unit 70p1p2

Unit 70 P1 and P2

A game engine has varies elements

The famous game Doom was a groundbreaking title; it brought into existence and popularized a new game programming model, the ‘game engine.’ This modular, extensible and tweakable engine design concept allowed gamers and programmers to hack into the game’s core to create new games with new models, scenery, and sounds, or put different twists called ‘mods’ on the existing game material. CounterStrike, Team Fortress, TacOps and Strike Force are among numerous new games created from existing game engines, with most using one of iD’s Quake engines as their basis.

The term ‘game engine’ has come to be a standard part of a gamer’s language. Learners need to have a knowledge and understanding of game engines as all games are developed using either a licensed game engine or a studio bespoke engine. It is therefore vital that learners have both a practical working knowledge and a basic technical understanding of 2D and 3D game engines. Through studying this unit learners should be able to understand the processes involved in the production of 2D and 3D game levels through the use of a game engine, the use of graphics and other game assets required to produce a game level.

P1: learners will describe the purpose of game engines and their advancement over the years. For a merit give some illustrative examples.

In simple terms look at the What is the purpose of a game engine?

How have game engines evolved over time. So for unreal from version 1 to version 2 to version 3 and now 4, what are the differences? When and how did they take place. Choose at leat 3 game engines that have evolved over time. Show some games made by these engines. Feel free to put images of the games and the engines.

The evidence produced will describe the purpose of 2D, 3D and mobile game engines, though for this grade the evidence will not be related to examples of particular game engines. Learners should also describe how game engines have helped game enthusiasts to develop and create their own game mods and how this has led to mod teams being funded by game developers. As a minimum to achieve this grade learners must provide correct and substantially complete descriptions of the purpose of a game engine, and must mention graphic rendering, collision detection, artificial intelligence, sound and physics. A pass grade learner might note, ‘A game engine is the core component of a video game. It handles rendering which allows us to see the models in the game world. It basically puts everything in the game together so it can be viewed on screen.’

P2: learners will provide correct and substantially complete descriptions of components of game engines. For a merit give some illustrative examples.

In simple terms look as "graphic rendering, animation systems, systems, artificial intelligence and middleware" descibe what they are and compare them in different game engines. How are they used in game give and example for each element.

The evidence produced will describe components of game engines and must mention , though at this grade the evidence will not be related through examples to particular game engines. As a minimum to achieve this grade, learners must provide correct descriptions of components of game engines, graphic rendering, animation systems, systems, artificial intelligence and middleware. For example, a learner might note, ‘In computer graphics the renderer is viewed as one of the most important parts. The renderer allows us to see the models in the game world. It basically puts all the graphics features in the game together so it can be viewed on screen. With so much to do it needs a lot of processing power. It is the part that is most often criticised when viewed by those playing the game, as graphics can play a key role in how commercially successful a game will become.’

Handin 29/10/18

3D Environment Home page

3D Landscape Concepts

You have been asked to create a 3D environment based on the film 

"Big Trouble in Little China"

Task 1) : Initial ideas, sketches and Prototypes

Task 2) : Create game environment 

Consider these elements :-

Client brief - This came about last year as you where ask to gamify the film "Killer Klowns from outer space", you wrote the brief then.

Target Audience - Who are you making the game for?

Sketches should be both 2D and 3D

A Prototype of game is question will cover most of the aspect needed and a simple play though level showing example elements that will be used. Don't be afraid to show elements tyhat don't work or are semi-completed. You are showing a prototype not a full working game.

This links to James work : http://jamestedder.net/unit-66-67-3d-modelling-animation/

3D Landscape task 3

3D Landscaping 

Create the 3D environment for the game now.

Here is a YouTube I created to show how to make a basic 3D Environment using the Unreal Engine.

You have created in the art classes  initial sketches of models and landscapes.

From these initial Sketches  and prototypes of game create the full environment.

Consider these elements :-

Client brief - Who is the game for ? Create a description of what you going to create, how many levels, what is going to be in game and if your in a team who is doing what.

Target Audience - Who are you making the game for? Age group etc.

Initial Sketches of game and main characters.

A Prototype of game is question will cover most of the aspect needed and a simple play though level showing example elements that will be used. Don't be afraid to show elements tyhat don't work or are semi-completed. You are showing a prototype not a full working game.

Deadline 29 March for environment

3D Landscape task 2

3D Landscape Concepts

You have been asked to create a 3D environment the first step of this process is initial game sketches.

So using either free hand or using an appropriate software package sketch out (as a top down overview like plan) the environment.

