Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Task 2 – The Connection and Configuration of Game Platform
http://benankers72.blogspot.co.uk/
These vidos explain the controller options, display settings and intal mehods availiable to everyone these days but there are some things that i did not mantion such as there are a much wider range of controllers visual displays and places to get games from.
Controller modifications are avaliable for people who cant hold controllers very well and there are screen optons that allow people to see better also.
there are many sites that people can get games from such as Steam and GOG for digital copies of video games.
Task 1 – Software Technologies for Game Platforms
Platform Dependency:
Platform Dependency in regards to video games refers to games or game genres depending on a specific type of platform for best results. An example of a game/game genre that is platform dependant is Starcraft 2 which is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. This game relies on fast and many inputs on a lot of different buttons on a keyboard. This game is dependant on the PC with the Keyboard and Mouse for precision and speed. Other platforms do not allow for that as the controllers do not have either the necessary buttons and the precision of a mouse. The 2 games that i will compare are Battlefield 1 and Nox. Nox is dependent on the PC as it relies on lots of hotkeys to cast various spells and abilities which other platforms cannot give. Battlefield one of the other hand does not rely on hotkeys and you dont necessarily need the precision of a mouse with options like aim assist in shooting games.
Operations Systems Used:
Operating systems when it comes to video games define what machine you play on from Mac to PC. The OS is the system which manages the software and the hardware, all computer programs require an OS to work. Nox needs at minimum Windows XP to run, compared to Battlefield 1 which needs at least 64-bit Windows 7 to run. Battlefield needs a newer OS as its a much more demanding game then Nox.
Drivers Needed:
Drivers are needed for all devices to work with a computer,the drivers basically allow for the device to communicate with the computer and it allows the computer to recognise the inputs. In relation to video games things like controllers and keyboards all have drivers that need to be installed before use on computers. Other drivers exist though such as sound drivers, these drivers allows for the interpretation of sounds between the computer and speakers/headphones. The drivers that both games used are most likely DirectX for the graphics library as its the most common graphic library for Microsoft systems.
Application Software Used:
Battlefield 1 was created in the programming language C++. C++ is one of the most common programming languages that are used for creating video game, its safe to assume that Nox was probably created with C++ also. A programming language is a formal compuer language which is used to create programs for computers systems using lines of code.
Graphical API:
The graphical API used to create the game Battlefield 1 and Nox is different Versions of DirectX, the newer game Batlefield One would need a better version of the Graphical API as its more of a demanding game compared to Nox. Graphical API's There are different API's that do very different things like allowing for a service to be used in another website such as facebook API which shows facebook posts in different sites.
Sound API:
There are different Sound API's avaliable and they are all different but there are differentces throughout the development of sound API such as stereo sound.
TV:
TV in relation to video games have changed drasticly throughout history, 4K is the newest leap forward which give ultra high definition quality although it all started with CRT TVs which had a low resolution which made for low quality images. The game Nox is designed for a 4x3 screen which was the standard around the year 2000. Battlefield 1 on the other hand works best with High definition preferably 1080p or higher.
Platform Dependency in regards to video games refers to games or game genres depending on a specific type of platform for best results. An example of a game/game genre that is platform dependant is Starcraft 2 which is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. This game relies on fast and many inputs on a lot of different buttons on a keyboard. This game is dependant on the PC with the Keyboard and Mouse for precision and speed. Other platforms do not allow for that as the controllers do not have either the necessary buttons and the precision of a mouse. The 2 games that i will compare are Battlefield 1 and Nox. Nox is dependent on the PC as it relies on lots of hotkeys to cast various spells and abilities which other platforms cannot give. Battlefield one of the other hand does not rely on hotkeys and you dont necessarily need the precision of a mouse with options like aim assist in shooting games.
Operations Systems Used:
Operating systems when it comes to video games define what machine you play on from Mac to PC. The OS is the system which manages the software and the hardware, all computer programs require an OS to work. Nox needs at minimum Windows XP to run, compared to Battlefield 1 which needs at least 64-bit Windows 7 to run. Battlefield needs a newer OS as its a much more demanding game then Nox.
Drivers Needed:
Drivers are needed for all devices to work with a computer,the drivers basically allow for the device to communicate with the computer and it allows the computer to recognise the inputs. In relation to video games things like controllers and keyboards all have drivers that need to be installed before use on computers. Other drivers exist though such as sound drivers, these drivers allows for the interpretation of sounds between the computer and speakers/headphones. The drivers that both games used are most likely DirectX for the graphics library as its the most common graphic library for Microsoft systems.
