Mixed Deck — All 2D Game Development Topics Flashcards
100 cards from real 2D Game Development practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 20 Mixed Deck — All 2D Game Development Topics flashcards as text
What is a 'footstep surface system' in 2D game audio?
Answer: Playing different footstep sounds based on the tile or surface the character is walking on
A surface audio system maps different terrain types (grass, stone, water) to different footstep audio clips, triggered by what tile the player is stepping on.
What is 'A* (A-star) pathfinding' used for in 2D games?
Answer: Finding the shortest path between two points on a grid for AI navigation
A* is a heuristic graph search algorithm that efficiently finds the shortest walkable path between two nodes on a tilemap grid.
In an entity-component system (ECS), what holds the actual data for behavior like position?
Answer: Components
Components store data such as position, while systems operate on that data.
What is 'bitmasking' used for in 2D game programming?
Answer: Efficiently storing and querying multiple boolean flags in a single integer variable
Bitmasking uses bitwise AND/OR operations on integer flags to compactly represent sets of boolean states such as collision layers or ability flags.
An 'AABB' collision check refers to colliding what kind of shapes?
Answer: Axis-aligned bounding boxes
AABB stands for axis-aligned bounding box, a fast rectangle-overlap test.
What is the 'observer pattern' used for in 2D game development?
Answer: Notifying multiple subscriber objects automatically when a subject's state changes
The observer pattern lets objects subscribe to events on another object, receiving automatic notifications without requiring the subject to know about all its listeners.
What is the 'Singleton pattern' commonly used for in 2D game development?
Answer: Ensuring only one instance of a manager class exists and providing global access to it
The Singleton pattern is used for manager classes (GameManager, AudioManager) that should have exactly one instance accessible from anywhere in the codebase.
What is the difference between a sound effect (SFX) and background music (BGM) in 2D games?
Answer: SFX are short one-shot clips triggered by events; BGM is a looping track for ambiance
Sound effects are brief audio cues triggered by in-game events, while background music loops continuously to set the scene's emotional tone.
What does 'frame rate' mean in the context of sprite animation?
Answer: The speed at which animation frames are cycled
Animation frame rate controls how many sprite frames are shown per second, determining how smooth or stylized the animation appears.
What is the purpose of animation blending in 2D games?
Answer: Smoothly transitioning between two animations by mixing their poses
Animation blending interpolates between two animation states during a transition to avoid abrupt pose changes.
Initiating an alarm action involves:
Answer: The timer counting down until an alarm event occurs
An alarm action in game development typically functions as a timer that, once initiated, counts down for a specified duration. When the timer reaches zero, it triggers a predefined 'alarm event.' This event then executes specific code or actions, allowing developers to schedule delayed actions, create timed effects, or manage recurring events within the game.
What is the name of the program that you employ to set up Unity and manage Unity projects?
Answer: The Unity Hub
The Unity Hub is the official application provided by Unity Technologies for managing all Unity-related activities. It serves as a central dashboard where users can create new projects, open existing ones, install different Unity editor versions, and access learning resources, streamlining the project management workflow.
What is the main advantage of using a quadtree in a 2D game?
Answer: It partitions space to speed up spatial queries like collision broad-phase detection
A quadtree recursively subdivides 2D space, allowing the broad-phase collision system to quickly eliminate pairs of objects that are too far apart to collide.
What is a 'sound bus' or 'audio mixer channel' used for?
Answer: Routing multiple audio sources through a shared channel for group volume control and effects
Audio buses route sound categories (SFX, music, voice) through shared mixer channels where volume, EQ, and effects can be applied to the entire group at once.
What is the 'painter's algorithm' in 2D rendering?
Answer: Rendering objects from back to front so nearer objects overdraw farther ones
The painter's algorithm sorts objects by depth and draws them back-to-front so that overlapping objects appear correctly without needing a depth buffer.
In 2D physics, what does 'velocity' represent?
Answer: The rate of change of position over time
Velocity is how fast and in what direction an object's position changes.
What does 'culling' (e.g., frustum or viewport culling) improve?
Answer: Performance by skipping rendering of off-screen objects
Culling avoids drawing objects outside the visible area, saving rendering work.
Which is an advantage of bounding-box collision over pixel-perfect collision?
Answer: It is much faster to compute
Bounding-box checks are simple comparisons, making them far cheaper than pixel tests.
What does 'sprite atlas packing' optimize in a 2D game?
Answer: Reduces draw calls by batching sprites that share the same texture atlas
Packing sprites into a shared atlas allows the GPU to batch render multiple sprites in a single draw call instead of one call per sprite.
You can view the files and folders that make up your game in Unity by going to the?
Answer: Project Panel
The Project panel in Unity is where you can view and manage all the files and folders that constitute your game project. It acts as a file browser for your assets, allowing you to organize, import, and access resources such as scripts, textures, models, and audio files. This panel is crucial for maintaining an organized project structure.