Video Game Design Game Maker Ms. Scales

What is game design? Is it art? It is all about artistic expression. Is it technical? Just follow some deign rules and youre done. Can anyone do it? Write a simple story, write a document or two on the design and give it to the programmers. No: it is a craftsmanship It is part art, part technical… but very very difficult.

What is a game? A game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context By Clark C. Abt Introduced the term Serious game in 1970

What is a game? A game is a form of art in which participants, called players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal. By Greg Costikyan

What is a game? A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that result in a quantifiable outcome. By Salen and Zimmerman

What is a game? Important ingredients: Players Making decisions A goal or outcome Rules (resources, game tokens) Artificial, limitng context

Types of Games Arcade/pinball First person shooter Third person shooters Role playing games Flight simulators Racing Sport simulators Strategy games GOD games Puzzle games Adventure Fitness games Rhythm Edutainment

Elements of Games Important game elements: Reaction speed Experience Insight Cleverness Surprise Emotion What else?

What is a Genre? Genres are based on: underlying similarites rather thatn their superficial visuaol or narrative differences But genres are not an exact science Many disagree on what genres there are

Genres Action Frantic button pushing, reaction speed, experience Adventure Story, surprise, emotion Strategy Non-trivial choices, insight and cleverness, experience Puzzle Hard thinking, cleverness Simulation From 1 perspective, insight, experience Competition Beat the other players Toys Software to have fun with, surprise Education Learn from doing

Types of Players Hard Core gamers vs. Mass market Mass market vs. casual Young vs. Old Average age is 33 Male vs. Female 48% of gamers are Female 60% of games are played with friends

What do you think makes a good game? Take 5 minutes to discuss with the people around you to talk about what makes a good game to you. Does not have to be a computer/video game In your group list the things that makes a game good and list the things that makes a game bad/terrible

What is a good game? Graphics Sound effects Music Story Game play Interaction Documentation Internet gaming person/computer opponents Addicting Atmosphere Long-lasting Non repetitive Original Thought provoking

What is Game Maker? Integrated development environment for 2d games Global ideas Simple to use, using drag and drop Still considerable power through built in language Integrated environment Not focused on a particular type of game

Structure of Game Maker DATA Sprites Sounds Backgrou nd Fonts CONROL Objects Timelines Scripts Paths LEVELS Rooms Views Tiles

Sprites A sprite is a collection of images that stores an animation of some game object There can be multiple animations of the object depending on its status Direction of motion Mental state Problems Animation speed difficult to control Requires basically fixed frames rates Advantages High quality, also on low resolution Much detail Relatively easy to use and control Still common in many games Mobile devices Internet games Casual games Older RTS and Sim games

Sprites in Game Maker Built in drawing program Collision detection based on sprites Different options Using masks Objects can switch sprites Control over animation speed Additional actions, variables and functions to control blending, transformations, etc Sprites can be used as textures on surfaces

Backgrounds Background images play an important role Setting Scrolling Background continuously moving or when the player moves In game maker Each room can have 8 different depths They can scroll

Tiles and Sound Tiles A background can be used as a tile set In a room editor tiles can be placed at different depths Sound and music Wave, midi, mp3 Sound effects 3D sound

Objects Objects have behavior sprites are only images Multiple instances can exist in a room (Instance of ) object get events, e.g Creation Collision User input They react to (some of) these actions Objects can have a visual representation but this is not necessary sprite or draw event create objects that represent a game status

Objects in Game Maker Sprite Solid Dont use Visible Depth Persistence Parent Mask

Events Many different types Creation and destruction Alarm Collision mouse and joystick Various keyboard events Other and user-defined

Actions Many different types of actions Motion Creating, destroying, and changing objects Control Drawing Score, life and health Variables and code