Application Software Used:
Battlefield 1 was created in the programming language C++. C++ is one of the most common programming languages that are used for creating video game, its safe to assume that Nox was probably created with C++ also. A programming language is a formal compuer language which is used to create programs for computers systems using lines of code.
Graphical API:
The graphical API used to create the game Battlefield 1 and Nox is different Versions of DirectX, the newer game Batlefield One would need a better version of the Graphical API as its more of a demanding game compared to Nox. Graphical API's There are different API's that do very different things like allowing for a service to be used in another website such as facebook API which shows facebook posts in different sites.
Sound API:
There are different Sound API's avaliable and they are all different but there are differentces throughout the development of sound API such as stereo sound.
TV:
TV in relation to video games have changed drasticly throughout history, 4K is the newest leap forward which give ultra high definition quality although it all started with CRT TVs which had a low resolution which made for low quality images. The game Nox is designed for a 4x3 screen which was the standard around the year 2000. Battlefield 1 on the other hand works best with High definition preferably 1080p or higher.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Task 2 Hardware Technologies for Game Platforms
Human Computer Interfaces (HCI)
HCI's consist of different ways people can interact with computers, examples of various HCI's include Buttons, Joysticks (Contact and Micro switches), VR and Motion Controls. HCI's have developed a lot since the start of the video games industry as there way no industry standard at that point. A classic controller would consist of a Joystick with either contacts or micro switches and a few buttons. The differences between Contacts and Microswitches is that microswitches have varying levels of input, an example of this is if you were to hold left lightly the character would move slowly and if you held left with more pressure the character would move faster left. There are many differences between modern HCI's and older ones. Even HCI's from 20 years ago have changed dramatically. Examples of these are the PlayStation 1 Controller and the PlayStation 4 Controller,
There are glaring differences between these two controllers, the most apparent to me is the analog sticks that would allow for more then 4 direct movement options rather the the 4 available on the original PlayStation Controller. Another difference is the middle part of the PS4 controller, that is a touch pad where players can interact with game with touch controls. Another difference that is not so apparent in these image is that the PS4 controller is wireless compares to the PS1's controller being wired.
"The DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller has been updated with a new look and feel, including a more visible, colourful light bar to put even more of the game into your hands. It’s the most ergonomic, intuitive PlayStation controller we’ve ever designed."
Graphic Processors.
Graphic Processors account for the graphic for the computer, GPU's (Graphic Processor Unit) is specialized for the display for a computer. This related to video games due to better and mor up to date GPU allows for better graphics in video games. For graphics to be displayed the GPU goes through the Graphics Pipeline which is the way a graphics is displayed on a screen. These are the steps of the pipeline:
3D Geometric Primitives: This is the first step, this step consists of making the scene out of triangles as its the most primitive geometric shape.
Modeling and Transformation: This step consists of transforming the local coordinate system to the 3D World coordinate system.
Camera Transformation: This step transforms the 3D world coordinate system to the 3D camera worl coordinate system with the camera as the origin.
Lighting: This is the step when the scene is illuminated and it calculates the various surfaces reflective properties.
Project Transformation: This step transforms the 3D world coordinates to the 2D view of the camera.
Clipping: Primitive Geometry not visible from the camera are discarded at this stage.
Scan conversion or Rasterization: This step is complex as each step from this point is used on every pixel on screen. This step consists of turning the 2D image space into a raster format.
Texturing, Fragment Shading: This step gives the various pixels colour based on values from rasterization.
The differences between a PS1 and a PS4 GPU is that the PS4 Uses an APU which combines the CPU and the GPU. PS4 has 8 Cores and the PS1 has 1. Also the PS4 can have up to 4K resolution and the PS1 can have only 640 x 480 resolution.
"for example, the fact that the game is rendered and displayed at 1080p native means that every pixel is rendered,"
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Resolution-Graphics-Affect-Gameplay-PS4-Says-Shuhei-Yoshida-60543.html
Display:
The display is what we look at to play video games and use computers, displays can range from TV's to Computer Monitors. In the early days of the video game industry a CRT TV was what everybody used. The usual resolution of old CRT TV's that everyone used was 640 x 480. A modern monitor that is available from Amazon, an ASUS VS248HR 24 inch Gaming Monitor, this has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080, this is a considerable increase in quality.
