Unit 67

Video game engines

Research

In this blog I will be researching games engines, the difference between licensed game engines and bespoke studio game engines.

What is a game engine?

A basic explanation of a game engine is a system design to create and develop video games.  Game engines can be used to create all kinds of video games weather they are 2D or 3D. The key features a game engine offer are a rendering engine for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine, sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, localisation support and a scene graph.

Licensed game engines are the already created engines that anyone can use to create their own game, which is what I will be hoping to achieve. An example of a licensed game engine is Unreal, which has created many games such as gears of war.

Where as a bespoke game engine are the engines created specifically by the game creators for their game. That way they can create the editing features they want. An example of this is Frostbite engine, which was used to create battlefield.

Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is a game engine developed by Epic Games and was first created in 1998. The first game created using this engine was the first person shooter Unreal. The engine was initially created for first person shooters but has been successfully used to create stealth, MMORPG's and RPG games.

Unreal Engine 1
The engine was first released in 1998. This engine included rendering, collision detection, AI, visibility, networking, scripting and file system management. This engine implemented large parts of custom scripting language called UnrealScript. This engine took big strides forward after the release of Unreal Tournament, with good network performance.

Unreal Engine 2
The second version of the Engine made its debut with America's Army in 2002. This version of the Engine re-rote the core code and rendering engine. In the 2.5 update of the engine they improved the rendering performance and added vehicle physics and a particle system editor.

Unreal Engine 3
Unreal 3 was originally released with Gears of War in 2006. For the third update of the engine they added many advanced render supports such as HDRR, per-pixel lighting and dynamic shadows. The engine also has built on the tools in previous versions.

Frost Bite Game Engine

Frostbite game engine is developed by EA Digital Illusion CE, the creators of the Battlefield series. The engine is currently designed for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and One. Originally the engine was developed to create first person shooter but since then has been adapted into creating game genres such as racing and real time strategy and is widely used by a n umber of EA studios, this means that this engine is a bespoke engine.

Frostbite 1.0

The engine was first created in 2008 to create Battlefield: Bad Company. A big feature of the engine was the HDR Audio. HDR Audio enables players to hear clear and important sounds with out being muffled by a number of different sounds being used. An example of this is the gunshots being more clear than the backing music during gameplay. Destriuction 1.0 is another feature that enables the players to destroy certain objects like walls.

Frostbite 1.5
In 2009 the second update of Frostbite debuted with Battlefield 1943. A key feature was an upgrade to Destruction 1.0 with Destruction 2.0. Destruction 2.0 allows the player to destroy even more than just walls such as whole buildings. In 2010 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was released also using Frostbite 1.5. This was the first game to bring the Frostbite engine to the windows platform. Frostbite 1.5 was also used for the multiplayer components of Medal of Honor but the destruction capabilities are much more limited.

Frostbite 2
In 2011 the first major update of the engine was released with Battlefield 3. This engine has the third update of Detruction with Destruction 3.0. Destruction 3.0 enhances the in game destruction with more reallistic and refined physics. Dice has largley focused on the upgrades and advances in the rendering technology focusing more on the animation, destruction, scale, rendering and audio.

Frostbite 3

This is the next generation version of Frostbite and will debut with Battlefield 4 on October 29 2013. Popular releases since then include Need for Speed: Rivals and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. The game eninge has upgraded on several different features including an improvement on its tessellation technology. It also includes the fourth upgrade on Destruction with Destruction 4.0, which enhances the destruction even more than the older upgrades.

                                                     Scratch

Scratch is a lisenced game engine that enables the user to create simple 2D games. Sprites can be used from the existing library or created by the user using a paint styled in programme creator or imported from other files. 

Scratch was first developed in 2003 by Lifelong Kindergarten group. The first official website for scratch was then released in 2006. In 2007 the website enabled the users to upload their games to the website for other people to play. This also updated the websites design and layout. Scratch 1.0 was available for download on the 8th January 2007. The scratch website continued to be updated untill the end of 2012 when Scratch 2.0 was released.   

Unit 72 Drawing Concept Art for Computer Games

What is the purpose of concept art for video games.

Concept art is used for many reasons when creating video games and films, the main one is to design the levels, character and objects such as weapons. Without concept art it would be practically impossible to make the video game or film. Artist's make hundreds and hundreds of pieces of art/concept art in the creaion process.

