Understanding Hardware Technologies for Game Platforms

Understanding Hardware Technologies for Game Platforms

Human Computer Interface

In the context of gaming the HCI is how we convert the actions we preform IRL into the actions that the character takes on screen. The most obvious way of doing this would be by using a controller as it has several buttons allowing them to be mapped to many different in-game actions. There are however many different types of controllers that have developed over the years, from the joy-stick to the keyboard to the oculus rift. Our motor reflexes react to what we see on the screen and the is conveyed on the screen though the controls we use, we then see what this does and react in a loop.

Controllers: Back in the 1980's the NES controller was introduced with a D-Pad and 2 buttons at the time it was technologically amazing. These days we have a variety of different controllers some of which are wireless or use motion sensor technology.

Name	Speed	Cores	Cache
Intel core i7 6700k	4 GHz	4 Core	8 MB cache
AMD Black Edition FX -8350	4 GHz	8 Cores	8 MB cache
XBOX One CPU	1.75 GHz	8 Cores	0 MB cache
PS4	1.6 GHz	2 – 4 Cores	2 MB cache

CPU

 When executing a command the information will be sent to the CPU and then the programme will be ran. The speed of a CPU is usually explained in the term clock speed, this a measure of the amount of clock cycles a CPU can preform per second. For example a clock rate of 2 GHz can preform 2,000,000,000 cycles per second. More important than the amount of cycles is the amount of action the CPU can preform per cycle. A CPU with less clock cycles but more actions is better than a CPU with more cycles but less actions. A CPU with multiple cores have several CUPs all on one chip this means it can preform several tasks at once, whilst not taking up any more room on the mother board. Some CPUs are threaded, this is relatively new technology that allows us to trick the CPU into thinking it has more cores than it actually does. A single CPU with dual threading will show as having multiple cores when in reality only having one. This helps to preform multiple tasks at one time, it wont however be as good as actually having two cores. The cache is a temporary storage for the CPU, that stores volatile storage.

RAM

Console	Type	Amount	Speed	Bandwidth
Predator Black	GDDR3	8GB	2400MHz
Xbox One	DDR5	8GB 32MB (ESRAM)	2133MHz	68.26 GB/s
Xbox 360	GDDR3	512 MB	700MHz	256 GB/s
PS4	GDDR5	8GB	1600MHz	176 GB/s
PS3	GDDR3	256 MB	650MHz

Random Access Memory is a certain type of memory that is used to store volatile memory, this means it will be deleted when the machine is shut down this means it wont take you any memory in your hard drive. The main reason you want more RAM on a PC is because quite often you are preforming more than just one action at once and a higher amount of RAM means that is can do it quicker. Out of the option i have in the table above i would say that the Predator Black is the best option, this is for several reasons, first its a GDDR and so is built for a much higher bandwidth and also has lower power and heat dispersal requirements compared to DDR. 8GB is obviously better than any of the lower options available. The speed of the RAM is higher than the rest 

GPU

GPU’s	Nvidia	AMD	Intel	Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS4
Model	GeForce GTX 1080 Ti	Radeon RX 470D	Iris Pro Graphics 6200	Xenos	AMD Xbox One GPU	AMD RX 480
Clock Speed	1503 MHz	926 MHz		500 MHz	835 MHz	800 MHz
Cores	3328	1792	300		768	8
RAM	12 GB	4096 MB		10 MB	8192 MB	8192 MB23
Dedicated?	ü	ü
Integrated?		ü

