Unit 71: Object Oriented Design
for Computer Games.
Safa Radwan
In this article, I will be talking about
design in objects for computer games.
Concept
and principles
Simplified understanding
It is very important not to over complicate
things when creating games. You want to make it easier for new players to
understand the controls and get used to the game. Usage of things like
mini-maps are useful, because they can help the player navigate – especially when
they are first starting out and don’t know where to go.
Reusability
Why re-use assets? Well it can save time,
money, and modelling new objects can sometimes be unnecessary. Players won’t
notice a few barrels or boxes that have been copied, however re-using some
assets are not appropriate, like boss characters or the main character.
Maintenance
A maintenance refers to the action of a
game being unavailable for a short period, usually to fix bugs. Many games go
through this, typically this will happen a lot in MMO’s or online games, as new
features are constantly being added and patches need to be constantly added.
Efficiency
Efficiency depends on how well the game
runs. Some games, due to high graphics and too many assets on screen can drop
the frame rate significantly. However, with today’s technology, current game
consoles, and even PCs and mobile phones are becoming more powerful, and abled
to efficiently run games at a high quality with lots of models and animation.
Real world modelling
This is a modelling technique, used to
model the world in a photorealistic fashion. In games, it is used to make the
initial models in the early stage of game modelling.
Collaboration and sharing
…Are important in developing games, sharing
ideas can help bring in new ideas, and improve the ones you already have. It
also can speed up the process, by having one person focus on one part of the
game, and while the other person can put their effort into other part of game
development.
Communication
This is used in multiplayer games, for
example a common function would be to press ‘T’ and a menu pops up, letting you
type a message and communicate with other players.
Quality assurance
To test the quality of a game, game
developers can hire play testers, to play their game and test for bugs. Some
developers have what’s called an open or closed beta. Closed beta are for a
select group of people who are allowed playtest the game, while open betas are
open to the public to play.
Game
objects
Sprites
These are commonly used in 2D games, they
can be pixel, or vectors. Some games even have their sprites drawn by hand.
Each sprite frame is created to give the effect of animation, for example,
picture below are the many different frames of a sprite, and what their frames
represent the action the want to do.
Characters
For 2D games, characters are represented by
sprites that we get to control. For 3D games, a modelled character is needed,
and we view them in third person (behind their shoulder), however some 3D games
are starting to move into first person (this is the standard in first person
shooters), when the character is hardly ever seen, and we only view the world
in their eyes.
Weapons
These are game objects we can interact
with, they come in different shapes and sizes, however the most common weapon
in games are swords and guns;
Rooms
In video games, some will have different
rooms/levels separated by a loading screen, but games today are starting to be
more open world, letting players explore more of their own free will. However,
there are always rooms that will be on their own, separated by a loading
screen, for example, Skyrim is an open world game, however, all towns, shops,
and most other buildings and not able to enter straight away – the player must
be loaded in.
Walls
…Stop the player from entering places that
either they shouldn’t be able to reach yet, are on the end of the map, or
because the game need to load in textures and objects, thus they are hidden behind
a wall.
Scenery
These are objects and textures that stay
behind in the background, and help to give the player an understanding of where
they are. Some games, the scenery’s just in the background, while the player
runs in front of it, while other games, allow you to travel to objects in the
scenery, and interact with them.
Instances
These are game objects that represent a
stat, for example health, or stamina, that is will constantly be used
throughout the game. They can go up or down, for example when you are attacked,
you lose health, or when you use an item to regain it, your health goes up.
Rewards
…Are given to a player when they accomplish
a task, or complete a level. Examples of rewards include; bonuses – for example
if you land a critical hit in Pokémon, you attack with a bonus of 100%. An
example of a power-up, is if Pac-man eats a Power Pellet, he gains the ability
to eat ghosts.
Object
properties
Objects in games each have their own
function and purpose, for example, in some games, when the player runs outside
of the game map, the game might stop or reset the level.
Other types of object
properties include visual aesthetics, like size.
Size for example, determines
if how big or small objects are. The player character is a usually a small
model, in comparison to a world of huge environments filled with mountains,
houses, trees and other obstacles.
Sound is also one, like
when you are hit by an enemy the character is programmed to create a sound, this
helps the player know when they are being attacked, and creates immersion.
Speed & movement. Games normally let the
player default in to a jog, and then a sprint, at the cost of stamina.
Health & lives. So that games have some
challenge, player’s lives are limited. For example, some games, like Super Meat
Boy, make it so that as soon as you are hit, you must go back to your last
checkpoint, while GTA lets you take some hits before you die. Mario games let
you restart to the nearest check point, however after you run out of lives, you
are forced to restart the level.
Actions and
events
Mouse and keyboard events.
In real life, when you shoot a gun at a wall, it
will leave bullet marks, however it is up to the developer if they want to
follow the physics and mechanics of real life, or not implement them into the
game.
(Player in TF2 uses weapon
to leave a trail of bullets across the wall)
Create & destroy
Create is used to either
bring a pre-made model/asset into the game, or create a new one from scratch.
Destroy is for deleting the asset or model from the game.
The act of two objects
running into each other, is called collision. They don’t clip through each
other because collision is there to stop them. This also stops the player from
walking through walls, or falling through the fall.
Timers
These are used, to play out
scripted events, for example, when a player triggers an event, such as a door opening,
it might create an event, and when the timer hits zero – an action will occur
(like an NPC appearing or a cut-scene playing out).
Scoring
Used in games to give the
player a sense of accomplishment, and recognition. Usually the game will reward
you points for killing enemies, or, like in Little Big Planet, at the end of
the level, you are given a scoreboard and depending on how many points/bubbles
you’ve collected, you are given a score.
Inheritance
When coding games,
objects can be labelled as ‘parent’, and under them, you can create objects
labelled as ‘child’. The child will inherit all the properties and behaviours
of the parent, but can also move on their own, independently.
Over riding events, are used when an event
on the parent object is changes, which then in turn causes the child object to
override.
This concludes my article for object
orientated design, in video games.
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