Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

Building Game Worlds
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U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N
constraints, editor constraints, engine support constraints, unresolved technology issues,
and so forth. Outstanding levels, maps, and missions only have a chance to grow
with good technology “fertilizer”—a robust bed of pure game engine ability and
tools efficiency and integration.
A game engine developed for the PC, or next-generation console systems, is basically
a large and complex set of C++ code modules that handle such things as player
input/output, a draw or rendering system, an animation system, an audio system,
and a big-ole main game logic loop, which tells these other systems what to do and
how to do it. Software tools are what set up and sometimes control art, animation,
and audio assets for integration into a game engine. The pure ability of these tools
will often limit level evolution. Game-wise, a game development team can only build
in as much gameplay as these tools and the programming team allow. Programmers
have many simultaneous, dependency-oriented tasks to accomplish at all times. No
one chooses to let gameplay fall on the floor.
The Importance of Early Feedback
Once you have laid out your basic level or world geometry and made any corrections
based on checking the level thoroughly for space flow issues, geometry errors, grid
problems, and size or scale problems, it’s time to hammer home the importance of a
communication feedback loop.
For most game development teams, there will be technical issues, tools support issues,
and basic implementation issues that are best attacked early on. After the initial
build-out phase, as your level begins to grow and take shape, it will be valuable for
the team as a whole if relevant feedback from the design team can be communicated
and shared with other team members involved in other areas of development that impact
design specifics.
One of the common limiting factors for most teams at the design implementation
level these days is software tools support. Perhaps you’re working with a solid or
semisolid game engine. (A solid engine runs without any significant errors. A semisolid
engine runs with some or many known bugs or error points, which is a more common
condition, because the engine is growing and changing in parallel with the game content
you are trying to build.) Even if your team’s programmers have built out solid
game engine architecture and the artists have the use (and choice) of solid 3-D packages,
game building requires so much more than simply getting your model and animation
assets into the game engine (which also offer certain challenges).
The point is that design implementation or “building in” your game heartbeat is often
heavily dependent on tools support. If your tools do not have the functionality to accomplish
your team’s game vision, you will probably miss the mark. Getting feedback to
your tools team (if you are lucky enough to have one) is critical to getting the support in
place early that will allow you to accomplish design objectives for your team.