Components of a Console Game

Something that comes up from time to time is the need for a full breakdown of everything which makes up a game. It's a tricky thing to do, as each game is different, and there are many approaches to any given part. Here's a quick brainstormed list though, to give an idea of what goes into a game.

• Engine
  • You can choose to license/use an existing engine, or build your own. There are pro's and con's to both approaches.
  • The Basics
    • Memory allocation
    • Debug text output to screen and debugger
    • File IO
    • Reading config / xml files
    • Build process
  • Rendering
    • Shader pipeline
    • Render opaque static objects
    • Render skinned objects
    • Render transparent objects
    • More complex material effects. Lighting, environment mapping, bump/parallax, etc.
    • Screen effects. HDR/Bloom, lens flare, depth of field etc.
  • Animation
    • Hierarchical skinned animation, including art tool exporter and pack process.
    • Blending of animations
    • ‘Blend shape’ vertex animation
    • Ability to modify animated meshes ‘by hand’ (e.g. IK or head tracking).
  • Events - the ability to send events between systems/objects.

 

• Gameplay
  • Player
    • Player moves
      • Walk / run / jump
      • Attack moves
      • Swim
      • Pick up weapon
    • Behaviour
      • Rag doll
      • IK for foot placement
      • Look at interesting objects
      • Conversations
      • Attached physics objects / cloth
  • NPC
    • Ambient characters / animals
    • Enemies
    • Bosses
    • Systems
      • State machine (often hierarchical).
      • Attaching of FX/sound.
      • Route planning.
      • Method for spawning / handling high numbers.
  • Gameplay Widgets
    • Static object
    • Breakable physics objects
    • Weapons
    • Treasure chest
    • Collectables
    • Pushable objects
    • Doors
    • Vehicles
  • Non-Gameplay Widgets
    • Butterflies.

 

• Networking / Multiplayer
  • Guaranteed / Non guaranteed messaging system.
  • Synchronization strategy.
  • Testing harness.

 

• Tools (some mentioned in other points)
  • Art pipeline for objects, environment and characters.
  • Level building tool for level layout and scripting.
  • UI building tool.

 

• Systems
  • UI
    • Tool for building and animating UI, Scripting system for ‘gluing it together’, Integration with game engine.
    • Runtime component for playing the UI.
    • Font rendering.
    • Localization system.
  • Sound
    • Loading sounds, Memory resident sounds, Streamed sounds, 3D position support, Effects (e.g. Echo), Categorization of sounds (game/dialogue/menu), Volume controls by category, Connecting of sounds to other widgets.
  • Physics
    • Select from free or purchased middleware and integrate with engine.
  • FMV
    • Select from free or purchased middleware and integrate with engine.
  • Cinematics
    • If game calls for conveying story, build a system for using the game engine to enact story sections.
  • FX
    • Particles, Ribbons, Shrapnel, Lights, Water, Fire, Fog, Rain, Tool for artist to configure effects, Tool for adding effects to cinematics.
  • Networking / Lobby

 

• UI Screens
  • Front end
    • Basic: Attract mode, Main Menu, Level Select, Load/Save, Options, Cheats, Unlocked Content, Credits.
    • Network play related: Chat room, Matchmaking, Leaderboard, Clans, News.
  • In game pause menu
    • Map, Objectives, Inventory, Some repeated functionality from front end.
  • TRC Compliance
  • Achievement points

 

• Infrastructure
  • Automated building and testing
  • Builds / Fire fighting
  • Automated error reporting
    • ‘Crash dump’ information per platform, Detailed error reports sent by email automatically when tools fail.