Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics (Wordware Game Developer's Library)

Graphics play a central role in the computer gaming experience, and arcade-style games are no exception. Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics emphasizes the development of quality graphics for 2D arcade-style computer games, both online and offline, including such topics as game design and documentation, graphics tools, animation, proper color usage, and fonts. Graphic designer and animator Ari Feldman provides a step-by-step example of designing 2D graphics and animation for an arcade-style game. * Understand the capabilities of various display modes and learn the nuances of designing for each of them. * Follow the step-by-step Fish Dish example for designing 2D graphics and animation for an online game. * Create detailed design plans that document every aspect of the creative-related issues associated with your games. * Find out the most important features of graphics creation tools, including painting programs and screen capture utilities. * Identify the essential graphic file formats used in arcade game graphics development and find out which image compression techniques are most suited to arcade game graphics. * Implement file naming conventions, version control, and backup strategies to manage your graphic assets. * Discover how the proper use of fonts can liven up your graphics in addition to displaying important game information.