Y1 gd engine_terminology from Luke Summers
Terminology with examples
Demo
A demonstration of a product or technique.
Below is a video of a demo for a new game, Battlefield Hardline. The demo features actual gameplay, though restricted it shows off some of the main assets of the game, demos are either videos or shortened versions of games available for download. Demos in video form are often used to show off certain assets of a game and even to pitch a game to companies in environments such as conferences or gaming conventions.
Beta
When referring to game engines and the gaming industry, a beta is the stage of a game where some of the public can play it and report any problems before the production of a game is finalized and distributed to the public.
Below is a video for the Beta of Warlords of Draenor, this Beta is released to a limited amount of people so they can test about the game before the new expansion for the World of Warcraft franchise before it is released to the public. Beta's give players an opportunity to report any issues they have with the game or any features which they are not fond of, so the developers can alter such issues.
Alpha
Alpha is the stage of the game when there is still much work to be done, the creators of the game will still be making alterations and testing out the game itself.
Below is a video of the Alpha stage of the Warlords of Draenor expansion. Alpha is an even more elusive stage of a game, though similar to the Beta, much work is still to be done. This stage is brought out with similar intentions as a Beta, to identify any issues, which at this stage, there will be a lot more of than the Beta stage.
Pre-Alpha
Pre-Alpha is the stage of the creation of the game where there is still a vast amount of work to be done in order to enter the further stages of the process, access to game content would be greatly restricted at this point.
Below is a video of a game at the Pre-Alpha stage, this is the stage in which there is a vast amount of work to be done in the game, typically only the developers have access to this stage as they need to est and later certain aspects of the game.
Gold
Gold is when a game is ready to be distributed after the production process if finished.
Below is a trailer for a game that is in the Gold stage, when I game goes Gold, rather than just offering players to see what the game will hold for them in the future, the games are ready to purchase, so the production of the game has been finalized, aside from extra content which will be released at a later date. The trailer below is for Destiny, a new game, at the end of the trailer there is details on thing like the date of release, price and the platforms that the game is released on.
Debug
To detect and remove defects or errors from.
Computers.
To detect and remove errors from a computer program.
Below is a video of a in engine debugging system someone has created, when they access this debugging system, they can alter and fix certain aspects of the game and view different assets of different aspects.
Automation
Automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor.
Automation is used in engines to automate processes and events such as bots in the UDK game engine as you can see in use below on my own video, in which I created bots to automatically respawn and attack each other and myself.
White-Box Testing
White Box Testing (also known as Clear Box Testing, Open Box Testing, Glass Box Testing, Transparent Box Testing, Code-Based Testing or Structural Testing) is a software testing method in which the internal structure/design/implementation of the item being tested is known to the tester.
In the video below is someone demonstrating this process, they are testing out their engine to see if certain assets work correctly for optimal use.
Bug
A bug is something that happens In the game that Is not supposed to happen and if identified is usually fixed by the game developers.
In games, bugs are often found in the earlier stage of production in a game such as Alpha and Beta. Bugs can vary, they can be visual or effect gameplay in general, for example, a bug could stop you progressing to the next part of the game or you could see an NPC in a game half way through the floor. Below is a video with some examples of bugs.
Vertex Shader
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.
Below is a video of an unlit vertex shader someone made for UDK. It uses no texture maps, it's completely driven by vertex color data, time, and vector parameters. Since most of the work is done in the vertex shader instead of the pixel shader,
Pixel Shader
The pixel shader is another programmable function that allows flexibility in shading an individual pixel. Whereas vertex shaders can be used to completely transform the shape of an object, pixel shaders are used to change the appearance of the pixels. Below is a video of features such as pixel shaders that are demonstrated by the different lighting and other assets and how they are shown in game.
Post Processing
Processing after other processes have been completed.
Below is a video of post processing in a game someone has made in a game engine. Post processing is effects and extra assets imp, implemented into a game in the later stages of production, some post processing effects could be adding wind and a day/night cycle to a game.
Rendering
Rendering is the process in which all assets are implemented into a game and rendered out to look and act appropriately.
Below is a video of rendering in a game engine, as you can see it is a process that renders all aspects of a 3D engine so they are visually optimal. The video below talks specifically about batch rendering.