"This Full HD LED monitor with 50,000,000:1 high contrast ratio and HDMI interface is optimised for a fine image and colour quality"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VS248HR-inch-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B014RKZ81O/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1475853000&sr=1-4
Game Storage Medium:
Game Storage Mediums encompass alot of different technology across the years, games used to come on cartridges which held the game and sometimes it would hold a battery to save game data. Older consoles did not have on board storage so game data has to be either saved on the cartridge like in The Legend Of Zelda or not at all. This was bypassed on consoles such as the playstation as it had Memory Cards which held saved data on that. Having memory cards also allowed for the portability of saved data. These days saved data is saved either to the on board storage or to the cloud. A PS2 memory card could hold up to 8mb generally (larger sizes came at a later date), but the PS4 on board memory hold from 500Mb all the way up to 1Tb of space with interchangeable hard drives.
"You can upgrade your PS4 hard drive to give yourself some more storage"
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ps4-hdd-upgrade-how-to-upgrade-your-ps4-storage
Connectivity:
Online connectivity is essential in today's gaming industry as it is essential for may things we do when we play games. Online connectivity is used these days to play games online, party chat with friends, download updates and use different types of media. There are differences between playing online on consoles and playing online on PC's. These differences include Console players having to pay another fee to be able to play online on top off the internet connection. PC also has more online games as its an easier platform to release games on.
"The idea of the 'lone gamer' is really not true anymore. Up to 65 percent of gaming now is social, played either online or in the same room with people we know in real life."
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/janemcgoni560572.html
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
CPU's are often stated as the heart or the brain of the computer, this is because the CPU intakes equations and operations and outputs data. The fundemetal operations have not changes much over the years and they still do the same thing, CPU's can hold varying amounts of cores, cores allow for more operations to be processed at once. The higher the cores the more operations the CPU can carry out. The PS1 CPU runs at 33.86MHz and the PS2 CPU runs at 294.912MHz, The PS2 was much more powerful then the previous console even though the space in time it was created was quite small.
"central processing unit: the key component of a computer system,which contains the circuitry necessary to interpret and executeprogram instructions."
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cpu
Memory (RAM)
RAM is Random Access Memory. When loading data from the hard drive it loaded into the RAM, this is because loading from the RAM is faster from loading from the hard drive, this in turn speed up the processes of the computer. The more RAM in a computer allows for more data to be loaded into the RAM speeding up the processes. Modern Computers would have from 4 - 8 Gigabytes of ram installed although older computers and consoles had only a fraction of this ammount. The Atari 2600 console upon release only help 128 bytes of ram, in comparison 8 Gigabytes is 8589934592 bytes.
"a type of computer memory that can be searched in any order and changed as necessary"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ram
Sound:
Sound has always had a part in video games, in early arcade games there was simple sounds that were used everywhere from the music to the sound effects. Sounds evolved over the years as the sound quality got better. Sound in games help convey a lot, sound helps set the mood when playing games and it can really help a scene become better with the right sound effects and music, A lot of gamers now use headsets for gaming as it allows for players to directly hear the sounds of the game rather then relying on speakers.
"Housing precision-balanced speakers which pump out strong stereo sound with a wide dynamic range, comfortable earcups deliver clean and crisp audio reproduction"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tritton-AX-180-Universal-Headset/dp/B002P77432
Interface Devices:
An interface device is a system of components that allows for people to interact with various electronic systems. The interface device would be the things that are on the screen from prompts to notifications. These are a lot like HCI's as they both have parts in the interaction with computers using different hardware.
Power Supply:
The power supply used in computer is the component which provides the whole computer with electricity. The power supply normalizes the current that comes from the mains of a house and it converts the electricity to DC. It also eliminated spikes that would be common from electrical mains. The PlayStation 4 has a power supply with a power rating on 250W, A PC power supply can have upwards of 400 to 500W of power.
"Also called a power supply unit or PSU, the component that supplies power to a computer. Most personal computers can be plugged into standard electrical outlets"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/power_supply.html
The differences between a PS1 and a PS4 GPU is that the PS4 Uses an APU which combines the CPU and the GPU. PS4 has 8 Cores and the PS1 has 1. Also the PS4 can have up to 4K resolution and the PS1 can have only 640 x 480 resolution.
