Lecture 05

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Game Components – Part 1
Design Components

• User Interface
• Player Perspectives
• Game Options
 Game
Lecture# 06 Components –
Visual Components

“The details are not details. They make design.”

Part Charles Eames(1970 - 1978)
Visual Components
Components that affect the ‘look’ of a game are increasingly important as graphic technology become more
sophisticated.

• Lighting and Special Effects

• Animations
• Modeling
• Texture
• Cut Scenes
 Lighting and Special Effects

Lighting is not just about making sure the player can see the
scene, although it's very important. Light can be used to arouse
emotion.

The link between vision and emotional response suggests that

game designers have another powerful design material to
manipulate along with character, narrative, sound, game
mechanic, etc.

However, the interrelation of lights with surfaces introduces the

effects of brightness, colour, contrast, shadowing, etc.
Common Types of lights and their effects

• Ambient Light
• Diffuse Light
• Source Light
• Specularity
• Depth Cueing Effect
• Shadows
• Optical Conventions
• Motion Blur
• Depth of Field
• Lens Flares
Ambient Light
Ambient light means the light that is already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is
added. It usually refers to natural light, either outdoors or coming through windows etc. It can
also mean artificial lights such as normal room lights.
Diffuse Light
Diffused light is a soft light with neither the
intensity nor the glare of direct light.

It is scattered and comes from all directions.

Thus, it seems to wrap around objects.

It is softer and does not cast harsh shadows.

Source Light
A light source emits electromagnetic radiation. Some
sources you encounter everyday are the sun, light bulbs, fire
etc.

Specularity
Specularity is the visual appearance of specular‫ق((یاس‬
‫ آرا(ئی‬reflections.
In computer graphics, it means the quantity used in
three-dimensional rendering which represents the
amount of specular reflectivity a surface has.
Depth Cueing Effect
Depth cueing aims to improve the 3D effect by
displaying objects at the front more brightly than
those at the back.
The extent to which this improves 3D perception
varies according to what is on display and it may
not always be effective.

Shadows
Shadows are made by blocking light. Light rays
travel from a source in straight lines. If an opaque
(solid) object gets in the way, it stops light rays
from traveling through it. This results in an area of
darkness appearing behind the object.
Optical Conventions
Motion Blur
Motion blur is the apparent streaking of moving objects in a
photograph or a sequence of frames, such as a film or
animation.
It results when the image being recorded changes during the
recording of a single exposure, due to rapid movement or long
exposure.

Depth of Field

(DoF) is the distance between the nearest and furthest elements in

a scene that appear to be “acceptably sharp” in an image. The
distance between the camera and the first element that is
considered to be acceptably sharp is called DoF near limit
Lens Flares
Lens flare refers to a phenomenon wherein light is
scattered or flared in a lens system, often in response
to a bright light, producing a sometimes undesirable
artifact within the image.

Flare is particularly caused by very bright light sources. Most commonly, this occurs when shooting toward
the Sun (when the Sun is in frame or the lens is pointed sunward), and is reduced by using a lens hood or
other shade.
 Animations
Animation is a method in which figures are manipulated to appear
as moving images.

In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on

transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on
film.
Today, most animations are made with computer-generated
imagery (CGI)

Animations in a game is what breaths life into the cteatures, characters and
landscapes of the game world.
Most games fall into one of the two categories.
• Character Animation
• Particle Animation
Character Animation
Character animation is a specialized area of the animation
process, which involves bringing animated characters to
life.
• Idle
• Running
• Walking
• Injury
• Attack
• Other Actions

Animation Cycle
Cycle animation is used to create a sequence that can be repeated over and over like flags waving,
character running, etc.
Motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or
mocap, for short) is the process of recording the
movement of objects or people.

Motion Capture is Recording real-life movements

from actors and converting them into hyper realistic
3D animations.

Although this technique has been used for over 20

years in the film, animation and later the game
industry, it has now made a boost in its regular
usage.
Particle Animation
A particle system is a technique in game physics, motion graphics, and computer
graphics that uses many minute sprites, 3D models, or other graphic objects to
simulate certain kinds of "fuzzy" phenomena, which are otherwise very hard to
reproduce with conventional rendering techniques - usually highly chaotic systems,
natural phenomena, or processes caused by chemical reactions.
 Modeling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of
developing a mathematical representation of any surface of an
object in three dimensions via specialized software. The
product is called a 3D model. Someone who works with 3D
models may be referred to as a 3D artist.

Textures
In the visual arts, texture is the perceived surface quality of
a work of art. It is an element of two-dimensional and
three-dimensional designs and is distinguished by its
perceived visual and physical properties.
 Cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-
game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive,
breaking up the gameplay.
Such scenes could be used to show conversations between
characters, set the mood, reward the player, introduce new
gameplay elements, show the effects of a player's actions, create
emotional connections, improve pacing or foreshadow future
events.