2D and 3D Research

UNIT 78

digital graphics

Artistic styles

Cell-shading -Cell-shading is used to represent the style of cartoon or comic book and is used in a lot of Japanese's games e.g. Naruto, dragonballz, Afro samurai and others. Bright colors and faint outlines to give the look of a hand drawn cartoon effect.   

Photo realism - Photo realism games are games that are made to look as realistic as they can, this type of style is the most demanding as it takes a lot of work, facilitates and time to produce a game of this type. Crisis 3, The C.O.D franchise and battlefield franchise use this visual style and are military type games.

Exaggerated -Exaggerated uses photorealism and exaggerates it or over does it like in takken or dragon ball z where the characters have over sized muscles and big outrageous hair styles.

Abstract -Abstract uses geometric shapes and bright or subtle colour depending on the mood and feeling the game wants the player to feel. Geometry wars uses lots of vibrant neon colours and works at a fast pace.

Military-Military games such as battlefield and call of duty use military theme visuals to give the player the feeling of being in a real battlefield/war zone. Lots of detail go into the weaponry and vehicles to make them look as real as possible, in battle field you can change entire terrines with rockets and other weapons

Plastic-Plastic games such as de blob uses vibrant paint based colours with lots of shading a light effects to make objects and characters look like plastic.

Black and white -Black and white games on uses black and white colours they types of games that uses just black and white are most platform. This is used to give games a horror feel.

Rockstar-Rockstar the game development have there one style of games as they uses the rage engine developed by Rockstar. Rockstar games are violent and gritty. GTA5 and max pain are good examples as they are different genres but look similar because they both use the rage engine.

Computer games graphics

A 2 dimension game is flat on the screen or monitor and player is limited to moving left, right, up and down, the player cannot move front or back. 2D sprites can be made in Photoshop and are fairly easy to make they are made up of pixels and depending on how many pixel make up the character the smoother and more detailed they can be. A 3 Dimension game are more time consuming and harder to make however the results and the graphics are far superior to 2d. 3d characters can be made in a number of software like blender. Depending on how detailed you want your character the more time it will take. Heads up display or HUD is used in lot of games, a HUD shows the player all the stats on screen that may prove relevant for him/her e.g. heath, shield, ammo, level, map, objectives and other players.

Texture are used to add detail and realism to the environment , objects or characters and are one of he most import steps in game development. Texture mapping is an application in digital graphics. Text graphics is the font and style the text is used in the game. Different fonts and colors can change the way text and objectives look. Game packaging textures are how the packaging and case for the game looks, this is useful for advertisement and appeal to increase sales.

Raster and Vector images

Raster images are made up of pixels and also know as bitmap images and Vector images are made up of paths and are also called esp files. Vector images use points / paths and create an image when all of these are connected together. Vector images offer higher resolution and look smoother and cleaner at all resolutions. Raster images look better at larger resolution compared to lower resolutions, but if the raster image is zoomed in its is easy to see individual pixels and colours in the images. Vector images are better suited for images like logos because at any size or resolution the image is smooth and clean. Raster images are used for digital photos and game textures as they render faster and look good. Lots of software allows for images to be edited, Photoshop is is used a lot to edit, change images from vector to to raster and the other way around.

Image capture

There are lots of different types of image capture, from taking a picture with a phone or digital camera downloading a picture or image of the internet or scanning a image into a computer. In game development being able to have a real life picture of a building or object can be useful for development. Picture of buildings and landscapes can be used to design environments for the game you are developing. Using usb cables and sd cards from digital cameras and phones makes transferring images easy and quick. Pictures like brick walls or plaster can be used to add texture to buildings and environment in your game by overlaying the image over the image of the object or building, this adds realistic detail and texture.

file extension and File compression

Examples of file extension:

mp3 music files

avi video files

txt text files

doc word document (Microsoft word-open office )

jpeg image/picture files

exe executable (programs)

wav sound files (sound effects)

File compression is a process that reduces file sizes to save hard drive and memory space. Zipped folder is a common way of compressing files and data. The file extensions for zipped is .zip, it is commonly used to upload files online for other people to download because it keeps the file small to make it easy and fast to download. Specific software Is need to open specific file extensions, a .gmk is a file that can be opened in game maker but would be able to open in the same form in a different program.

