Term
| What shouldn't you do when yo have a good idea for a level? |
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Definition
| Jump right in and start designing it |
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Term
| What are the two major limitations level designers face? |
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Definition
| Technical Limitations and Environmental Limitations |
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Term
| What does being part of a development team often require level designers do before building their levels? |
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Definition
| Pre-planning and coordinating with others |
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Term
| What is the "Game Platform" and why is it important |
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Definition
| The hardware a game runs on, it plays a large role in determining technical limitations. |
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Term
| What do technical constraints affect and what do they not affect |
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Definition
Does affect how its made
doesn't affect what the level is |
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Term
| What are the 8 biggest factors in dealing with technical limitations? |
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Definition
| Memory, Processing Power/Frame Rate, Performance, Polycount, Level Lighting, AI, Media Format, Hardware Specs |
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Term
| What are the three methods used to deal with memory constraints? |
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Definition
| frequent small loads, infrequent large loads, streaming information in and out of memory constantly. |
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Term
| Of the three ways of dealing with memory constraints which is the preferred? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is one major limitation of constantly streaming level information in and out of memory? |
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Definition
| It can't handle large sudden shifts in environment. |
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Term
| What four questions should you ask yourself while you design to help you stay inside your memory limitations? |
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Definition
Do I need a new asset or can I re-use an existing one?
If I do use a new asset will the player notice?
What can I do to ease the transition between visually separate areas?
Should my level be broken into smaller maps? Where should this happen? Where should it not happen? |
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Term
| What does the CPU Handle? |
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Definition
| Most of the calculations including projectile movement, AI, keeping track of objects in the world. |
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Term
| What does the GPU calculate? |
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Definition
| Lighting and shadows, special effects, decompressing image files and textures from memory. |
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Term
| What is Frame Rate and how is it measured? |
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Definition
| Frame rate is the rate at which the still images appear on the screening and is measure in Frames Per Second or FPS |
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Term
| What FPS do movies use and how does this differ for games? |
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Definition
| Movies use 24 FPS and games use variable fps. |
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Term
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Definition
| The amount of processing power available. |
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Term
| What is most likely the biggest of all the potential problems you might encounter in designing your level? |
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Definition
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Term
| What do consumers typically consider to be higher performing games? |
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Definition
| Games with higher frame rates |
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Term
| What type of players are most concerned with frame rate |
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Definition
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Term
| What will having a consistently low frame rate do? |
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Definition
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Term
| What costs do you need to be aware of when starting to build your level? |
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Definition
| The costs of your decisions in terms of frame rate. |
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Term
| What are polygons, or Polys? |
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Definition
| The simplest geometric shapes that can describe a volume, the space between three points called vertices |
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Term
| The more complex an object the more _________ it has. |
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Definition
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Term
| What is typically the problem with polygons, the overall count in the level or the number visible at one time? |
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Definition
| The number visible at one time |
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Term
| What are two ways to run into poly count problems? |
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Definition
| Expansive detailed terrain, too many characters in one area. |
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Term
| What types of games use simple low poly count terrain and why? |
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Definition
| RTS games, to compensate for the large number of units they need to display |
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Term
| How do particle emitters negatively affect the performance of your level? |
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Definition
| They can quickly generate large numbers of small models or images. |
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Term
| What is a major growing source of GPU strain? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is dynamic lighting? |
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Definition
| Lighting that is constantly being calculated, allowing for realistic shadows and responses to turning lights on and off. |
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Term
| What is being replaced by Dynamic lighting? |
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Definition
| Static lighting that where all the lights and shadows were fixed in the game environment. |
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Term
| What is the major draw back of dynamic lighting? |
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Definition
| Its GPU costs are very large so you have to limit your use of it in your level. |
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Term
| What should you not plan for in your level without checking with the programming team first? |
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Definition
| An extravagantly lit area |
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Term
| What are the three main ways that AI uses processing power? |
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Definition
Awareness
Decision Making
Navigation |
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Term
| Is it critical to know the relative performance hit for all the actors in your level? |
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Definition
| No, but it can save frustration when your level bogs down and you can't figure out why. |