Normal Map
One of the most valuable maps for a 3D artist is the normal map. Rather than having a color 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. Below is a video if someone using UDK using normal maps.
Entity
Entity Systems offer an approach to object design that fits well with games, where requirements and behaviors need to be tweaked or swapped out constantly. Traditional object oriented design falls over a little bit in that environment. Below is a video of someone developing and manipulating their own entity system.
UV Map
The term UV map is used to describe a map in which you see a colored outline of assets such as meshes in the game engine windows. Below is a video of someone using a UV map to manipulate assets of the UDK game engine.
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. Usually, the natural look of the rendered result is achieved by the usage of fractal noise and turbulence functions. Below is a video of someone manipulating game assets such as textures in the UDK game engine.
Physics
The word physics in a game is used to describe things like the level of gravity in a game. Below is a video perfectly demonstrating the physics inside game engines, physics can often be altered to suit any game and when done correctly and look mesmerizing in a game!
Collision
Collision is the term used to describe objects that collide in a game. Collision is pretty self explanatory, it is when two objects collide and as ga,me engines don't often have set collisions, setting must be altered in order to create them, especially when creating a realistic game, as you don't want 3D models passing through each other like in games such as big rigs.
Lighting
The level of light implemented into a game. Lighting is one of the key assets when creating a game in a game engine, if there's no light, you can't see, if lighting is implemented in correctly then it will look undesirable. Apply light correctly and you can have beautiful results like in the video below.
AA – Anti-Aliasing
Anti-aliasing. a technique for smoothing out jagged lines in graphical computer output. In computer graphics, a software process for removing or reducing the jagged distortions in curves and diagonal lines so that the lines appear smooth or smoother. Below is a video of someone describing AA, the process in which jaggedness is smoothed out to create optimal quality assets in a game.
LoD – Level of Detail
Level of detail is a general design term for video game landscapes in which closer objects are rendered with more polygons than objects that are farther away. Generally speaking, the level of detail is dictated by the game's system requirements. Given the power of modern processors, very little degradation in the level of detail is noticeable anymore. Below is a video of LOD in Blender, they have recently updated assets of the program to make the LOD even better!
Animation
Animation is the process which animates inanimate objects. Animation is a fairly obvious term, basically any movement in a game is an animation set up by a game developer. This is an opportunity to show you a trailer for a certain game in which the animation is outstanding.
Sprite
A computer graphic which may be moved on-screen and otherwise manipulated as a single entity. Sprites are animated graphics such as the famous Mario and Sonic characters from the classic cagems as seen in the video below.
Scene
Part of a play, movie, story, etc., in which a particular action or activity occurs. This could be a cut-scene like the one in the video below from Darksiders 2.
Library
A library is where all files are kept. The library specifically for game files is typically found in the game program files.
UI
A user interface, also called a "UI" or simply an "interface," is the means in which a person controls a software application or hardware device. A good user interface provides a "user-friendly" experience, allowing the user to interact with the software or hardware in a natural and intuitive way. The user interface is basically what the player engages with on screen like in games like Call of Duty when you see your health, bullet count and map. Below is a video discussing the EVE online UI.
Frames
Each frame consists of a number of horizontal scan lines. These represent the number of scan lines per frame. You will come across frames (or FPS) when using programs like Fraps or Bandicam when you are screen capturing. As you can see in the video below, when the person configuring Fraps for Minecraft opens up the game, you can see the frames (FPS) on the top left of the screen.
Concept
The rough ideas and concepts for a project. Concepts for a game could be concept assets such as models or environment but primarily the term concept is referred to concept art, the process in which art for concepts of a game is created, usually before the production of a game, the video below discusses concept art and different types of concept art.
Event
When a sequence of actions and processes occur. Basically, an event is something that happens, usually somehting triggered, in my video below,when ever I move to a certain area the sound changes, meaning that an event has been triggered in order for the sound to be played.
Pathfinding
Pathfinding or pathing is the plotting, by a computer application, of the shortest route between two points. It is a more practical variant on solving mazes. This field of research is based heavily on Dijkstra's algorithm for finding the shortest path on a weighted graph. As you can see in the video below, pathfinding is basically a process in which the quickest route is calculated as fast as possible.
