#programming architecture

[askagamedev]

Is more complicated, or more work to write code for The Game EA Sports FC if you were starting from scratch than it would be to write code for any other large scale game, like an MMORPG also done from scratch? Or GTA6 i.e.? (Licensing issues aside)

Code systems are code systems. Good code architecture tends to follow pretty universal principles, regardless of whether the system is governing loot tables or lighting systems. Constructing software systems is about seeing the general rules at work and using those to write code that adheres to those rules.

It really helps to take a larger view of what a game is from a software engineering perspective. A game (or any major piece of software) is a bunch of systems comprised of smaller subsystems, and how those individual systems interact with each other. All code systems all need to do three things:

Determine when the system needs to do its work

Return the processed results from that internal work to external systems that need those results to do their own work

Do their own internal work to process and handle requests correctly

When planning out what a system will do, it helps to divvy up the work into these three buckets. Once you know what the system needs to do, the engineer can break down the individual functions and data members she'll need in order to actually do that work.

Let's move forward with an example - say that I wanted to build a stealth takedown system in my action adventure game. The design document says that I want the player to be behind an unaware enemy, press a button, and then play a paired animation that kills the enemy. Using the three buckets mentioned previously, let's break it down.

When does the system need to do its work?

Player and enemy position

Player and enemy facing direction

Enemy awareness state

Game controller input state

What results do I need to provide?

I need to know when the player meets the conditions of being behind and facing an unaware enemy (call the UI system to show the button prompt)

I need to call the animation system to play the animations on the player and the enemy (call the animation system to play the animation)

I need to kill the enemy (call the damage system to kill the enemy)

What do I need to do the internal work to provide those results?

I need to calculate whether the player is behind the enemy

I need to calculate whether the player is facing the enemy

I need to determine whether the enemy is aware of the player

I need to know when the player presses the attack button

As each of these elements is built and works, we can use them to interact with each other. Logical checks like whether the player is behind the enemy will determine whether the action can be taken. Actions like performing the takedown animations are then attached to the conditions. These combine to form the rules from the designer and a system is born.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on BlueSky

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[luetta]

[vieformidable]

The picture of earth from space that we will rarely be shown

[humanoidhistory]

Apollo 16 rollout attracts a crowd at the Vehicle Assembly Building, 9 February 1972.

[piratesexmachine420]

If you told me this was how TI-83 binaries were structured, I would have straight up thought you were lying. JIT assembled from plaintext hex opcodes?--that can't be true. Maybe TI put that in the manual as a practical joke and nobody noticed.

...

...

...

Look at this stupid-ass hexdump. Every fucking byte of this file from 0x004B to 0x13C0 is either '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', or 'F'.

This program is anti-compressed. Every byte of machine code is encoded as two bytes of plaintext characters.

Why would you ever do that. Why would you want your executable to stored as plaintext hex digits. It's certainly not for ease-of-editing--the file-initial "AsmPrgm" token (BBh 6Ch) prevents you from opening the file in the onboard editor--and it's definitely not for program integrity checking either. So why on Earth did TI think this was the move to make?

Baffling and upsetting. Thank god the execution model permits self-modifying and self-extracting compressed programs.

[ghost--bot]

What the sneef?

sneef got accepted into its first college today!

it's NYIT and it received a scholarship of $30k per year!

[learabeau]

Nouvelle chambre

Canon AE1 program - Kodak Gold 200

Développement : Avril 2025

[every-sanji]

[foldmorepaper]

[anordinaryarchitect]

My first post after a long time💫

One of my goals for this year is to continue to post regularly. Firstly, I want to talk about my experiences in 2024. I'm accepted to architectural restoration master program.  I moved to another city for this program. Rightnow I take English preparatory lessons. It was a nice and successful fall term. I'll take English lessons in the spring semester, too. Next year my department courses will start. I hope this year will be the most beautiful, productive, peaceful and healthy 🥰

[mwdesiign]

✸ a little bit of exploring and a free coffee never hurt anyone 𖡎๋࣭ ⭑༘⋆₊ ⊹

Incoming journal post about an exciting place I visited this past Wednesday. ( ᴗ ̫ ᴗ )

[archiveofaffinities]

Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Principal in Charge: Steven Izenour, Gas Station, Elevation Study, The Walt Disney Company, Orlando, Florida, 1993-1994

[messo-rawand]

This is how we live now

Tents ⛺️ through this winter

Tents through this cold

Our little children is starving and cold

We need the world help

Your support always matters ❤️

Link to Donate in my bio

Thank you 🙏🏽

[bumblebeeappletree]

I’ve been thinking about schools for the blind and schools for the deaf. And while I know most states have schools for one of the two, or have one school where both attend at the one campus, I knew that there wasn’t schools in every state. And so I decided to take a look to see which states currently have running schools, and which states don’t. So all together there’s 13 states without a school for either the blind, the deaf, or both.

