In this document you will find a lot of useful information that will help with writing your own coursework and make things more clear. This coursework is marked as distinction and is only the first part of the unit(Unit-8) which would probably the first task given out to you by teachers. The docume...
UNIT 8: COMPUTER
GAMES DEVELOPMENT
Assignment 1: Investigate technologies used in computer gaming
,Contents
P1: Explain social and technological trends of computer games...........................................................5
Introduction:......................................................................................................................................5
History of Computer games:..............................................................................................................5
Social Trends in gaming.....................................................................................................................5
Popular genres:..................................................................................................................................5
Genre 1: Fighting games................................................................................................................6
Genre 2: FPS- First-person shooter................................................................................................6
Genre 3: Open World.....................................................................................................................6
Genre 4: Sport................................................................................................................................7
Types of Players:................................................................................................................................7
Immersive gamers:........................................................................................................................7
Casual gamers:...............................................................................................................................7
Demographic:....................................................................................................................................7
Age:................................................................................................................................................7
Gender:..........................................................................................................................................8
Time Commitment:........................................................................................................................8
Themes:.........................................................................................................................................8
Game production:..............................................................................................................................8
Mainstream publisher:...................................................................................................................8
Indie:..............................................................................................................................................9
Free-to-play:..................................................................................................................................9
Crowdfunding:...............................................................................................................................9
Multiplayer:.......................................................................................................................................9
Artificial Intelligence:.......................................................................................................................10
Search algorithms:.......................................................................................................................10
Mathematical optimisation:.........................................................................................................10
Logic:............................................................................................................................................10
Emerging technologies:...................................................................................................................11
Emerging technology 1: Cloud gaming.........................................................................................11
Emerging technology 2: Virtual reality.........................................................................................11
Emerging technology 3: Augmented reality.................................................................................11
Security of integrated services and multiplayer environments:......................................................11
Steam:..........................................................................................................................................12
Google Play:.................................................................................................................................12
, App Store:....................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................13
P2: Explain how current and emerging technologies impact computer games’ design and
development.......................................................................................................................................14
M1: Discuss how current and emerging technologies impact on how games are designed and
developed to meet the requirements of the users and the larger computer games industry.............14
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................14
Personal Computers:.......................................................................................................................14
Windows:.....................................................................................................................................14
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................15
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................15
Mac:.............................................................................................................................................15
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................15
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................16
Consoles:.........................................................................................................................................16
PlayStation:..................................................................................................................................16
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................16
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................17
Xbox:............................................................................................................................................17
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................17
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................17
Nintendo:.....................................................................................................................................18
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................18
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................18
Mobile devices:................................................................................................................................18
Smartphones:...............................................................................................................................18
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................19
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................19
Tablets:........................................................................................................................................19
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................19
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................20
Web based:......................................................................................................................................20
Flash:............................................................................................................................................20
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................20
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................20
HTML5:........................................................................................................................................20
, Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................21
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................21
Central Processing Unit (CPU):.........................................................................................................21
Impact of CPU on games development:.......................................................................................21
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU):......................................................................................................22
Impact of GPU on games development:......................................................................................22
Random Access Memory (RAM):.....................................................................................................22
Impact of RAM on games development:......................................................................................22
Random Only Memory (ROM):........................................................................................................23
Output Device:.................................................................................................................................23
Display/Monitor:..........................................................................................................................23
Sound:..........................................................................................................................................23
Input Device:....................................................................................................................................23
Keyboard/mouse:........................................................................................................................23
Game pad/joystick:......................................................................................................................24
Kinetic/voice:...............................................................................................................................24
Storage:...........................................................................................................................................24
Solid State Drive (SSD):................................................................................................................24
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................24
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................25
Hard Disk Drive (HDD):.................................................................................................................25
Benefits:.......................................................................................................................................25
Limitations:..................................................................................................................................25
Connections:....................................................................................................................................25
Internet:.......................................................................................................................................25
Local Area Network (LAN):...........................................................................................................26
Wide Area Network (WAN):.........................................................................................................26
Mobile Networks:........................................................................................................................26
New technologies:...........................................................................................................................26
5g:................................................................................................................................................26
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality........................................................................................27
Wearable and Mobile gaming:.....................................................................................................27
Internet of Things:.......................................................................................................................27
Operating System:...........................................................................................................................27
Windows:.........................................................................................................................................27
Mac:.................................................................................................................................................28
, Linux:...............................................................................................................................................28
Programming language:...................................................................................................................28
C++:..................................................................................................................................................28
Java:.................................................................................................................................................29
Device Drivers..................................................................................................................................29
DirectX:............................................................................................................................................29
OpenGL:...........................................................................................................................................29
Audio options: Music, Ambiance, file format:..................................................................................29
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................30
D1: Evaluate the impact of current and emerging technologies on the design and development of
computer games to meet the requirements of the users and the computer games industry.............30
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................30
Uses of game engines, their capabilities and how they aid computer game developers.................30
Game Engine:...................................................................................................................................30
Unity:...............................................................................................................................................31
Unreal:.............................................................................................................................................31
CryEngine:........................................................................................................................................31
Rendering engines:......................................................................................................................31
Physics engines:...........................................................................................................................32
Collision Detection:......................................................................................................................32
Scripting:......................................................................................................................................32
Animation:...................................................................................................................................33
Monochrome monitor vs 4k/8k monitor.........................................................................................33
Old CPU vs New CPU........................................................................................................................33
First Consoles vs New Consoles.......................................................................................................34
How does improvement in technology combined with emerging technologies that affect the world
of gaming development?.................................................................................................................34
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................36
,P1: Explain social and technological trends of computer
games
Introduction:
In this section I will be writing about the social and technological trends of computer games. I will be
explaining different terms and what their meaning in games is. I will also explain how games have
been developing throughout the years and how the graphics and the gameplay has changed. There
would be different rules that a game developer has to consider when creating their game for
example, age and gender. There will be the different types of players and what they mean. I will
explain many different genres of games and what is their role. In this section the main points will be
to explain what key words mean. The section will have mostly information that should be known by
anyone that is interested in game design and gamers as well. I will explain the different ways that
players can stream online meaning they can make money from it. There are many different ways for
streaming that will be covered in this task. There will be examples of new emerging technologies.
