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The Hard Science of Making Video Games

See the top ten hurdles facing game designers today, and the cutting-edge tech that will soon make them relics of the past

Posted 9.19.07 at 2:00 am 1 Comments

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1. Processing Power
Courtesy IBM
Like re-creating the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with a couple magic markers

Problem: If a computer can´t keep up with the instructions the game issues, the image stutters, ruining the experience. That threshold is the number-one headache of making games. It compounds every challenge listed here, from building artificial intelligence to obeying physics.

Status: Although games now take advantage of â€multi-core processingâ€-the simultaneous use of multiple central-processing or graphics-processing units-programmers are always seeing their fantasies throttled by the need to budget processing capacity. (The PlayStation 3 contains eight 3.2-gigahertz processors, but few designers yet know how to program for them.) The budgetary mindset is so entrenched, programmers use the language of accountants (â€ugh, this rain´s too expensiveâ€) to describe the problem.

What´s next: Moore´s law-which states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years-means that there will always be more processing power available. (Nvidia, a leading manufacturer of graphics chips, claims it has managed to do Moore one better, doubling its chips´ processing power in less than a year.) But programmers´ ambitions will always outstrip the hardware because, as one designer puts it, â€the more we can do, the more excited we get, and the more we want to do.â€ With every jump in CPU and GPU capacity, that frustration only mounts.-Jacob Ward

Image: The PS3's Cell processor
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Entertainment & Gaming, ceiling of the sistine chapel, gigahertz processors, graphics chips, jacob ward, magic markers
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2. Water
Courtesy Sony
Like painting the sea-while it´s moving

Problem: Whole careers in mathematics have been built on calculating the tiniest movements of less than a square millimeter of fluid. Videogames have to show an entire raging ocean´s worth of the stuff. â€Less than a year ago, there wasn´t enough processing power to dynamically generate the movement of water in games,â€ says Lee Bamber, a programmer for 20 years and founder of The Game Creators, Ltd.

Status: â€Viscosity is the difficulty,â€ says Ron Fedkiw, an associate professor of computer science at Stanford University who worked on the effects for movies like Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith and Transformers and now works with Industrial Light & Magic. â€High viscosityâ€-as with solid objects-â€is easy to do. Clay, with a slightly lower viscosity, is harder, and water is harder still.â€ The math is there, Fedkiw says, but it takes supercomputers to pull it off.

What´s next: Game developers are experimenting with particle systems, in which groups of particles respond to events while observing certain rules. And slowly, turbulence modeling-the equivalent, in computational physics, of a ballpark estimate-along with improved processors and algorithms, are beginning to allow for even more lifelike splashes, bubbles and waves.-J.W.

Image: Riding atop a dragon in Lair is made more thrilling by realistic water-a major mathematical challenge
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Entertainment & Gaming, game creators, lee bamber, particle systems, revenge of the sith, square millimeter
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