"for example, the fact that the game is rendered and displayed at 1080p native means that every pixel is rendered,"
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Resolution-Graphics-Affect-Gameplay-PS4-Says-Shuhei-Yoshida-60543.html
Display:
The display is what we look at to play video games and use computers, displays can range from TV's to Computer Monitors. In the early days of the video game industry a CRT TV was what everybody used. The usual resolution of old CRT TV's that everyone used was 640 x 480. A modern monitor that is available from Amazon, an ASUS VS248HR 24 inch Gaming Monitor, this has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080, this is a considerable increase in quality.
"This Full HD LED monitor with 50,000,000:1 high contrast ratio and HDMI interface is optimised for a fine image and colour quality"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VS248HR-inch-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B014RKZ81O/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1475853000&sr=1-4
Game Storage Medium:
Game Storage Mediums encompass alot of different technology across the years, games used to come on cartridges which held the game and sometimes it would hold a battery to save game data. Older consoles did not have on board storage so game data has to be either saved on the cartridge like in The Legend Of Zelda or not at all. This was bypassed on consoles such as the playstation as it had Memory Cards which held saved data on that. Having memory cards also allowed for the portability of saved data. These days saved data is saved either to the on board storage or to the cloud. A PS2 memory card could hold up to 8mb generally (larger sizes came at a later date), but the PS4 on board memory hold from 500Mb all the way up to 1Tb of space with interchangeable hard drives.
"You can upgrade your PS4 hard drive to give yourself some more storage"
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ps4-hdd-upgrade-how-to-upgrade-your-ps4-storage
Connectivity:
Online connectivity is essential in today's gaming industry as it is essential for may things we do when we play games. Online connectivity is used these days to play games online, party chat with friends, download updates and use different types of media. There are differences between playing online on consoles and playing online on PC's. These differences include Console players having to pay another fee to be able to play online on top off the internet connection. PC also has more online games as its an easier platform to release games on.
"The idea of the 'lone gamer' is really not true anymore. Up to 65 percent of gaming now is social, played either online or in the same room with people we know in real life."
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/janemcgoni560572.html
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
CPU's are often stated as the heart or the brain of the computer, this is because the CPU intakes equations and operations and outputs data. The fundemetal operations have not changes much over the years and they still do the same thing, CPU's can hold varying amounts of cores, cores allow for more operations to be processed at once. The higher the cores the more operations the CPU can carry out. The PS1 CPU runs at 33.86MHz and the PS2 CPU runs at 294.912MHz, The PS2 was much more powerful then the previous console even though the space in time it was created was quite small.
"central processing unit: the key component of a computer system,which contains the circuitry necessary to interpret and executeprogram instructions."
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cpu
Memory (RAM)
RAM is Random Access Memory. When loading data from the hard drive it loaded into the RAM, this is because loading from the RAM is faster from loading from the hard drive, this in turn speed up the processes of the computer. The more RAM in a computer allows for more data to be loaded into the RAM speeding up the processes. Modern Computers would have from 4 - 8 Gigabytes of ram installed although older computers and consoles had only a fraction of this ammount. The Atari 2600 console upon release only help 128 bytes of ram, in comparison 8 Gigabytes is 8589934592 bytes.
"a type of computer memory that can be searched in any order and changed as necessary"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ram
Sound:
Sound has always had a part in video games, in early arcade games there was simple sounds that were used everywhere from the music to the sound effects. Sounds evolved over the years as the sound quality got better. Sound in games help convey a lot, sound helps set the mood when playing games and it can really help a scene become better with the right sound effects and music, A lot of gamers now use headsets for gaming as it allows for players to directly hear the sounds of the game rather then relying on speakers.
"Housing precision-balanced speakers which pump out strong stereo sound with a wide dynamic range, comfortable earcups deliver clean and crisp audio reproduction"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tritton-AX-180-Universal-Headset/dp/B002P77432
Interface Devices:
An interface device is a system of components that allows for people to interact with various electronic systems. The interface device would be the things that are on the screen from prompts to notifications. These are a lot like HCI's as they both have parts in the interaction with computers using different hardware.
Power Supply:
The power supply used in computer is the component which provides the whole computer with electricity. The power supply normalizes the current that comes from the mains of a house and it converts the electricity to DC. It also eliminated spikes that would be common from electrical mains. The PlayStation 4 has a power supply with a power rating on 250W, A PC power supply can have upwards of 400 to 500W of power.
