Whether you're creating the greatest sci-fi shooter or an adventure game, lighting should play a critical role in the game development process. Setting the correct mood for your game is determined by the lighting choices you make. Lighting has the most influential role in your game's world and can make or break the visuals. This article covers how lighting is different in games versus other mediums and the vital effect it has on your game environment, so you can make the right lighting choices for your next project. Many of the same lighting principles that apply to movies and other pre-rendered projects can be used for games. However, the nature of games makes how the principles are approached and implemented drastically different. Games are interactive, and the lighting can often change based on the character's actions. For instance, the player may have the ability to shoot out light and completely alter the game world instantaneously. The lighting in a scene can also change simply based on the player's current position and perspective in the game. If the player moved to a different spot, they'd see reflections and light rays very differently. In a movie, or anything pre-rendered, those challenges aren't really present. The light is determined by the camera angle and designed to look perfect for that one situation. A viewer watching a film doesn't have the ability to move the camera to get a different angle
Explanation:
Lights in games are typically created by the many different built-in light tools found in the game engine. One of those tools is the ability to bake lights on to the materials in order to save render time. This gives the illusion that light is being cast, but it's actually just the light baked onto the texture. A lamp hanging on a wall can be used as an example. The light that's being cast can be simulated by a lightmap, and the actual light can then be removed. This technique is a great time saver and allows for more detail to be added elsewhere in the game, but it also means lights that are baked won't have any effect on moving objects. So knowing what lights to bake and what lights to actually have in the game engine is vital. As game engines progress and the hardware they're being played on enhances, so does the way light is being simulated inside the game. In the past, lighting was overlooked or simply created without much attention to detail because the hardware and engines weren't up to par. As hardware advances, so does the player's expectations on what they anticipate to see while playing a game. Bad lighting can completely ruin an otherwise great game experience. No matter how amazing the models or textures are, if the lighting isn't right it won't do them justice. If you look at a movie, you know how vital lighting is. The lighting for a scene is never placed without reason because the lighting plays a critical role in the mood and feeling being presented to the audience. As games try to immerse the players into a more cinematic experience, the lighting needs just as much care and thought in it as a movie. After all, light can make a seemingly harmless environment look menacing. It can make a place feel warm and inviting or scary and cold.
