The past decade has seen the field of video game design come a long way

LOOK at the ghettoised, concrete conglomerations that surround you, with their symmetrical similarities and individualistic disparities.

Watch how the rays of sunlight in the early morning bounce of the tinted windows of your room changing direction and velocity as the day changes time. If noticing these small intricacies woven in the fabric of everyday life is habitual for you, its time to awaken the dormant artist within to a digital reality, of immeasurable possibilities.

Welcome to the world with a modern generation of artists, dabbling gradients of digital paints for palettes and a plethora of software platforms to use as easels to prop their masterpiece-in-work. For all those, who think as an artist does, the avenues of game development are offering a fresh canvas awaiting each one's crowning stroke.

The past decade has seen the field of video game design come a long way. With a shift of focus from lengthy coded algorithms and complex programmes to the demurring cry for a poignant look, feel and storyline, the art of game development has become a lot more accessible. Using gaming engines and design suites, which are more user-friendly to the lesstechnocratic developers, the ability to develop simple to complex narratives and concepts into entertaining video games, has crossed newer boundaries. "An absolute prerequisite to developing a video game is a complete understanding of the technological platform and game engine that will be used to create the game. Changing your game engine middevelopment is the worst thing that can happen to a developer.

The infamous case of Duke Nukem Forever, which went through at least three reported engine changes, perfectly captures the pitfalls of changing horses' mid-stream," says Angelo Lobo, senior games producer at Games2Win India.

"Before development begins, game developers like to have a basic script ready. The script defines the experience and storyline that the player will enjoy during the course of the game. This really helps to nail the level design, as well as the enemies, challenges and set-pieces that the player will struggle against." he goes on to add.

"It is extremely important to create a thorough storyline and to understand the various aspects of incorporating storytelling to the game being developed," says Jacob Cherian, editor of a gam ing magazine, Skoar. "It is necessary for the story to encompass the characters involved. The game must be designed with significant junctions and must provide ele ments of choice to the gamers."

While a strong storyline is of keen importance, a game developer must also keep in mind the elements of character motion and the game world environment, which would work in tandem with one another.

"When an element of the script just cannot be brought to life without significant work, most movie directors or game producers instead choose to make changes to the script that fix the problem, instead of devoting time and energy to stay true to the script. Creating games is an ever more expensive process, thanks to the ever increasing expectations of gamers the world over. This is why a loose script is of paramount importance, as it allows the game producer to quickly customize the story to eliminate any potential roadblocks created by the game engine," comments Lobo.

Cherian goes on to say, "At the individual level, where excessive technical knowledge is not required, developing Flash games would be an easy and fun pastime."

With the presence of a number of platforms (Flash, Reality Factory etc) in addition to the traditional C++ and Java adoptive methods of creating videogames, individuals today are well equipped for creating their gaming dreamlands. All that's required is their personal masterstroke.

The writer is a Mumbai-based gamer