A very generic term referring to visual part of a game. Thus try to avoid unrelevant usage and instead tag for specific grapics type (2D, 3D), API, framework or a library you are using if possible.
6
votes
3answers
483 views
What graphic is Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, Alundra, etc
What is the actual term for the 'top-down' style of the Super Nintendo games such as Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, etc. I'm looking for the equivalent term of:
'isometric' - (Jaggered Alliance, ...
5
votes
2answers
309 views
Draw and update order in 3d graphics
In all of the code samples that I have looked at, the game loop looks something like this:
while(true)
{
InputAndUpdate();
Draw();
SwapBuffers();
}
However doesn't this destroy ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
OpenGL 3D Camera
And here I am again, looking for help with my OpenGL camera once again. This is starting to get embarrassing. Anyway, here's the deal: I think my OpenGL First Person free roaming camera is starting ...
1
vote
1answer
152 views
What weight should each frame have in motion blur?
I am working on a game and would like to add motion blur to videos that I export from the engine. Right now, I play back gameplay at 1/16th the original speed, giving me 16x more frames (e.g. instead ...
3
votes
0answers
267 views
How to depict a ramp for a top down 2D perspective? [closed]
I'm writing an android app and am looking for some ideas on how to render a ramp (or possibly speed bump) that will launch an object into the air. Probably something with gradients. This is for a top ...
6
votes
4answers
380 views
What are some good books which detail the fundamentals of graphics processing?
The best book on the nitty gritty of graphics that I've found is Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Graphics-Principles-James-Foley/dp/0201121107
However, as ...
1
vote
1answer
741 views
Stretching textures for CCSprites in Cocos2D
I'm making a game for iPhone and iPad w/ Cocos2D and Box2D. I scale the size of square objects ("blocks") using a pixel-to-meters ratio depending on the particular device. Can I stretch or shrink ...
5
votes
2answers
962 views
top down game - checking, drawing enemy's line of sight area with obstacles
Examples of what i'm going to need:
I'm using cocos2d to draw a CCTMXTiledMap, on those tiles i'll have to draw the LOS cone.
How would i test if the player is within that cone, taking obstacles ...
8
votes
1answer
168 views
What are some ways to implement variable body shapes?
Games like Ryzom and the Sims allow players to have human bodies with different shapes: wide or thin, tall or short, big noses or small, etc. It seems to me that it'd be impractical to pre-generate ...
18
votes
4answers
8k views
How can a programmer learn to draw 2D assets?
Are there any good tutorials for someone who wants to create 2D graphical game assets? Drawing classes for absolute beginners, preferably teaching skills that can be as relevant as possible to games - ...
3
votes
7answers
2k views
openGL book recommendation
I wanna start learning OpenGL especially for android game programming but I would eventually want to be able to use this knowledge for windows\linux as well.
I'm having difficulty choosing between ...
3
votes
1answer
108 views
connecting multiple anti-aliased lines together
I implemented/copied the wu line algorithm from pseudo-code on wiki-pedia and other places.
When drawing a sine wave it breaks down at the point where the line changes from y dominant to x dominant ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I replicate the warp effect from Geometry Wars?
I'm trying to achieve the warp effect that you see in games like Geometry Wars.
Can someone help explain what is going on here? I feel like the grid's z axis is manipulated in some way, any way, by ...
7
votes
1answer
242 views
Overview/showcase of shader techniques/uses for games
I am looking for resources that can provide me with a better understanding of what kind of things shaders are used for in games, what they can do, and maybe even more importantly, what they cannot. I ...
2
votes
2answers
215 views
Is it ok to use NPOT textures with OpenGL in this situation?
I drew some icons to use on orthographic projection and instead of loading each icon file individually as a texture I thought of putting them all together in one single file. Now I have a file 72x36 ...
7
votes
5answers
424 views
Ideas for extending tic-tac-toe game? [closed]
I'm building a 3D tic-tac-toe game and this is what I've implemented so far:
3D renderer with texture mapping
Playing against the computer
Playing online (multiplayer)
Now I'm a little lost what I ...
