| Video Game making has evolved dramatically | | | | dungeons. Place the rooms and all the |
| over the past decade. It used to be a world | | | | structures. To aid in the visualization of |
| filled with tedious hours of programming in a | | | | your buildings and rooms you should draw |
| language like C. But today there are readily | | | | sketches of key areas. Are there temples? |
| available tools that do all this programming | | | | What will they look like? What are the unique |
| work for you and allow you to focus on the | | | | things about your game? Draw sketches of |
| creative task of building a fantasy world | | | | these. Once all the concepts are detailed, |
| game.Finding and Using the SoftwareThere are | | | | and your vision of the world is created you |
| many free for public use video game software | | | | can begin the actual software creation of |
| suites and they are all very similar. If you | | | | your game. This translates your game from its |
| learn how to use one of them you can readily | | | | paper version to its computer version. |
| transfer your skills to the others. And if | | | | |
| you are serious about your video game making, | | | | Professional video game design companies |
| the skills you learn with the free software | | | | spend an enormous amount of time in this |
| are a good foundation for working with the | | | | phase of game development. They work out |
| high-end software tools that the | | | | every detail and make drawings and sketches |
| professionals use. You can easily find any | | | | of every room, every character, and every |
| number of these free software applications by | | | | scene. You do not have to design your game |
| using a popular search engine. Two of them | | | | with this level of detail but you should make |
| that I have used are the Genesis game engine | | | | it as detailed as possible. Every hour of |
| and the Reality Factory game development | | | | work you do in this stage of the process will |
| suite.Five Steps to Making a Video GameThere | | | | save you several hours of work in the next |
| are five basic steps to making a video game. | | | | step.Step Two - Building the wire-frame of |
| These are the steps that professional | | | | your gameIn this step of creating your video |
| developers take when making a cutting edge | | | | game you make an overall shell that the whole |
| game and they are the same steps you take | | | | game will be played in. These are the |
| when making a small game that you and your | | | | boundaries of the game world. Inside this |
| friends can enjoy.Step One - Design on | | | | game world you place all of the inanimate |
| PaperThe very first thing you have to do when | | | | objects whether they be outside terrain |
| designing a video game is to get it down on | | | | features or inside objects like rooms and |
| paper. This is the most over-looked step and | | | | furniture. This stage is where all of the |
| it is also the number one mistake that many | | | | inanimate objects are created and placed in |
| budding game designers make. If we compare | | | | your computerized world. It is a complete |
| the process of making a video game to the | | | | world without any animals, beasts or |
| process of building a house this step would | | | | characters. When you do this you are simply |
| be like drawing up the blueprints. Before | | | | building and placing all the objects where |
| building a house you have to get everything | | | | they belong and defining their |
| into the blueprints so you can know exactly | | | | shape.This-step is commonly called |
| what you are building, where everything goes | | | | "wire-framing" because the end result will |
| and what everything looks like. This holds | | | | look like a drawing with many wires in three |
| true with game design. Before you start | | | | dimensional locations that define and show |
| making your video game you have to | | | | all of the various shapes and surfaces of |
| conceptualize it. You have to draw out on | | | | your game. After the wire framing is complete |
| paper what the game looks like, where | | | | you will bring it to life by applying |
| everything goes and to take this one step | | | | textures to all the surfaces. Step Three - |
| further than home building you have to write | | | | TexturingThis "texturing" of the game is a |
| a script so you can understand what will | | | | simple process of selecting a surface then |
| happen in your game. This script doesn't have | | | | choosing a texture that will be applied to |
| to be complex. It can be as easy as "The | | | | it. All game development software comes with |
| player has to work his way through the | | | | a library of ready to used textures that you |
| dungeon and find the Sword of Happiness to | | | | can choose from and apply to surfaces with a |
| complete the game".Maps and SketchesYour | | | | single click of your mouse. Professional game |
| video game is a complete world that a player | | | | companies spend an extraordinary amount of |
| will be able to walk around in and this means | | | | time creating their own textures and applying |
| that the first thing you should make is a map | | | | them to the wire-frames of their games. It is |
| of the whole world whether it is an outdoor | | | | this texturing that gives a game it's own |
| world or an indoor dungeon-like world. When | | | | unique look and feel. It is a very important |
| you do this it gives you a base to start | | | | part of game design and companies have people |
| with. When making your video game one of the | | | | dedicated to just creating textures for their |
| first things you will do is create a large | | | | worlds. Games can be composed of thousands of |
| box that contains your whole world. Inside | | | | unique textures and on any professional game |
| this box is where you will place all of the | | | | development team this job of creating |
| various objects of your game. If your map has | | | | textures is a full time job.Step Four - |
| outdoor areas you will put in it the terrain | | | | Placing entities in your worldEntities are |
| features like mountains, rivers, bridges and | | | | the players in your game or objects in your |
| building. If it is strictly an inside world | | | | game that either move or interact with the |
| you will map out all of the various | | | | player. These entities have two unique |
| rooms.After you have your overall map | | | | components that have to be designed -what |
| completed you can work down into the details. | | | | they look like and what they do. |
| Draw floor plans of any buildings and | | | | |