how are video games made?

Question

In my head I picture a black screen with a whole lot of numbers and letters, but how are video games actually made? How do they work? Say an open world survival game as an example.

In: Technology

Answer 1

i will answer the part of programming a game. so very simply a cpu calcuates numbers adding subtractin multiplying usw.

then you habe a program running on it saying that if you see this number the next number means this. lets say a file you first have a header of numbers telling you this is a file, this format, this length now your computer can go ok i habe this format so i valculate out of every number coming a pixel color on the screen. this is on a very rudimentory scale how jpeg works.

ontop of this i will calculate a a number the way the previus number is made can be used to make a programming language by simply saying i have a number telling me where i find an information (also called a variable) and then saying if this information is on yes then you open a file or something like it.

or in otherwords if vatiable x is one open a file

now if ypu can test for diffrent variables you can get a grid of variables lets say 3 by 3 points and we say the middle point has a point in it. now we try to push the block to the right and we test if there is something on the right middle gridpoint if we find nothing we push the point over if we find something we do nothing. (pushing the point means setting the point refered to the middle point to empty and the right point to full)

now this is a very simple world but if you have more stuff you can build a simple game. lets say we have nothing is 0 walls are a 1 the character is a 2 and enemys are a 3
now we give a biger field with like 5×7 and set the standart values on startup like this arrangment

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 0 2 0 0 3 1

1 0 0 0 0 0 1

1 1 1 0 3 0 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

now you could imagen those points as squarres of 1m and this is a room with 2 enemys and your character in the top left.

if we now have a keybord imput of letd say arrow right you test the points till you find 2 and then test if the point to the right is open see it is and set the point where the player was to 0 and the point to his right to a 2

this is basecly how you can program a basic game and exactly this is how the earlyest of rpg looked like.

the first legend of zelda was very similar to this and instead of showing you numbers the screen was split into 8 by 8 pixels points and then there where aloot of pictures which all had a corresponding number.