Designing a Boss Fight: Lessons Learned From Modern Games Boss battles have existed since practically the beginning of gaming and they have all followed a similar idea throughout the years: a big baddie that gets in the way of some major objective. In many cases they have had an overbearing role during the game's story, with ongoing hints of their existence or of the approaching fight with them. But there's more to boss fights than this. They serve as a way to change up the pace of the gameplay and often offer a break from any repetitive game mechanics throughout a game. They also help push forward the storyline in most modern games as well - but more often than not, they serve as a way to change what the player is doing. Music and Sound Design Music and sound during a boss fight play a huge role in determining whether the boss will get your players' adrenaline pumping. This may all seem obvious, but games still often get it wrong. The Side Boss Often in games you'll come across an unexpected, unannounced, or very sudden side boss. The Difficulty
Amit’s Game Programming Information What’s on this page? I’m interested in producing complexity out of simple parts. This page contains bookmarks that I collected while working on games; I did not write most of the content linked from here. As a result the set of links here reflects the types of things I needed to know: only a few specific topics (not everything related to game programming), general ideas instead of platform-specific information (graphics, sound, compilers), and ideas and designs instead of source code (I find it easier to go from an idea to code than from code to an idea). Other sites, like Gamedev Tuts+, Gamedev, and Gamasutra, cover lots more topics than mine does. Determining how to move around on a map is an interesting problem. These pages are about specific techniques for pathfinding and object movement: My current favorite algorithm is A*, because it can handle varying terrain costs well, and it seems to be faster than most graph searching algorithms. Code and Demos Data structures Displaying Tiles
The Big Question: Which tools are needed for the best soundtracks? Recruitment expert Amiqus consults devs and media about the most efficient audio middleware on the market In 2016, the soundtrack of a video game is becoming as important as gameplay. What are some of the best tools for the job? As technology creates more immersive game experiences, audio has an increasingly vital role in driving player engagement. Sound creates emotional narrative and supports physical player-activity through acoustics to inform spatial awareness as well as providing important aural feedback on gameplay. In short, in-game audio touches everything. “Sound is the underestimated but vital element of computer game design,” claims Lucy Prebble of The Guardian. Many would agree. Col Walder, senior audio programmer at CD Projekt Red told us: “I think the modern middleware for audio is a great first stop for someone wanting to step up their soundtrack. Ian Macbeth of independent studio Resonant Sound Design concurs: “The No.1 audio implementation tool for me has to be Wwise.
Game Programming Patterns Animating With Asset Sheets: An Alternative to Blitting So you've got your awesome game in the works, it's got all sorts of complex physics, epic enemy AI or what-have-you. But it feels lifeless. You want some OOMPH, you want some animation! If you go and look up how to animate, the first answer you come across will most likely be a method using spritesheets and blitting. This method could be called animating with asset-sheets - or more technically, tweening with asset-sheets - as opposed to using sprite-sheets. What's Wrong With Blitting? Below are some reasons as to why you would not want to use blitting in certain cases. 1. Whether we're talking about RAM or disk space, sprite sheets can easily clog things up. 2. What happens when you want to speed up an animation? And what if you wanted something to happen when the player's arms reached some place? 3. What happens when the player is running and suddenly jumps? The Alternative This isn't even very new. So to summarize: Let's Dive Right In This is a character and his asset sheet. This is a door:
Fluid Simulation for Video Games (part 1) By Dr. Michael J. Gourlay Download Article Download Fluid Simulation for Video Games (Part 1) [PDF 1.2MB] Introduction to Fluid Dynamics Video games appeal to our desire to explore and interact with our environment, and adding real-world phenomena-such as fluid motion-allows game developers to create immersive and fun virtual worlds. To get started in fluid simulations, you need to understand the fundamentals of fluid dynamics. What Is a Fluid? A fluid is any substance that flows (in other words, a substance that can take the shape of its container) and does not resist deformation (meaning that it slides when dragged). But what about smoke? Varieties of Physical Simulation Whereas fluid dynamics might not be as familiar to most video game programmers, some forms of physical simulation have become commonplace. Particles are points that have position, mass, and velocity but (in principle) no size or shape, as Figure 1(a) shows. Figure 1. 1D. Figure 2. Fluids have lots of freedom of motion. .
Microtalks Upload Loading... Working... ► Play all Microtalks GDC16 videos2,918 viewsLast updated on May 9, 2016 Play all Sign in to YouTube Sign in History Sign in to add this to Watch Later Add to Loading playlists... The Big List Of Indie Game Development Forums | PixelProspector - the indie goldmine The Big List Of Indie Game Development Forums A collection of game development forums: generalengine specificgenre specificinternationalgame art In case you want to create your own forum consider to check out this list of forum software. Game Development Forums – General Game Development Forums – Engine Specific Game Development Forums – Genre Specific Game Development Forums – International (Game) Art Forums Big List of Video Game Forums Big List of Video Game Forums
N Tutorial B - Broad-Phase Collision SECTION 3: Object Grid The grid structure described above can also double as a spatial database used to manage dynamic objects. Just as each cell contains information about the tile located in that cell, it can also contain information about each dynamic object currently located in the cell. Each cell contains a list of dynamic objects; as an object moves through the grid, we insert/remove it from each cell's list as appropriate. There are two approaches that can be taken when using a grid with dynamic objects: "normal" grid: each object is associated with all of the cells it touches. . pros: each object needs to look in at most 4 cells to find other objects it might collide with . cons: each object needs to be inserted/removed from up to 4 cells every time it moves; also, additional logic needs to be added to the collision code to deal with a case where, for instance, two objects touch the same two cells. In our implementation, each cell has: and each object has: --= more details =--
Tutorials | Learn Unity 2D If you checked out the previous tutorial, the first in a series from Design a Game which focused on a pixel-based land called Teutoburg Forest. In part 2, the tutorial takes things a step further, adding Javelins and audio into the mix. Check out the Youtube below - This awesome one-sheet from Deviant art user ‘Cellusious’ came from a link on the Learn Unity 2D Facebook group – thanks to Pietro Polsinelli for posting it! Cellusious makes some really important points in this informative sheet – that many pixel art tutorials aim to teach muscle memory and uniformity, whereas pixel art, like any other form should emphasise skill in design and drawing. Find the sheet on his Deviant art page here. Follow Cellusious on Twitter. As a big fan of the Rayman series of games, I took an interest in the UbiArt tool pipeline that Ubisoft have developed to make that series easy to iterate upon. Puppet2D official site – Here’s the core of the tutorial on Youtube -