Иностранный язык в профессиональной деятельности (английский язык). Учебное пособие

Engine or Unity 3D. They’re free tools that will lessen your learning curve and may increase your chances of getting hired.

Here are 5 free tools to get started with: Unity 3D

Unreal Engine 4 GameMaker Studio 2 Construct 3

Godot Engine

How much does a game designer make?

According to Payscale, the average game designer salary is USD $63,838, while a lead can make in excess of USD $93,926. Salaries depend greatly on experience, location, size of studio and industry, and can vary above or below these averages. Senior and technical designers may exceed the top of that range with their years of experience and knowledge.

Four tips for getting into the industry

Know the process inside out. Games designed with a process have a much more likely chance of success than those which are randomly thrown together. By understanding the tools as well as the overall design process and the ‘big picture’ of the game, you will be much more likely to create a great product and have success in the industry. Many people, especially smaller developers, like to utilize more agile development techniques which are less about process and documentation and more about just building things. However, big companies like EA, Microsoft, Sony, and Ubisoft are highly process-driven and require heavy documentation which is a big part of how they’ve achieved success over and over again. Start thinking like an AAA pro by reading as much as you can on the game development pipeline, the various phases, and how the processes change with different genres, platforms and team sizes. Learn how and what documents and prototypes you should build, and how to go from an idea to prototype to completion and beyond.

Stay on top of trends. Every platform, genre and type of game has either a totally different, or a slightly different set of rules and requirements. Get familiar with the nuances by playing different types of games, subscribing to industry news and reading reviews (check out sources like Kotaku, Gamasutra, and 80Lv). Make the most of the content available to you on YouTube and Twitch too.

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Have an amazing demo reel. Your demo reel is your passport to the industry. Pick a few pieces of work and perfect them as best you can for your demo reel. Show versatility and your process. Keep it short (under 2 minutes!) and make sure your contact details are on there! As you gain more practice with the different types of game design, you may find you’re more drawn specifically to building levels or worlds for example. If that’s the kind of work you’d like to end up in, include work which reflect your main interests. Ensure the work you’re including is allowed to be publicly shown, and is not subject to an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Also consider your soundtrack choices carefully, as you don’t want the music to distract from your work.

Education. If you don’t have enough great content yet for a demo reel, consider upgrading your skills. Online tutorials are a great place to start learning, but if you want to get your skills to a professional standard and want feedback from an industry expert who knows what employers are looking for, research more formal game design and game development courses.

The future of game design

With an estimated 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, the gaming industry is strong and continues to grow year on year. In a trend-driven industry that’s constantly changing, it’s hard to predict what’s around the corner. However, today’s technology has resulted in greater accessibility for people all over the world to get into gaming, as well as more opportunities than ever for individuals to create and release their own games.

It’s a booming industry, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

(from: https://www.cgspectrum.com/blog/what-is-game-design)

Task 3. Complete the gaps, using the vocabulary from the text.

1)Game design refers to the use of cr _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and d _ _ _ _ to develop a game for entertainment or educational purposes.

2)Game design is a m _ _ _ _ – f _ _ _ _ _ d field with promising job prospects.

3)A game designer is a cross between a w _ _ _ _ _, a_ _ _ _ _ and p _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _.

4)At the heart of most games are the w _ _ _ _ _, m _ _ _ and l _ _ _ _ _

which players interact in.

5)Every platform, genre and type of game has a different s _ _ of r _ _ _

_, r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and g _ _ _ l _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

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6)Smaller developers like to utilize more agile development techniques which are less about p _ _ _ _ _ _ and d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and more about building things.

7)Your demo reel is your p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to the industry.

Task 4. Match the words and abbreviations with the definitions. Translate them into Russian.

