Amitabh Sharma
Features Coordinator

Do you ever want to put your driving skills and hit the floor a la Schumi, or if you are more adventurous you would possibly want to eliminate a band of mercenaries out to unleash havoc on the city.

Welcome to the world of games. The playfield is your PC or a mobile. Gaming is now seen globally as a good opportunity, and as bandwidth expands further, one could see immense evolution in quality and interactivity. Online games prove to be a deciding factor in the emergence of high-speed access on which service providers are focusing their future.

Video game devices including the Sega Dreamcast, followed by Sega Saturn, Sony's PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube that were launched more recently, have caught the fancy of consumers. Games have provided the basis for popular movies such as Pokemon, Super Mario Brothers, Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider. Likewise, movies such as The Matrix, Time Code, and Run Lola Run use the structure and aesthetics of games to construct compelling story plots.

The gaming industry
The explosion in computer graphics and animation industry has been the catalyst in the fast track growth of gaming industry, where there has been a spurt in activities related to the same.

Gaming is a team effort and each sub-division has different technology to work on. In general developing a game involves creating its art content, models and animation, and programming. Artists, models and animators, respectively execute these aspects. A project manager co-ordinates the whole procedure and a game designer gives the game concept.

The Art Department
For an artist in this field one needs to first pick a dimension. 2D artists make tiles, textures and skins for 3D models. Depending on the type of game, they can also do painted backdrops, skyboxes (what you see when you look up in a 3D game set in the great outdoors), and any number of other things. They're also often called upon to do concept sketches for games early in the development cycle.

3D artists make in-world models for 3D games. Models can range from humans to vehicles to inanimate objects, depending on the project. Animators bring humanoids, enemies and creatures to life in 3D games. They build models within the polygon limitations of the game engine, and then apply animation techniques. Many animators start out as 3D modelers or 2D artists and are trained on the job to animate with other programmes.

The tools of the trade for 2D artists include programmes like Adobe Photoshop (the industry standard), Paint Shop Pro, Painter, and a number of other 2D art programs. Many 3D artists use 3D Studio Max, Softimage, and Maya to make and animate models.

Knowledge of both PCs and various art programmes is highly recommended. One should be armed with drawing skills, and animators should have detailed knowledge of the human figure and its movement. The ability to work in groups and work under deadline pressure is essential.

The Design Department
Level and scenario designers create the game world and its architecture inside a 2D or 3D level editor. Most game engines are designed to include their own custom level editors, so design training doesn't necessarily transfer from one game to another. Editors vary from game to game. Some 3D games use programs like 3D Studio Max or Lightwave as level editors.

A background in arts is useful when crafting levels for 3D games, as is some knowledge of architecture and design concepts. General programming knowledge is recommended for the scripting aspect of design. Knowledge of one or more sets of editing tools that have shipped with various PC games over the years is essential.

The Programming Department
Programmers are a significant part-and some would say the backbone of every gaming company. They work their magic in mystical lines of code (the list of instructions that the computer translates into machine language to make games work). No Programmers = No Game. Right now the most common game programming language is Visual C++. Programmers write their code in C++ and check it in and out of a code database. Programmers have their hands in every aspect of a game's development so they end up using a variety of software packages.

The Sound Department
Sound designers compose and implement a game's music and sound effects. If you hear anything while playing a game, odds are that a sound designer is responsible for it (unless it's those voices in your head). They use tools like Sound Forge, Cakewalk, Vegas, Awave Studio, Protocols and other sound library collections and software.

For music composition and recording, many use a multi-track recording program called Cubase VST made by Steinberg. For sound effect recording and editing, there are Sound Forge 4.0 and Vegas, both made by Sonic Foundry, and of course you'll need to use basic recording equipment.

The gaming industry is growing worldwide and the companies are finding new and innovative ways to keep pace with the other. With the multi-billion dollar industry beckoning, the entrepreneurs as well as techno creative whiz kids can aim for a gold rush in this segment. Set to expand, the online games opportunity is seeing attempts at specific technology development by developers of middleware tools.

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com