imagery
in 3D Fi rst person shooters
or othe r ge nres’ of games,
such as the moon or clouds
that are very far away from
the player. Often in this
s ituation, sprites will be
created to appear 3D from
a specific angle.
http://i .imgur.com/LT2w0.png
Thi s image shows a variety of sprites and there appearences in the game.
Scene A cut s cene or “event s cene”
sometimes in-game cinematic or
s toryl ine movie, is a section of the
game where a player has limited
control and this is used to show
other features.
Cut s cenes are very
important to a game, they
break up game play in a
way that gives the player
time to take in a story l ine,
perhaps just a break in
game play to give the
player a rest from the
playing the game. Cut
s cenes are increasingly
important with story l ine,
often times portraying
cinematic effects that in
game play, i s simply
impossible, even if the cut
s cene is pressing buttons to
animate the character to
move or ta lk to an NPC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Uin3mj4mk
Pe rs onally my fa vourite cutscenes from “Call of duty: World at war”

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Library A l ibrary i s a collection of non-volatile
resources on a computer
that contributes to the
development of a piece of
software. For example all of the
fi les of code in a java game (.java
fi les) would all be located in the IDE
program eclipse. This makes it a
l ibrary of files that can be changed.
A l ibrary i s a place where all
fi l es from a games’
development are stored.
Thi s shows everything that
has been developed in the
games and the places in
which they can be edited.
Thi s is extremely important
for developers as they
requi re to keep things
organised and in
correlation with each other.
From personal experience;
l ibraries of files are one of
the mos t important
features in games purely
due to the mass amount of
content you can create and
how hard i t is too recover
or find lost or corrupt files
with errors or bugs.
Library
of fi les in IDE eclipse showing structures to a game.
http://kuikie.com/data/resources/images/eclipse-ide-working-with-java-classes_2.png

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UI The us er interface i s the space
where interactions between the
human and machines and
mechanics occur.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_i
nterface
A user interface is very
important, i t produces a
game frame for the player
to work with and explore.
Thi s game frame is
pe rs onally (from a gamers’
point of view) a somewhat
important feature because
functions and actions
should be performed in this
interface, although just
because a UI is important, it
doe sn’t mean it necessarily
needs to be detailed or high
in graphics/animations. This
i s because i t is simply a
place for things to be
executed such as loading a
game, finding an online
player or invi ting friends to
play.
The us er interface for the ra ce “Protoss” i n starcraft 2. This s hows one of three unique UI’s
which depend on the race you play, as shown it is given a metallic look and finish as the
protos s race is based around this.
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2010/03/starcraft-2-beta-first-impressions/
starcraft2_2010_42.jpg
Frames Frames is the still image that a
game produces, projecting the
vi rtual world to reality.
Frames are used in “frames
per second” in order to
show how many s till images
are being produced p/secs.
For ins tance; 60 FPS would
equal 60 s till images of a
game p/secs. For modern
day games, 60 FPS i s good.
Although Frames are
important to games, FPS is
a less important factor ,
games can be played with a
low FPS although many fans
do not l ike low FPS. More
powerful units are bought
to tes t a games potential.
In thi s image, we see a camera with 20 s till images per second, or 20 FPS. Where as a
projector has 10 FPS (10 s till images).
http://s lowmotioncamera.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/03/OvercrankingTimelineForSlowMotion.png

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Concept
“Something formed in the mind; a thou
ght or notion. See Synonyms at idea.”
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
concept
Concept in games, is the
thought and imagination of
art behind the game i tself.
For ins tance; games could
not be created without a
vi s ion of designers knowing
what they want their game
to be about. A piece of
“conce pt” a rt, is to produce
a base or idea about an
NPC, Playable character,
object, entity, or even
object within the game that
can be designed and
imagined, this image is then
given to an artist who can
modi fy (in certain and
res tricted ways) or produce
that replica of the art as
either a 2D or 3D model
digitally.
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090821033631/s tarcraft/images/9/93/Viking_SC2_Cn
cpt1.jpg
Thi s piece of concept art has been done for the Starcraft II unit: The Viking.

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Event An event i s something significant
that happens or just generally
happens for a reason.
In computer games, events
are triggered, commonly on
specific variables, settings
or when a player
progresses far enough into
the game to acquire a new
part of content. For
ins tance, in a personal
fa vourite ga me, “Halo 4”
the player finishes a level
when he reaches a bridge
in the level. This is a good
example, as the player has
to fight his way through
chal lenging enemies to
eventually get to the cut
s cene of the game in which
cas e i s also an event
because is has been
triggered by the player
setting foot in that location.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lga2EDmXi0
Thi s video shows the final fight in halo 4 and cutscene that plays once the event has been
triggered (by the player entering the final part of the level).

IG2 Task 1
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Path finding Path finding in the gaming industry
i s the motion of an NPC or Object
navigating i ts way through solid
objects that cannot be walked
through, or a path that is safe to
walk on.
Some games do not use
path finding, such as both
2D and 3D plat-formers,
thi s is to allow hazards to
occur for the player to
manipulate and navigate
thei r way around. But
bes ides these games, a lot
of other games such as
“Re a l ti me strategy’s” a nd
RPG’s us e this in order to
s imulate a player walking as
fas t as they can to a
des tination, without path
finding, a player cannot find
thei r way to a location i f
thei r initial process of
moving is to send them to
somewhere rather than the
player controlling its
movement.
https ://forums.unrealengine.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8420&d=1407499458
Thi s image shows a basic form of plat-forming to get around the blocks (solid objects) the
fas test route the ci rcle can take.

Michael Hughes - Y1 GD ngine_terminology

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Michael Hughes - Y1 GD ngine_terminology