1 backstory

2 rendering

3 ideation

4 indie

5 AAA

6 MMO

7 RPG

8 NDA

A the process of generating a photorealistic or non-photorealistic image from a 2D or 3D model by means of a computer program

B an informal classification used for video games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, typically having higher development and marketing budgets

C a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher

D the activity of forming ideas in the mind

E a legal document stating that someone will not tell anyone certain private information, especially about the company they work for

F the things that have happened to someone before you first see or read about that person in a film or story

G a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting

H an online game with large numbers of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server

Task 5. Put the following word-combinations into the gaps: game writer, game artist, learning curve, game development pipeline, demo reel, online tutorial

1 To get a job as a _____________, you’ll need to show potential employers proof that you’re a talented creative writer, so that’s where you should start.

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2 A __________________ is like a video CV you send to employers to showcase your skills/creativity.

3 New educational technologies help accelerate the _______________. 4 If you have previously registered for an ____________, any additional

course will be added to your account within two business days.

5 It is the _____________’s job to model and texture characters and objects to achieve the desired result.

6 It is possible to divide the ______________ into three broad faces: the pre-production, production and post-production.

Task 6. How do you understand the following phrases? Explain them and give your examples.

• Great ideas are a dime a dozen

• At the end of the day, a product has to make money

• A game designer is required to wear many different hats.

Task 7. Before you read the text, answer the questions: • What do you know about the history of video games? • What is your favourite genre of video games?

• How can you classify video games? Work in pairs or groups to make a classification of video games.

Task 8. Read the text and check your answers. Compare your classification to the one given in the text.

The Many Different Types of Video Games & Their Subgenres

There are many different types of video games, and typically, they are categorized by their characteristics or underlying objectives—not by the type of gameplay they contain. Game categories or genres, then, can also have subgenres, and many games fit into multiple genres.

Sure, it can be confusing, but by breaking down the game mechanics, we can start to understand how developers and publishers categorize their titles. For example, if you are an instant gratification type of gamer, action games are probably best. Do you like to solve puzzles or micro-manage resources?

Real-time strategy games (RTSs) or role-playing games (RPGs) might be better suited for you. But no matter what your interest, there is definitely a game genre that will appeal to your taste.

First, a little history.

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The first video games

Physicist William Higinbotham created the first video game in October 1958. It was the highlight of Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitor Open House that year. Higinbotham, who worked at the laboratory, wanted to create an interactive experience for visitors to “liven up the place. To have a game that people could play, and which would convey the message that our scientific endeavors have relevance for society.” The game, Tennis for Two, was played on an oscilloscope, and the miniature, five-inch screen only displayed thin blue lines. Visitors lined up to play, and Higinbotham’s experiment soon became the most popular exhibit in the lab.

In those early days, computer processing power limited the types of games programmers could create. Now technology allows game developers to create anything they can dream up. In the last few years, new game categories and genres have been created to accommodate games that have fallen outside of traditional game classifications.

Here’s a complete list of all the different types of video games.

Types of video games

Action games Action-adventure games Adventure games Role-playing games Simulation games Strategy games

Sports games Puzzle games Idle games

1. Action Games

Action games are just that—games where the player is in control of and at the center of the action, which is mainly comprised of physical challenges players must overcome. Most early video games like Donkey Kong and Galaga fall into the action category. Because action games are usually easy to get into and start playing, they still, by most accounts, make up the most popular video games.

Action subgenres: Platformer

Platformer games get their name from the fact that the game’s character interacts with platforms (usually running, jumping, or falling) throughout

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the gameplay. There are many types of platform games; Super Mario Bros.is probably the best known, and Donkey Kong was one of the earliest.

Fun Fact: Jumping Flash! on the original Sony PlayStation was the first 3D console platformer game. Up until that point, every platformer game was played “side-on,” and characters usually ran from left to right, in 2D.

Shooter

Shooters let players use weapons to engage in the action, with the goal usually being to take out enemies or opposing players. Shooters are categorized by the player perspective: First-person shooters (FPS) are played from the main character’s viewpoint; Call of Duty, Half-Life, and Halo are good examples.

