ABSTRACT

This chapter talks about observing how things are and applying the rules of nature and architecture to develop game environments. It examines fundamental map design, followed by terrain design, using camera effects for professional-looking scene rendering, and finishes up with the creation of some simplistic but highly effective weather systems. Map design for game levels is a sizable area of discussion and rules, and opinions on the best approach differ between genre and game developers. Side rooms are another common technique in three-dimensional (3D) environments. They give the map extra areas of interest but are dead ends. Terrains are meshes that make up the ground in an outdoor scene. They usually undulate in height and sport a variety of surface textures to make them look like a real outdoor desert, mountain, and even alien world scenes. Procedural terrain is that generated by a computer algorithm. Cameras are the player's eyes into the game environment.