Game Engines

Game engines are used to develop and create video games. Game engines provide developers with core coding and rendering tools like:

- Graphics Rendering engine
- Physics engine
- Collision Detection engine
- Artificial Intelligence engine
- Sound engine



2D Game Engines


Adventure Game studio
Box 2D
Enigma
Exult
JGame
Allegro Library
Cocos2D
Flare
Flash Punk

2D game engines are popular and were once the only game engines used. Initially, Games were created with lines of code in the beginning. I cannot find any sources describing the creation and release of the first 2D game engines, so I have to assume that the reasoning behind using these first engines was purely experimental. 

3D Game Engines

Unity
Frostbite
Source
Cry Engine
Infinity ward
RPG engines
Cube 2
Delta 3D
Jake 2
Ardor 3D
Flixel
3D Rad

3D game engines come packaged with an assortment of tools that developers can use to create an environment. 3D game engines tend to come with more realistic effects and physics then 2D game engines. Developers can use weather conditions, they can alter the terrain and they can apply 3D models of objects in the environment.

Game Mods

Sandbox Elevator Source
Flood Mod
Gary's Mod
Spac Build
Perp

Mods are modifications that the general public can create and apply to a game that they have purchased. These Mods however are not stand alone pieces of software, so a person must be in possession of the game they wish to mod in order to change it. These changes can be subtle like applying different textures to the environment, or they can be quite large packages like changing the entire game all together.

Graphics Rendering

Game engines apply graphics rendering whilst the player navigates the game's map. The entire map isn't generated when the player loads the game on the system, instead a small fraction of the world is generated around them.

Sometimes in games you will be able to notice the graphics rendering process. Recently whilst playing Borderlands 2 I saw the environment being built around my character and then the graphics being applied in steps depending on detail. First of all the environment was blurry and it's texture contained of only one colour, soon another layer was added over the basic layer and it became more detailed but it was still wasn't a good quality of detail eventually the game applied another layer and the environment was done generating in the vicinity of my character.





Collision Detection

Video games have to split their very limited computing time between several tasks. Despite this resource limit, and the use of relatively primitive collision detection algorithms, programmers have been able to create believable, if inexact, systems for use in games.

Game engines have the ability to calculate large amounts of equations in specific orders. However, the amount of equations it can handle varies depending on the game engine itself. If you have a very up to date, high priced and well reviewed game engine, it'll probably be able to handle immense amounts of calculations during collisions between objects in a game environment. During games, players may come across anomalies in the game environment, such as floating characters, frozen animations, rendered graphics etc. This is all because somewhere in the environment the game engine is trying to calculate complicated equations.


Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the replication of human behavior in the game's environment. Game developers can make this as detailed as possible in order to create a realistic feeling whilst playing the game, or they can make it simple so that normal none playable characters can perform normal tasks that help the player progress.
Depending on the size of the game and the amount of money that developers have at their disposal, game characters behavior can be tailored to accurately replicate the emotional state of human beings. 'The Witcher
 2' is an interesting example of AI in none playable characters. The player is exposed to many gatherings of characters in this game. They gather is places like a market place. And you can see them trade with shop keepers and tradesmen. But the player will notice that the weather conditions effect how the charcters behave in the environment. A striking example of this realistic behavior is that characters will avoid open spaces during rainfall.



Physics 
Physics in  games have become very detailed recently. Things like gravity, cloth and water physics are what makes games even more realistic. And these effects can have an impact on the gameplay as well, games like 'Fluidity' revolve their game around physics and the flow of water when gravity has been applied.



Sound
Game engines come packaged with different soundbites that can be used in different games. Because sound is such an expansive media, Game engines have to come prepared with a large amount of sounds that tailor to the game developers needs. Different sounds like ambiance sounds and environment sounds are incorporated into this software. This way developers can make their games more entertaining and realistic. A small game that uses these sounds to their full advantage is Slender. There are lots of different sounds that are emitted to create suspense and realism. Such as walking in grass and turning your flash light on and off with a 'click' sound, plus faint music slowly players in the background the more the player advances.

