Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
A VIDEO GAME'S STRUCTURE
As audio people, It is important to understand why games are the way they are. We need to keep the
picture in mind as to what exactly is going on under the hood in a video game. So let's break it down into
some basic observations.
Video games are by nature interactive. This means that when you provide some kind of input into the
game, you get a response of some kind.
A really basic non-game analogy is simply typing something on a device. When you press physical keys
on your device's keyboard (or on the glass of your tablet or smartphone), the character corresponding to
the character you typed appears immediately on the screen.
A slightly more complex analogy of interactivity would be visiting a link to a website. When the user
clicks a link on a web page, the action sends a command to a server to load the web page or the object
associated with that link.
This example shows how clicking on a website link is actually a sophisticated form of interactivity.
A video game works in a similar manner; it uses the interaction between the player and an electronic
or computerized device to generate feedback that is displayed on the video screen. Initially, games
consisted of simple interactions, but as these interactions have gained complexity, they have produced
increasingly rich entertainment experiences.
Arcade
An arcade game is a self-contained electronic device that typically
plays only one game, which is housed in a freestanding cabinet. The
arcade games were the i rst commercially successful platform, and
enjoyed huge popularity in the 1980s. Although their popularity has
since greatly diminished, they are still being made today.
Credit:
Tobii Technology.
