HOW A GAME IS MADE?

For most people, the video game experience starts at the store and ends on the couch. Few realize that creating a game can be as complex as making a Hollywood blockbuster. Months of planning and preparation, script writing, casting, character development, cutting-edge technology and massive computing power go into making games.

A __________________

Every game begins with a story. Often story ideas come from game designers themselves or are pitched by outsiders, but increasingly they are based on other forms of entertainment like popular movies. Other common sources are sequels or spin offs of existing games and simulations of real-world events.

Once the basic game concept is decided upon, writers and artists work together on a storyboard. A storyboard consists of rough sketches and technical instructions sequentially organized to depict each scene of the game. It is a visual representation of the story and a reference for the writers, artists and designers just as it would be for a film. But while a film has a single storyline, a video game can have thousands of outcomes. Therefore various levels, or "worlds," of the game must be sketched out.

B___________________

As the storyboard is made, designers begin to create the characters. Rough sketches of major characters are drawn and redrawn until they are perfect. It's important for the artists to refine the characters as much as possible at this stage because it will be costly to make changes later. Once the character design is finalized, it's time to transform the sketches into controllable 3D characters.

The sketches are first scanned into the computer. Then, a digital exoskeleton is created to define the character's shape and to give the computer the control points necessary to animate the figure. The more detailed this exoskeleton is, the more realistic the motion of the character will be. Next, layers of "skin" are added, followed by layers of color and texture.

C_____________________

At this point, the character is basically a digital marionette. The game programmers bring this figure to life by instructing the computer to move the character. Several techniques can be used to do this, depending on the type of game and motion desired. In some games the motions of a human actor are captured using a special suit of sensors to represent the control points of the character's skeleton. These movements then can be mapped onto the character's skeleton to produce ultra-realistic motion.

D_____________________

One of the most important aspects of modern game creation is the environment. Subtle touches like reflections in shiny surfaces and varied cloud patterns often go unnoticed by players, but they help to create a much more immersive environment. And often such details can propel the story forward: for example, a twig snapping under a character's foot can signal approaching danger.

The majority of 3-D objects created for computer games are made up of polygons. A polygon is an area defined by lines. Each polygon has a set of vertices to define its shape, and it needs information that tells it what to look like. The most commonly used method to transmit this information is " texture mapping. " You can think of texture mapping much like wrapping a present. Each side of the box being wrapped is a blank polygon and the "paper" is an image of the texture to be applied. Most video game consoles and computers contain a special chip and dedicated memory that store the special images used for texture mapping and apply them to each polygon on the fly. This allows games to have incredibly detailed 3-D environments that you can interact with in real time.

E_________________

Unseen to the user, but making all of the game elements work together, is the code. Code is the set of computer language instructions that controls every aspect of the game. Most games are written with custom code based on the C programming language. A 3-D code engine is almost always used to generate the incredibly complex code necessary for all of the polygons, shadows and textures the user sees on the screen.

Another important aspect of the code is the artificial intelligence component. This is the logic of the game, and it also establishes the physics of the game world, detecting the interactions and collisions between objects and controlling their movement.

F__________________

Once the game is complete, it enters the postproduction phase. This phase includes extensive testing, review, marketing and finally, distribution.

The job of the testers is to play the game repeatedly to find all the mistakes, or "bugs."; Problems are prioritized in many ways, from "fatal" bugs which must be resolved immediately, to minor issues which may or may not affect the game's release. When a problem is discovered, a detailed report is sent back to the developers and the error is corrected.

The first version sent to testers is called the "alpha" version, and it is tested to detect any major flaws in the game while they are still relatively easy to fix. Once all of the major flaws are addressed, a "beta" version is released, often to a larger group of testers that sometimes includes the public. The beta version is exhaustively tested, fixed and re-released until the developers are satisfied that the game is ready for primetime.

Usually during this testing phase, a copy of the game is sent to the Entertainment Software Rating Board to be given a rating. These ratings are intended to give consumers an idea of the content of the game and its appropriateness for different age groups.

(based on: http://www.pbs.org)

5. Find English equivalents in the text:

Підбір персонажів, подаватися в певний спосіб сторонніми, продовження, розкадровка, начерки, деталізувати персонаж, зовнішній склет, шар, костюм датчиків, тонкі штрихи, багатонаправлений (з одночасним впливом на людину за допомогою кількох каналів сприйняття), просувати вперед, багатокутники, вершина, текстурне відображення, на льоту, код на замовлення, механізм, надзвичайно складний, штучний інтелект, зіткнення, поширення, помилка (у програмі або пристрої), випуск гри, основні недоліки, ретельно тестується, відповідність.