2
votes
2answers
254 views
Are there any issues with not drawing to all render targets when using MRT?
Lets say I set 2 render targets:
device.SetRenderTargets(color, depth);
And then half my draw code only outputs color and not depth. This works fine on the PC and produces the expected results ...
2
votes
2answers
262 views
Flash game size and distribution between asset types
I am currently developing a Flash game and am planning on a large amount of graphics and audio assets, which has led to some questions about Flash game size.
By looking at some of the popular games ...
3
votes
1answer
244 views
Looking for literature about graphics pipeline optimization
I am looking for some books, articles or tutorials about graphics architecture and graphics pipeline optimizations. It shouldn't be too old (2008 or newer) - the newer, the better.
I have found ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Moving an object in a circular path
I want to move one object (dot) in a circular path. How should I change the X and Y coordinates to accomplish this?
4
votes
1answer
340 views
Good book or tutorial for learning how to apply integration methods
I'm looking to animate a graph layout using edges as springs and nodes as weights (a node with more links will have a bigger weight).
I'm not capable of wrapping my head around the usage of ...
2
votes
0answers
366 views
stock/free artwork & graphic assets [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Where can I find free sprites and images?
Open-source 3D models easily usable in OGRE3D/jMonkeyEngine
Are there any sites that offer quality graphical assets to use in ...
33
votes
8answers
5k views
Where to start with game development? [closed]
I asked this earlier in this thread at stackoverflow.com. One of the early comments redirected me here to gamedev.stackexchange.com, so I'm reposting here.
Searching for related questions I found a ...
24
votes
4answers
685 views
What viable way for an indie dev to test for epilepsy reactions on a game?
So I've been developing a game which is a bit.. blinky in terms of color and lightness contrasts. It's a game for the iPhone, so the screen's not gonna be so big..
But I've heard about wipeout XL ...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
What does vsynched mean?
I'm always looking for ways to improve the smoothness of my games. When I read around the net I come across the term "vsynched" quite often. What does vsynched mean?
2
votes
2answers
2k views
OpenGL-ES: clearing the alpha of the FrameBufferObject
This question is a follow-up to Texture artifacts on iPad
How does one "clear the alpha of the render texture frameBufferObject"? I've searched around here, StackOverflow and various search engines ...
14
votes
1answer
2k views
The practical cost of swapping effects
I use XNA for my projects and on those forums I sometimes see references to the fact that swapping an effect for a mesh has a relatively high cost, which surprises me as I thought to swap an effect ...
4
votes
2answers
481 views
What does the term 'photorealistic' really mean?
I was wondering about the term 'photorealistic' in regards to rendering and was wondering how this is used.
Is it used to describe a shader (or set of) that have certain quantifiable features? Or any ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
The recommended road map to be a good graphics/game engine programmer
I am a computer science student and I am developing with C/C++ and Python and I want to begin learning graphics tools to start developing with game engines, especially the Blender Game Engine. So what ...
3
votes
2answers
481 views
Texture artifacts on iPad
I'm porting an iPhone game to the iPad. When I move textures "quickly" (5.0 pixels every update at a rate of 60 Hz) I start to see little "artifacts" or remnants of where the texture used to be. I'm ...
3
votes
1answer
4k views
iPhone image asset recommended resolution/dpi/format
I'm learning iPhone development and a friend will be doing the graphics/animation. I'll be using cocos2d most likely (if that matters).
My friend wants to get started on the graphics, and I don't ...
6
votes
2answers
581 views
OpenGL or OpenGL ES
What should I learn? OpenGL 4.1 or OpenGL ES 2.0?
I will be developing desktop applications using Qt but I may start developing mobile applications in a few months, too. I don't know anything about ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
How do I fix this weird lighting problem?
I'm making a small game in Unity, and some models are displaying very ugly shading. The shading usually looks funky along the edges between triangles. I'm pretty new to working in 3D; I bet this is ...
