designing design tools
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Designing Design Tools. Designing Design Tools. What is design tools ? Why do we need them ?. Table of Contents. Desired Functionality Scripting Languages and Object Behaviors Us Versus Them A Game Editor for All Seasons. Desired Functionality. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Table of ContentsDesired Functionality Scripting Languages and
Object Behaviors Us Versus ThemA Game Editor for All Seasons
Desired Functionality What sorts of features should be
included to allow an editor to truly shine, to empower designers to do the best work possible?
Desired Functionality Visualizing the LevelThe most important objective for
a world creation tool must be to allow the designer to see the world he is creating while simultaneously enabling him to make modifications to it. (WYSIWYG)
Desired Functionality Visualizing the LevelThe designer should be easily
able to move the camera in this player’s view
This movement is probably best accomplished with a simple “flight” mode
Desired Functionality Visualizing the LevelOf course, the world as it will
appear in the game is not always the best view from which to edit that world. For this reason, level editors often need to include an “editing view” in addition to the player’s view.
Desired Functionality The Big Picture The player’s view window does
not always need to represent exactly what players will see.
Desired Functionality The Big Picture WaypointsTrigger objectsSpawn pointsCharacter datasAudio sources
Desired Functionality The Big Picture The ability to turn on and off the
rendering of different data can be quite useful in setting up the level’s behaviors.
Desired Functionality Jumping into the Game In addition to having the player’s
view of the world represent what players will see in the game, it can be quite useful to allow the designer to actually maneuver in this view as he would in the actual game.
Desired Functionality Editing the World It is important that the editor
actually allow the designer to modify all gameplay-critical aspects of a level.
Desired Functionality Editing the World Changeable GeometryTerrain - heightmap EditorAnimation EditorAsset Importing from commercial
softwares
Scripting Languages and Object Behaviors Game behaviors should be
editable without involving a programmer
Enemies,Weapons, And others…
Scripting Languages and Object Behaviors Many games now include
scripting languages
Custom scripting languages,Or existing ones:Lua, GameMonkey, AngelScript
vs…
Scripting Languages and Object Behaviors Scripting Languages;+ Easy to learn+ No compile time+ Faster coding
- Less debugging capabilities- No powerful IDE support- Slower than native code
Scripting Languages and Object Behaviors Each level in the game can have
a unique script that sets up and triggers various unique behaviors on that level.
There is a key difference between “scripted events” and the “scripting language”
Us Versus ThemThe development of the tools for
a project often comes down to a battle between the programmers and the designers.
Us Versus ThemA programmer can be assigned
for tools developmentThis is called Tools Programmer
(o rly?)
Or a programmer can try to make a level using the tool to see what designers might be need
A Game Editor for All SeasonsOnce a designer becomes adept
at the tools he will know what not to do and will be able to easily work around the trouble spots..
A Game Editor for All SeasonsIf the tools used on a project are
good enough, marketing may catch on and can come up with the bright idea