A GUIDE TO LIGHTING IN VIDEO GAMES
Light has remarkable effects on us. Not only does it illuminate the world around us, but it also affects our moods and emotions.
This is why lighting is integral to visual mediums such as paintings, movies, and TV shows. Artists use light in constructive ways to portray the intention of the art.
So too, it is in games.
Lighting in Games: Similarity and Difference
Lighting in games is similar to lighting in cinematography. For instance, in movies, the cinematographers use lighting to reveal characters’ psychology, convey the scene’s tempo, and emphasize or hire certain elements. Lighting artists in games also use light in such ways.
For example, consider two different acclaimed games: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Silent Hill.
Breath of the Wild is an RPG set in the fictional world of Hyrule. The game is light-hearted, and the visuals match this mood with the use of bright colors and effective use of light.
Meanwhile, Silent Hill is a horror game. As is the norm with the genre, the lighting is minimal and is used to instill a sense of impending doom in the players at all times.
Even though there are a lot of similarities with movies, lighting in games has a marked difference: lighting in games has to be calculated in real-time.
Because in both live-action and animated movies, all the lighting is predetermined. In contrast, in games, the computer has to calculate the lighting data for each frame and react to the player’s actions. This constant calculation requires a lot of hardware resources.
Source and Object
Before we go in-depth into ways lighting is used in games, first, we have to understand a few crucial aspects of light.
The first is Source. Source in this context means the source that is emitting the light. Each light source has its way of disseminating the light based on its unique properties.
Object in this context means the object being lit by the source. Every object has its own response to light, depending on its nature. For example, smooth surfaces reflect more light than rougher surfaces.
The interplay between sources and objects is essential to consider. The placement of the lights in relation to the objects matters because the change in the light or the source can drastically alter the mood of the particular game scene.
The Two Types of Lighting Used in Games
- Dynamic Lighting
Dynamic Lighting is the type of lighting where the system calculates all the lighting data in real time. The system calculates the light, shadows, and other effects.
For instance, imagine the player moving inside a room with a light source above them. The system will calculate the lighting data based on where the character moves, considering the distance between the light source and the character’s new location.
As a result, dynamic lighting is more realistic. Because it is closer to the way light behaves in the real world.
- Baked Lighting
But not all lighting can be made dynamic because calculating lighting at every frame bottlenecks the system’s performance. So the game developers have to reduce the amount of data the system has to calculate.
This is where baked lighting comes in.
Baked Lighting is the method of turning lighting data into textures. The developers pre-render the lighting during development and store it in light maps. Hence, the system does not have to calculate lighting data in real time.
However, baked lighting has drawbacks. The illumination created with this method is not as realistic as dynamic lighting. It is also harder to implement on objects that move.
So to maximize realism without compromising performance, developers use dynamic lighting and baked lighting. During development, they decide what method of lighting to use for what.
3 Common Modes of Lighting Used in Games
Mobile game developers use various lighting modes depending on the scene requirements.
Below are three of the most common ones:
- Directional Lights
Directional lights are distant light sources. Often, they are a single light source that illuminates the entire game area. Generally, game lighting experts consider it to be the most efficient lighting mode.
In most games, developers use dynamic lighting to simulate sunlight. However, in scenes that require sunlight, such as those set outdoors, adding numerous light sources would complicate the illumination. So instead, the developers can use a single lighting source to light up the entire scene and all objects in it.
2. Point Lights
Point Lights are fixed at a specific point and send light in all directions equally.
One feature of point lights is that the farther the object is from the light, the lesser the intensity of the light is.
3. Spot Lights
Spot Lights are used for artificial lights, such as torchlights and car lights. Unlike a point light, a spot light sends light in a cone shape.
Because of this property, developers use spot lights for dramatic effects in the game’s narrative.
Conclusion
Light is a vital aspect of storytelling within games.
This is the reason developers place game lights carefully in each scene. In addition, the developers craft each frame with care for better narration and immersion.
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