Game Development for Gamers #2 – “Camille, I 0010101110101 you!”

I got a little stuck planning out my posts for Game Development for Gamers, because I honestly have no idea how little or how much you know about game development. My mind has become so warped lately I froth at the mouth thinking about parallax maps – is this a subject that excites the general gaming public?

I’m constantly being suprised both in the extremes of how much some of you do know, and also with comments like “games are made on PS3’s”. (If you are of the “games are made on PS3’s” school; they aren’t. Games are made on PC’s and Macs.)

So to get the ball rolling, I want to start at a level everyone will understand, and give myself time to work on something of the 3-dimensional pretty variety to show you in GDG#3.

Artists “Make Things”

A Concept Artist, as the name suggests, produces concept art (!) from using traditional methods with paintbrushes and pencils to digital painting with a graphics tablet. For an art team, concept art will demonstrate an art style that should be used to give the game a consistent look throughout. This is why with an exciting game in the works, concept art could be the first glimpse you get to see. Concept art may also be used to illustrate points in a pitch document for prospective publishers, or for promotional purposes in the PR department. I’ve run out of P’s now, so it’s time to move along.

I’m not sure if “3D Artist” is an official role in a regular studio, but that’s usually what I call myself (see also: chocolate fiend, grammar policewoman and captain whinge). 3D artists use software like Max, Maya, Modo and Mudbox to create all the 3D models you’ll see in-game. If blueprints are available or model sheet has been produced (line drawings of the front, side and top views of a model), these can be loaded into the 3D package as a semi-transparent texture and used as guidelines to stick to during the modelling process.

In this image I took photos of my own hand to use as a template.

Have you ever seen someone taking a close-up photo of road tarmac? Lamp posts? Drain covers, brick walls, or pavement curbs? Because the chances are they’re a complete nutcase. Or a texture artist. Possibly both.

Texture artists gather, create, and manipulate images that are used to create a texture map, which is applied to the surface of a 3D model. 

Unfortunately this isn’t as simple as finding a texture, making it seamless or tilable and clicking ‘apply’. Using UVW unwrap in Max, for example, a model must be unwrapped into seperate sections so it can be laid out flat. Once unwrapped, Each section of the model will need resizing into a limited square area, but it must be resized appropriately so enough space is given to areas of the texture that require the most amount of detail. All your gathered textures will need to fit into the correct space without overlapping. (THEN it’s as simple as clicking ‘apply’)

Animators “Make Things Move”

This isn’t my area at all- but in brief, an animator will typically have a fully modelled, textured character passed onto them, which they will have to animate. The most self-explanitory method is motion capture, but not everyone has the luxury of a motion capture studio and a collection of willing actors.

I can vaguely describe that a “rig” provides a set of bones and joints which will need to allign with a model, giving an animator control over the model’s movement across each individual limb and joint. Obviously then, standard humanoid characters with the same dimensions can all use the same rig, but a hideously malformed double-jointed triple-headed twelve-legged monster would need a rig of a completely different shape and design.

Programmers “Make Things Happen”

From my perspective, this is where the title comes in.

I would loosely describe programming (in any form) as having to learn another language, so you are able to communicate to a computer what you would like it to do. For games programming, there are specific languages that a programmer may have to use, such as Java Script or C++. This is why when I google “C++ Programming” I see this image that means absolutely nothing to me, because it’s in a language I do not understand.

When Lara Croft falls into a pit of spikes, a programmer will have instructed Lara’s death animation to activate when her model collides with the spikes (or an invisible collider laid over the spikes).

Without programming, you do not have a game, because programming is everything a game needs in order to function and be interactive. Without programming, you could have a magnificent set of models and terrain, but nothing would be triggered by your exploration, a character would not respond to button presses, and Lara wouldn’t go “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”.

Programmers are the brains, animators are the bones, and artists are the shape and colour.

In GDG#3 I’m going to talk more about modelling and texturing, but not parallax mapping, not yet, I know you CAN’T WAIT to hear about it! Ha. I’ll fetch the mop. Mmmmhh… they’re just so damn clever!