Game Designer

2007-02-27T01:56:17Z

80.56.0.49: /* Video and computer game designer */ Typo fix

Professional Game Designer Andrew Abbs has copyrighted this quote "Game designers take an idea for a game out of the world of fantasy and make it reality."

A '''game designer''' is a person who designs [[game]]s. The term normally refers to a person who designs [[Computer and video games|computer or video games]], but it also refers to one who designs traditional games, such as [[board game]]s.

==Video and computer game designer==
[[Image:ScoobyDooGameDesign.jpg|thumb|This early version of the [[design document]] for ''[[Scooby Doo: Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom]]'' shows the dynamic nature of game design. As the cover of the 100+ page design document shows, it was originally planned to be called ''Scooby Doo: The Mystery of the Gobs o' Fun Ghoul''.]]
A video or computer game designer develops the layout, concept and [[gameplay]], the [[game design]] of a video or computer game. This may include playfield design, specification writing, and entry of numeric properties that balance and tune the gameplay. A game designer works for a [[video game developer|developer]] (which may additionally be the game's [[video game publisher]]).

This person usually has a lot of [[writer|writing]] experience and may even have a degree in writing or a related field (such as [[English language|English]]). This person's primary job function is writing, so the more experience they have with that activity, the better. Some [[artist|art]] and [[programmer|programming]] skills are also helpful for this job, but are not strictly necessary. Game designers often have studied relevant liberal arts such as [[psychology]], [[sociology]], [[drama]], [[fine art]] or [[philosophy]]. Due to the increasing complexity of the game design process, many young game designers may also come from a [[computer science]] or other computer engineering background.

In the [[video game industry]] the job of game designer is often seen as desirable, especially to young gamers wishing to join the industry, and has been likened to that of a film director. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} Gamers outside the industry often believe they have a "killer game" concept that they want to see developed, and so many games companies often receive unsolicited game designs. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

With game budgets now running into millions of dollars, the industry can often be volatile and a failed project could force a company into bankruptcy. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} So the design of the game is critical and the industry has been repeatedly criticised for choosing to develop sequels and licensed titles where sales are more certain, rather than investing in new game ideas. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} In larger companies entry level game designers will typically be given simpler tasks such as level design and object placement, while the role of lead designer will be reserved for a designer with more experience and a history of succesful titles. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===History===
The first video games were designed in the [[1960s]] and [[1970s]] by programmers for whom creating games was a [[hobby]], since there was no way to sell them or earn money from creating games (the games required large [[mainframe computer]]s to play). Some were designed by electrical engineers as exhibits for visitors to computer labs (''[[OXO]]'', ''[[Tennis for Two]]''), others by college students who wrote games for their friends to play (''[[Spacewar!]]'', ''[[Star Trek (text game)|Star Trek]]'', ''[[Dungeon (computer game)|Dungeon]]'').

Some of the games designed during this era, such as ''[[Zork]]'', ''[[Baseball (computer game)|Baseball]]'', ''[[Air Warrior]]'' and ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure|Adventure]]'' later made the transition with their game designers into the early [[video game industry]].

Early in the [[history of computer and video games|history of video games]], game designers were often the [[lead programmer]] or the ''only'' programmer for a game, and this remained true as the video game industry dawned in the 1970s. This person also sometimes comprised the entire art team. This is the case of such noted designers as [[Sid Meier]], [[Chris Sawyer]] and [[Will Wright]]. A notable exception to this policy was [[Coleco]], which from its very start separated the function of design and programming.

As games became more complex and [[home computer|computers]] and [[video game console|console]]s became more powerful (allowing more features), the job of game designer became a separate job function, with the lead programmer splitting his time between the two functions, moving from one role to the other. Later, game complexity escalated to the point where it required someone who concentrated solely on game design. Many early veterans chose the game design path eschewing programming and relegating those tasks to others.

Today, it is rare to find a video or computer game where the principal programmer is also the principal designer, except in the case of [[casual game]]s, such as ''[[Tetris]]'' or ''[[Bejeweled]]''. With very complex games, such as [[MMORPG]]s, or a big budget action or sports title, designers may number in the dozens. In these cases, there are generally one or two principal designers and many junior designers who specify subsets or subsystems of the game. In larger companies like [[Electronic Arts]], each aspect of the game (control, level design or vehicles) may have a separate producer, lead designer and several general designers.