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Term
| The more complex your AI the more _______ it needs |
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Definition
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Term
| Of the three ways AI uses processing power, what uses the most? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the core of any AI? |
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Definition
| Its ability o choose an appropriate actions based on the events its aware of |
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Term
| What causes your AI to need more awareness and continue generating a plan to react? |
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Definition
| Having more conditions and more possible reactions |
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Term
| Even simple AI can drag down the performance of you map if? |
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Definition
| They are present in large numbers |
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Term
| What is the worst case scenario for your AIs navigation? |
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Definition
| It uses some kind of constant awareness check to maneuver through the level. |
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Term
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Definition
| It is when an actor projects a beam in a direction and see where and when it is interrupted. Telling the actor what kind of object is in that direction, and how far away it is. |
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Term
| What do you not want to use for general navigation? |
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Definition
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Term
| What should designers use to navigate their AI? |
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Definition
| Path nodes and Navigation routes |
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Term
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Definition
| Path nodes are invisible points in the map that that AI units can travel between |
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Term
| What is the advantage of path node based navigation routes? |
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Definition
| The AI doesn't have to make any complex decisions as long as it doesn't leave the patrol route. Keeping them from having to constantly check surrounding and strain the CPU |
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Term
| Beyond performance why are patrol route useful for designers? |
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Definition
Making AI look like it has a destination
Making sure AI goes where you want it to. |
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Term
| What are Navigation Networks? |
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Definition
| Networks of navigation nodes that tell AI how it can move in a space and avoid obstacles and where important features are. |
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Term
| What is one advantage and one disadvantage of Navigation Networks? |
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Definition
Large well connected networks allow AI to accurately navigate the map
Each NPC must make more decisions when traveling on a network than on a route. |
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Term
| How do many games overcome the problem with navigational networks? |
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Definition
| Have NPCs followed pre-determined patrol routes until some event triggers them to leave the route and move onto the network. |
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Term
| What is the overall lesson about AI that remains the same even as hardware improves? |
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Definition
| The more information you can give an NPC upfront the fewer decisions it need to make as it moves and the better your performance will be. |
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Term
| What types of games are most affected by Media Format constraints and why? |
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Definition
| Consoles and handheld games. They can't install software to a hard drive so it must be stored on a disk or cartridge. |
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Term
| What types of games are more concerned with meeting target and minimum specs and why? |
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Definition
| PC games, all consoles have the same hardware but PCs are all different |
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Term
| What is the "Target specification" for a game? |
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Definition
| The ideal average hardware setup required to play the game |
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Term
| What is the "Minimum specification?" |
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Definition
| The absolute lowest level of hardware the game will run on without significant problems |
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Term
| Where is the ideal you should design for in terms of Minimum spec and target spec? |
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Definition
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Term
| What should you know before thinking about designing your level? |
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Definition
| The performance specs for your game |
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Term
| What does the term performance typically refer to? |
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Definition
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Term
| What questions should you ask to prioritize the elements in your level? |
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Definition
Is it more important to have good visuals or better AI?
What can I remove without affecting the experience?
Are the models making the most efficient use of polygons?
Can I remove or scale down one or more of my textures without compromising the visual impression? |
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Term
| What are some of the most direct constraints a level designer deals with? |
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Definition
| Environmental constraints |
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Term
| What are the 6 important factors for determining environmental constraints? |
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Definition
| Local Geography, Local Architecture, Time of Day, Season, Weather, Gravity |
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Term
| What two things should you be sure to be aware of when planning your levels lighting? |
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Definition
| Time of day and weather, no brightly lit worlds under overcast skies. |
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Term
| What should you do after finding out the environmental constraints of your level? |
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Definition
| Create a reference file with photos, drawings, other information that will inform you about the setting of your level |
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Term
| What is the third, less common, type of constraint designers will sometimes face in some games? |
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Definition
| License constraints for licensed IP, this will limit some of the things you might want to do in your level because it doesn't fit with the existing world of the licensed IP. |
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Term
| Where should you start in designing your level? |
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Definition
| The location of your level, it will inform many of the decisions you will make as you lay out your design. |
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