Copyright Law

Unit 78 Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Copyright Law

This law prevents anyone from copying any gaming material from other people. The definition of this is that any material that is owned by someone else and cannot be used without the creator's permission. In some game companies, the artist owns the graphics so you would need his permission as well.

PEGI

Age ratings are systems used to ensure that entertainment content, such as films, videos, DVD's, and computer games, are clearly labelled by age according to the content they contain. 

PEGI is used and recognised throughout Europe and has the support of the European Commission.

Racism, Religion, Equality + Diversity

When marketing the game, Gender and the words above have to be taken into consideration. Game Developers have to abide by the Equality and Diversity Law in all their games. For example, the Tomb Raider games have changed in regards to Lara Croft.

Her clothing has changed over the years. Where she used to wear less clothing, she now wears more.

In 2010 a law called Equality Act was passed. It legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society.

It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations.

BBFC

The BBFC (British Board of Film Censors) are an independent company set up in order to classify films. However, since the act was set up, this has also applied to computer games. All computer games have to be classified under the BBFC.

ASA Codes

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) is a self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA are an independent company and they have to report to OFCOM. The ASA have a set of conducts which need to be followed. Any adverts or Game trailers have to pass the ASA Code of Conduct. It checks that is fair, not filled with prejudice and also protects people under 18+.

Libel 

A published false statement that damages a game's or person's reputation. An example of this would be someone from Marvel Comics saying something false to someone from DC Comics.

Exercise 5

Computer Game Graphics

• Print media graphics, such as game poster, game packaging

They are design products such as gaming posters, game packaging, and gaming design covers. Print media is used to help promote and market the game to the relevant target audience. The packaging and manuals should have the relevant information.

• In-game graphics (head-up display graphics, sprite graphics, background graphics, image textures)

There are health bars and statistics of the player character. It shows how much health/mana the play has etc. It also shows your scoring levels. The Texture art is the look of how something feels. This can be done by designing the object and using colour shading to give an effect on a object. This can be done using computer software.

• Concept Art graphics

Concept art is used to generate ideas like, characters, buildings, backgrounds, weapons, environments and more. This is the initial starting point for creating a game idea, as it will help you to build your ideas. The types of concept art you can do to help brainstorm ideas are hand drawn design sketches and thumbnail sketches.

Graphic Specification

• Client Needs

Graphics Designers will have a design brief which will explain all the client needs which they would want in the graphics. The design brief will also help change some of the ideas which they can talk to their clients about and look at different ways to design the best graphics..

• Audience

Graphics Designers have to design according to the target audience. They will need to ensure that they have a good idea of their audience and ensure the graphics meets the marketing purpose.

• Thumbnail Sketching

These are really small sketches used to brainstorm ideas for the game.

• Visual Style, eg colour, style. photo realistic, cell-shaded, anime

Please see this link for artistic styles: http://nabeelhajat.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/exercise-1.html

• Composition

Graphic Designers have to ensure that every element is laid out appropriately within a scene.

• Typography

This is a font that should compliment the game. The style of it depends on the genre and themes of the game. An example of this is the Hulk ripping his shirt off and the bold text.

• Technical considerations, eg file format, file size, optimisation, file naming conventions, asset management , intended output

Please see this link for Technical Considerations: http://nabeelhajat.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/exercise-4.html

Exercise 4

Unit 78 - Digital Graphics For Computer Games

File Extensions

They are a string of characters attached to a filename that help identify the type of file. For example, a file name 'myfile.txt', has a file extension of '.txt' which is a file extension associated with text files.

 

Compression

This is known as data compression. This is an action performed to reduce the storage space required for data by changing its format.

 

Image Capture

This is the process of obtaining an image from a camera and stores it in the computer. You can also scan an image or photocopy it into the computer.

Optimising

This is an action to write/rewrite instructions in a program. This helps maximise efficiency and speed in computer actions.

Storage of Image Assets

This action names the appropriate files and folders. The action is storing them in the right place.

Exercise 3

What is a Pixel?

Pixel is just one of many tiny coloured dots that make up an image. It uses the smallest unit then displays this as a digital display. The more pixels you have the more better the quality the image is. Although we see the dots as squares, they are not actually squares.