===Notable video and computer game designers===

* [[Danielle Bunten Berry]], of the seminal ''[[M.U.L.E.]]'' and ''[[The Seven Cities of Gold (game)|The Seven Cities of Gold]]''
* [[Marc Blank]], Co-designer of ''[[Zork]]'', co-founder of [[text adventure]] publisher [[Infocom]]
* [[Cliff Bleszinski]], lead designer of ''[[Gears of War]]'' and level designer of the [[Unreal (series)|''Unreal'' series]].
* [[Bill Budge]], ''[[Pinball Construction Set]]'', designer who anchored launch of [[Electronic Arts]]
* [[Chris Crawford (game designer)|Chris Crawford]], creator of ''[[Balance of Power (computer game)|Balance of Power]]'' and the founder of the [[Game Developer's Conference]]
* [[Don Daglow]], designer of ''[[Dungeon (computer game)|Dungeon]]'', ''[[Utopia (video game)|Utopia]]'', ''[[Earl Weaver Baseball]]'', and the original ''[[Neverwinter Nights (AOL game)|Neverwinter Nights]]''
* [[Jon Freeman]], designer of the ''[[Archon (computer game)|Archon]]'' series of games
* [[Richard Garriott]] (Lord British), developer of the ''[[Ultima]]'' series of games
* [[Ron Gilbert]], creator of ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' and the [[Monkey Island series|''Monkey Island'' series]]''
* [[Stieg Hedlund]], designer of the ''[[Diablo (computer game)|Diablo]]'' series
* [[Tomonobu Itagaki]], creator of [[Dead or Alive (video game series)|Dead or Alive]] series.
* [[Hideo Kojima]], creator of the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series
* [[Jordan Mechner]], designer of ''[[Prince of Persia]]'', ''[[Karateka (computer game)|Karateka]]'', and ''[[The Last Express]]''
* [[Sid Meier]] of ''[[Civilization computer game|Civilization]]'', ''[[Railroad Tycoon]]'' and other game series
* [[Shinji Mikami]] creator of the ''[[Resident Evil (series)|Resident Evil]]'' series
* [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] of ''[[Donkey Kong]]'', ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' and ''[[Super Mario]]'' series
* [[Peter Molyneux]] of the ''[[Populous]]'' series, ''[[Black and White (computer game)|Black and White]]'' and ''[[Theme Park (game)|Theme Park]]'' among others
* [[Brian Reynolds]], ''[[Civilization II]]'', ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'' and ''[[Rise of Nations]]''
* [[John Romero]] of ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]'', the ''[[Doom]]'' and ''[[Quake]]'' series and [[game engine]]s
* [[Hironobu Sakaguchi]] of the popular ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series
* [[Tim Schafer]], creator of ''[[Grim Fandango]] '' and ''[[Psychonauts]]''
* [[Bruce Shelley]], co-creator of ''[[Age of Empires]]'' series and ''[[Civilization computer game|Civilization]]''
* [[Warren Spector]], ''[[System Shock]]'', ''[[Deus Ex]]'', ''[[Thief (computer game)|Thief, and Thief: Deadly Shadows]]'' series
* [[Jordan Weisman]], Founder of [[FASA|FASA Interactive]], co-creator of ''[[BattleTech]]'' and ''[[MechWarrior]]''
* [[Roberta Williams]], designer of ''[[King's Quest]]'' and several other computer game series
* [[Will Wright]], designer of ''[[SimCity]]'', ''[[The Sims]]'' and ''[[Spore (computer game)|Spore]]''

