Introduction Paragraph:
This essay will discuss how to create a simple VR game from scratch and will package the
game after the game is completed.
This essay will have two sections. The first section is that product a VR game. The second
section is that how to package the game after the development of the game is completed.
Each section will contain many parts, and each part contains more details. All parts are
arranged in chronological order. By this way, a reader could follow author's view, and finish
all parts of the works step by step.
In the first section, the author will create the game following three parts.
In the first part,author will discuss how to implement the game infrastructure, and will also
talk about advantages and disadvantages of a self-made game engine and commercial
engines. In the second part, the author will discuss features of the game, and discuss how
each feature in the game come from the history of games, and select a commercial engines
depend on the game features. In the third part, the author will discuss how to create art
resources and how to code the game with visual script in Unreal Engine 4. This part will
cover coding and creating art resources which are very important elements for the game. The
author have three way to create art resources depend on the type of art resources are different.
Each way contains their special technique to create an art resource. The game will be
completed when coding and art resources had been created and designed. The author will
bring a reader to next section when the game has been completed. The second section is the
packaging of the game.
In the second section, the author will package the game using the knowledge of graphic
design. They are seven parts of the section. There is no chronological sequence of these seven
parts. Each part will follow the step from doing research, and then create a layout of the
design, and create many version of design, and final choice the best one. These six parts are
in the following, game logo, game website, game pre-order poster, preview webpage when
the game sell on amazon.com and Steam, game gift card design, game CD cover and Box
Cover design, and a book design with all the research to create the game.
The First Section: Create the Game
In the section, the author will analysis the selection of basic game framework, and then the
author will explain advantage and disadvantage of commercial game engines, and then the
author will analysis how features in the game are related to the other famous games in the
history. The author will select a commercial game engine to depend on the features of the
game, and the last part will explain how to coding the game and creating art resources for the
game scene.
The first part of creating the game section is analysis the selection of basic game framework.
As we know,making a game need to be proficient in some programming languages, such as
C++ or C#. The core components that use these programming languages for computer games
or some interactive real-time image render applications is called game engine. A game engine
is a tool that allows game designers to make games quickly and easily, rather than starting
from scratch. The game engine usually contains many subsystems. These subsystems are
extremely complex. Some subsystems are designed for simple tasks, such as sound effects
and animations. While other subsystems involve using a comprehensive knowledge of many
disciplines, such as artificial intelligence, physical computing, and collision detection. One
person makes a game engine is extremely difficult, it will be very simple even if it can be
produced, or the engine has long been out of the market when it's finished. Making a game
engine by one person that is not realistic, so the second way is using a commercial game
engine. Commercial game engines are developed by a company. These engines usually have a
very large team to develop. These companies make a living by engine license fee which is 5%
sale of the total revenue after a game sell to the market. These commercial game engines
could be understood as a well-packaged box, a game developer cannot open the box, but the
box has many interfaces. What a game developer needs to do is just put the right thing in the
right interface, these commercial game engines will make every complex thing become
easier. These commercial game engine will not offer some specific function in the game, such
attack enemy or open player's inventory. Achieve these specific functions need to be coding
by a game developer. Commercial game engines is not a temple. It's a tool which could help a
game developer and game artist work together. A real game product requires the efforts from
programmers and artists. Commercial game engines could make everything easier, and make
game developer focus on the game itself. Just like Adobe series software, such as Photoshop,
Illustrator, InDesign, Which could help graphic design focus on the design rather than on the
tools needed to create the design. In this project, the author selected using one of commercial
game engines to quickly and efficiently come and go to the development stage of the game.
The second part of creating a game section explains advantage and disadvantage of
commercial game engines. There are many commercial game engines on the market. These
game engines have their strengths and weaknesses. The author will choose a suitable game
engine for the game project. There are four famous commercial game engines the author
would like to discuss. They are Unity 3D, Unreal Engine 4, Game Maker, Hero Engine.
Unity is a multi-platform game engine that allows a game developer to easier creates
interactive Three-dimensional phone applications. One of the best things about Unity 3D is
the Personal Edition, which is free.Unlike Unreal Engine 4, Unity 3D has a lower learning
cost and a very friendly user interact system. Some tools which the engine offers are rare, so
the game designer has to develop additional tools depending on project needs, which could
take time.