A Graphics Processing Unit is normally use for rendering 3D applications. It is used to manage the performance of videos and graphics, although has several features like texture mapping and the rendering of polygons. The main purpose of these features is to reduce the strain on the CPU so i has less work to do and can produce faster videos and graphics. Compared to a CPU that only has a few cores the GPU can have thousands of cores meaning they can perform several tasks efficiently all at once. There are two different types of GPU integrated and dedicated, an integrated one uses the systems memory instead of having its own, for example if your machine has 4GB of RAM then 1 to 5% of the memory will be used by the GPU. A dedicated GPU will have its own RAM that it'll use often this is better as it doesn't take any space from the RAM. DDR, stands for Double Data Rate and it utilises both edges of the system clock which potential doubles the speed of the memory. GDDR, is short for Graphics Double Data Rate and is made specifically for video cards and has several differences to a DDR for example it has a wider memory bus and so has a much higher bandwidth.
Out of the GPUs displayed in the table above i believe that the best of them would be the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti this is because it has a higher clock speed than the rest so it can perform more clock cycles per second. It also has more cores than the rest meaning it can perform more tasks at one time. Due to it having more RAM, this means that it can store more temporary storage meaning it can run things like games quicker than thing with less cores due to the amount of things the happen on the screen.

Rasterization

A GPU will first create a wire frame out of straight lines then fill in the remaining pixels. This is the process of converting polygons to pixels. It looks to determine what pixel is part of what

polygon and the fills that pixel in with that polygons colour or texture and adds them accordingly. If the resolution isn't very good then the pixels will be bigger and the image will appear to have jagged edges

Sound

A sound card in a system is a integrated component that lets your machine produce sound through speakers or headphones. A machine doesn't need a sound card to function however usually comes with one whether it be on the sound card or built onto the mother board. There are many different channels that sound can come through the first one being mono- this is where the same channel is outputted even if there is several speakers connected to the machine. A 2.0 channel stereo system has two channels for the sound to come out of normally the left and the right. A 5.1 channel system has additional amplifier channels to support movie theater sound. A 7.1 channel is basically a home theater system with three front channels with two surround channels and two rear channels.

Display

The display is shown on a monitor that is integrated into the device and the image on screen is rendered by the graphics card. There are several different displays like LCD and LED. LCD stands for liquid crystal display and it is used for most devices these days. In the display there is a panel that consists of liquid crystal molecules that can be affected by electric fields, this forces them to make certain patterns that will block the light or let it through. LCD displays with colour have green, red and blue sub pixels in each pixel. To control which colour comes through the screen the intensity of light is controlled to show a picture. All LCD monitors use a black light that shines through the display.  The LED (Light Emitting Diode) can quickly be turned on or off, meaning that light can be much more controlled. Depending on the way the lights are arranged they can provide more light distribution and not consume as much energy. HDR or High Dynamic Range increases the contrast ratio of the monitor and the amount of colours it can show, this helps the image to look more realistic when compared to the normal HDTVs. A downside of HDR is that you have to have a device that is capable of outputting HDR.

Device	Resolution	Do they support HDR
Xbox 360	1080	NO
Xbox One	Cinema 4K	NO
PS4	Cinema 4K	YES
Nintendo 3DS	800x240(top) 320x240(bottom)	NO
GeForce 1080	8K	YES
High End Phone	1080	YES

Game Storage

There are two main types of game storage the first being proprietary, file format is one that the games company has ordered to contain the data, its supposed to be a secret, so that the interpretation of the data can only be done by software that the company has created. An example of this would be Battle.net, software that the company Blizzard has created in order to play their games. An Xbox wouldn't be able to play a PS4 game because it doesn't have the correct software to interpret the data. The other type of storage is standard, this is something that is able to be opened by anything, meaning it doesn't require and decoding to work, examples of these would be the hard drive or SD card. There are advantages and disadvantages of each, an advantage of proprietary would be that it is much harder for people to pirate their game, however it is also harder to open the file.

Connectivity

They're are several different types of connectivity. Standalone connectivity is when you can use the PC with out having to be connected to the local area, for example when the PC is running a program without internet access. To connect a wired controller the device needs controller ports this is also a type of connectivity.  A LAN connection is when a group of computers share a common communication line to a server, so that they can connect to each others matches. Internet access is also a type of connectivity, this is where you can connect to a network and play with other connected to this network. Bluetooth is a standard for short range wireless connection.

PC - Has controller ports for the key board and mouse, can be used with a LAN or internet connection. Also has Bluetooth.

Xbox One - Has USB controller ports, LAN and internet access.

