Level design, creation of a level in 3D
In the creative process of a video game, it arrives one moment when one must create a universe. All the styles of play have their own universe. That it is a FPS , a RPG or a play of race, which sees the player was created by one or more Level design er. The people who make Level design or mapping use an external software to manufacture their virtual world. Certain software is directly integrated in the achievable one of the once this one finalized video game.
What contains a map then?
When the player moves in a map , it contains very many information. There is in majority of the blocks parallepipedic. To build a medieval castle would be thus a succession of stackings of blocks of sizes reduced to gradually create the walls, keep etc until the complete realization of the building. The mappor can with his imagination create the future playable world which it wishes (or that it must make). For the moment, the universe thus created is motionless, fixed.
The texturing
Once a map at its base, it should be deepened. The texturing comes then. A texture is an image which is in a library of images. The blocks created must cover textures: textures are plated on these blocks. Textures are created by the graphic designers. The first plays in 3D were not textured, because the performance of the machines of the time were insufficient. With the technological change of the computers and increase in the main and graphic memory, textures are increasingly large and detailed. Certain textures use even complicated graphic effects like the Bump mapping to give an impression of relief on an object. That avoids creating a multitude of additional polygons which would overload the engine of returned play to obtain a level of equivalent detail.
The addition of other entities
Animated entities
To animate a map , it is necessary to exploit it (S) software (S) of creation. They can manage full with other information. If we return to our castle, we can add to him doors, a harrow at the entry which can rise and many other things! In the final version of the play the player can then actuate if it wishes it this harrow. One could imagine another scenario very well where one should not pass under the harrow because it could kill the player. The animated objects can have an infinity of possible characteristics. According to the type of play one can integrate walls démolissables, ramassables objects, make a river… It can contain objects of all kinds: balls of life if one plays futuristic FPS , ammunition which trail under a staircase for a play of infiltration…
Monsters
The monsters and the PNJ (Characters not players) are also entities. Their placements in the maps are often considered so that the action is constant, and realistic.
Lor behavior is scripté by IA club-footed S which animates them.
Sound environment
To trott itself in a forest without the noises of the fauna nor of the rustle of the sheets would be rather depressing. Integration in the map of the sounds contributes to reinforce the immersion sought by the mappor .
Lighting
For the moment, if one tested a map with all the elements described above, it would be unplayable, because there would be no light. This stage is also very important. A map with a lighting of quality is to some extent the small one more which will make that it is well carried out.
In the plays of the style survival horror, a rather weak lighting, flickering by places is ideal to put the pressure to the player. In Doom 3, the omnipresence of very dark spaces, which oblige the player to take the flashlight are another example (although one can make light by emptying his ammunition…).
Compilation
Once the finished map, it is necessary to transform all this information into a recognizable file by the play. Compilation is this stage which will recognize information éditables to obtain new nonmodifiable information (or little). For example, a yellow light of color and strong intensity located close to the ceiling of a part can be moved anywhere in the software of creation of map. The light is not applied in real-time, it is right the properties of this one. Whereas in the play, this light is motionless and will light the walls.
With the new engines 3D, this stage of transformation of the light disappears gradually. Indeed, the machines are more powerful and make it possible to manage the light in real-time. If the player with the possibility of moving this light, it will see lighting then moving in function.
The gameplay
The Gameplay of a map is surely the most difficult stage during creation. So that the player can immerse himself there perfectly it is necessary that the universe created is coherent. A harmony of the sizes of the parts must exist in order to respect the style of the play which one wishes to develop. A play of retro race which proceeds in futuristic circuits is a priori illogical; except if the realization follows. At present, the near total of FPS are linear. It is just enough to advance straight, to kill the enemies present and to fill the objectives requested. It is the fastest method to make maps. They are connected between them by times of loadings. A contrario , the RPG often profits from an advantage on FPS because the player, plunged in this universe realizes less restrictions of the sphere of activities.
For FPS , the action is often scriptée. Scripts are often invisible blocks in the map . I.e. when the player passes through, this block will start a new action (enemies which emerges by a window).
To finish, the management of the artificial intelligence can be also managed when designing map . It is necessary to determine key points for the monsters during their displacements.