The wonderful world of Game development
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By Adithya N Biya
So, gaming huh?
Gaming. What a word. Waved off by many, revered as an escape from others. There might not be another non-political topic in the world that will split a room as gaming does. Regardless, it can’t be denied that gaming brings in more revenue in the entertainment industry than both movies and music industries. So maybe, just maybe, it’s worth it?
Game Development, learning doesn’t get more fun than this!
Game development is a word that is pretty self-explanatory in itself. Game development started off way before we could even envision it. Games started in arcades and even these games which we consider trashy and out of place in today’s gaming scenario were considered a piece of divine magic when it came out; subsequently, the game developers were branded magicians (and rightly so).
Nowadays, we see gaming as a multi-billion dollar industry that makes games that are more and more realistic as each day passes.
Game development can be traced as eras throughout the ages by seeing which engine or which style or even which genre has been used for the development of the game. This makes for an interesting read.
So, what are we waiting for, let’s get into it !
For learning about game development, we need to learn what a game engine is. According to Wikipedia, “A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games, and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The engine terminology is similar to the term “software engine” used in the software industry.” A game engine is a wonderful piece of technology because of one thing and one thing only. It lets you make a world of yours. Plain and simple. Anything. Just like that. All that is required is that you know the way to manipulate things in the game engine, the code that will help run your game and its various aspects, and your imagination. The only limit to game development is your imagination. Yes. Hideo Kojima would vouch for my previous statement. God bless him, Mr. Kojima.
Multiple game engines have been used in the game development cycle. Multi-national companies use their game engines that they keep a secret from the public domain. So, usually, students who are interested in game development start with Unity engine. Unity engine has many appeals to it but the major appeal it holds is that it is a beginner-friendly game engine. This game engine unlike many others is built in such a way that it will make sure that a person who doesn’t know the basics of game development feels comfortable using it.
Let’s look at some basic aspects of Unity Engine
The basic user interface of Unity Engine
This is what the basic UI of unity engine looks like. It has been divided into multiple parts. These are
- The scene view: This is where the work you are doing/the project you are working on is seen. You can add components, scripts, add lighting and almost do anything on this view.
- The hierarchy: This is a list of the objects that have been added into the scene view. This helps us to keep our projects organized and at the same time, find certain objects fast without much searching.
- The inspector: This is a very important part of the user interface in unity. The inspector allows the developer to add or delete elements from the game that is being made.
- The project/console: This is where you can see the current status of the game being developed. If the code that runs the game has some sort of error, this is where it shows up. Similarly, if you want some test messages to be displayed at some point while the game is being tested, this is where it shows up.
Scripting in Unity
No piece of software runs without code and unity (game development in general as well) is no exception to this. Now, when we hear the word coding, a small sense of dread and anxiety comes into our minds. This is not the case when it comes to coding for game development. When we code in-game engine the code is usually simple and repeating. Plus it is just a way of manifesting your imagination, so it would be more of a fun task than a job when we do it.
In the above image, we can see some lines of code. What these lines of code will establish is that it will let you move the game object that this script is attached to using arrow keys. This is how the basic movement in unity is established. Specifically speaking, the transform.translate keyword is the line that sets up the object for movement. This is just one of the million action codes in unity engine.
When this script is attached to an in-game object, if the script is written properly, then the in-game object will do whatever the script commands.
Amazing would be an understatement!
What we have seen so far is nothing but just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to game development. As mentioned before, game development has a multitude of features to offer and the only limitation is your imagination. The ability to create a character from scratch, give your character its characteristics (howsoever small or insignificant it seems), make it move, make it jump, etc. is so exhilarating and rewarding and rewarding that words fall short while describing it. So in short, game development is fun, rewarding, and educational in ways other domains of computer science fall short. There are multiple resources from where you can start your game development journey. So, what’s stopping you? Go ahead and create your moves.