PS4 - Has USB controller ports, LAN and internet access

3DS - Only has WIFI internet connection

PSU's

This is the Power Supply Unit is a piece of hardware that gives all of the components in a console or PC with power.

PC - Has an internal PSU
Xbox One - Has external PSU through the plug
PS4 - Has an internal PSU
Nintendo 3DS -Has an external PSU ( the AC adapter)


















https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbZOgJcBPX7NTFCaTd0LXNGWk0/view
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/proprietary
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/stand_alone.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-bluetooth

Unit 78 Digital Graphics for Computer Games - Assignment 2

Client Brief

Develop concepts for a game based on the movie Big Trouble in Little China.

Brief

Because two main protagonists are men and the antagonist is a man I feel like the target audience for this game would be men, not to say women wouldn't play the game, however it may be a good idea to add Gracie as a playable character to encourage more women to play the game. The age range for the target audience would be anywhere from 12 to 40, considering that the movie came out in 1986 some people may want to play the game for nostalgia reasons. The movie also has different ethnicities in it and so this might influence Chinese people to buy the game. I feel that the type of people that would be in this would be in the range of Ds - Bs. Research should also be done to see where people that fit into this target audience live as this is where the most advertising would be done for the game.

Before even starting work on the game, permission would have to be signed by the owners of the franchise, this would allow us to use the characters and places we see in the film. Clearly the film takes place in a Chinatown in New York City and caution would have to be taken as not to offend anyone. Especially when designing the Chinese character i would try to stay as true to the movie as possible. There is no nudity in the film so this wouldn't be a problem as there is hardly any in the film and adding some in the game would just restrict where it could be released and who would be able to purchase it.

The genre for the game would be an action-adventure platformer, with some different elements for transition levels. A good artistic style that would suit this genre would be pixel art.

Job Roles in the Game Industry

Job Roles in the Game Industry

Different Types of Companies

There are different types of companies in the gaming industry that serve different purposes. Development studios basically create all of the aspects of the game, from the art to the level design this studio will create it all. However when it comes to the publishers they have an entirely different job, one of the main ones is marketing the game, a team will often have to do market research to decide on the price of the game this will consider the platform its coming out on and popularity of is genre at the time. A publisher will also have to physically manufacture the disks and cases for the game, as well as any other promotional items. An independent studio can consist of a small amount of people to work on an entire game, obviously this can be a huge amount of work depending on the size of the game. They have to serve as both developer and publisher, this has become easier over the years with the introduction of virtual stores like Steam.

Responsibility in the Industry

Each of the different roles fall into categories and usually to each category there is a team assigned to work on a specific aspect of the game. Each team often has a lead that will run the team and oversee all the work that they do, for example the lead programmer will manage the software engineering throughout the development of the game. They normally delegate tasks to their team and overlook the work during and after development.

Working Patterns

The company Blizzard has many different roles and so I'll be using them as the example for this section. The average salary for a software engineer working at Blizzard is $82K a year, this is 14% higher than the nation average. This is a staggering amount higher when compared to Indie developers, 60% of which made less then £500 in game sales in 2013. Since working at Blizzard is in an office environment the hours are normally 9 - 5, however they may do irregular times when close to a release date. Working on an indie game is pretty much always irregular hours as you are often working from home and need to finish the game in order to earn a living wage. Occasionally during the development process the work may become to much or they may want to hire someone more experienced, and so they would hire a freelancer. This is someone that comes from outside the team to work on a specific job. Another type of employee is one on a fixed term contract, this means they are employed to do a job for a set amount of time and their employment will be terminated at the end of that contract.

Animator

An animator is responsible for showing movement and behaviour in a game, they use the best of the games engine technology, however are sometimes limited by the platform they are animated for. The aim of the animator was to bring life to a character in the most realistic way possible whether this be in game or during a cut scene. Animators often work with the programmers and artists to create smooth movement that is optimised for the correct platform. They work as part of the art department and use the objects, models and characters created by the 3D artist to define their movement and behaviour. Animation combines different aspects of movement and so the Animators can create a library of reusable animations, this makes to process quicker. To make the process more efficient the Animators often create and underlying structure that acts similar to bones.