History of Computer games:
Games are evolving every day with the evolution of the new systems. The difference between games
nowadays and games back in time is that the graphics and the gameplay of the games is way better
than before, and the story lines of the games are longer and more enjoyable. The first ever arcade
game created is called “Pong”. The game is very simple, but it made a good profit at the point when
it was created. In the 90s there were many games that were created but failed to achieve. The first
every game system that was created to use from home is “Brown Box” in 1967. During the 70s
multiplayer was introduced to the world, meaning that the players can now play together, but at this
point multiplayer was only accessible for players who compete on the same screen e.g., arcade
machines. The first time that players were able to compete from different screens was in 1973. In
late 80s player were allowed to connect their devices with other players. In the 90s the LAN
networks were introduced which took the gamin community on a whole new level as user could now
play online(multiplayer) with other users from different computers. Then in the early 2000s the new
console was introduced “The Xbox”. Since 2000s the gaming community has changed a lot. Each year
as new games are being designed and improved each time new game has been released. The game
development has been around for about 7 decades as of now. As the technology involves there were
new features that could be added to the games to make them look better and easier to play. Many
games nowadays have single and multiplayer mode as the single mode can be the story line of the
game. Games came far from what they were before and now they are one of the most popular ways
to entertain yourself and play and communicate with other people via internet.
Social Trends in gaming
Popular genres:
A genre of the game is what category it belongs to or genre describes the style of the game and its
gameplay. The genre of a video game is the specific category of games that are related by similar
gameplay characteristics. There are many different genres of games such as action, adventure,
, fighting, puzzle, sports, strategy, simulator, and role-play. The genre of the game depends on how
the players interact with the game not by its story. Sometimes games might have even more specific
classifications which are called subgenres. For example, an adventure game can be classified to
many different subgenres such as platform games or mysterious games. Action games usually
connected to physical challenges that require good coordination and skills. Shooter games are
usually games with range of many different weapons which are used to play the game and most
shooter games involve violent gameplay which means that children should not play them. Genres
describe the way that the game is going to be played and what the player can expect from the game.
Genre 1: Fighting games
Fighting games are centred around close-range combat or one-on-one fights or even against small
number of equally good opponents which often involves violent unarmed attacks. Most of the
fighting games include large number of characters that can be played and competitive multiplayer
mode in which the player can interact with other players. There are some games which use melee
weapons such as Samurai Showdown. Fighting games are based on different martial arts systems.
The fighting genre was dominant genre for games until the late 90s. Some of the most played and
famous games for this genre are Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, they are the domaining games
for fighting genre nowadays. Fighting games are not recommended for kids as they are violent and
are not appropriate for small kids. Fighting genre nowadays is not as famous as it was way back as
now there are many more different games that the players can also fight and do missions and other
things rather than just fighting.
Genre 2: FPS- First-person shooter
FPS genre or First-person shooter is a game genre which is centred around a gun and other weapon-
based combat in first person perspective. Which means that the player playing experiences the
action from the eyes of the main character of the game(protagonist). This genre has somethings in
common with other shooter games which makes it connect and fall under the heading of action
games. FPS games are different to third-person shooters games because usually in TPS games the
player sees the character from behind. FPS games include an avatar, one or more weapons that the
player can choose from and many numbers of enemies. They usually focus on action gameplay
rather than storyline of the game. FPS games are often made only as multiplayer mode so that
players can challenge themselves with other people. Some of the most popular and most played
games are Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO), Overwatch and The Doom.
Genre 3: Open World
Open world games are using virtual world that players can explore and approach freely objectives.
The player can choose how to play the game in order to satisfy their needs. Most open world games
are designed to have nonlinear gameplay which means that the players can complete challenges in
many different ways for example if doing a mission and the player has to options, they might choose
option A whereas another player may choose option B, something like multiple choice. Some open
world games overlap with sandbox games which give the player a great creative way to complete
tasks in order to complete the game final goal and the players final goal if there is one. Some open
world games that have been played the most nowadays are Minecraft which was one of the most
successful games of all times, Grand Theft Auto V which is also a very successful game which has also
multiplayer (open world) and single player where the player can complete missions.
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