Art in video games analysis

Write characteristics of styles.
How they link to an artistic movement.
Show examples of games.

Photorealism
Photorealism is a style of art that reflects an image of objects from any given environment. The artist who is trying to create something in the style of photrealism will try to make their work look as realistic as possible. In a sense the best way to test if you have acheived this is when the viewer has no idea wether or not they are looking at a photographic image or a painting.
I find that when the artist pays paticular attention to reflections and colour in their pieces they paint their image so there is no distint difference to real life.

Art deco incorperates grand and linier curves into forms and images from real life. Photorealism and art deco arn't necessary the same thing but I find that art deco takes characteristics from photorealism, such as forms like the human body, and adds simplistic (or complicated) designs to the form. So whilst it's changing the forms exterior motives it's staying true to the shape that it has evolved from.

 

 Bioshock seems as though it would be the most obvious game to link photorealism and art deco, and it is. The environment is covered with posters, wallpaper and clothing that all spawn from the syle of art deco. And the deveopers present this art movement to the player in the most realistic way possible. The attention to detail is perfect and is always a strong factor when the player traverses the city of Rapture. The colours of the environment always stay true to the movement. Such as the tiles in the image to the right. Look at how a large portion of a square tile is covered with dull brown and the centre is coloured with a lush emerald. And to top it off, the tiles edges are lined off with a grand gold colour. The game portrays a sort of majesty, and at the same time creates a dark and gritty feeling.

Black and White

The style of black and white art is often quite a mesterious and simplistic design. It's usually used to create fear and sorrow whilst the viewer inspects the image. Creating these feelings can be quite a challenge however. To strike fear into the viewer it is often best to apply the style of black and white to images that create questions of the unknown. Take the feeling that a person will undergo when they're in the dark and they hear something outside or downstairs. Logically it could be something simple and harmless but during the night whilst the person is in the dark it stirs questions and creates fear of the unknown. I believe this is the correct use of the style.

I  feel as though the art movement of surrealism can be linked to the psychological mind games that the style of black and white imagry brings to the table. Most of the time surrealism is based off of the random dreams that artists have experienced. This can easily be applied to the style of black and white, what better way to experience someones subconcious then to be fearing every step of the way through the environment. Both the style and the artistic movement have something to do with the subconcious of the players mind. The art form being a manifestation of the developers unconcious messages, and the style swaying the emotions of the players fears.

Limbo utalises both the style and art movement exceptionally. Although the stlye of black and white is more dominant, and sometimes overpowers the surreal aspect of the game, they both go hand in hand when they are equally used. The game's environment is set in a forest and emits an erie unknown atmosphere. The creatures in this environment are large and boney. What I find interesting about the creatures in this game is that the player will feel scared of their power and form, yet they cannot see their detail.  All the player has is a silloette to go from. This is again the fear of the unknown generating the player's caution.

Pixel

Pixel designs are combinations of pixels that are visible to the naked eye, this can be used to draw objects, shade them or be used to create drawings with shaded effects. The pixel style is simplistic but can be used effectivly to create vibrant designs that aren't to complicated to analyse. Shading is a very flexible technique that can be used in pixel art. It's tonal changes can be as gradual or as bold as the artist desires.

Pixel art can be linked to a style of art known as 'popular art'. I main reason I'm making this connection is because of the way the image to the left has been filled. The skin of the subject has been coloured with small circles the the view can see. although it isn't exactly the same concept and design as pixel art, you can clearly see where each segment of colour is placed. Tonal work is very bold and explicit. Instead of gradual tonal work, the artist has either just used one basic colour with a black outline. But when the artist has tried to create shadows he has used black, again the artist chose to not use gradual tonal work.

 

Megaman X is a perfect example of pixel art being used effectively. In the image to the right, the environment is designed to look futuristic and developed, ofcourse this isn't something that can be designed in a simlistic mannor, machinery demands detail to look mechanical.But on close inspection the player can see the pixels that make up the environment and the sprites. Unlike the artwork above, Megaman X has more flow when it comes to colour. The player can still see large contrasts in colour, but there are more tonal shades compared to the pop art above.