Games Artist

These guys create the visual elements like the characters, objects and textures. Quite often they are also responsible for the concept art or storyboards which help create the visual element before the production for the game has even started. There are a lot of different artistic styles that are used for games, from photo realism to cell shaded and its an artists job to make the desired result. The look of a game is often related to its success, so an artists job is an important one. There are specific jobs that fall under the artist category for example 3D artists and concept artists. 

Assistant Producer

These people work closely with the production crew to ensure that the game is of highest quality and is produced on time. To do this role you must be able to work well in a team and have strong verbal and written communication skills. They normally focus on one aspect of the development process. A large part of there job is to manage communication between different teams like development, art and programming. In publishing, Assistant Producers will liaises between sales and marketing, however their roles can often change during the development process, this happens as the development of the game progresses. Quite often the assistant producers plan due dates and track the progress towards it, they would also review the work at completion.

Designer

One of the most important jobs in the industry is game designer, these people choose how the player will interact with the game and also several elements of it for example its setting and the characters. Once they decide on how they want the game they pass it on to the development team who create assets and code that allow the game to be played. The designer has to consider the time frame and budget they have and use this information to create the best game they can. Developers often have a good understanding of how the software they use will interact with the platform they are making the game for. They also decide on changes to make after having a response from the QA testers. 

Scriptwriter

A scriptwriter has the job of creating the story for the game, however they have a say in other aspects for example what the music would be like and events that trigger something like a cut-scene. In a game there are often several choices to make and so quite often a script writer will create a flow chart that shows the possible out comes of a players actions. The script will start as a summarised version to simply pitch the story in general and then become a more detailed story when the video game has been approved.

Level Designer

The level designer is responsible for creating separate segments of a game which usually include buildings and objects. They are slightly limited as they have to use characters and story elements created by the Game Designer. They have some freedom to change the look and feel of the level that they are responsible for. They have to define the environment and layout of the level, as well as lighting and textures. They have to add the NPCs and the behaviours associated with them. The levels can have an underlying meaning as well that can give players clues about how to progress through the game. They often sketch out the level in 2D and have to imagine themselves playing it in 3D to map out the possibilities of progressing. They are then mapped out in 3D and tested in the games engine.

QA Tester

Short for quality assurance tester, these guys are responsible for testing, spotting bugs and providing feedback on aspects of the game that could be improved. They need a good eye to be able to see anything from minor glitches to full crashes. They also look for legal issues in the game, for example anything that would count as copyright. The testers would also decide which issues to resolve first for example a game breaking bug would be prioritised over a missing texture. They often have a vision for how the game is going to be played and so test accordingly, this is why there is usually a team of testers so they can test different areas in different ways, or even test the multiplayer aspect of a game.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Gaming Platforms

The Advantages and Disadvantages of  Gaming Platforms

Mobiles aren't just phones but anything that you can easily carry around like a Nintendo or Ipad.

Mobiles:
There are two different types of handheld device, those that are purely made for games for example the Nintendo, and those that have been made for other purposes however also include games, like an IPhone. You can tell that the Nintendo has been made for games due to the way that the hardware is designed. It has a D-Pad and buttons designed specifically for cartridge based games that you have to buy separately, it also has two different screen one of them being touch pad. The IPhone is made to sever as a phone however includes the Apple Store in which you can download thousands of games a lot of which are free. There is one button on the IPhone which inst used for any game and so they have to rely entirely on touchscreen controls.

Disadvantages:

Many of the games are made to be single player and so could be criticised for separating you from society. In the time spent playing the games could be spent doing something sociable or productive. Constant use of thumbs, wrists and eyes could ed to severe eye strain, RSI or other issues. Games do not need mush physical activity and so could be criticised for making you unfit. The hardware and sometimes software can be quite expensive leading you to make a choice as to whether you need it or not. You can get sleepless nights for playing these games due to how easy they are to play.

