Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1. Game Programming Overview
This chapter provides a brief history of the evolving roles of game pro-
grammers through the different eras of video game development. Once
that bit of history is established, the chapter then covers three import-
ant concepts in programming any game: the game loop, management of
time, and game objects.
Evolution of Video Game Programming
The first commercial video game, Computer Space , was released in 1971. Created
by future Atari founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, the game was not
powered by a traditional computer. The hardware had no processor or RAM; it
simply was a state machine created with several transistors. All of the logic of
Computer Space had to be implemented entirely in hardware.
But when the Atari Video Computer System (Atari 2600) exploded onto the scene
in 1977, developers were given a standardized platform for games. This is when
video game creation became more about programming software as opposed to
designing complex hardware. Though games have changed a great deal since the
early Atari titles, some of the core programming techniques developed during that
era are still used today. Unlike most of the topic, no algorithms will be presented
in this section. But before the programming begins, it's good to have a bit of con-
text on how the video game industry arrived at its current state.
Although the focus of this section is on home console game development, the
transitions described also occurred in computer game development. However, the
transitions may have occurred a little bit earlier because computer game techno-
logy is usually a couple of years ahead of console game technology. This is due
to the fact that when a console is released, its hardware is locked for the five-
plus years the console is in the “current generation.” On the other hand, computer
hardware continuously improves at a dizzying pace. This is why when PC-focused
titlessuchas Crysis arereleased,thegraphicaltechnologiescanbestmanyconsole
games. That being said, the advantage of a console's locked hardware specifica-
tion is that it allows programmers to become intimately familiar with the system
over the course of several years. This leads to late-generation titles such as The
Last of Us that present a graphical fidelity rivaling that of even the most impress-
ive PC titles.
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