Mike Hill

I like this picture because of the amount of detail Mike has gone into creating a realistic, but surreal effect. The detailed elaments of shading and lighting add to the detail created.

I also like this sketch of a sports car, also by Mike Hill. This picture shows the amount of detail he can create just through sketches, without adding colour or digitizing the image. The sketch has a good use of shading and 3-D affects which makes the drawing look as if it could nearly be real, with some colour  added.

Ray Lederer

The following pictures are concept art for skyrim.

I really like this picture because of the amount of detail Ray has gone into to create this dark old cavern with a sacred old chests in it. The way he has managed to add the effects of two different lights meeting in a dark environment. The way the light shines in from a hole in the roof adds a realistic feel to the art.

I like this picture because of the way Ray has managed to create a wide landscape in small scale. But the element of detail he has managed to capture in a small area, such as the windows. The reflection of the water adds so much affect. The colour scheme is a very dim greyish blue style which in my opinion is very effective.

Kekai

This piece of concept art is very detailed. The detail of the mountains in the background make it look like a fully finished picture. The characters are fully painted and rendered with colour and detail. I really like this art and has made me very interested in the world he has created.

This art also is based on the same world in the first image with the same characters. The detail in the characters and the creature are really good. This art has also inspired me to create art work like it.

Luca Cambiaso

This concept art by Luca Cambiaso uses a more boxed out figure which in my opinion adds a lot of affect and a different take on the people drawn. This piece of art is interesting because of the surreal take on the human form.

This piece of concept art in my opinionis very interesting because of the way Luca manages to add lighting in with dark shading also. This piece of art is slightly different due to the actual realisticness of the human and horses.

These sketches are of two point perspective.

 These are some of the sketches I drew at the dance studio. I mainly focused on point figures and the curves of the dancers spines. I found the task reasonably difficult because the fact the dancers were moving alot at different angles.

Edgar Degas

These drawings created by Edgar Degas are very different to what stage I am at with my sketches.

Harmonic and Dissonance Landscapes

http://www.bicketybam.id.au/images/forums/borderlands/borderlands_screenshot0001.jpg

This is a screenshot from Borderlands. In my opinion this is a Dissonant landscape, due to the rough edges of scrap metals stacked on piles in water and around the land next to it. With out the scrap metals the landscape would be Harmonic because the land around the scraps is very level. The art style used for this landscape and game is cell shading

Andreas Achenbach

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Andreas_Achenbach_-_Clearing_Up%E2%80%94Coast_of_Sicily_-_Walters_37116.jpg

This is a dissonant painting due to the rough nature of the waves and jagged rocks that the wave are crashing into. The sky in the background is showing signs of harmony due to the bright sun shining through the clouds.

http://critnick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Oregon-Coast-Study-11.jpg

This painting in my opinion is a harmonic landscape due to the waves looking very steady and calm, the sky also looks very calm and peacefull. The colours used are very bright and gentle which also gives you the harmonic effect.

http://www.pnewellart.com/paintings_home/Oil_Landscapes/slides/April_Rain_New_Harmony-Oil_14x18.jpg

This painting is harmonious due the natural and softly coloured green area with flowers growing in it. the painting itself is very softly done and painted with a lot of little flicky brush strokes using oil based paints. The colours used are very calm and add even more of a harmonious effect.

Alan Lee

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/502925483358372964/

This sketch by Alan Lee in my opinion is Dissonant due to the rough and wild nature of the tree and its branches, the shapes and directions of the branches are very rough and sinister looking. The shading gives a very dark and gloomy looking background behind and in amongst the trees. The overgrown roots growing in and around the bridge also add to the rough effect. 

http://www.redbubble.com/people/itwirlchucks/works/6684550-post-apocalypse-landscape

itwirlchucks

This landscape is very Dissonant due to the rough and sharp edges of the buildings that have been destroyed and ruined. The art even tells you that it is dissonant because of the road sign at the front that reads 'ROUGH ROAD'.

Concept art

In this task we have been asked to create concept art either for a small game idea or as brief story idea.

These are the sketches i have made to give me ideas.

These are sketches of the characters that will feature. They will be very small to make the towers scale even bigger.

This is my final idea using a blend of drawn and digital tools.