TOOLS &

TECHNOLOGIES
SENG 31353

NANDUNIE HARISCHANDRA
BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering
Game Engines
Choice of engine
Factors to consider when selecting an engine
● Price

● Features of engine

● Nature of project

● Target platforms

● Learning resources & Community support

● Asset availability

● Third party tools support

● Team confidence
Made With Unity
Unreal marketplace
Unity Services
Made With Unreal
Unity Marketplace
Game Development Basics
Things in a game
• Static Objects (2D/3D)
• Dynamic objects
• Animations
• Audio
• Interactions
• Behaviors
• Lights
• Post processing
• Fog
• Particles
• Decals
• …
3D MODELS
3D Models
A 3D model is a mathematical representation of something three-dimensional.
Materials

Defines the visual look of the object.

Material Properties

Depends on the engine implementation

Controls the properties of shading such as
• wet/ dry look
• metallic look
•Reflectiveness
Etc…
Textures

Images used in materials. They are mapped to surface of objects

 Normal/Bump Mapping

A technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents. Adds details to objects without increasing polycount
Tessellation & Displacement

Expands the object beyond its original bounds with tessellation vertices
Subsurface Colors

simulate shifts in color when light passes through the surface

Emissive Materials
Allows objects to glow without having a light source
Physical Materials
Define the response of a physical object when interacting dynamically with the world

Ex : when bullet hits a surface, what particle, what sound it should emit. Depends on the surface type
(wood, soil, rock, concrete… )
ANIMATIONS
Skeleton
Blend space/ Blend Trees

Changes the animation according to character

Movement speed
Animation Layered Blending

Legs movement -> base layer

Aiming with hands -> Upper body layer
Inverse Kinematics - IK
Ragdoll
Mixamo
LIGHTS
Lights
Directional Lights
• simulates light that is being emitted from a source that is infinitely far away (Ex : Sun)
• Therefore all the shadows cast by this will be parallel.
Point Lights
• Emits light equally in all directions from just a single point in
• Similar to a light bulb, Flame or a Lamp
Spot Lights
• Emits light from a single point in a cone shape
• Similar to a flash light / Vehicle headlight
Ambient Light/ Sky Light
• Comes from all directions
• Light, reflections depends on the captured or defined cubemap
Light Modes
• Static Lights
Cannot be changed at runtime. Allows light baking

• Dynamic / Movable lights

Can be changed at runtime.
Ex : a moving vehicle light.

• Stationary or mixed lights

Cannot be moved, but allows some other properties like intensity & color
FOG
Atmospheric Fog

• light scattering through a planetary atmosphere&

color
Height Fog

Height based fog

PARTICLES
Particle
• Fire
• Muzzle flash
• Gun impact
• Explosions
• Footstep dust puff
• Ambient dust
• Rain, snow
• Water splashes
• ….
DECALS
Decals
Materials projected into existing surfaces
• Bullet holes
• Blood splatters
• Wounds
• Footprints
• Tire marks
• Mud splatters
• ….
Collisions
POST PROCESSING
Post Processing
• Effects or enhancements used on rendered final image to improve look

without PP with PP
Post Processing
• Anti Aliasing
• Ambient Occlusion
• Depth of field
• Auto exposure / eye adaptation
• Motion blur
• Bloom
• Color Grading
Bloom related to post-processing Gun bloom related to FPS

Bloom is when a gun's

bullet spread area
increases over time as it's
fired, resetting when you
stop firing. It's supposed to
encourage burst shots as
opposed to spray fire
Post Process materials
Thank you…