Give sketches also of Clowns, Circus tents, clown weapons and other predominant features as well.

These outline ideas for the 3D environment are forfill the P2/M2/D3 requirement for unit 68

In the art classes you have been tasked to create initial sketches of models and landscapes.

Task 1) Presentation of your initial ideas for the game.

Use initial Sketches  and also prototypes of game to demonstrate this idea. If you are working in groups show the areas of the game you are developing.

This presentation can be  stand-up presentation. Or a video presentation. A document is not an appropriate presentation of the game concept.

Consider these elements :-

Client brief - This came about last year as you where ask to gameify the film "Big Trouble in Little China", you wrote the brief then.

Target Audience - Who are you making the game for?

Sketches should be both 2D and 3D

A Prototype of game is question will cover most of the aspect needed and a simple play though level showing example elements that will be used. Don't be afraid to show elements tyhat don't work or are semi-completed. You are showing a prototype not a full working game.

Assignment 1 : unit 70

Unit 70 P1 and P2

A game engine has varies elements

The famous game Doom was a groundbreaking title; it brought into existence and popularized a new game programming model, the ‘game engine.’ This modular, extensible and tweakable engine design concept allowed gamers and programmers to hack into the game’s core to create new games with new models, scenery, and sounds, or put different twists called ‘mods’ on the existing game material. CounterStrike, Team Fortress, TacOps and Strike Force are among numerous new games created from existing game engines, with most using one of iD’s Quake engines as their basis.

The term ‘game engine’ has come to be a standard part of a gamer’s language. Learners need to have a knowledge and understanding of game engines as all games are developed using either a licensed game engine or a studio bespoke engine. It is therefore vital that learners have both a practical working knowledge and a basic technical understanding of 2D and 3D game engines. Through studying this unit learners should be able to understand the processes involved in the production of 2D and 3D game levels through the use of a game engine, the use of graphics and other game assets required to produce a game level.

P1: learners will describe the purpose of game engines and their advancement over the years. For a merit give some illustrative examples.

In simple terms look at the What is the purpose of a game engine?

How have game engines evolved over time. So for unreal from version 1 to version 2 to version 3 and now 4, what are the differences? When and how did they take place. Choose at leat 3 game engines that have evolved over time. 

The evidence produced will describe the purpose of 2D, 3D and mobile game engines, though for this grade the evidence will not be related to examples of particular game engines. Learners should also describe how game engines have helped game enthusiasts to develop and create their own game mods and how this has led to mod teams being funded by game developers. As a minimum to achieve this grade learners must provide correct and substantially complete descriptions of the purpose of a game engine, and must mention graphic rendering, collision detection, artificial intelligence, sound and physics. A pass grade learner might note, ‘A game engine is the core component of a video game. It handles rendering which allows us to see the models in the game world. It basically puts everything in the game together so it can be viewed on screen.’

P2: learners will provide correct and substantially complete descriptions of components of game engines. For a merit give some illustrative examples.

In simple terms look as "graphic rendering, animation systems, systems, artificial intelligence and middleware" descibe what they are and compare them in different game engines. How are they used in game give and example for each element.

The evidence produced will describe components of game engines and must mention , though at this grade the evidence will not be related through examples to particular game engines. As a minimum to achieve this grade, learners must provide correct descriptions of components of game engines, graphic rendering, animation systems, systems, artificial intelligence and middleware. For example, a learner might note, ‘In computer graphics the renderer is viewed as one of the most important parts. The renderer allows us to see the models in the game world. It basically puts all the graphics features in the game together so it can be viewed on screen. With so much to do it needs a lot of processing power. It is the part that is most often criticised when viewed by those playing the game, as graphics can play a key role in how commercially successful a game will become.’

Handin 23/10/17

Unit 70 P4

Unit 70 : P4

Unit 71 : P2 / P3 / P4 (James OO Design)

You are an apprenticeship games designer working for a small games developer in the east midlands.

Your manager what’s you to create a 3D gaming using the new Unreal 4 Engine :-

This is a game that has 3 areas which are interconnected. Two of the rooms are to explore and the 3rd room

contains the zombies (bots).

The first area is the largest and is set in an outside environment with landscaping and grass and some water

features.

The Second room is a cave (or house / hut) in the landscaped environment. This is a fairly large area the

player needs to explore and maybe find stuff.

The third room is access via a door in this cave or house and has zombies in their which will attack the player

on sight.

Only Documentation needed for unit 70 is game play video or screenshots. For Unit 71 James will describe what he needs

Post your google doc / blog / video as a reply to this post... (April 28 2016)

Assignment

Unit 68 P3/M3/D3 

You are an apprenticeship games designer working for a small games developer in the east midlands.

