Investigation application software used to develop games

Hey all!

So I want to be talking with you guys today about, games application software and just explain everything to you.
Lets start with the basics of it all and let me explain what a computer program is. So its a set of instructions which tell the computer what it needs to do, this could be adding up numbers or make decisions based on a answer from a previous task. However, a computer program is only a set of instructions for the computer and it will follow anything that you tell it to do and at the same time can do something else that you want it to do. This could be the situation like you were on a game and you couldn't progress through the level because something was blocking your path and you couldn't defeat it, you would be able to go onto the internet and search a way of getting passed the problem and then you could just flick between your game and the web.

Now the computer needs to be able to understand all of the commands and instructions that you are giving it and in order for it to do that it has to be in a specific language, this is the programming language. There a multiple different programming languages just like in the real world where people in different countries speak different languages. Depending on the tasks the different languages can be used, but all of the languages are pretty much saying the same thing its just in different ways. With most video games they are predominantly written in C++, C and occasionally assembly language. This assembly language is a relatively basis language and it written so that it will run on a specific hardware, so the assembly language for an Xbox One wouldn't be the same as a PS4. 

So with there being different types of games programming language there has to be another program that is there to help translate code because for the CPU to understand and act upon but with most things there are advantages and disadvantages for instance for disadvantages the process will take a lot longer because the system has to spend more time translating the information which can cause it to be slow, also it only has a limited access to the operating system and hardware. However, the advantages of it is that it makes things a lot easier to program with than different languages and also if you were to make an error when coding it wouldn't cause a huge problem and would be a lot more forgiving, this allows you to experiment and try new things. 

So Java is one of the main Interpreted languages and its used a lot on the internet for web games as it is cross-platform and the user wont have to install anything to allow it to work, also because nothing is downloaded then you don't have any risks like you would if you were to download something because there wouldn't be anyway to allow any virus' into whatever you are using it on. The problem is its not often available on games consoles but it is one of the more commonly used language for phone apps and games. 

C# is another interpreted programming language which is preferred for developing game development tools. These tools are specialised software applications which facilitates and can assist with the developing of computer games. The types of tasks which is helps to preform are converting the assets so this is thing like the 3D models and their textures into formats required by the game and editing levels. So this could be changing 3DS Max files to FBXs. 

So with most games being written in C and C++,  these are the best examples of compiled Languages. So this pretty much means that once you've written your C program you will have to run it through a C compiler which will turn the program into a format which your computer will be able to run. The C program is the part that is understandable from our point of view and once its gone through the compiler then it will be in a form which the computer will be able to understand.    

So thats all for this i hope you've liked what you have read!
Until next time 

Fairwinds internet travellers!

Kristine