3
votes
2answers
978 views
What are the advantages of a sprite sheet over an image sequence/flash timeline?
I've noticed sprite sheets are used more and more in Flash games and I don't fully understand what are the advantages over an image sequence/flash timeline - MovieClip.
I've read this related ...
4
votes
1answer
769 views
How are potentially visible sets (PVS) determined in state of the art games?
As I understand it, potentially visible sets (PVS) are used to determine 2 things;
1. which objects are inside the camera's view volume
2. which objects are not occluded (hidden) from the camera's ...
1
vote
2answers
236 views
What is the Xbox360's D3DRS_VIEWPORTENABLE equivalent on WinXP D3D9?
I posted this on StackOverlow, but of course it should be posted here.
I am maintaining a multiplatform codebase for Xbox360 and WinXP. I am seeing an issue on the XP side that appears to be related ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Any interesting thesis topic? [closed]
I study Computer Science at Technical University of Lodz (in Poland) with Computer Game and Simulation Technology specialization. I'm going to defend BSc thesis next year and I was wondering what ...
9
votes
1answer
436 views
Outsourcing Artwork: Hourly or Per-Project?
I've hired people to produce art and graphics before, but only ever at a per-job rate and that has worked out well.
This question is for both artists and the people who hire them:
As a buyer, are ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Bitmap font rendering, UV generation and vertex placement [closed]
I am generating a bitmap, however, I am not sure on how to render the UV's and placement. I had a thread like this once before, but it was too loosely worded as to what I was looking to do.
What I am ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views
2D platformers: why make the physics dependent on the framerate?
"Super Meat Boy" is a difficult platformer that recently came out for PC, requiring exceptional control and pixel-perfect jumping. The physics code in the game is dependent on the framerate, which is ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
How do I plot individual pixels using the XNA APIs?
If I wanted to fill my game screen with individually coloured pixels, how would I do this?
For example, if I wanted to write a 'game of life'-type game where each pixel was a cell, how would I ...
7
votes
5answers
1k views
Drawing very large slowly rotating planets
I'd like to draw very large (~500 px) graphics of planets slowly rotating. These graphics are meant to impress. What's the best way of doing this? I don't have experience with any particular 3D ...
3
votes
2answers
6k views
Rotate vector by matrix?
If I have a Vector, say (1,1), how can I rotate it around the origin (0,0)?
I'm working in XNA if that helps.
3
votes
4answers
1k views
Minimum target resolution for a desktop PC/Mac Game?
Lets assume I start a new PC/Mac desktop (not netbook) game today that will take something like one year to be released publicly and that is a lot about graphic details (not realistics, just ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
How did they make the screen move in Dangerous Dave?
I've made games in BASIC when I was a child, and I was curious about how the graphics were done in the 1988 version of Dangerous Dave made in C++; especially because they didn't have any worthwhile ...
4
votes
5answers
476 views
XNA Required information to represent 2D Sprite graphically
I was thinking about dividing my game engine into 2 threads: render thread and update thread (I can't come up on how to divide update thread from physic thread at the moment).
That said, I have to ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
Arc Length of Bezier Curves
I'm not sure if this is more of a math.stackexchange.com (or physics??) question, but here it is:
How can I find out the distance traveled by a Bezier Curve?
For example, the distance traveled by a ...
1
vote
1answer
449 views
Porting an HLSL 3.0 shader to 2.0?
I have a couple of .fx files from a Shader-Based 2D Shadows example. I want to utilize the same kind of technique with XNA 4.0's Reach profile, which if I understand correctly needs to have HLSL 2.0 ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
Rendering 2d sprites into a 3d world?
In opengl how do I render 2d sprites in opengl given that I have a png of the sprite? See images as an example of the effect I'd like to achieve. Also I would like to overlay weapons on the screen ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
Applying Textures to Hexagonal Tiles Seamlessly
I'm doing a tactical game (X-Com / Fallout style) for fun.
I've decided to use a hexagonal map, but I'm having a graphic problem.
My current map display is HUD-like, with only the border of the map ...
