Garrett AnthonyWhen you have already thought about the goal of the future game, the requirements and the required number of developers, it’s time to move on to the selection of the necessary tools. This is usually done by the development team.
The programming language is the most important tool for game development. Whether or not all of the game’s requirements will be realized depends on the capabilities of the language. With the help of a programming language occurs:
- Creating 2D or 3D;
- Binding to the game images, sounds and video;
- implementation of the gameplay, etc.
The second important tool for creating computer games is the engine. Nowadays it is very rare to create games without an engine. The engine is a finished game module, which contains the basic functionality for games. All that remains to do is to “tighten” the engine to your needs. This is what a programming language is for.
Depending on the engine, heavy games are mostly written in C# or C++.
Game mechanics
It seems that once the game’s objectives are prescribed, the development team is engaged, and the tools are selected, then there is only coding and coding to do. That’s how it is, but before they start “hard-coding”, the developers have to work a long time on the mechanics of the future game. In fact, the mechanics of the game is the implementation of gameplay:
- shows how the characters should move;
- How the characters should react to gamers’ actions;
- what should happen when shots are fired;
- how the balance in the game should be implemented, etc.
Where the gameplay takes place
This is where the levels and maps of the game are worked out. All of the stages so far are just a set of rules and requirements for the game. Now their implementation takes place. In serious projects to develop the game levels hire special specialists – level-designers. Very often these specialists are avid gamers who understand the gameplay more than just programmers.
During the development of levels is working out all the possible gameplay processes. Players in the game will be a lot, and they are all different, so you have to anticipate different game situations and calculate the various options for player behavior. And with all that the visual component of the game should be as realistic and believable as possible. That’s why the development of maps and levels takes the lion’s share of time.
Game’s exterior design
Mechanics of the game is ready, levels, maps thought out, now it remains to give a beautiful and realistic look scenery, maps, vehicles and game characters.
Creating the look of the game very often starts with a sheet of paper and a simple pencil. Then the drawings are “touched” by 3D artists, who create virtual models of game objects based on the drawings. These game objects are then touched by developers, who incorporate them into the gameplay. And only then various special effects are added to the game, levels are “decorated” with backgrounds, trees, landscapes, etc.