Finishing the Game - Learning C# by Programming Games - page 324

Similarly, we simply use our AssetManager class to play sound effects at appropriate
moments, just like we did in the JewelJam game. For example, whenever a pair of
penguins is made, we play a sound effect (see the Update method in the Penguin
class:
GameEnvironment.AssetManager.PlaySound("Sounds/snd_pair");
If you look at the PenguinPairs6 example project belonging to this chapter, you can
see how the complete game works, and of course you can also play it.
Working in teams— The first generation of games was created by program-
mers. They did all the work. They designed the game mechanics, they created
the art (which consisted of just a few pixels anyway) and they programmed
the game in an Assembler language. All the work focused on the program-
ming. The game mechanics were often adapted to what could be programmed
efficiently.
But when more memory became available this slowly changed. Creating
fancy looking objects with a limited number of pixels and a limited number of
colors became an art form and such pixel artists started to play an important
role in developing games. Realize that in the early days there were no drawing
programs (no computer was powerful enough for that). Pixelated characters
were designed on graph paper and then turned into hexadecimal numbers to
be put into the game code.
With the increase of computer power and storage media like the CD, the art
started to play an increasingly important role and the artists developed with it.
3D graphics and animations became common, leading to new specialists that
could also use the new tools and technologies developed to support such work.
Nowadays the artists make up the majority of the game production teams.
At some stage also the design of the game became a separate job. Game
mechanics were tuned to the interests of user groups and were more and more
based on principles from psychology and educational sciences. This required
a separate expertise. Stories started to play a crucial role, leading to the in-
clusion of writers. And the teams were extended with producers, sound engi-
neers, composers, and many other types of people. Nowadays, teams for top
games can consist of hundreds of people. But realize, without the program-
mers, nothing would work.
24.4 Some Final Notes
In this part, we have created a game that is quite a bit more complicated than the
previous example game Jewel Jam . You have probably noticed that the number of