Advantages:

There is a huge range of games that you can by on the app store that suit many different styles of play. They are also hugely convenient, being able to be played anywhere due to them being handheld. Apart from there being a pricey cost for the console most of the games are very cheap or even free. A phone for example isn't made purely for gaming and so can be used for other stuff like texting or browsing the web.

PCs (in this case a gaming) 

PC:
Currently the most technology advanced of the consoles, parts of a PC can be upgraded separately to keep up with the ever growing technology in the gaming industry. One of the most advanced graphics cards at the moment is the GeForce GTX 1080 which allows for 4K resolution. this means it can display 4,000 by 2,000 pixels on screen. It connects through HDMI, which allows for a High-definition interface. Occasionally a PC will need a fan to help stop it overheating and usually comes with a wired mouse and keyboard. Wired is usually better as it reduces latency.

Advantages:

You don't have to use a PC for just gaming as there primary use would be to browse the web. Games are much easier to buy on PC due to the digital copies you can get off of Steam, the games are usually a bit cheaper as well due to there being no licensing fee. They have to capability for insane graphics and processing power due to the fact that you can actively upgrade your computer as and when you wish. Thanks to backwards compatibility there is a huge library of games compared to the other platforms.

Disadvantages:

The cost for a gaming PC can skyrocket depending on the specs that you go for. Many of the games are made to be single player and so could be blamed for isolating you from family and friends for many hours. Many gamers have poor posture which can result in health problems in later life.

Arcade Machines

Arcade:
Rather an old machine which is usually coin-operated, can often be found in business places like restaurants and bars. There are several different games that take place of on an arcade machine, just a few are space invaders, Tekkan or Resident Evil. Fighting games often make great arcade games because the joystick and two button make for great combo mechanisms, for example ▲▼AB. The machines are usually multiplayer and so have two sets of controls. They are designed purely to soak up money.

Advantages:

Some feel that if you stand up when gaming you can become more immersed. Also not many arcade machines are around these days and many people certainly don't own them, because of this you have to leave the house to play them which in turn causes you to socialise with people. The majority of the machines are made to be multiplayer as well this help with paying for the cost.

Disadvantages:

Arcade machines cost a ridiculous amount of money and depend on people playing them to get the money back. You cannot upgrade an arcade machine and so you are stuck with what you get. The machines are normally made to play only one game and so there is no variation and i can imagine getting bored very quickly.

Consoles

Consoles:
Most of these console where originally made to only play games however as technology has advanced you can now use them to browse the web, watch TV or go online shopping. It usually connects to a TV and so the display will only be as good as the TV allows. Each console also has their own operating system for example the Xbox's would be Windows.

Advantages:

There are a lot of different games that you can get on consoles and there are several different consoles to play on. The games that are made to be on consoles are specifically made for the machine and so should run optimally as soon as you get it. The machines can be quite expensive however when you get it, you shouldn't have any problems running the game.

Disadvantages:
The technology will be outdated a few years after you buy the console and will most likely be pressured to buy the latest one. The prices of the games are also a lot higher than they would be on PC. Also you cannot personally upgrade the console and so it is locked at the specs that you buy it at.

Unit 78: Digital Graphics

Picture Resolution

When taken on a camera if the resolution is low it may be harder to see on a cameras however you can change the settings obviously if you are going to print out on A4 then the resolution doesn't have to be super high however in certain professions for example if you wanted to blow the picture up onto the side of a bus then the resolution would have to be a lot higher so that the image isn't pixelated on the bus. In the image below you can see the affect that increasing the amount of pixels per inch can do, in the first image there is theoretically 4 pixels 

Image Resolution

This is the resolution when the image is printed, the higher the amount of pixels per inch the image has the better quality the image will be. To make the highest quality image you want a high dpi(dots per inch) fro example 3000. When printing the resolution would be a lot bigger because the ink dots can be a lot closer together than what is shown on screen. This mean you can also fit more 'pixels' on printed page than you can do on screen. So you should never print at the same resolution as the on screen resolution.