There are two types of file compression. Lossless file compression is used for image and text files, this is useful to save file space and no data is lost. However when lossy file compression is used, data can be lost. Extraction is used to uncompressed compressed files, this is used to convert the file back to its original size. Using compressed files limits what you can do, so uncompressing  the image to its original size is handy.

Pixels and image resolutions

Resolution on a screen or monitor is determined by how dense the pixels are on the screen or image.The typical resolution for a computer monitor would have 72 PPI (pixels per inch and printed images usally have around 300 PPI. In game development the resolution and pixel density is import depending on what devices or consoles the game is going to be played on. Binary digit (Bits) is used as basic unit of information in computing and telecommunication. Bytes are a group of 8 bits.

Optimizing and storage

Image optimization is when an image is compressed to the most visually acceptable image for saving memory.The power of two is when the width and height of a image is at the same value.These values are import to make sure when 3D modeling textures fit and render properly. When the size of a texture is stretched to fit a model by the program this is called interpolation.

  

Pre-production for maze games

Pre-production 

Maze game

What particular pre-production requirements will you need for Wayne's maze game?  

I will have approximately 3-4 weeks to plan, design, develop and publish my maze game.For this type of game of need a budget of around £5000 to cover the cost of the hardware and software. However as I am make this game in college all the software and facilities I need is free for me to use to develop my game. 

Software:

Game maker is a piece of software that allows you to create 2D games of different genres using sprite and objects, your character can be made in game maker or using adobe Photoshop for better looking graphics and the way this software works is it has codes that are pre-set for different traits or action. There are version of game maker that are free but if you want the full version with all the tools it costs £799 and in the professional world have this version will give you everything you need for a game of this type. I will be using game maker primarily for all the

coding and and level design:

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics design software that allows the user to change a picture or animated image or create one of their own, it cost £329 to buy. I will be using this software to create my character and the enemies it will be facing. I will also be making the objects in my game e.g. walls, doors and object my character will have to collect.

Paint comes free with ever computer that uses windows operating system, it is a simple piece of software that allows the user to draw or write on. I am going to plan the five different levels and characters on paint and then develop its further in game maker or Photoshop.

Hardware:

I will need a PC which can run theses programs, as its only a 2D maze game i am creating i don't need high specs computer but if I was doing 3D modelling and creating a 3D game the software is much more demanding. But for a project of this type I could get  the specs I need for around £800-£1000.

Facilities/Resources:

I am going to develop this maze game in college so I have access to the software above for free and I have the facilities I need at college for free. However if I was producing this game without the college I would have to plan a budget contain everything I will need e.g. software, hardware, facilities and travel. Research material can be found on the internet, books, magazines and are available in the college library.

Time:

The game should only take a 3 to 4 weeks so to make the best out of the time I will schedule everything to keep to the deadline. There are some thing about game maker and Photoshop that are unfamiliar to me so I will have to learn certain thing as I develop the maze game.

Crew:

I will be developing this maze game by myself but i might take a look at other people’s games for inspiration and ideas. I could also ask some students that are musician to help with the music for my game. If I was developing this game outside of college and had a budget I might hire musician and other developers to help with certain parts of the production as they could add there ideas

and experience to make the game better. 

Contributors:

As this project is for a college assignment, I am the only  contributor for the maze game but if i was creating this game outside of college I could hire a celebrity to use there voice or model for a character and use this as a selling point and advertisement to get more sales and make  more of a profit. 

Copyright:

If i use anyone else work of the internet I need to ensure that it is copyright free to avoid violating copyright laws. There are site which have images and sounds that I can use copyright free, like the website free sound. If I look at characters for inspiration i have to be careful of how I

implement it into my character as I don't want to my character to look too much like an already published and copyrighted character. There are lots of age rating from 3 - 18 and the more offensive and violent the game is the higher age rating it will be given.  