With third-person shooters like Fortnite and Splatoon, the action takes place from a viewpoint where the player can see the main character, usually from slightly above and behind.

Top-down shooters, like Galaga, Space Invaders, and Raiden V: Director’s Cut feature a complete overhead experience. Where third-person shooters might usually display health bars or meters that get worse or better depending on the character’s health or condition, top-down shooters are typically based on sets of lives, with players reaching a ‘game over’ when that stash of lives runs out.

Fighting

Fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II focus the action on combat, and in most cases, hand-to-hand combat. Most fighting games feature a stable of playable characters, each one specializing in their own unique abilities or fighting style. In most traditional fighting games, players fight their way to the top, taking on more and more difficult opponents as they progress.

Fun Fact: Street Fighter II introduced one of video gaming’s first playable female characters, Chun-Li. (The very first playable human female video game character was found in the 1985 Taito arcade game Typhoon Gal.)

Beat-em up

Beat-em up games, or brawlers, also focus on combat, but instead of facing a single opponent, players face wave after wave of enemies. Double Dragon was one of the earliest beat-em ups, while God of War, Castle Crashers, and Bayonetta are more recent ones.

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Stealth

Stealth games stress cunning and precision to resolve game challenges, and while other action or combat may help players accomplish the goal, like in Dishonored, stealth games usually encourage players to engage in the action covertly. Metal Gear built a franchise name on this subcategory.

Survival

A subgenre of action games, survival action games have really come into their own over the past few years. The survival horror game Resident Evil was one of the earliest (though a linear game), while more modern survival games like Fortnite take place in open-world game environments and give players access to resources to craft tools, weapons, and shelter to survive as long as possible.

Rhythm

Rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero are musicbased games that challenge players to keep in step with the rhythm of a song or soundtrack in the game by pressing a corresponding button on the controller at a precise time to accumulate points.

Fun Fact: PaRappa the Rapper, released in 1997 for the original PlayStation, is considered the original rhythm game.

2. Action-Adventure Games

Action-adventure games most frequently incorporate two game mechanics— game-long quests or obstacles that must be conquered using a tool or item collected, as well as an action element where the item(s) are used. For example, in The Legend of Zelda, Link must find his way through eight dungeons to gather the scattered pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom. Once he’s collected all eight pieces and assembled the artifact, Link can enter the ninth and final dungeon to rescue Princess Zelda. Link uses a boomerang to collect distant items and attack enemies. Action-adventure games like The Legend of Zelda focus more on exploration, solving puzzles, and discovering loot, while basic combat is more of a supporting activity to the overall experience.

Fun Fact: Games that don’t fit well into other game genres are often tagged as action-adventure games. The Atari 2600 game Adventure (1979) is considered to be first action-adventure game.

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Survival horror

Survival horror games like Resident Evil use mature themes and subject matter to portray grisly and gruesome settings (many of these games use blood and gore and are intended only for mature audiences). Such titles deliver nailbiting excitement amplified by a key game mechanic: limited resources like ammunition or finite weapons.

Fun Fact: Resident Evil is one of the most successful video game franchises in history, having spawned dozens of sequels, movies, toys, books, and board games. The original Resident Evil PlayStation game holds the record for worst video game dialog, according to Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition.

Metroidvania

The game genre whose name is based on the games that inspired it, Metroid and Castlevania. Metroidvania-type games are like basic action-adventure games, but aren’t linear, and often require that the player backtrack, or is kept from progressing, until they find a specific item or special tool. “Upgrading” your character with new weapons, abilities, and other power-ups allows them to access “special” areas of the game—but not before a bossfight, which is also a major characteristic of Metroidvania-type games.