Your manager what’s you to create a 3D gaming using the new Unreal 4 Engine :-

This is a game that has 3 areas which are interconnected. Two of the rooms are to explore and the 3rd room

contains the zombies (bots).

The first area is the largest and is set in an outside environment with landscaping and grass and some water

features.

The Second room is a cave (or house / hut) in the landscaped environment. This is a fairly large area the

player needs to explore and maybe find stuff.

The third room is access via a door in this cave or house and has zombies in their which will attack the player

on sight.

Post your google doc / blog / video as a reply to this post...

Elements of a game Engine

Unit 70 P1 and P2

A game engine has varies elements

The famous game Doom was a groundbreaking title; it brought into existence and popularized a new game programming model, the ‘game engine.’ This modular, extensible and tweakable engine design concept allowed gamers and programmers to hack into the game’s core to create new games with new models, scenery, and sounds, or put different twists called ‘mods’ on the existing game material. CounterStrike, Team Fortress, TacOps and Strike Force are among numerous new games created from existing game engines, with most using one of iD’s Quake engines as their basis.

The term ‘game engine’ has come to be a standard part of a gamer’s language. Learners need to have a knowledge and understanding of game engines as all games are developed using either a licensed game engine or a studio bespoke engine. It is therefore vital that learners have both a practical working knowledge and a basic technical understanding of 2D and 3D game engines. Through studying this unit learners should be able to understand the processes involved in the production of 2D and 3D game levels through the use of a game engine, the use of graphics and other game assets required to produce a game level.

P1: learners will describe the purpose of game engines and their advancement over the years.

In simple terms look at the What is the purpose of a game engine?

How have game engines evolved over time. So for unreal from version 1 to version 2 to version 3 and now 4, what are the differences? When and how did they take place. Choose at leat 3 game engines that have evolved over time. 

The evidence produced will describe the purpose of 2D, 3D and mobile game engines, though for this grade the evidence will not be related to examples of particular game engines. Learners should also describe how game engines have helped game enthusiasts to develop and create their own game mods and how this has led to mod teams being funded by game developers. As a minimum to achieve this grade learners must provide correct and substantially complete descriptions of the purpose of a game engine, and must mention graphic rendering, collision detection, artificial intelligence, sound and physics. A pass grade learner might note, ‘A game engine is the core component of a video game. It handles rendering which allows us to see the models in the game world. It basically puts everything in the game together so it can be viewed on screen.’

P2: learners will provide correct and substantially complete descriptions of components of game engines.

In simple terms look as "graphic rendering, animation systems, systems, artificial intelligence and middleware" descibe what they are and compare them in different game engines. How are they used in game give and example for each element.

The evidence produced will describe components of game engines and must mention , though at this grade the evidence will not be related through examples to particular game engines. As a minimum to achieve this grade, learners must provide correct descriptions of components of game engines, graphic rendering, animation systems, systems, artificial intelligence and middleware. For example, a learner might note, ‘In computer graphics the renderer is viewed as one of the most important parts. The renderer allows us to see the models in the game world. It basically puts all the graphics features in the game together so it can be viewed on screen. With so much to do it needs a lot of processing power. It is the part that is most often criticised when viewed by those playing the game, as graphics can play a key role in how commercially successful a game will become.’

This work was asked in step 1 at the beginning of the year.

2D game

Last year all of you did a 2D game.

Can you pls reply to this post with last years 2D game.

3D environment intial game sketches

3D Landscape Concepts

You have been asked to create a 3D environment the first step of this process is initial game sketches.

So using what mean is comfortable either free hand or using an appropriate software package sketch out (as a top down overview like plan) the environment. Give sketches also of cave entrances, waterfalls and other predominant features as well.

These outline ideas for the 3D environment are forfill the P2/M2/D3 requirement for unit 68

Week 6 : Making a game

Games Design

Now its time for creating a game.

Lets have a look at Basics of gamers design.

Last week we created a simple maze game, this week we shall create a platform game.

Follow this tutorial and to understand how to create platform game.

Now create a platform game of your choice.

Come up with your own design brief, it should have at least 5 levels or rooms and one main character and several monsters to avoid.

Answer the above questions

and develop a platform game for yourself. 

Document the process and blog it as you go!

SpaceBear

SPACE BEAR 

Ok we have used the GameMaker tutorial and we have made a simple game using that. Now its time to ramp it up. In these YouTube tutorial I show how to make a simple maze based game.


Right so now lets make a game in game maker.

