Definition 1 of 116
more the concerns of artists than programmers
special effects enhance the player's experience of the game, adding beauty and interest
beyond its gameplay
can be computationally very expensive
- at some moments in gameplay it may be acceptable to devote almost all the computation
time to the creation of a special effect
- computation time has to be kept in check so that an acceptable frame rate can be maintained
- special effects very often involve making and moving lots of particles
- effect = visual (particle systems: emitter plus the particles it generates) plus audio and maybe
tactile feedback, with an evolution over time
separating axis theorem
special effects & lighting
sequencing of collision tests
two-bone inverse kinematics
Definition 2 of 116
in order to speed up search for collisions, trees should not necessarily be balanced
- it is more desirable to have trees where there are large regions with few polygons, and small
regions with many polygons
- this allows the commonest case (no-collision) to be detected more quickly, there is a greater
probability that some object is in the larger region than in the smaller one
trees carve up 3D space into progressively smaller regions
- multi-resolution spatial reasoning (and rendering) is possible
- with well-chosen pivot planes (such as those on objects' convex hulls) good approximations
to their overall shape can be obtained by limiting the depth of tree that is considered
manager task assignment
properties of BSP Trees
non-player characters (NPC)
normalized quaternions
,Definition 3 of 116
divide 3D space into uniform cubes, like pixels divide 2D into squares
drawbacks:
- voxels will be very numerous especially for game levels set outdoors;
- need inside/outside distinction, containing object information
- for exterior voxels, colour and/or texture info needed for rendering;
- a lot of data shuffling will occur when objects move;
- granular for both motion purposes and for visuals (cf. anti-aliasing in 2D)
baking
non-convex polygon
voxels
3D audio
Definition 4 of 116
paint furthest polygons first, overpaint with progressively nearer ones
does not help with collision detection, that must be separately done
partially transparent polygons can alter the color of what is seen behind them
z-buffer
kinetics
painter's algorithm
euler angles
,Definition 5 of 116
O(N^2) complexity of sprite/sprite comparisons; very costly
reduce complexity of individual sprite/sprite comparison
- broad phase: quickly eliminate pairs that cannot possibly be in collision
- narrow phase follows: determine pairs that are actually in collision
- middle phase is also possible: determine pairs that must be in collision
desirable features of game AI
multi-phase collision detection
learning in sense-think-act
level-of-detail optimization
Definition 6 of 116
compensates for the loss of stereoscopic depth cues on the 2D screen; helps to define the 3D
world the player perceives, to set the mood, to direct attention
- contrast is what we perceive
film lighting typically uses three-point lighting setup:
- key light
- fill light
- back light ("kicker")
effect types
lighting
audio scripting
navigation meshes
, Definition 7 of 116
regarding the properties of motion without regard to its causes
- how acceleration affects velocity, how velocity affects position
- direct manipulation (in code) of object position and/or velocity
flocking
kinetics
kinematics
painter's algorithm
Definition 8 of 116
collection of tables used for probability estimation
ex. when rolling two dice, how often does a particular number win, draw, or lose?
observation of experience leads to estimate of probabilities
Semantic networks
Bayesian networks
Hidden markov models
Configuration
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