3. Adventure Games

Adventure games are categorized by the style of gameplay, not the story or content. And while technology has given developers new options to explore storytelling in the genre, at a basic level, adventure games haven’t evolved much from their text-based origins. In adventure games, players usually interact with their environment and other characters to solve puzzles with clues to progress the story or gameplay. Aside from an occasional mini-game, adventure games rarely involve any traditional video game action elements. Thus, the genre isn’t very popular with mainstream gamers.

Fun Fact: Myst is considered the most successful adventure game of all time. The game was released at a time many consider the height of the genre— in 1993—and became the best-selling PC game of all time. The game also introduced consumers to the era of CD-ROM gaming.

Text adventures

Early text adventure games were called ‘interactive fiction’. And just as the name implies, the gameplay is text-based, meaning players use their keyboard to input commands in response to the game-programmed story arc or situation,

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such as “get shovel,” “grab sword,” or “go North.” With text adventures, programmers spend quite a bit of development time working out various responses to the players’ inputs.

Graphic adventures

As computers became more capable of creating graphics to support text, games evolved as well. For instance, early graphic adventure games used simple images to support the still text-based adventure. Later, as the mouse evolved into a game controller, games started to replace written text commands, and players began to “point-and-click” to interact with an on-screen object.

Visual novels

Extremely popular in Japan, most visual novels require players to build up character traits or statistics to advance the gameplay. The games often have multiple endings which are determined by how the player responds to specific points in the plot. Dating and legal simulations (Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS, for example) are popular themes for many visual novels.

Fun Fact: Nearly 70% of the PC games released in Japan are visual novels.

Interactive movie

Laserdisc and CD-ROM technology allowed for the introduction of the interactive movie. Interactive movies contain pre-filmed live-action or animation sequences. The adventure is played out typically from a third-person perspective and the player controls the action during pivotal points in the story, like pushing a joystick right or pressing a button to “jump” out of the way as a boulder rushes toward them.

Fun Fact: Dragon’s Lair is considered to be a prime example of an interactive movie and a video game classic. It was animated by former Disney animator Don Bluth. (It took Bluth’s studio seven months to complete the game.)

Real-time 3D

The latest evolution of adventure games is real-time 3D. Instead of prerendered scenes, players interact in a real-time 3D video game world. Shenmue and Heavy Rain are good examples of these types of games.

4. Role-Playing Games

Probably the second-most popular game genre, role-playing games, or RPGs, mostly feature medieval or fantasy settings. This is due mainly to the

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origin of the genre, which can be traced back to Dungeons & Dragons and other pen and paper role-playing games. Still, hardcore RPGers don’t discount scifi fantasy-themed RPGs like Mass Effect, Fallout, and Final Fantasy, which have helped put unique spins on the genre. Cultural differences have also had a bearing on this genre, as many gamers categorize RPGs as either WRPGs (Western-influenced) or JPRGs (Japanese-influenced). Finally, gamers are often given choices in this genre that influence the final outcome of the game, which means many RPGs have alternate endings.

Types of RPG Games: Action RPG

Action role-playing games take game elements of both action games and action-adventure games. A defining characteristic of action RPGs is that the combat takes place in real-time and depends on a player’s speed and accuracy to best foes, versus depending on high character attributes like charisma and dexterity.

Fun Fact: You can still play Diablo online. 20 years after its debut, Diablo is the longest supported online game ever.

MMORPG

Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs) evolved as graphical variations of text-based multi-user dungeons (MUDs), which were developed in the late 1970s. MMORPGs involve hundreds of players actively interacting with each other in the same world, and typically, all players share the same or a similar objective.

Rouguelikes

The only other game genre based on the name of the game that inspired it, Rogue was a 2D computer game and dungeon crawler from 1980. The game featured a text interface and random level generation. Players overcame enemies and obstacles to increase their player stats.

Tactical RPG

Considering their origins in tabletop gaming, tactical role-playing games play more like traditional board games, wherein the turn-based game action plays out over an isometric grid. Players use almost chess-like strategy and a finite numbers of resources (armies, weapons, etc.) to conquer battles and enemies.

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