Intensity 

There are many different shades between black and white, especially in Photoshop there are millions. A computer represents one colour with a colour code and three colours red, green and blue. So the one pixel value is made from vectors of three different colours. Technically, pixel intensity is its brightness, the histogram shows you how many pixels are at a certain intensity when compared to others in the same image. Black is on the left and white on the left and intensity increases as you move to the right. There are ways to have Photoshop have you show the intensities of each individual colours red, green and blue.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Movie

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -Movie

Plot: The foot clan are trying to steal chemicals and are being occasionally stopped by an unknown vigilantly, this turns out to be the turtles. Sagg had a plan to infect New York City so he could save it and become rich. However to create the antidote to the toxin he needs the turtles blood. He uses April to track them and kidnap them so he can drain their blood.

 Beginning: A reporter (April O’Neil) investigating stolen genetic chemicals. At this point the atmosphere is light and comedic. The foot clan is attempting to steal more chemicals and she decides to investigate, there is a dark change in atmosphere at this point. The docks storage containers make for good ambush and increases the viewer’s tension. The Shredder kept in silhouette to keep us in suspense and the atmosphere dark. We find out backstory about foot clan at a benefit though a sob story. The movie changes in pace when hundreds of people start running towards camera as they’re being chased. The reporter runs in to investigate an underground train station however she gets taken hostage. The lights go out so the turtles cannot be seen as they kick ass. The reporter finds and confronts turtles, the turtle’s comedic and relaxed attitude counters the previous atmosphere of the hostage situation. April realises she knows the turtles as she has video footage of them being experimented on. Splinter the turtles master remembers April. She visits the scientists that created the turtles.

Middle: Backstory about japan that gave the scientist his inspiration. Invitation to meeting at night by turtles, she feels threatened by the turtles however splinter reassures her and tells her how they were created. We find out that the scientist has been working for shredder the entire time this is dramatic irony as April doesn’t know. The lair is compromised when April realises her phone is being tracked. This leads to a boss type like fight against shredder, splinter sacrifices himself for the turtles. Three of the turtles are kidnapped and drained for their blood however Raphael hasn’t been captured so he and April go to save them. After busting in he is confronted by shredder and has to fend him off while April releases the turtles. Shredder is already on his way to New York so they have to use a service hatch and travel through the sewer to get back. Shredder has already released the toxin and the turtles have a countdown to stop it.

End: While the turtles take the elevator to confront shredder. April goes to Sagg to take the mutagen as a contingency plan. The turtles try to take shredder on one by one and fail however when they come together they beat him and disable the toxin. April knocks out Sagg to steal the mutagen and uses it to tempt shredder and give the turtles the advantage over him. The turtles then retreat back to the sewers without anyone seeing them.

Gamification

I think that a side scrolling 2.5 dimensional game would fit the film quite well, as it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The graphics would be cell shaded and the game would have cut scenes at the end of each chapter. The game would be 4 player so that each person could play a separate turtle. Each turtle would have a light, medium and heavy attack, each would be able to jump and attack in mid-air. There would be combos for example 2 light attacks and a heavy attack would cause you to start juggling the enemy. The turtles would also have 10 shrunken that they could throw in a straight line. The genre would be an action side-scroller and would consist of 5 chapters each with 10 separate levels. Throughout the game there would be both bosses and mini-bosses with the majority of the enemies you face being different types of foot soldiers. The game would block you from moving on until you have dealt with the current wave of soldiers. There would be intractable items in the world for example exploding barrels that you pick up and throw. Each turtle would have a health bar and would be able to heal with pizza found in destructible items around the level. Each chapter would be set in a different area for example the first would be the streets at night and the subway tunnel where the hostages were kept. The final boss would be shredder, who would have three different stages in the fight, getting harder each time you deplete his life bar.in the first stage he would have a long range charge and a close range slash ability. During his second phase he would then be able to throw knives and recall them like in the movie. In his final form he would take 25% more damage from attacks but also do 25% more damage, along with this he wold also have a pin that dealt damage over time. In between each of his phases there would be a wave of foot soldiers for you to fight.