Raster Images (BMP, GIF, TIFF, JPEG)

Raster Images use independent pixels to make up an image. If you make the image bigger the quality goes down.

BMP is an acronym for Bitmap. BMP images are used to store digital images on Windows. To create Bitmap images you can use different colours using tiny pixels. Bitmap image files are very large and the downside is when they are compressed they reduce the quality.

GIF in an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format. It is a lossless format for image files that supports both animated and static images. They are also very good to use on web browsers and when designing animated sprites.

TIFF is an acronym for Tagged Image File Format. It is a format for image files. This is mainly used by printing industries. The file format is large however it is used for professional photography. The benefit is that you can save it in different file formats. The difference between TIFF and JPEG is although they are both pix-elated, TIFF is more better than JPEG, as it retains more colour depth.

JPEG is an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is a format for compressing image files and used by digital cameras. This is mainly used by digital photographers. The only problem with this format is when you come to edit and then compress the image, it reduces file size and quality. Photographers capture the format in raw format which makes it easier to edit and helps retain much quality as possible.

Vector Images (PSD, WMF, FLA, AI)

Vector Images use polygons to represent images. If you make the images bigger the quality stays the same, therefor when designing computer graphics it is better to use Vector Images.

PSD is an acronym for Photoshop Document. It is the default format that Photoshop uses for saving data. When you create an image in Photoshop it has multiple layers. The benefit for this file format is you can edit this as much as possible because it is not flattened yet. However, once it is compressed it make it more difficult to edit as it becomes more pix-elated. 

WMF is an acronym for Windows Metafile Format. It is an image file that has more than one format. You can save both these formats using the WMF file extension. Although I have not used this file format i'm not too sure how popular this file format is. But in terms of adobe which is leading the way and is more industrious. A WMF file is only supported within windows and will not be able to open other operating systems.

FLA file format is the "master" document format for Flash projects. When you create a new Flash file in the Macromedia Flash authoring program, you create an FLA file.

AI is an acronym for Adobe Illustrator. It is a proprietary file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing single-page vector-based drawings.

Exercise 2

Level 3 - Computer Game Graphics

For this exercise I will be explaining the following computer game graphics headings and also giving examples with illustrative images.

Pixel Art (2D Sprites, 3D isometric Sprites)

Pixel art can be used to create 2D and 3D sprites, however by using each pixel, you can create a simple flat object and then extend that object and make it a bit more complex using isometric dimensions.

Concept Art

Concept art is used to generate ideas like, characters, buildings, backgrounds, weapons, environments and more. This is the initial starting point for creating a game idea, as it will help you to build your ideas.

Background

Background is very important in a game, it gives the feel of a location. It can be walls, forest, villages, cities, and more. 

In-game Interface

It is a health bar and statistics of the player character. It shows how much health/mana the play has etc. It also shows your scoring levels.

Texture Art

It is the look of how something feels. This can be done by designing the object and using colour shading to give an effect on a object. This can be done using computer software. 

Print Media

It is information that goes into game advertising. The packaging and the manual of the game cover all the details a person would need.

Exercise 1

Level 3 - Games Design

Unit 78 Digital Graphics For Computer Games

      Artistic Styles

        As part of this exercise, I will research four artistic styles.

      Photo Realism

The style is real as a photograph. It makes the whole game feel more realistic. Halo and Call of Duty are examples of this. When I played this game, it felt real.

      Exaggeration

The style resembles Japanese anime and manga. It exaggerates the feel of characters and objects and demonstrates their features. Dynasty Warriors is an example of this. I haven't played the game but the reviews have said they have demonstrated exaggeration by displaying the features of the character above.

      Cell - Shading

The style gives the impression that it was all hand drawn, it is actually done with computer software. There is more of a cartoon feel. It is also to make it less realistic by using less shading and colour, however by using bright colours you can make the images stand out. When I played this game it felt unreal.

      Abstraction

This style contains geometrical lines and shapes which are only used in particular games like the one above. It has features which are unrealistic and it is the opposite to realism. I haven't played this game but I can tell that they have given the effect on the lines.

      

     

Introduction

Hello, my name is Nabeel Hajat.

This blog is for my Level 3 Games Design course. Its purpose is for recording everything I do through the course. I am doing this course to help me build my gaming knowledge as I have a great interest in computer games. 

Here are a few of my favourite games.