Terminology with examples
Demo
A demonstration of a product or technique.
Below is a video of a demo for a new game, Battlefield Hardline. The demo features actual gameplay, though restricted it shows off some of the main assets of the game, demos are either videos or shortened versions of games available for download. Demos in video form are often used to show off certain assets of a game and even to pitch a game to companies in environments such as conferences or gaming conventions.
Beta
When referring to game engines and the gaming industry, a beta is the stage of a game where some of the public can play it and report any problems before the production of a game is finalized and distributed to the public.
Below is a video for the Beta of Warlords of Draenor, this Beta is released to a limited amount of people so they can test about the game before the new expansion for the World of Warcraft franchise before it is released to the public. Beta's give players an opportunity to report any issues they have with the game or any features which they are not fond of, so the developers can alter such issues.
Alpha
Alpha is the stage of the game when there is still much work to be done, the creators of the game will still be making alterations and testing out the game itself.
Below is a video of the Alpha stage of the Warlords of Draenor expansion. Alpha is an even more elusive stage of a game, though similar to the Beta, much work is still to be done. This stage is brought out with similar intentions as a Beta, to identify any issues, which at this stage, there will be a lot more of than the Beta stage.
Pre-Alpha
Pre-Alpha is the stage of the creation of the game where there is still a vast amount of work to be done in order to enter the further stages of the process, access to game content would be greatly restricted at this point.
Below is a video of a game at the Pre-Alpha stage, this is the stage in which there is a vast amount of work to be done in the game, typically only the developers have access to this stage as they need to est and later certain aspects of the game.
Gold
Gold is when a game is ready to be distributed after the production process if finished.
Below is a trailer for a game that is in the Gold stage, when I game goes Gold, rather than just offering players to see what the game will hold for them in the future, the games are ready to purchase, so the production of the game has been finalized, aside from extra content which will be released at a later date. The trailer below is for Destiny, a new game, at the end of the trailer there is details on thing like the date of release, price and the platforms that the game is released on.
Debug
To detect and remove defects or errors from.
Computers.
To detect and remove errors from a computer program.
Below is a video of a in engine debugging system someone has created, when they access this debugging system, they can alter and fix certain aspects of the game and view different assets of different aspects.
Automation
Automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor.
Automation is used in engines to automate processes and events such as bots in the UDK game engine as you can see in use below on my own video, in which I created bots to automatically respawn and attack each other and myself.
White-Box Testing
White Box Testing (also known as Clear Box Testing, Open Box Testing, Glass Box Testing, Transparent Box Testing, Code-Based Testing or Structural Testing) is a software testing method in which the internal structure/design/implementation of the item being tested is known to the tester.
In the video below is someone demonstrating this process, they are testing out their engine to see if certain assets work correctly for optimal use.
Bug
A bug is something that happens In the game that Is not supposed to happen and if identified is usually fixed by the game developers.
In games, bugs are often found in the earlier stage of production in a game such as Alpha and Beta. Bugs can vary, they can be visual or effect gameplay in general, for example, a bug could stop you progressing to the next part of the game or you could see an NPC in a game half way through the floor. Below is a video with some examples of bugs.
Vertex Shader
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.
Below is a video of an unlit vertex shader someone made for UDK. It uses no texture maps, it's completely driven by vertex color data, time, and vector parameters. Since most of the work is done in the vertex shader instead of the pixel shader,
Pixel Shader
The pixel shader is another programmable function that allows flexibility in shading an individual pixel. Whereas vertex shaders can be used to completely transform the shape of an object, pixel shaders are used to change the appearance of the pixels. Below is a video of features such as pixel shaders that are demonstrated by the different lighting and other assets and how they are shown in game.
Post Processing
Processing after other processes have been completed.
Below is a video of post processing in a game someone has made in a game engine. Post processing is effects and extra assets imp, implemented into a game in the later stages of production, some post processing effects could be adding wind and a day/night cycle to a game.
Rendering
Rendering is the process in which all assets are implemented into a game and rendered out to look and act appropriately.
Below is a video of rendering in a game engine, as you can see it is a process that renders all aspects of a 3D engine so they are visually optimal. The video below talks specifically about batch rendering.
