Game Engines By James Tedder

Kahoot appetiser Link: https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/5bb78bd7-191c-4251-99d1-7f8525b68cfa

Welcome To 2D game development Welcome To 2D game development! Over this unit you’ll be learning about the technical construction of a game in a 2D game engine.

Think of as many things as you can that need to be created when making a game?

Does anyone know what a game engine is?

Game Engines 101. A game engine is the program we use to build the game world.

What is a game engine? A game engine is a piece of software that contains code to perform common tasks that are required by all games Graphics Rendering and Animation Sound and Music Hardware compatibility and Input Physics and Collision Detection

Game Engines In pairs, research and name 5 game engines Find 2 games created using the engine You have 10 minutes!

Game Engines 101. Much like a car engine its made of lots of different parts, which all spin separately but when put together they make things happen. Its where the games interactivity comes from.

Interactivity is the key concept for games development. What does interactivity mean? An action, caused by something else’s influence.

All games are built on interactivity Lets look at Angry Birds…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9niqSk9VCi8 What happens when the player pulls their finger back? What happens when they release their finger? What happens when the bird hits the buildings? What happens when the bird hits all the pigs?

INTERACTION When I do (A) then (B) happens. When the (bird hits the pig) then (the pig dies).

Interaction drives the game forward

Our game engine? Games Showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeSfnKQTCWw

Example Games Spelunky Platformer Derek Yu 2009 Great freeware game, could have been sold as it was. Recently released commercial version. Full prototype done with Game Maker. Commercial version not made in Game Maker

Example Games Zx Hyperblast Shoot ‘em up retroFuture Started dev in 2011 Local game by retroFuture Stayed with the Game Maker engine as the game progressed. Current build is pushing the engine to it’s limits.

Example Games Serious Sam – The Random Encounter Turn-based RPG Vlambeer 2012 Took the concept of a first person shooter and made it a JRPG. Commercial game – all made in Game Maker

Example games Gunpoint Platformer Tom Francis 2013 Tom was a game reviewer over at PC Gamer. This was hit first attempt at making a game. Cost $30 to make. Metacritic rating 83/100. Commercial game – All made in Game Maker.

Example Games Hotline Miami Top down shooter Dennaton Games 2012 Winner of numerous international awards. Commercial game – made in Game Maker.

Example Games Teka Teki Puzzle game YoYoGames 2010 iPhone game – All made in Game Maker Game Maker Showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeSfnKQTCWw More example games: http://www.yoyogames.com/showcase

Opening the program That list of categories on the left is your Resource Tree. It contains every element of your game. All of your artwork, objects, levels and so on are kept in this list. Right clicking on any of these categories provides a context menu that allows you to add a new element to that category.

Sprites Sprites contain the images & animations of your game objects. A sprite might be a single image or it might have a number of animation frames. They also have collision shapes that can be precise, rectangular, circular, etc. A sprite is used for objects such as players, enemies, items and other interactive or animated elements of your game. You can connect sprites to objects to have them show up in your room.

Backgrounds Backgrounds are similar to sprites, in that they are an image resource. Unlike sprites a background image cannot contain any animation frames and does not have any collision settings. Perfect for non-interactive… well…background elements of your game world.

Objects Objects are where we create all of the logic and interactivity of your game. Can be a player character, enemies, items and walls. Invisible objects might also be used for something more subtle like tracking the number of lives the player has, controlling the music or volume of the game. Objects can be assigned a sprite.

As your game runs, events are triggered, and actions are carried out. Events & Actions You can then create events and associate those events with certain Actions. An event is something that happens in your game. The player pushing a key, the object colliding with another object, the object being created or destroyed, the game starting or ending, or even simply a step or frame of your game passing by. As your game runs, events are triggered, and actions are carried out.

Rooms Containers for all of your game’s objects and background elements. Used for “levels” of your game, but could also be viewed as simply “screens”. A level of your game might be contained within a room, but so might your menu screen, intro screen, cutscenes, option screens, etc.

Let’s make a game! Open Game Maker Start Catch a clown tutorial Work through the tutorial Create your first game Get GameMaker: Studio at home: http://www.yoyogames.com

Let’s make a game!

bit.ly/2xLQqao bit.ly/2yS7mwn What you’ll need: Catch the clown assets: bit.ly/2xLQqao Digital version of walkthrough: bit.ly/2yS7mwn

Variables All of the events and actions that we created are called the Game Rules. Our game has a number of variables. These are values that we can change to make our game play very differently. Clown Starting Position Currently the game starts with the clown positioned wherever we added it to the room. The starting position could be changed to the centre of the screen or a random position. The Jump To Random icon could be added to the clown's Create event to change this. Clown Speed The clown starts moving at a speed of 4. This number can be changed to make the game start off faster or slower. The clown speeds up by 0.5 every time he is clicked. Change this number to make the game easier or harder. Score You score 10 points when the clown is clicked. This figure can be changed although that won't make a huge difference to the game. Perhaps there could be ways to lose points. Maybe clicking on one of the wall objects will take 10 points off your score. You could do this by adding a mouse pressed event to the wall object The Layout Of The Game Field Try adding some instances of the wall object around the game field area. Start with just a few and see how the game is affected. Depending on what you do, the game becomes easier or harder when you add more walls.

Rules improvements Our game is quite simple. There are not many variables for us to change. If we want to add any more interest to the game, we will have to add new objects. There are a few ideas on this page, but that is no substitute for experimenting with your game to see what you can do. Add More Objects You could add a new object. This object will move around randomly just like the clown. There could be several of them. When you click on this object you lose some points. Add New Game Rules You could make the game work by giving the player a reason to try to hit the clown straight away. If the player gets more points for hitting the clown sooner. The following steps would need to be followed, Clown Create Event - Set a variable called points to the value 100. Clown Step Event - Set the points variable to relative -1. Clown Left Pressed Event - Instead of increasing the score by 10, increase it by the value stored as points. You will also need to set points back to 100. If you try this out, you should see the scoring change quite dramatically.