"Also called a power supply unit or PSU, the component that supplies power to a computer. Most personal computers can be plugged into standard electrical outlets"
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/power_supply.html
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Task 1: Game Platform Development Timeline
Arcade:
Arcades during their prime were the pioneer of the gaming industry. The first arcade unit that was popular was space invaders. This machine was a smash hit as it brought in so much money that it made more profit then the highest grossing movie of that year Star Wars. Arcade Machines developed greatly over the years, originally the controls were basic as it was a simple joystick with few buttons like Space Invaders. Space Invaders along with others like Pac Man showed that quality games can make money and they can be very successful.
Arcades during their prime were the pioneer of the gaming industry. The first arcade unit that was popular was space invaders. This machine was a smash hit as it brought in so much money that it made more profit then the highest grossing movie of that year Star Wars. Arcade Machines developed greatly over the years, originally the controls were basic as it was a simple joystick with few buttons like Space Invaders. Space Invaders along with others like Pac Man showed that quality games can make money and they can be very successful.
There are now many different HCI (Human Computer Interface) that arcades use, there are racing games where you use a wheel and there are arcade games where you have to hit something. Arcades were a huge inspiration as all of the original Arcade classics such as space invaders and Donkey Kong were ported to the home console market as they proved that they could make money.
Console:
Home consoles have been around for years and they have developed a lot and they have gone through a lot of hardships. The original home market video game home console is the Magnavox Odyssey. This brought video games into peoples homes and it paved the way for future consoles such as the Atari 2600. In 1983 there was a recession in the games industry that is referred to the Video Game Crash
"The video game crash of 1983, known as Atari shock in Japan, was a massive recession of the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985. Revenues had peaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983, then fell to around $100 million by 1985 (a drop of almost 97 percent)."
This crash came to be with the large influx of low quality games and clones of successful games, the game that is seen as the main culprit of this crash is ET for the Atari 2600. This game was created in only six months and on a strict deadline. This game was received poorly and lead to the crash which gave the industry a bad look which decreased sales dramaticly for all consoles. The saving grace of the Games industry was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). From japan this console brough high quality games which revitalized the games industry.
Consoles have developed over the years being bigger and better games out on a variety of systems from the SNES to the Play Station 4.
PC:
Modern PC's for home gaming have been around for many years, PC's for gaming grew largely after the Video game crash, the PC market was more popular in Europe and consoles like the NES were more popular in the USA. After the crash nobody wanted to buy video game console and this is where the PC shined, it marketed itself as something that can do many things other then play video games.
PC's way to play video games evolved over the years, different storage mediums were used such as Cassette Tapes, Floppy disks and CD-Roms, each held more storage space then the last and now most games are downloaded from platforms such as Steam. PC's had access to much more things then the other options during the 90's, these include RTS games, Simulators and online play.
"Home computer games became popular following the video game crash of 1983, particularly in Europe, leading to the era of the "bedroom coder". In the 1990s"
Mobile:
Mobile Gaming has had exponential growth in the last few years, with the introduction of the App store and the Play store mobile gaming is becoming more of a viable option for gamers. The recent advancements in Mobile Phones has allowed phones to be more powerful, powerful enough to play games at suitable frame rates. Mobile gaming has linked with console gaming in certain ways that would of been impossible in previous years, Games like GTA 5 have companion apps that you can use alongside the game to enhance gameplay.
Many Mobile games have been created that have been a huge success and have made lots of money. An example of this is the game Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, this is a mobile game that incorporates the Dragon Ball franchise, this proves that mobile gaming is taken serious as large companies such as Bandai-Namco are creating games for this platform.
"The launch of Apple's App Store in 2008 radically changed the market. First of all, it widened consumers' opportunities to choose where to download apps"
Television:
TV was a huge step in technology when it was released after World War Two and it gave many opportunities for future technology including video games. The first home consoles for consumers that plugged directly into the TV for people to play. Early consoles used a box that you had to screw into the TV in order to play, this was dropped early in the home console life as it was quite a hassle to unscrew your console from the TV.
TV's have changed over the years to take Gaming into mind, modern TV's have inbuilt HDMI in ports to allows modern consoles to easily plug into it and play. Also some TV's also have gaming modes which alter the lights and the intensity of the screen to easier viewing over longer play times. The sheer size of the games industry forced the TV industry to change with the gamer in mind or else it would fall behind.
"An OLED (organic light-emitting diode) is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound which emits light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor is situated between two electrodes"
This is the timeline that I created stating events that happened with the gaming industry over the years.
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