GameMaker Studio has become popular because it does not require any knowledge of
programming. Game designers can develop games efficiency and quickly than traditional
programming. The important disadvantages compare to other game engines in the market is
that a number of tools offered are relatively poor.
The HeroEngine is developed mainly for multiplayer and online games. The engine also
includes the HeroCloud that is designed to programming, and also create physics systems. It
allows game developers to work from a distance in real time. The engine provides many
open-world maps. Additionally, the engine offers a fairly robust A.I.Easy system and handy
mapping tools. The programming script is useful enough for developing complex projects.
The license fee is really heavy for new game developers or small companies, but the actual
performance is really good, especially if you are facing a large and complex online project.
Unreal Engine is one of the most famous game engines in the world. The first version was
released in 1998, and it continues to be used in creating an excellent game every year until 17
years later. Some famous game created by Unreal Engine include Mass Effect series and the
Batman: Arkham series. Unreal Engine 4 was considered that too heavy for a mobile platform
such as global illumination, bump mapping, reflections and animations that are computed in
real time, and more. Unreal Engine 4 has an ultra-performance on console and PC
platform.The other drawback is that game developer is warning of a steep learning curve, and
there are many tools that are not user-friendly.
The third part of creating a game section is analysis how features in the game are related from
some famous games in the history and advanced technology. There are many features in the
game,some of feature could be found in the game history,the other features will only
achieve by advanced technology. All of the features are the combination of history and
technology. The author will list all of them and talk about what they are, where they come
from in the game history, and how to fulfill these feature with a game engine. Those features
could be found in the history is First person perspective, Three-dimensional, and Roleplaying games. Features could only be achieved by the technique is Focus on-screen
performance, Virtual Reality compatible, and Coding with the visual script.
The first game using the first-person perspective is "might and Magic book One: The Secrect
of the Inner Sanctum(MM1)" in game history. MM1 was made by "New World Computing."
MM1 released at Christmas in 1986, which support Apple II + platform. MM1 includes many
features, such as Team system, First person perspective, and different race and camp,
Monsters, and many landscapes.
The first three-dimensional game was released in June 1996. The game is called "QUAKE"
which created by "id software"(https://www.idsoftware.com/en-us). This game is an
important symbol, which represents PC game have entered three-dimensional era. Everything
is made by polygons in the game, that's why the game is called a real 3D game. In addition,
"3dfx" produced a Voodoo accelerated graphics card make the game's 3D picture possible.
The first Role-playing games(RPG) is released on
1981(http://www.squakenet.com/download/wizardry-i-proving-grounds-of-the-madoverlord/5305/). The game is called "Wizardry I" which created by "Sir-tech Software."
"Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" looks very poorly by modern day first
person gaming standards, but at the time it was quite innovative.
Unreal Engine 4 and Hero Engine are good game engines for screen performance. While only
Unreal Engine 4 supports the most advanced "Physics-based Rendering"(PBR) material
rendering process. Because the game will run on the PC, so the drawback of Unreal 4 can be
ignored, which is too heavy for a mobile platform. There is only Unreal Engine 4 support
HTC Vive VR device well, Unreal Engine 4 is VR compatible, which is suitable for the
project. Unreal Engine 4 also support visual script, which is called "Blueprint" system in
Unreal Engine 4.
The fourth Part of the game creating section is select the engine and create elements for the
game. There are two things author need to start after the engine has been selected. The first
thing is master the operation of Unreal Engine 4, and learning how to create a visual script
using "Blueprint" system in Unreal Engine 4. The second thing is to generate art resources for
the game.
The first things are master Unreal Engine 4. Unreal Engine 4 is a very powerful game engine,
I have maintained a year and a half of continuous learning, most of this knowledge comes
from video teaching. Some of the basic tutorials are from China, as well as advanced tutorials
from Youtube.com. These tutorials helped me understand the engine, learned about Visual
Scripting in the engine, learned how art resources were made and imported, and learned some
common ways to interoperate. Due to space issues, I can not expand the entire content, but
this part allows me to learn a lot of knowledge. After completing the UE4 comprehensive
learning, I modified and fixed some bug in the visual script that makes the game worked.
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