Task 1 - Software Technologies for Game Platforms

State Of Decay

Platform Dependency:

State Of Decay is an Xbox  and windows exclusive game,  The company that developed State Of Decay is owned by Microsoft, who own the Xbox brand and company so the company can only develop games for the Xbox Console, which helps the console become more popular as people might want to buy that game, so they will need to buy the Xbox console in order to play it, or a Windows PC.

Operating Systems Used:

The Xbox One Consoles operating System is a console version of Windows 10. The OS is very fast and easy to navigate. Windows 10 for consoles was released on November 12, 2015. The Xbox 360 had no operating system, but it used the Dashboard as an OS. State of Decay is also available on Steam. Most windows computers now run Windows 10 too. The minimum OS requirement for PC is Windows 7, however Windows 7.8 is recommended. 

Drivers Needed:

Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Athlon X64 3400	Intel Core i5 750 AMD Athlon X4 760K
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4158 MB	4200 MB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 AMD Radeon HD 5850 Intel HD 4600 DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 AMD Radeon HD 7770 DirectX 11 compatible

Applications Software Used: 

State of Decay was developed using a software called CryEngine 3. CryEngine 3 is an engine that was created by 'Crytek', who developed games like Ryse Son Of Rome and Crysis. Other games that are developed using CryEngine 3 are games such as Sniper: Ghost Warrior and SNOW.

Graphical API:

Direct3D	11
64-bit executable

State of Decay was developed by an engine called CryEngine, which is an old engine so the graphics aren't amazing but are still really good. 

Sound API: 

The sounds for State of Decay are not changeable, but the files are easily retrievable on PC, so modders can add or remove sound for themselves. The only adjustments that can be done to the sounds generally are the turning up and down of the volume. It also has subtitles for when characters in the game speak.

TV: 

State of Decay on PC can run 60+ FPS, and around 30 FPS on the Xbox console. It also runs 1080p on both the Xbox One and PC, which boosts the experience of the game and makes the game look even better at a high quality. 

The Forest



Platform Dependency:

The Forest is a PC exclusive game and was developed by Endnight Games. The reason The Forest is only out on PC is because PC's are much more powerful than Consoles such as Playstation and Xbox so the developers can add more stuff to the game than they would on Consoles, making the game more interesting as there is more to do. Also, PC users usually Mod games, so people might just mod the game and make it better in their own way.

Operating System Used:

The minimum requirement to run this game on PC is Windows 7, and it is also the recommended OS version. Since the game was released in 2014, it did not require the latest version of windows, which is Windows 10, so older devices have the ability to still run this game.

Drivers Needed:


Minimum:

• OS: Windows 7
• Processor: Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT
• DirectX: Version 9.0
• Storage: 5 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX®-compatible

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 7
• Processor: Quad Core Processor
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
• DirectX: Version 9.0
• Storage: 5 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX®-compatible

 Application Software Used:

The Forest was developed using an engine called Unity, which is used to make many other games Slender The Arrival and Temple Run. Unity was developed by Unity Technologies in 2005 and has been used to develop many games ever since. However, the game was actually developed using Unity 4, which is a newer version of the engine and provies more features.

Graphical API:

The forests Graphical API is DirectX: Version 9.0. The Game Engine Unity is quite old so most games have bad graphics, but these can still be improved slightly.

Sound API:

The sound API is DirectSound. Ingame sounds can be adjusted as you want.

TV:

The Forest can run 1080p settings and 60FPS, which can be improved if your PC is powerful enough. The more powerful your PC, the higher the graphics it can handle.