Creating video games like Helldivers 2 and Call of Duty is no easy feat. Most games require huge amounts of code written into it. And trivial details like reflections in the mirror, and bushes in the field do not affect the gameplay much but eat away a lot of time from the developers.
So, the developers have found ways to work around these time-consuming acts by inventing shortcuts. The final results are hardly discernible in the game and everybody is happy. We have prepared a list of 9 popular gaming tricks game developers play on us. Maybe you will be able to find one or more of these in the games you play.
9. Games Like Call of Duty and Helldivers 2 Have Unit Slotting
When you are surrounded by groups of enemies, you will usually find that not all of them are attacking you. Depending on the game, the number of attackers varies. Competitive PvP games like Helldivers 2 or Call of Duty have greater unit slotting.
This means more enemies will attack you simultaneously. Games like Call of Duty, especially in single-player missions, have lower unit slotting to make the game experience enjoyable.
8. Beware of Ladders
Bethesda’s AI is incapable of handling ladders. So, in games like Elder Scrolls or Fallout, when your character attempts to climb a ladder, you will be shown the loading screen instead.
While games like Far Cry have made interacting with one’s environment pretty simplistic, Bethesda’s ladder worry just goes on to show, that developers are hiding a lot of things behind their flashy games.
7. There are no Bullets
Most first-person shooters do not visualize bullets at all. Instead of rendering bullets, which include difficult calculations, the games calculate the trajectory of the bullet depending on its firing position.
These calculations are way easier when compared to the ones needed to render bullets. So most FPS shooters that you play, including popular titles like Call of Duty do not render bullets as it is far easier for the developer.
6. Trees and Bushes Are the Same
In games like Battlefield 3, developers have used a shortcut when it comes to creating bushes and small shrubs for the terrain. Instead of designing them separately, they just showed the tips of the trees with the rest of their body inside the ground. This was a neat trick employed by developers to create ‘unique’ terrain while shaving hours off the development process.
5. Shelves are Tables
In the popular fantasy RPG Skyrim, there are no tables. That might sound confusing as you can distinctly remember your character using tables at various points of the game, right?
Each table in Skyrim doubles as a shelf. When the developers saw that the shelves could very easily pass for tables, they chose to use them everywhere instead of creating new code to showcase tables. Pretty neat, huh?
4. Glitch Turns into Sleek Combo
In the game Onimusha: Warlords, the developers noticed that enemies could be launched in the air and juggled with sword strikes. This was a glitch as the developers had no plan on doing this.
However, they took this feature to make the famous enemy-juggling combos of the Devil May Cry franchise. If you remember playing your trade as Dante and swinging enemies in the air, you have the glitch in Onimusha: Warlords to thank.
3. Flat Planes Make Good Trees
In games like Diablo 3, the trees are not 3D structures. Instead, they are just flat surfaces that have been positioned in a way to resemble trees. This made creating trees incredibly easy and way less technically demanding. This allowed the developers more leeway and creativity in other aspects while the trees remained, well planes.
2. Imposters are Everywhere
In some games, especially amidst a horde of buildings and terrains, some of the features are just flat-cutboard models. These are infinitely easier to build, and in most cases, players do not even notice them. These models accurately depict what they are supposed to do.
Only when players go close enough or try and interact with these models will they understand the difference. However, these models are usually kept in inaccessible areas of the game so that they can act as an appealing visual without developers having to spend copious amounts of time on them.
1. Someone Actually Did That
The 1989 Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechnar used rotoscoped videos of his brother to achieve a fluid and realistic animation. Modern games like FIFA and PES are also known to employ this method where they run simulations with human models carrying out the physical acts.
These are because they can be transcribed better into animations. A lot of simulation games employ this same technique as it allows developers to use realistic examples for their in-game animations.
Which developer gaming tricks were your favorite? Do you know any such developer secrets for games like Helldivers 2 or Call of Duty? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