Game assets link <---- click here for sprites / sounds / background images etc.

Videos of game creation




For some bazzare reason my 3rd video is blocked when viewed through youtube in restricted mode.
So here is a link to raw mp4 file.

Space bear video three

Week 4: 3D landscape Concepts

3D Landscape Concepts

Within the context of 3D games design.

What is a 3D landscape?

What are the tools we can use to create this environment?

Why would we want to do this?

What are the elements that make up a 3D landscape?

List these elements and give in detail what each is and does within this environment?

Create a simple 3D landscape and document this process. Create a room on a landscape with different materials, do this in 3rd person.

Week 3 : Year two games design

Last week I introduced the TPS zombie survival game.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Imagine you are a refugee escaped from a city and headed into remote highlands. The zombies are everywhere and you want to get away from the city and the zombie hordes.

That's the game in essence.

Plan for :-

A game that has 3 areas which are interconnected. Two of the rooms are to explore and the 3^rd room contains the zombies (bots).

The first area is the largest and is set in an outside environment with landscaping and grass and some water features.

The Second room is a cave (or house / hut) in the landscaped environment. This is a fairly large area the player needs to explore and maybe find stuff.

The third room is access via a door in this cave or house and  has zombies in their which will will attack the player on sight.

Plan what you think you need for this type of game.

Students will be marked for individual work, NOT for final product. So an excellent game does NOT mean a good grade.

____________________________________________________________________________

Now you need to look at this project and divide it into 4 tasks.

1.Project specification

2.Project implementation

3.Project Evaluation

4.Project Presentation

I want a project specification created...

So write down 

What is the project? 

Initial sketches / small scale demo

Who is doing this Project?

Who is target audience?

Why are you doing this project? 

What is time scale of project 

Unreal 4 : Landscaping

3D Landscaping : Using Unreal

3D Landscaping is done at least for us within Unreal 4 Engine

So lets look at a demo of this




Good demo, you will agree. However how was this done.

Well this video describes this




Ok you will not have to do this, however you WILL be doing elements of this for your games you make using Unreal 4.

So now its your turn....

Write down all the elements you think you need for a TPS zombie survival game.

Imagine you are a refugee escaped from a city and headed into remote highlands. The zombies are everywhere and you want to get away from the city and the zombie hordes.

That's the game in essence.

Plan for :-

A game that has 3 areas which are interconnected. Two of the rooms are to explore and the 3^rd room contains the zombies (bots).

The first area is the largest and is set in an outside environment with landscaping and grass and some water features.

The Second room is a cave (or house / hut) in the landscaped environment. This is a fairly large area the player needs to explore and maybe find stuff.

The third room is access via a door in this cave or house and  has zombies in their which will will attack the player on sight.

Plan what you think you need for this type of game.

Students will be marked for individual work, NOT for final product. So an excellent game does NOT mean a good grade.

Game Engines

Game Engines

A game engine is a software platform which is used to develop computer games. It a software framework designed for the creation and development of video games. Developers use them to create games for consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. The core functionality typically provided by a game engine includes a rendering engine  for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection, sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, localization support, and a scene graph. 

Typical games engines include : Unreal, Unity, Crytec, rage, quake, foss, gamebryo etc.

All this is taken from : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Unreal Engine 3 was takes advantage of fully programmable shader hardware (in DirectX 9 terms, it required shader model 3.0). All lighting calculations were done per-pixel, instead of per-vertex. On the rendering side, Unreal Engine 3 also provided support for a gamma-correct high-dynamic range renderer. UE3 expected that content was authored in both high- and low-resolution version and baked normal maps for run-time; a major difference to previous generations where the game content was modeled directly (since normal mapping is a per-pixel operation and almost all the dynamic lighting in UE1 and 2 was calculated per-vertex using a Gouraud Shading technique)


The third generation of the Unreal Engine is designed for DirectX (versions 9-11 for Windows, Windows RT and Xbox 360), as well as systems using OpenGL, including the OS X, iOS, Android, Stage 3D for Adobe Flash Player 11, andJavaScript/WebGL for HTML5 Web Browsers.[29] Initially, Unreal Engine 3 only supported Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 platforms, while Android and iOS were added later in 2010 (with Infinity Blade being the first iOS title and Dungeon Defenders the first Android title). OS Xsupport was added in 2011.[30] Its renderer supports many advanced techniques including HDRR, per-pixel lighting, and dynamic shadows. It also builds on the tools available in previous versions. In October 2011, the engine was ported to support Adobe Flash Player 11 through the Stage 3D hardware-accelerated APIs. Epic has used this version of the engine for their in-house games. Aggressive licensing of this iteration has garnered a great deal of support from many prominent licensees. Epic has announced that Unreal Engine 3 runs on both Windows 8 and Windows RT.[31] The first released console game using Unreal Engine 3 was Gears of War and the first released PC game was RoboBlitz.

