What is a texture and how does it relate to a shader?
Ans: A shader defines the surface property of an object (ie- how shiny, bumpy, how light effects it). A texture is a bitmap that is plugged into shader that defines image we want to appear on object (ie- such as a picture of letters on an otherwise flat sign).
Provide some brief examples of how lighting can be used to influence mood.
Ans: Color can be used to indicate mood. For example, a green wash can indicate peace for the player while a red wash can indicate warning. Lighting can indicate mood, with shadows providing mystery or warning.
What is a key light? What is a fill light? What kind of light would you use to make "pools of light" in a scene?
Ans: A key light is the main light source, the most intense and the majority. It's put at angle to define 3-D forms. A fill light brings out some details out of shadow and works well at angle. A backlight is placed behind and slightly above or below object to help define shape. It highlights edges, pulls away from background. To make a pool of light, an artist would probably use spot lights with focused beam on single location since they provide great control over the lighting.
What is level design? Roughly, where does it occur in the game development process?
Ans: Level design is the process of creating levels for a game, using the implemented development tools and gameplay rules, with the intent of providing interesting gameplay. Level design occurs in the latter stages of game development when most of the game coding and content has been created.
What is player-to-gameplay balance? Why is it important? Provide one way it can be done poorly in a game. Describe one way you can fix the same poorly-done example.
Ans: Player-to-gameplay balance is where the player's relationship to the game is appropriate for their skill. This can be done poorly if an interface is very complicated but full-knowledge of the interface is needed before the player can even progress past the first level. This could be fixed by making only some basic parts of the interface needed at first, requiring (and rewarding) the player to learn additional components of the interface at later levels.
What is impermanence as a tool for ensuring interesting choices? Describe how you could use it in a first-person shooter game to make the gameplay more interesting.
Ans: Impermanence is a compensation technique for making something that is beneficial for the player not last forever. In a first-person shooter, this could mean making a grenade launcher with limited ammunition or an invulnerability shield that only lasts for 30 seconds.
What are supporting investments as a tool for ensuring interesting choices? Describe how you could use them in a real-time strategy game to make the gameplay more interesting.
Ans: Supporting investments support a secondary goal towards the game objective. In a real-time strategy game, a primary goal could be defeating an enemy and a supporting investment could be armor so the soldiers (that can defeat the enemy) are tougher.
What is positive feedback for a synergistic game relationship? Provide an example.
Ans: a synergistic relationship is one in which multiples of some item or items is not additive. "Positive feedback" is a synergistic relationship where 2+ items are better than the sum of each item. An example would be two soldiers that can guard each others back, thus having better armor than either alone.
Ans: A database containing files and past history of them. It provides a central location for all code and allows the programming team to work on related files without overwriting each other's work. the database preserves the history to help track down errors and provides branching and merging for platform specific parts.
Ans: Reproduce the problem consistently, look for clues, pinpoint the error, repair the problem and test solution.
Ans: A finite state machine (FSM) is an abstract model of computation. It consists of a set of states, a starting state, an input vocabulary and a transition function that maps inputs and the current state to a next state. For programming game, there is a natural correspondence between states and behaviors. This makes FSMs easy to understand, diagram, program and debug.