CIS125G

Computer Game Development

Goals

• Learn:– How to design games– How games are studied– How games are developed– How to manage software projects

About the Course

• Syllabus…

• Sites:– elearn.chemeketa.edu– faculty.chemeketa.edu/ascholer/

What goes into making a game?

• Game Design : Levels, stories, characters, rules• Game Development:– Media : Art, models, music, sounds– Programming : Computer code

Starting Small

• Games come in lots of sizes

• Size != quality

• Start small

How do we make small games?

• Small means as little work as possible: • Art: – Simplify

• Sound: – Use freely available sounds

• Programming: – GameMaker simplifies coding

• Game Design: – This is where the time should go

First Game

Gamemaker basics • Gamemaker building blocks:– Rooms– Sprites – Objects– Events– Actions

Rooms • A room is a level, or– Loading screen– Inventory screen

• The one thing you HAVE to have

Measuring• Measurement in square called pixels.• Location, given with x coordinate (how far side to side)

and a y coordinate. (how far up or down).

yy

xx

MeasuringUpper left corner is x = 0, y = 0

x = 400, y = 100

yy

xx

Origin• Every sprite has an Origin – center of sprite

• Duck placed at 0, 0

yy

xx

Relative Measuring• Relative values are amounts to +/- from a starting point

• Bullet hole is:-150 x, -200 y Relative to duck

Relative Measuring• Bullet hole at -150 x, -200 y Absolute coordinates

Directions• Directions in degrees– 0 degrees means to the right on your screen– 90 degrees is up– 180 is left– 270 is down

Sprites & Objects• A sprite is a picture

• An object is something that appears in the game

Instances • Objects are a template to make instances.– Object = cookie cutter– Instance = cookie

Events & Actions

• Events are chances to make objects respond

• Actions are the code to say what object does

Activity

• Install GameMaker (yoyogames or Steam)• Follow instructions to build shooting gallery– Due Monday– Modifications Due Wed