Models and animated images in your game

This is a bit more complex than textures and plain images. You have to consider more than just the colors and look of a model. You also have to consider and define how it looks from every angle, how it moves and how it behaves in your game. These things are all part of the process of game making and here is some information about what you do, how you do it and what software you use.

Models and animations in games

Simple Models: You can create simple models right from within the game development software. They would be composed of groups of simple shapes like squares, cubes, spheres and other shapes. With these simple models you can define how they act in the game. For instance you could tell them to rotate, move open, close etc. These are considered animations and they are quite easy to do right within the game software.

You can also apply scripts to these models so they could interact with the world. For example you could create a model of a button, lever, elevator, or chest that opens or moves when the user clicks on it.

Complex Models: Let's say you want to create your own character for the game. This would be a much more complex model. It could be composed of dozens, hundreds and possibly even thousands of shapes. And it will have a whole series of movements like walking, jumping, shooting a gun, swimming, flying or anything else. To create a model like this you would have to draw all the steps in the motions. If you wanted him to jump you would draw all the steps taking him up then back down.

To do this kind of a complex model you would use modeling software like Maya, Milkshape or Lightwave. This is a whole distinct part of game making and there are game developers that are dedicated to model design and making. We will learn more about complex model making.

Okay, Lets move on to Module 2 and learn how to actually make games.