3 answers
Hope
Student
Landrum, South Carolina
64
Questions
Asked
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how does programmers make video game characters special movments?
#programming #game
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3 answers
Betty Yip, PMP, CSM
Senior Director, Technical Program Manager
72
Answers
San Francisco, California
Updated
Betty’s Answer
Hi Hope,
Depending on the game you choose, there's usually a game coding kit or online platform that allows you to create your own characters, movements, structures, etc. For example, my son has participated in Roblox and Minecraft coding camps where he learns the code (it could be Python, javascript or other skills), then adds the code into the dev console and it gets run inside his own development environment. If he wants to make it available to his friends or other players, he can publish it and share his environment externally. If you're curious about how to do this, attend one of the free online gaming coding courses at Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming or this website https://www.onlinecoursereport.com/free/game-development-and-game-design/.
I highly encourage you to take an online course and see if that is something you have fun doing. It's great that you are curious and learning about gaming and technology now will help you with any computer courses or career you choose to pursue in the future.
Depending on the game you choose, there's usually a game coding kit or online platform that allows you to create your own characters, movements, structures, etc. For example, my son has participated in Roblox and Minecraft coding camps where he learns the code (it could be Python, javascript or other skills), then adds the code into the dev console and it gets run inside his own development environment. If he wants to make it available to his friends or other players, he can publish it and share his environment externally. If you're curious about how to do this, attend one of the free online gaming coding courses at Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming or this website https://www.onlinecoursereport.com/free/game-development-and-game-design/.
I highly encourage you to take an online course and see if that is something you have fun doing. It's great that you are curious and learning about gaming and technology now will help you with any computer courses or career you choose to pursue in the future.
Onur Onder
Software Engineer
3
Answers
Mountain View, California
Updated
Onur’s Answer
When we talk about video game characters, there are many technologies involved, but the main aim is to make players feel like the character is real and truly performing the actions.
In 2D games, you work with pixels, textures, and sequences of movement frames. For example, the classic game Prince of Persia used video footage of a man climbing and then created pixel art based on that video.
For 3D games, you deal with models, 3D meshes, joints, and bone animations. Many modern 3D games use motion capture to record real human movements and apply them to digital models. This process helps ensure that movements look natural and pleasing to the eye.
If you're not using a game engine, you'll need to learn all these techniques on your own. However, if you are using an engine, it usually comes with documentation and guidelines. Plus, there are plenty of tutorials available for each engine to help you out.
Look for a video called " Behind the Scenes - Prince of Persia (1989) [Making of]"
Look for a video called "How Motion Capture Works in Video Games"
In 2D games, you work with pixels, textures, and sequences of movement frames. For example, the classic game Prince of Persia used video footage of a man climbing and then created pixel art based on that video.
For 3D games, you deal with models, 3D meshes, joints, and bone animations. Many modern 3D games use motion capture to record real human movements and apply them to digital models. This process helps ensure that movements look natural and pleasing to the eye.
If you're not using a game engine, you'll need to learn all these techniques on your own. However, if you are using an engine, it usually comes with documentation and guidelines. Plus, there are plenty of tutorials available for each engine to help you out.
Onur recommends the following next steps:
Lawrence Lockhart
Software Developer
1
Answer
Horn Lake, Mississippi
Updated
Lawrence’s Answer
Hi Hope!
I love when students ask about programming because to me, it's so fun and so rewarding. Betty's answer is spot on so definitely follow the steps she recommended. I'd like to share just a little regarding the details of your question. You asked "how do programmers make video game characters special movements?" If we think about a single game character, that image when you view it on your phone, tv, or computer is a digital image made up of potentially thousands of pixels or on a simple game, a character known as a sprite may be 64x64 pixels (the same pixels we refer to image quality like a 12MP phone camera). What programmers do is use a computer language to instruct the computer to "color" certain pixels in a way that the image looks like a character. Then, using some of the technologies that Betty mentioned, they instruct the computer to "color" those pixels in a slightly different manner where the transition from the original image to the new one gives the appearance of motion.
As a younger kid, you may have used a small paper tablet to draw successive figures on sheets of paper, then flipped through those sheets to simulate motion. Programmers do something similar using computer languages to do the drawing, and computer languages to do the "flipping" which gives the effect of motion. Game programming and graphics programming is so important that technologies have been built specifically to do these tasks without the programmer having to manipulate down to the pixel level (which would be quite cumbersome BTW!). Similar processes are used in animated movies, VR technology, and even special effects in many modern movies.
There is ever-increasing demand in this field so if you're interested, I encourage you to continue digging further. All the best!
I love when students ask about programming because to me, it's so fun and so rewarding. Betty's answer is spot on so definitely follow the steps she recommended. I'd like to share just a little regarding the details of your question. You asked "how do programmers make video game characters special movements?" If we think about a single game character, that image when you view it on your phone, tv, or computer is a digital image made up of potentially thousands of pixels or on a simple game, a character known as a sprite may be 64x64 pixels (the same pixels we refer to image quality like a 12MP phone camera). What programmers do is use a computer language to instruct the computer to "color" certain pixels in a way that the image looks like a character. Then, using some of the technologies that Betty mentioned, they instruct the computer to "color" those pixels in a slightly different manner where the transition from the original image to the new one gives the appearance of motion.
As a younger kid, you may have used a small paper tablet to draw successive figures on sheets of paper, then flipped through those sheets to simulate motion. Programmers do something similar using computer languages to do the drawing, and computer languages to do the "flipping" which gives the effect of motion. Game programming and graphics programming is so important that technologies have been built specifically to do these tasks without the programmer having to manipulate down to the pixel level (which would be quite cumbersome BTW!). Similar processes are used in animated movies, VR technology, and even special effects in many modern movies.
There is ever-increasing demand in this field so if you're interested, I encourage you to continue digging further. All the best!