Approaches to Modular Construction for Real-Time Game Environments

Braiden Fenech & Justin Carter Part of CW17

Video Game design and development has evolved into a profitable and widely accepted creative field that operates within ever-increasing technical capability. This improved capability has facilitated an increase in the visual fidelity achievable within real-time environments. Game artists faced with creating these environments are tasked with maximising both system resource allocation and efficiency in production time. One strategy that has been adopted by artists is to implement a modular design and construction approach when developing environmental elements. Although this approach offers many benefits for artists, the associated skills and techniques are not well defined.

Through an exploration of existing literature and reflection on current practice, this study identifies and evaluates a range of contemporary approaches to modular construction for real-time environments and in the process offers valuable insight for practitioners.