Learners will develop an understanding of games engines and how they are used as a tool to produce games. They will investigate different game engines and explore their purpose and main components. Learners will also learn how to use a 2D and 3D games engine to design and produce game worlds.
Understand the types and purpose of game engines and their use in the games industry.
Types of game engine: 2D engines, 3D engines, mobile engines, game mods, off-the-shelf and bespoke games engines, uses of games engines in large games companies vs. indie games companies.
Purpose: graphic rendering, collision detection, artificial intelligence (AI), sound, physics.
Functions:
Graphic rendering: culling methods (binary space partitioning (BSP), portal based, backface, view frustum, occlusion, contribution), rendering techniques (radiosity, ray tracing), lighting, textures, fogging, shadowing, depth testing, anti-aliasing, vertex and pixel shaders, level of detail.
Animation systems: path-based, inverse kinematics, forward kinematics, particle systems.
Systems: physics, effects, sound, networking.
Artificial intelligence: AI agents (bots, non-player characters), world navigation (pathfinding, obstacle avoidance), behaviours, neural nets and fuzzy logic.
Middleware: off-the-shelf components e.g. rendering, physics, AI, animation, modelling, texturing, sound.
Compare different types of game engines.
Explain the purposes and functions of game engines.
Analyse the use of different types of games engines.
Be able to create a prototype game level using a 2D game engine.
Design: interpreting creative brief, storyboarding, asset management, level design maps, platforms, genre, interaction mode, hardware, market trends, constraints legal and ethical, design goals, use of audio visual, game mechanics/mechanisms, game play mechanisms, narrative considerations, premise, back story, plot, characters.
Assets: graphical (textures, meshes, models), events (triggers, actions, objects, scripts), sound e.g. effects, music, ambience, dialogue, file types.
Production: assets, events, lighting, animation, game world, testing (alpha, beta, user testing).
Prototype: core mechanics, game mechanisms, game play dynamics, game play aesthetics.
Publishing: output, executable.
Design a prototype for a 2D game level.
Source and create assets.
Create a 2D game prototype.
Be able to create a prototype game level using a 3D game engine.
Design a prototype for a 3D game level.
Source and create assets.
Create a 3D game prototype.