Rules and Regulations:

To be able to sell my game in Europe I will have to send a copy to PEGI (Pan European Game Information), which will asses my game and give it a age rating for consumers to look at and decide weather this game is suitable for them or there children. As I  am making a simple 2D maze game I will not incorporate any violent or offensive content into my maze game. I may want to create a advert for my game for publicity and higher sales, however I would have to pay for the equipment need to record my advert and its will have to be assessed by the ASA (Advertisement Standards authority)  to make sure it dose not contain any offensive or violent content and is suitable for broadcasting.

                  

  

2D and 3D games

comparing games



2d games

2D computer graphics and games are 2 dimensional they are mostly platform, puzzle or maze types games and are easy to make using tools like game maker which is a free piece of software that allows you to create 2D games using sprites and object with  preset programs to make you character move in different direction when a certain key is used or give objects certain aspect Because of software tool like game maker you can make simple 2d games in your bedroom and make money, flappy birds a simple tap the screen game made the developer rich because of how addictive its was to play.

 

A 2 dimension game is flat on the screen or monitor and player is limited to moving left, right, up and down, the player cannot move front or back. 2D sprites can be made in Photoshop and are fairly easy to make they are made up of pixels and depending on how many pixel make up the character the smoother and more detailed they can be.

Tetris is a 2D puzzle game where the player has to fit different shapes  to form a complete row, this row is then destroyed give the player points. The objective of the game is play as long as you can with out the shapes reaching  the top of the screen.

2D Mario is  2D platform game, where Mario the main character has to get from a to b jumping falling and avoiding mobs while collecting coins, lives and power ups to help you progress through the many levels chasing after the princes you are trying to save. Platform games use some logical physics like gravity and fall damage.

Both of theses games where very pixelated and only used basic colors as this was the limit to the technology, when theses games were first produced. Many people associate a pixel with a square on a screen or picture which is not the case. The actually definition of a pixel is, a minute area of illumination on a display screen and then the resolution of a picture or image on a screen is determined by how many pixel there are.

Realm of mad god is a massive online 2D shooter. The game was created and developed by wild showdown studio and spry fox  Where the player choose 1 of 4 charters to play with which have different set classes (Rough, Archer, Mage and Warrior). They then spawn into a  world with different enemies that will drop loot and experience the aim is to get as powerful and to the highest level you can without dying. When you do die your character is rest to level 0 and you have to begin all over again.

 

The games graphic are pixelated and medieval and the way you see your character is from an aerial view which also allows combat from all angles and as enemies are all a round it means you wont get bored of trying to find enemies to kill.

Space invaders was a very popular game in its time. You can move your space ship left a right to dodge the aliens fire while spamming space bar to fire back and destroy all the alien ships before the get to close the enemies slowly get faster as you progress through the levels eventually coming to the boss level which consists of a big alien space ship with a lot of heath the aim of the game is to survive as long as you can.

3D games 

3D computer graphics and games are much more complicated to make, They need lots of time for development, money, facilities and a development team. this is because there is a lot more production needed to make a 3D game , planning, concept art, modeling, alpha testing, beta testing, scripting, story boards and legal rules that the development has to follow.

3d characters can be made in a number of software like blender. Depending on how detailed you want your character the more time it will take. Heads up display or HUD is used in lot of games, a HUD shows the player all the stats on screen that may prove relevant for him/her e.g. heath, shield, ammo, level, map, objectives and other players. 

The call of duty franchise is one of the biggest online first person shooter games played by millions. This is made possible by the realistic graphics, games mechanics and how addictive its is. There are many different game types that can be played online giving variety in game play and hours of playtime with lots of weapons, upgrades and achievements to get. Giving the player drive to continue playing and complete everything. The games also offer a single player campaign with a more in depth story line to draw the player into there world and make them feel apart of the story.

  

Forza offers player the chance to race all over the world from the comfort of there sofa, it has stunning realistic graphic and landscapes with every make and model of car in the world. You can upgrade and modify cars  to make them  faster and look better, there is a massive multi player community, to compete and race against friends and other players around the world. When Forza 5 was in development all the race tracks that are put into the game where digital map using cameras and other hardware strap to cars that would slowly drive around the tracks several times to make sure they were as detail and accurate as they could make them.  