Unreal 4: HD and C++ added

One of the major features planned for UE4 was real-time global illumination using voxel cone tracing, eliminating pre-computed lighting.[77] However, this feature has been replaced with a similar but less computationally-expensive algorithm prior to release for all platforms including the PC because of performance concerns on next-generation consoles.[78] UE4 also includes new developer features to reduce iteration time, and allows updating of C++code while the engine is running. The new "Blueprint" visual scripting system (a successor to UE3's "Kismet"[79]) allows for rapid development of game logic without using C++, and includes live debugging.[80][81] The result is reduced iteration time, and less of a divide between technical artists, designers, and programmers.[82]

Unity 4[edit]

Unity 4.0 was officially released on November 13, 2012. Major new features include new 'Mecanim' animation system, DirectX 11 support and real-time shadows on mobile platforms.[28]

With the release of Unity 4.0, the company announced a shift towards a release cycle which would see versions be released with fewer features but at a faster rate.[29] As such, subsequent releases in the 4.X line delivered new features as follows:

Unity 5[edit]

Unity 5.0 was released for free on March 3, 2015, adding the much anticipated real-time global illumination based on the Geomerics Enlighten technology. Other major changes include physically-based shaders,HDR sky-boxes, reflection probes, a new audio mixer with effects and enhanced animator workflows.

Unity's Cloud Build system was introduced (for $25/month for non-pro users) as well as 'Game Performance Reporting' and the beta 'Game Analytics' (also $25/month for non-pro users) which logs players usage and performance on released games, something that many developers found hard to implement in Unity 4.x. Previously, a game developer needed to code support for player logging directly into their game engine.

Smaller additions include: A 64-bit editor to handle large projects, iOS 64-bit support, new deferred rendering, graphics command buffers, improved linear lighting, HDR, skybox and cubemap workflows, improved job scheduling system, a new 'CPU Timeline Profiler' lets you see and investigate multicore usage, improved NavMesh pathfinding system, intth.

Up until Unity 5.0 the engine was using a fairly outdated version of Nvidia's PhysX physics middleware. Unity 5.0 included version 3.3, which is standard among Triple-A games.

Unity 5.0 brings support for Windows, OS X, Unity Webplayer, Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8, Tizen, WebGL, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS line,[15][16][17] Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive[30] and Gear VR.

CryEngine 3

On March 11, 2009, the German/Turkish game studio Crytek announced that it would introduce CryEngine 3 at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, held from March 25 to March 27. The new engine was being developed for use on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U. As for the PC platform, the engine is said to support development in DirectX 9, 10, and 11.[18][19] As of June 1, 2009, it was announced that Crysis 2 would be developed by Crytek on their brand new engine.[20] CryEngine 3 was released on October 14, 2009.[21]

On March 1, 2010, a new tech demo of the engine was released for the i3D 2010 symposium, which demonstrates 'Cascaded Light Propagation Volumes for Real Time Indirect Illumination'.[22] On June 11, 2011, theAustralian Defence Force revealed that Navy personnel would train on a virtual landing helicopter dock ship made using the CryEngine 3 software.[23] As of July 1, 2011, the Mod SDK version of CryEngine 3 specifically to create custom maps, mods and content for Crysis 2 is available on Crytek's website. Crytek also released a free-to-use version of the CryEngine for non-commercial game development. It was released as of August 17, 2011 under the name CRYENGINE® Free SDK.[24][25]

Crytek announced on September 9, 2011 that they would be using CryEngine 3 to bring the original Crysis to consoles.[26] It was released for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on October 4, 2011.[27]

CryEngine

On August 21, 2013, Crytek rebranded CryEngine (starting from version 3.6.0) to simply "CRYENGINE", and announced that their next CryEngine would not be advertised with a version number. The reason for this decision was the fact that this new engine bears almost no similarity to previous CryEngine versions. However, the development kits available to licensees still use version numbers.[28] The new CryEngine version adds support for Linux[29][30] and consoles such as the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U.[31] Subsequent appearances at events have also featured the use of CryEngine on virtual reality systems, at GDC 2015 Crytek brought a demonstration 'Back To Dinosaur Island' to the event to showcase such.[32]

Assignments Point

2D Game from last year upload point  : Cover LO1

Assignment 1: Unit 70