==Notable designers of non-video games==
* [[Allan B. Calhamer]] - Designer of ''[[Diplomacy (game)|Diplomacy]]''
* [[Frank Chadwick]] - Co-founder of [[GDW]] and designer of over 50 war and role-playing games, including ''[[Twilight 2000]]'' and the ''[[Assault (game)|Assault]]'' series
* [[Jim Dunnigan]] - Founder of [[SPI Games]] and designer of over 100 wargames, including the ''PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader'' system
* [[Richard Garfield]] - [[collectible card game]] (''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'') and [[board game]] designer.
* [[Gary Gygax]] and [[David Arneson]] - creators of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''
* [[Steve Jackson (US)|Steve Jackson]] - Designer of ''[[Ogre (game)|Ogre]]'', ''[[The Fantasy Trip]]'', ''[[Car Wars]]'', ''[[GURPS]]'', ''[[Hacker (card game)|Hacker]]'', ''[[Illuminati (game)|Illuminati]]'' and others.
* [[Reiner Knizia]] - prolific designer of [[German-style board game]]s who designed 6 of the top 20 games on the [[Internet Top 100 Games List]].
* [[Alan R. Moon]] - prolific designer of [[German-style board game]]s including [[Elfenland]] and [[Ticket to Ride]].
* [[Charles S. Roberts]] - Designer of first commercial board wargame (''[[Tactics II]]'') and founder of [[Avalon Hill]].
* [[Redmond A. Simonsen]] - art director at SPI and designer of ''Starforce'' trilogy and ''BattleFleet Mars''

==See also==
* [[List of game designers]]
* [[List of video game designers]]

==External links==
* [http://www.gamespot.com/features/6129276/index.html?tag=boxcar_all_features So You Wanna Be A: Gamedesigner] (Gamespot Article)
* Academics and [http://www.futureplay.org Game Designers] discuss the future of game design

===Newsgroups===
* [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=comp.games.development.design comp.games.development.design via Google Groups]
* [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=rec.games.design rec.games.design via Google Groups]

{{vg-industry}}

[[Category:Game designers| ]]
[[Category:Game design]]
[[Category:Arts occupations]]

[[es:Diseñador de juegos]]
[[fr:Game designer]]
[[id:Perancang permainan]]
[[ja:ゲームデザイナー]]
[[pl:Projektant gier]]
[[pt:Designer de jogos]]
[[simple:Game designer]]

Parallax Mapping

2006-06-07T22:42:32Z

80.56.0.49: Patent removed, it doesn't exist anymore/links to a dead page.

'''Parallax Mapping''' (also, '''Photonic Mapping''', '''Offset Mapping''' or '''Virtual Displacement Mapping''') is an enhancement of the [[bump mapping]] or [[normal mapping]] techniques applied to textures in 3D [[rendering (computer graphics)|rendering]] applications such as [[video game]]s. To the end user, this means that [[texture mapping|textures]] (such as wooden floorboards) will have more apparent depth and realism with less of an influence on the speed of the game.

Parallax mapping is done by displacing the texture coordinates such that the texture occludes itself in accordance with a height map. Next-generation 3D applications may employ parallax mapping as new graphics [[algorithm]]s are developed.

[[Image:Fear-pmapping1.jpg|left|thumb|200px|From [[F.E.A.R.]], a bullet hole with Parallax mapping used to create the illusion of depth.]]
[[Image:Fear-pmapping2.jpg|left|thumb|200px|From [[F.E.A.R.]], same as before, but viewed at an angle.]]
[[Image:Fear-pmapping3.jpg|left|thumb|200px|From [[F.E.A.R.]], when viewed at an extreme angle, the illusion of depth disappears.]]
<br style="clear:both;">

An easy way to understand this concept is to close one eye, take a pencil, point it at your eye, and move your head left and right. Parallax mapping takes that pixel on the far left of the pencil when it was facing you directly and stretches it accordingly to simulate your angle in comparison to the pencil.

Parallax mapping is also a way of faking [[displacement mapping]] where the actual geometric position of points surface is displaced along the surface normal according to the values stored into the texture: in Parallax mapping, like in [[normal mapping|normal]] and [[bump mapping]], the [[silhouette]] of the object is unaffected.

[[Category:3D computer graphics]]
[[Category:Demo effects]]

==See also==
*[[Parallax]]

==External links==
*[http://vrsj.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ic-at/ICAT2003/papers/01205.pdf Detailed Shape Representation with Parallax Mapping]
*[http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=387447 Parallax mapping implementation in DirectX, forum topic]

Wikipedia - Benutzerbeiträge [de]

Game Designer

Parallax Mapping