Skyrim is an amazing looking game with massive landscaping that takes lots of processing power to render and the developer put so much detail into the terrain with all the different colors and shading. The game uses in-house creation engine, built specifically for this game.  Skyrim is one of the best looking games produced, but was not easy to make. The more time spent on graphics the better they will look but the cost for the development will increase.


The quality of the sprite or image can also depend on how the file is formatted or compressed. there are lot of different types.

Examples of file extension: mp3 music files, avi video files, txt text files,doc word document (Microsoft word-open office ), jpeg image/picture files, exe executable (programs), wav sound files (sound effects)

 

File compression is a process that reduces file sizes to save hard drive and memory space. Zipped folder is a common way of compressing files and data. The file extensions for zipped is .zip, it is commonly used to upload files online for other people to download because it keeps the file small to make it easy and fast to download. Specific software Is need to open specific file extensions, a .gmk is a file that can be opened in game maker but would be able to open in the same form in a different program.

 

There are two types of file compression. Lossless file compression is used for image and text files, this is useful to save file space and no data is lost. However when loss file compression is used, data can be lost. Extraction is used to uncompressed compressed files, this is used to convert the file back to its original size. Using compressed files limits what you can do, so uncompressing  the image to its original size is handy. 

 

Pixels and image resolutions

Resolution on a screen or monitor is determined by how dense the pixels are on the screen or image. The typical resolution for a computer monitor would have 72 PPI (pixels per inch and printed images usually  have around 300 PPI. In game development the resolution and pixel density is import depending on what devices or consoles the game is going to be played on. Binary digit (Bits) is used as basic unit of information in computing and telecommunication. Bytes are a group of 8 bits.

So which is better 


3D Games offer amazing look graphics, with massive landscapes and terrain and game mechanics. The best 3D games offer in depth story's complimented by the visual style and overall look of the game, this give the player different feelings and emotion towards the game that you normally wouldn't get in a 2D game. But these games take lots of money and time to develop and when they are published they rarely meet the the expectations made by all the advertisement and leaked content.

2D Games are simple and easy to make without using lots of money on expensive equipment. But are highly addictive and played on phones and other devices. More girls and women play games then boys and men this is because of all the games on phones and Facebook games like candy crush. These games are mostly 2D. Even tho 3D games are superior in a lot of ways many people don't have time to play for hours on end to complete games. so in between work and other activities they play small simple games on there phones or apps.
 

Visual styles

visual styles

 cell-shading

Cell-shading is used to represent the style of cartoon or comic book and is used in a lot of Japanese's games e.g. naruto, dragonballz, afro samurai and others. Bright colors and faint outlines to give the look of a hand drawn cartoon effect.   

 

 

photorealism 

Photorealism games are games that are made to look as realistic as they can, this type of style is the most demanding as it takes a lot of work, facilitates and time to produce a game of this type. Crisis 3, The C.O.D franchise and battlefield franchise use this visual style  and are military type games.

 

exaggerated

Exaggerated uses photorealism and exaggerates it or over does it like in takken or dragon ball z  where the characters have over sized muscles and big outrageous hair styles.

abstract

Abstract uses geometric shapes and bright or subtle colors depending on the mood and feeling the game wants the player to feel. geometry wars uses lots of vibrant neo colors and works at a fast pace.

military

 Military  games such as battlefield and call of duty use military theme visuals to give the player the feeling of being in a real battlefield/war zone. lots of detail go into the weaponry and vehicles to make them look as real as possible, in battle field you can change entire terrines with rockets and other weapons

  

Plastic

Plastic games such as de blob uses vibrant paint based  colors with lots of shading a light effects to make objects and characters look like plastic.

black and white

Black and white games on uses black and white colors they types of games that uses just black and white are most platform. This is used to  give games a horror feel.

                  

rockstar

Rockstar the game development have there one style of games as they uses the rage engine developed by rockstar. Rockstar games are violent and gritty. GTA5 and max pain are good examples as they are different genres but look similar because they both use the rage engine.