Normal Map
One of the most valuable maps for a 3D artist is the normal map. Rather than having a color 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. Below is a video if someone using UDK using normal maps.
Entity
Entity Systems offer an approach to object design that fits well with games, where requirements and behaviors need to be tweaked or swapped out constantly. Traditional object oriented design falls over a little bit in that environment. Below is a video of someone developing and manipulating their own entity system.
UV Map
The term UV map is used to describe a map in which you see a colored outline of assets such as meshes in the game engine windows. Below is a video of someone using a UV map to manipulate assets of the UDK game engine.
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. Usually, the natural look of the rendered result is achieved by the usage of fractal noise and turbulence functions. Below is a video of someone manipulating game assets such as textures in the UDK game engine.
Physics
The word physics in a game is used to describe things like the level of gravity in a game. Below is a video perfectly demonstrating the physics inside game engines, physics can often be altered to suit any game and when done correctly and look mesmerizing in a game!
Collision
Collision is the term used to describe objects that collide in a game. Collision is pretty self explanatory, it is when two objects collide and as ga,me engines don't often have set collisions, setting must be altered in order to create them, especially when creating a realistic game, as you don't want 3D models passing through each other like in games such as big rigs.
Lighting
The level of light implemented into a game. Lighting is one of the key assets when creating a game in a game engine, if there's no light, you can't see, if lighting is implemented in correctly then it will look undesirable. Apply light correctly and you can have beautiful results like in the video below.
AA – Anti-Aliasing
Anti-aliasing. a technique for smoothing out jagged lines in graphical computer output. In computer graphics, a software process for removing or reducing the jagged distortions in curves and diagonal lines so that the lines appear smooth or smoother. Below is a video of someone describing AA, the process in which jaggedness is smoothed out to create optimal quality assets in a game.
LoD – Level of Detail
Level of detail is a general design term for video game landscapes in which closer objects are rendered with more polygons than objects that are farther away. Generally speaking, the level of detail is dictated by the game's system requirements. Given the power of modern processors, very little degradation in the level of detail is noticeable anymore. Below is a video of LOD in Blender, they have recently updated assets of the program to make the LOD even better!
Animation
Animation is the process which animates inanimate objects. Animation is a fairly obvious term, basically any movement in a game is an animation set up by a game developer. This is an opportunity to show you a trailer for a certain game in which the animation is outstanding.
Sprite
A computer graphic which may be moved on-screen and otherwise manipulated as a single entity. Sprites are animated graphics such as the famous Mario and Sonic characters from the classic cagems as seen in the video below.
Scene
Part of a play, movie, story, etc., in which a particular action or activity occurs. This could be a cut-scene like the one in the video below from Darksiders 2.
Library
A library is where all files are kept. The library specifically for game files is typically found in the game program files.
UI
A user interface, also called a "UI" or simply an "interface," is the means in which a person controls a software application or hardware device. A good user interface provides a "user-friendly" experience, allowing the user to interact with the software or hardware in a natural and intuitive way. The user interface is basically what the player engages with on screen like in games like Call of Duty when you see your health, bullet count and map. Below is a video discussing the EVE online UI.
Frames
Each frame consists of a number of horizontal scan lines. These represent the number of scan lines per frame. You will come across frames (or FPS) when using programs like Fraps or Bandicam when you are screen capturing. As you can see in the video below, when the person configuring Fraps for Minecraft opens up the game, you can see the frames (FPS) on the top left of the screen.
Concept
The rough ideas and concepts for a project. Concepts for a game could be concept assets such as models or environment but primarily the term concept is referred to concept art, the process in which art for concepts of a game is created, usually before the production of a game, the video below discusses concept art and different types of concept art.
Event
When a sequence of actions and processes occur. Basically, an event is something that happens, usually somehting triggered, in my video below,when ever I move to a certain area the sound changes, meaning that an event has been triggered in order for the sound to be played.
Pathfinding
Pathfinding or pathing is the plotting, by a computer application, of the shortest route between two points. It is a more practical variant on solving mazes. This field of research is based heavily on Dijkstra's algorithm for finding the shortest path on a weighted graph. As you can see in the video below, pathfinding is basically a process in which the quickest route is calculated as fast as possible.
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