Video Game Environments

Video Game Cities Ryan Lawber CRP 520 2-14-08

SimCity

Second Life

The start of simulation software in games. Players g y utilize the g given p parts of a city to develop and maintain their own urban environment.

A more current model of the SimCity model software. Second Life is an online community that has developed a completely customizable world with a working economy.

Doom (1993)

Half-Life 2 (2004)

One of the first introductions to firstperson shooter genre. p g Character design g and programming took priority over architectural design.

While the principle is the same, the improvement p of the computer p code has allowed for attention to architectural design and importance.

Video Game Cities Concept artists develop a specific emotion for the in-game environments through g g the level design. This plaza has been designed to carry an “oppressive� mood.

These cities carry a unique design element in that theyy have been designed to invoke g emotions not sought after in the design of real cities: oppressiveness, fright, disorient, and on the other end of the spectrum, happiness.

Development Video game cities have an alternate set of parameters to use in design: p g - No function - No commercial - No residential

Most of these cities are based on a specific path that the g p gamer must take to complete p the game. Along this path are cause and effect triggers that create specific scenes and imagery within the game.

Development Game development begins with a typed script as a movie would. This is then translated into artist conceptual renderings and finally into a gaming engine.

Gameplay process: -obstacles -forced paths -trigger and response

Concept City 17 from Half-Life is designed around: - Historical development of most major p j European cities - “Clash old vs. new�

The design includes wall-to-wall buildings housing ((soviet era public p g among g traditional European designs) to create a path for the user to follow.

Concept The train and rail line is a central theme of the design g as it is the main transport p between and within cities.

Other modes of transportation within this cityy include: - Highways, city streets and underground tunnels - Tram lines - Canal system

Design The lighting within video game cities is rendered to create moods within different environments.

The images on the left are real-life photographs modeled and p g p with their computer p rendered counterparts on the right.

Design - Design group worked from photos of Bulgaria, Russia and Romania g - Construct city from a skeletal framework -Boulevards -Avenues -Courtyards and hidden spaces

Video game cities have the opportunity to control everyy aspect of the design p g and layout. y