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
� Matching the scene with other lights that will be present Think about how
your scene will have to match added lights. For example, if you have your
lighting set up brightly to begin with, and a character enters that’s going to
fire off a huge nuclear weapon with a light blast all over your map, it will
blow out your lighting. When the weapon fires, all that light will be added
to the light present and make it too bright. You’ll have to pull your light
back or turn down the weapon lighting effect.
Whether you’re building a snowboard racing game, another kind of sports game,
or a medieval action/fighter game, lighting specifics and capabilities will vary on a
case-by-case basis. What won’t vary so much is the idea that you are using lighting to
transfer a feeling—the kind of feeling you’re trying to build for the player. You are
trying to support gameplay emotion using lighting.
In the case of a snowboarding game, a night track might be lit with minimal point
lights (discussed later in the chapter, in the section “Lighting Strengths or Multipliers”).
Restricted lighting might, in fact, be part of the course challenge. Another
track might be a brightly lit sunshine love fest, with lens flares (the “ring” generated
by looking at a bright light source quickly) and plenty of rim lighting (provides hot
light accents on object edges). Both help set the mood.
The gameplay for a track racing-oriented snowboarding game will come down to
smooth execution and delivery on stunt kicks, flips, ollies, and jumps, and avoiding
track collision with objects (like trees or other snowboarders). This “smooth execution”
factor is often a matter of subtle controller tuning (adjusting programmatically
how the game controller reads user input—like hitting that triangle button to perform
a skate/snowboard move such as an ollie). How the game responds directly is a
matter of controller tuning.
There is also a practical application to lighting. You don’t want your players stumbling
around in the dark, unless that’s your point! It will grow old fast. Several disciplines
converge here as you “build up your eye” for lighting and its effect on emotion.
It will require study of various kinds.
Studying lighting through the refined visual experiences of cinematographers is a
great idea. They work every day in the language of light and composition. Studying
photography to build eye recognition and sensitivity for light values, contrast, saturation,
hue, and accent lighting is also very helpful. Studying color theory, including
the emotional connection and human reaction to colors, is also very valuable. The
color of light itself has been demonstrated to alter human physiological responses,
and thus shifts our mood. Becoming a better game designer is built on studying many
related areas. I like to think of game designers as “specialized generalists.” Game developers
are eternal students.
Here’s a quick sketch example. Figure 3-1 represents a small room displayed at full
brightness (“World” light at maximum intensity). Obviously, this room’s lighting is