Now I think it’s very important for each state have at least one of each school in order to help support these students who would do better to have this sort of education. Especially since they would feel belonging as most disabled students feel alienated from their peers in an abled school system.

I think that these states, without these schools, have a unique opportunity here. They could use this as a way to build a school not only with maximized accessibility, but to build these schools sustainably. Some of which would go hand in hand. Lightbulbs that wouldn’t need so much electricity? Could also be lightbulbs for students with light sensitivity. Just as an example.

Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming all have different different environments. Some states closer together have similar weather patterns that their school buildings could be similar. But this could also help showcase how each biome’s sustainable buildings are different. Alaska might need more wind turbines than Nevada while Nevada would need a larger rain water harvesting system than Alaska. Although in this time of bigger storms and unpredictable weather, as well as strong fires, it would be best to build these schools to withstand these conditions.

I’m talking schools having green rooftops with solar panels on top. The greenery helping cool down the panels, and the solar panels providing some shade from the harsh sun. I’m talking about having a food forest with pathways that are accessible by wheelchair. Same with greenhouses for the colder months. Or for the warmer states, a shade house for the too hot weather. A small area with a variety of houses, some completely built for wheelchair users, so students can learn how to live in a house by themselves or with roommates. (Again, built sustainably.) And for the pools it’ll be natural pools. Chlorine has been shown to raise rates of asthma. Having a natural pool is healthier for the lungs, the skin, and hair.

Ideally these schools would be built in cities with a good transportation system, as to help teach the students how to get around in a city. Perhaps even give the students, and staff, a discount on using these transportation services. And should the students go on outings, for say a restaurant, they could ask for the restaurant to get Braille menus and subtitles for any TVs.

As there is some overlap between states that have neither a blind school or a deaf school. I propose that these states would have them in one building on one campus. And in these schools tactile sign language would be taught for the blind deaf and the blind or deaf students who wish to learn. Because as of right now, as far as I’m aware, the only place that does this in the USA is in Seattle. No where else.

“But how would we get the staff to teach this if it’s so rare?” You may ask. Simple.

We pay people to learn tactile sign language.

And if we have staff that already know tactile sign, they would get paid more than staff who don’t. And the pay rate would be the same for staff who know ASL, and the same would go for staff who know Braille. This way, staff members would be more inclined to learn how to sign, to read Braille, to communicate with students and help them with their homework. And if we can’t pay the people to learn these things, then we can have their schooling paid for. I’m sure there’s some blind schools that even pay for classes for their staff should they want to become an Orientation and Mobility Instructor. When the staff member completes their course they work for the school as an O&M instructor until a specific time frame is up. (Example “we pay for your classes, and then you work with us for 5 years as this type of teacher. Then you can become a contractor.”)

I think that this is something that can be done. Not only would it give these students a unique experience, an opportunity to learn more, and be in a healthier environment, but it could be a standard for new schools. A proof of concept if you will. There are many schools around the world where it’s been built sustainably, reclaimed materials, or in unique ways for accessibility. (A blind school in India has different plants by the windows of different classes so students know that they’re in the science classroom if they smell lavender and so on.)

I’ll be honest, I would love these schools to exist. However I have no idea where I would have to go or who I have to talk to to get this ball rolling. I literally live in none of these states so it would be even harder. However, I still wish to share my idea so start this conversation. And perhaps someone would see this and go “wait. I can help with this.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I very much would like to talk to you all about what could be in these (theoretical) schools!

[thenightisland]

i've been playing a lot of those geolocation games lately where you get dropped into some random point on google street view and have to figure out where you are and let me tell you that when you play these games you are hit over and over with the realization that vast swaths of the US are just fucking /empty/. you are then also hit over and over with the realization that vast swaths of the US are just texas

[learabeau]

Mériadeck

Canon AE1 program - Fomapan 400

Développement : Mars 2025